by Dennis Dalman
Marcus Weyh II’s head is sometimes like a popcorn machine with creative ideas pop, pop, popping up and then becoming beautiful works of art.
His art is not only satisfying, it makes money. Weyh has been doing his spray-paint paintings for only three months and already he has sold more than 20 of them.
A Rice resident, Weyh is a graduate of Sauk Rapids-Rice High School who has always had a knack for creating different kinds of art works: pencil drawings, paintings and even welding pieces. That latter skill is not surprising since Weyh works as a welder for Polar Tank in Opole, not far from Rice.
When he was a kid, Weyh loved doing pencil doodles of cartoon characters like Dumbo, Mickey Mouse and others. When he was 11, his father entered Marcus’s drawings as part of an application for a correspondence art school. Although the entries definitely showed talent, Marcus was too young to be accepted by the course.
But no matter: Weyh wasn’t disappointed; he just kept drawing and having fun with creativity. His friends would coax him to draw tattoos and other sketches for them. His confidence kept growing.
When neighbors or family members hear the rattle, rattle, rattle of a shaken paint can from Weyh’s garage, they know it means “artist at work.” That’s because instead of a paint brush, Weyh uses spray-paint cans to transform blank white canvases into brightly colored paintings.
Weyh got the idea for spray-painting on Facebook one day.
“I saw some neat stuff on there that looked really cool,” he said, “so I thought I’d try it.”
His first effort was a painting of a dazzling, swirling galaxy of cosmic dust and shooting stars that looks 3-D but is not. All who saw his painting liked it very much and encouraged him to do more. And so he did, one after another.
His wife, Sarah, was a wee bit skeptical of his new art hobby, but she became thoroughly supportive when the art works began selling, so much so that Weyh earned enough money to pay for a lawn-sprinkler system planned for installation next spring. Now, he has trouble keeping up with orders as his art works keep getting good word-of-mouth.
“Sports themes are the most in demand,” he said. “I just finished two Vikings paintings for other people. I’m going to do another one just for myself. I love football. I like to take my son to Vikings’ autograph signings.”
Recently, he also did a Dallas Cowboys painting on commission, and he said – chuckling – that he was tempted to charge a bit more for it since he is a Cowboys fan.
Weyh’s canvases are 18 x 24 inches. He paints them on a table in his garage and has a way of layering the paint to get the effects of shadings and depth. The paint he uses are cans of Gloss Rustoleum which he buys at the Rice Ace Hardware store.
“People are amazed by my paintings,” Weyh said. “But I’m not. I’m hard on myself. Very particular. I see the blemishes in my paintings that people don’t see. I see ways they could’ve been better.”
Still, Weyh is happy people enjoy his works.
He is currently in the process of creating, with help, his website dubbed “Weyh II Spray.” Weyh also has a Facebook page, located at www.facebook.com/paintingaweyh.
Weyh, 34, was born in El Paso, Texas – a “military brat,” as he phrased it – who lived in various places all around the world. When his father, Marcus Sr., took a job with the U.S. Army Reserve Officer’s Training Program at St. John’s University, the family moved to Sauk Rapids when Marcus Jr. was 11.
He and his wife bought a house in Rice four years ago. They have one boy, Carter, 2, and another baby – a boy – is soon to arrive. Weyh also has a daughter, Neveah, 13. Wife Sarah works as a scheduler and office staffer at St. Scholastica Convent in East St. Cloud.
Recently, Weyh made a welded planter hanger for his wife for their backyard. He intends to make more welded yard works next summer, along with many more spray-painted works. He has no choice; his talents will keep him busy because the orders keep coming in.