New ACEO

Green Hair - ACEO
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com

Time to experiment with my art. The whole direction I had been going with my woodblock prints while I enjoyed it at the time just isn't working for me right now. I've been slowly touching up an unfinished carving and I am almost done. But to be honest I'm not sure what I will do with it when I am done.

I would rather push myself to make little pieces like this piece I have listed on Etsy and soon to be put on Art Fire. This is how I got started before, experimenting with smaller pieces.

I need to finish up this carving so I can clear my desk and get to work on some new small pieces. I might need a little inspirational run to the art store this week.



Heaven knows with this weather we have been having I have plenty of time to be indoors and create. That is if I weren't chasing after a stir crazy toddler all day. We had a break in the dismal weather on Saturday and enjoyed the day at a Strawberry Festival. We picked a bunch of really good strawberries and took Alex on a hayride before we had to take her home for a nap. She's been waking up early and getting exhausted early.

The rest of this week looks like rain, rain and some more rain. Bah!

Time?

She Speaks to Nature
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Where is it going to? Because I seem to be losing all sense of it. I completed this piece on February 21st, five days ago tonight. Yet it feels like it was something I did ages ago.

I'm tired, so very tired. And I am sick with a cold round two just after recovering.

I was waiting to write the perfect post about what went into this piece but life just kept pushing it aside. Now nearly a week later and it still hasn't been written. But I love this piece too much to ignore it and not share it here in my blog. So much of myself went into the creation. Images taken from various sketches, block printing, gocco, collage and even some drawing and painting all dancing together on the stage of the canvas. They work together to hopefully create a vibrant and complex yet well balanced piece. Collage challenges me in a totally new way.

blee is good but very snuggly and needing to be held so she can nap and not get cranky. This is good in the sense that it encourages me to go outside and go on long walks. But creatively it is taking a toll on me. I am just very overwhelmed and can't focus on art or anything related to it. She is nearing six months now and just had her visit with the pediatrician. My little chunk is still under twenty pounds, weighing in at nineteen pounds and one ounce. Not too shabby! I'm pretty impressed with myself for being able to walk around with that kind of weight strapped to my front for multiple hours. My feet give way before my back does.







I hope this post finds you all well. I'm sorry for being so terrible about blogging and keeping my shop updated lately. I don't know what is the matter with me. Writing this has been incredibly difficult tonight. Please bear with me while I sort some things out.

Goodnight and good morning.

Friday Favorites!

Art Cards from today
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

From yesterdays printing session. Here are some of the strongest art cards I have made in awhile. Sure, they might induce an acid flashback in some but I love the colors. Not really what I had in my head but that is half the fun! I never can anticipate exactly what I am going to end up with. Expect these and more working their way into my shop in the next few weeks.

I didn't finish anything large yesterday but I have more small to midsized pieces and still plenty cooking. But I totally exhausted myself both physically and mentally. By the time Jon came home my back and feet were killing me and my brain was pretty fried. At least I had company while I worked other than blee. She's great and all but a friend of mine that does contract work from home brought over lunch and parked himself and his laptop in my glider chair and worked with me. I often feel so isolated from people so I think this was good for me. We had a good time and plan on being "co-workers" again sometime soon. Both of us were able to get a lot done I think. I managed to juggle blee, art and an important phone call successfully but ended up hurting for it in the end.

Some good things are happening. Change is in the wind.

And with that goodnight or good morning because I have been dumb yet again and stayed up much too late. I wish it was the weekend already.

127 blocks of wood!

Process
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Oh how I wish I was in Chicago right now. And that I could actually go through this amazing book. It is on display at the Field museum. Oh how I miss the museums of Chicago, Boston museums are surprisingly disappointing for the most part.

This book illustrating each printed layer for a Japanese woodblock is on display. It is behind glass of course so one cannot see anything but what is on display here. The artist used 127 separate blocks of wood to create this piece! Uhm, I use five or six max!

*originally found by a Baren Printmaking Forum member