Mixing Things IUp

Poppies in the Night
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com

New stuff is continuing to enter my shop a few pieces a day. Including this piece.

But I have been in an art slump every since finishing up that custom and printing new work. I've even been slow to scan in and upload many of those pieces. I decided to start journaling again and I came to a decision that it is time for me to step away from what I know and do some playing with art. For me that means monotypes of some sort. So today and tomorrow I will be brainstorming and I think collecting some leaves for stencils and on Saturday or Sunday I will lock myself in my studio and have some fun. Dammit!

It hasn't been easy because on top of everything blee isn't her normal easy going self. She's constipated and pretty darn cranky about it. Other than feed her certain fruits and give her plenty of water there isn't much I can do other than wear her a lot and ride this rough patch out. And that is exactly what I did this morning when she couldn't be soothed by any means other than putting her in our gorgeous and snuggly Zidee pod and going for a long walk with a friend. Worked like a charm, and for about an hour or two after getting home as well.

I'm planning on purging a few carriers in the near future but the Zidee isn't going anywhere. As she grows it just gets better and better. Learning how to wrap her on my back has made using the pod a snap. Here, have some cuteness and have a great weekend! Hopefully come Monday I will have some interesting work. It doesn't have to be great it just has to be free and experimental.

modeling letdown

too late
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com

There was a call for models at this high end sling company in NYC that I heard about over the weekend. It was for the end of August so I knew that I was entering late and my chances were slim. But it was an excuse to get nice photos taken.

Well as soon as the skies cleared for a brief moment my friend with a D-SLR camera went out with me and took some photos. Among around 300 there were about 10 or 12 good ones and this spectacular one. (I need to start saving for a D-SLR as of yesterday)

Of course as soon as we get home an email is waiting for me saying that the modeling positions are full at this time. That they would love to use my photos in their gallery and will keep me in mind for the future. But no free expensive Psling for me this month. That is okay, could it possibly get any better than this one that I already have? I like this photo a lot.

I'm still listing new art on Etsy at a somewhat sluggish pace considering how much I have to put up. The custom and another order have been mailed out and I'm not quite sure what to do with myself artistically. When in doubt cut collage paper or tear printmaking paper. Or maybe even do some carving! I have a block I need to finish. Sketching sounds good too.

Oh and did I mention that blee is finally crawling? Eep! Now the fun really begins.

Even the rain

want
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com

When a dreary rainy day doesn't keep me from enjoying my day that is when I know that I am doing better. Unfortunately with the sporadic storms we had to keep our walks brief but still enjoyable. And it least it wasn't hot out. And a new friend of mine, a SAHM that lives a few blocks away, came over for lunch with her sweet little boy. I have my work to keep me busy but having some sort of social activity during the day really helps me stay sane.

This is the two of us in a long woven wrap that I purchased months ago but could never get the hang of a back carry until today. I'm still no master with it but I will keep at it because it is very comfortable and I just love the material. If it doesn't work I will probably have it cut up and turned into a podagi (Korean inspired carrier). Blee looks like a total ghost baby in this picture, but she actually has a bit of color these days despite my lathering her up with sunscreen and covering her with a hat and sometimes even a parasol. But compared to me she will always be my little white girl. Especially since I have gotten quite a nice tan this summer with all the walking we've been doing.





Still scanning in and listing work from the weekend at a good pace. I also am re-organizing some files on my computer in an attempt to get organized and to get some high-res images over to the Flashbags ladies for a new line of my work. That is something on my task list for Thursday.

The weekend is coming up, not soon enough. Enjoy it.

Enjoy Summer!

walk on
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com

Hope everybody is enjoying summer and doing their best to keep cool in this heat.

I am doing my best to enjoy my little vacation. It hasn't been easy to shake the dark cloud that has been following me, but things are getting better. I haven't been able to take a 100% break from art as a custom print order came in and I am working on that. But that is a good thing not a bad thing! It is a fun custom representing the four seasons, I can't wait to see it completed.



We've spent a lot of time outdoors going on walks combined with going to Cedar Point amusement park when in Ohio I have gotten a bit of a tan. I always make sure to use sunscreen with blee and put a hat on her, I even have a UV reflecting and blocking parasol for really sunny days. I'm a touch paranoid about her skin as she is so much fairer than I am. I just hope that even though she seems fair she is like my little sister and tans instead of burns. I hope the tiny bit of Indian blood she has in her protects her.

I'm enjoying babywearing more than ever and continue to lose weight. I'm hoping to fit in a single digit pair of jeans come fall, that is my big goal. Sometimes I get negative comments from strangers but mostly people smile, say something nice or make a silly joke. Just today an older man commented that I seemed to have quite a load on. I just smiled and told him that weight bearing exercise is good for me! Then I kept on with my walk.

Blee is napping and I need to get back to prepping my studio to print tonight. I would like to print now but I don't want to get ink out only to have her wake up crying in the middle of printing. I need a chunk of time and I won't have that until she goes to bed.

I'm such a loser

New Old Clothes!
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com

And I couldn't be happier about it. Looking for an extra curtain we should have that we need now I stumbled upon a bin filled with spring and summer clothes from three or more years ago. And for the first time in all those years they fit. This is the smallest I have been in ten years except for the summer that I biked into a job downtown five days a week.

I'm not done yet but I am feeling excited and ready to keep getting in better shape. For me it is not about weight loss but about losing inches and toning. I want to be healthy.

The first fifteen or twenty pounds of babyweight came off easily due to the baby herself combined with breastfeeding. But then I totally stalled and possibly even backtracked a bit. Then I started doing a lot of walking while wearing an increasingly heavy blee. Either around the house doing errands or outside when the weather was decent. Long walks when it is really nice are a must. I purchased a couple of pretty carriers and they helped me feel pretty even though I didn't feel pretty at all most days. And that got me out of the house.

Then Jon and I gave up soda and slowly started making major diet changes. Keeping junk food out of the house and rarely eating meat and only eating free range organic when we do eat it. It felt wonderful.

And then I got a horrible stomach bug and lost an additional few pounds! Oh wait, that part isn't so great is it?

-

Both blee and I are still sick, and I still haven't hung my art. But I will hopefully be doing that first thing in the morning. So after I finish typing this I am going to bed. I am filled with snot, have a nasty cough and am very dehydrated even though I seem to be drinking gallons of water. But I am getting better and I think she is too.

Art has been on the back burner but I did finally finish carving that block from the other week of the girls playing. I need to do a studio cleanup and tear some paper before I can do any printing. Hopefully this week! Look for new work in my shop, here and on Flickr soon.

ciao!

Last chance for some art!

Framed! Last Chance
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com

The Night Before
White Stripe
She Dances
Misty Beauty
Feminity
Dragon Fly!

Along with all of my stretched canvas collages these pieces are getting hung for a month long show here in Boston on Sunday, but I am not opposed to selling them and swapping them out for different pieces. Sunday morning they will be taken down from Etsy for a month and may not return. Mention show in the notes to seller and I will give you free shipping on any of these pieces. Frames are not included.

I was supposed to hang this show this afternoon but I decided to postpone it to Sunday that way I can have some help. I've got a cold and blee is teething and the weather is bad so the last thing I want is to drag a stroller full of art while wearing a baby around town and then hang pieces while hoping that she doesn't erupt. And she is sick herself on top of teething. Fun times!

In case you missed my earlier post I am going to mention the three of us walking in the Walk for Hunger on Sunday. Well, in reality Jon and I will be walking and blee will be hitching a ride. She may be teething but walking is one of the few things that makes her feel better.

Hope you have a better Friday than we are having and a kickin weekend filled with good weather.

Walk For Hunger begging!

teething sucks
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com

Not really, but donations would be appreciated.

Time got away from us and suddenly Boston's Walk for Hunger is only two days away! The three of us will be walking. Well, blee won't be doing too much walking but she will be hitching a ride on my back, hip or front.

This is a very good cause and we would love it if you donated to Team Swinghammer. She may be teething but walking is one of the few things that makes her feel better.

Thank you.

Here is some cuteness for your viewing pleasure.





My artwork is nearly ready to be hung tomorrow afternoon. I just hope blee cooperates and lets me get over there and hang my work and that the cafe provides some sort of help to a mother juggling a teething baby while attaching artwork to wires. I'm nervous.

Jon and I enjoyed First Thursday here and JP, saw some art, drank a wee bit of wine and had a bit of good food. And I got some shinies for mother's day! I'd like to see her try and yank these out! On second thought maybe not.

Oh, and guess who turns eight months today the 2nd?

Digging

Etching from college
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Good morning! Hope you had a great weekend.

Saturday was great with wonderful weather, we picked up my new carrier and went for a long walk.

It all started simply with me finding a place for the baby carrier that a woman I know here in Boston made with some fabric I bought on Etsy. Then I decided that my silk ring sling from Bronwenhandcrafted had no business being stuffed in a back so I steamed out the wrinkles and hung it off the side of the bins.

Except that created a new problem with it dragging in the Pack n Play. So it was time to reorganize the entire area. And now I not only have my closet back for not just since I blocked the door with the glider chair but since I crammed it full of various stuff when we moved in nearly four years ago. I fixed the busted shelf and went through boxes finding a lot of old work from art school like this one.

I'm not going to say the work is flawless and that I am about to list it on Etsy for a thousand dollars. But, it isn't as bad as it was in my head. Included in my discovery were the poorly framed pieces from my senior show. I made the frames poorly and my presentation in general was terrible but the work wasn't nearly as bad and embarrassing as I thought it was. Those pieces from my senior show were done during the beginning of a depression that would last for years. They were the last art I did for over three years.

Oh and I made some new buttons/ magnets. They will be coming into my shop as soon I can get photos of sets made. These are different from my previous buttons as they come from Gocco prints on various types of empherma like paper bags and a thirty year old dictionary. The others are delicate and beautiful, these have a bit of an edge to them. I like them.

Easter

wrap tei smiles
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Was not the best day for our little crew. It had some good moments but overall it just left us feeling terrible at the end of the day. We didn't get a single Easter picture. I was dressed nice, had my prettiest sling and a well dressed baby even after she spit up all over the first outfit and bib I had picked for her. But then things got hectic and negative and the camera stayed in the bag never coming out for even one shot. We didn't get any Christmas pictures due to a possibly allergy induced freakout on her part. So far the only holiday pictures we have gotten is Thanksgiving. I don't know why but this really bothers me.

My mother-in- law had a lot to do with the badness of Easter, and I am going to leave it at that. Other than to say it wasn't something she did to me but something she did to my husband and his brother.

I'm trying to make today different. But I don't feel like blogging much right now, not in the mood that I am in. Instead we are going to go out now that it is warming up a bit.

I'm still updating Etsy with the stuff from last week daily after a weekend breather and my Studio Sale is still going on with possible new pieces as I go though my stash and pull stuff out. Spring cleaning continues.



I think I am going to buy blee a toy to cheer up. I like getting simple wooden toys for her and I have my eye on the perfect ball. Normally I try to steer clear of retail therapy, but I don't think a ten dollar item isn't the end of the world. Especially if it gets us out of the house. And at least it isn't throwaway plastic made in China. Am I justifying?

Dreaming of Spring

So glad to have my phone back!
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Didn't get too much accomplished on the art front yesterday, because we were too busy out playing outside. I don't know how mom's with strollers manage. Wearing blee around the city is so freeing, I don't have a stroller to lug around, get in the way and hold me back. It was a gorgeous day and today is looking to be one too. Luckily for my art my feet hurt a bit from all the walking I've been doing and my new comfy shoes won't be here until Monday at the earliest.

I hope everybody enjoys their Friday and their weekends. I think we will go walking around an area we are interested in moving to in a couple of years. There used to be a very cute toy store around there.





So I should be able to just take a short walk and then focus my freedom on cutting paper for ACEOs and larger collages. The two big things I want to be working on at this time. Polar ends in my body of work. Small art cards and large complex canvases. I did a bit last night while hanging out with Jon in the living room, nice thing about cutting paper is that it is quite portable, but then Lost came on and the lights went out and I had to stop.

Trying to keep at it while all my brain wants to do is play outside. I love spring and know that this isn't spring and could turn ugly at any moment.

More ACEOs Coming!

Blue Pines - ACEO
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

I found a stash of finished and partially finished ACEOs while I was searching for one that was purchased from my shop. I never did find the card, one that I had a special love for, and was starting to panic when I realized that I had shipped it late last week. My brain just isn't all here today. But at least it got me back in the mood to focus on these little bits of affordable art for awhile, something I have been meaning to do for some time now. So keep an eye out for more this week and next.

I hope you are enjoying Thursday more than I. Today is gorgeous and after I type this I am going to pack blee up and go for a walk down to the Post Office, but my day started out pretty bad. And very slow. I just couldn't wake up and used every moment of peace I had to nap. Not much at all. The funny thing is that blee slept from 7pm until 7am without even one wakeup so I got a good seven hours of sleep myself, but I must have woken up at a bad part in my sleep cycle because I wasn't feeling it. But I am doing better now. Packaging up orders helped get my brain together and functioning.

And it is a beautiful day after all, no reason to stay inside on a day like today! I will try to resist getting a new toy for blee while we are out. Yesterday I went to one of the four alternative baby/ kids shops within walking distance and picked up this toy. She loves it and I love its aesthetics. But I still haven't found the wooden beaded bracelet/ ring that I am searching for so I poked around online last night and found this wonderful and dangerous website.

Doing it All?

In Dark Trees
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

First, I hope everybody enjoyed their extra day. I did actually enjoy mine. I barely remember it at this point though. But I do remember that I enjoyed it.

But now trying to do it all isn't going so well for me. This is not a new piece.

How do you mums manage to balance everything so you can be there for your child while still having the time and energy to not only make art and or crafts? For awhile it seemed like I was doing it. Now just doing it but excelling at it. I felt powerful, I felt proud of myself. Sometimes I wondered even that people might think I was neglecting her because I was as productive as I am. Of course now I pretty much think the opposite. That people are watching me fall out of art and becoming simply a mommy. Not that there is anything wrong with just focusing on being a mother, but it just isn't what I want for myself. Am I being selfish?

I spend about five or more hours a day with my daughter strapped to me in some way or another. More during the weekdays. It is the only way she will nap and if she doesn't get her naps she screams. I'm able to do light housework and cleaning but that is about it. If I am wearing a certain carrier I can maybe draw. We just got back from one of our walks so I have a moment of piece. But mentally I am just not in a space to do what I need to do. I have all this canvas, gorgeous papers and of course blocks and inks to print with. Yet I have barely touched them in weeks. I haven't been sketching much and I certainly haven't been photographing my sketches for the 365 project. It just leaves me feeling like I failed already. Even going a week without making something feels like an eternity to me. I did some Gocco printing on Thursday but even that was too long ago. I haven't used any of the prints yet.

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.

Nothing Says Happy Birthday!

She Sits in Darkness
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Like cold, rain, wind and being sick to top it all off.

It's my 30th birthday today and outside is depressing on a day when I really need it to not be.

Seriously, February is not a good month to have a kid in most areas of the United States. It is hard caring for a newborn in this weather with bundling them up and illness and all that fun stuff new parents just love.

And it isn't fun for them when they are older. This is the second time in a row that I have been sick and isolated on my birthday. I dragged myself out to a little birthday dinner on Saturday night, but due to weather and traveling for the long weekend only three people came. When you have something planned in February you need to anticipate people dropping out or it getting canceled last minute because of a storm.

If we ever choose to have another child I plan on trying to avoid months November through March as due dates. Early September was a great time to have a baby. And Boston summers are a lot milder than Chicago summers so it wasn't all that bad being huge during the summer. And it certainly wasn't as dangerous as being huge in icy conditions!

While I firmly anticipate that I am on the right track in my life finally and that my thirties will be better than my twenties today is still such a bummer. I got my hopes up thinking that my dad would send me something this year. He told me that he would send me a little something along with some of my sister's old baby clothes but predictably that never happened. And you know what, it hurts.

And I miss my mother today. A lot. I picked up a book for blee yesterday and thought about how if she were around then blee would always have plenty of books from grandma. Thankfully she raised me well and I know what to get. It was an exchange and I had a very limited selection to choose from so I got Harold and the Purple Crayon. It is a little to old for her, but it never hurts to start the collection. There is a Leo Lionni (Fish is Fish and Frederick) box set that I want badly.

I was supposed to go to a babywearing group in Cambridge today as the meeting this time is actually a lot more accessible than normally. But with this weather I am not so sure anymore.

At least I am not puking on my birthday like last year! And I have a lot that I am truly and deeply grateful for this year. It would just be nice, yanno, to not be hacking up strange things on my birthday for a change. *edit* thinking about my symptoms and the fact that my father in law had pneumonia I am starting to suspect that I have a case of walking pneumonia. Freakin hell! And the doctor won't even be open for me to make an appointment! Double doh!

Sick

View from my relaxing chair
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

No Valentine's Day chocolate for me please, but feel free to send hugs and kisses to miss blee.

I started feeling bad with a sore throat on Tuesday night, but I pushed on and ignored it because I had a new desk to set up and a studio to re-organize.

And I do have a wonderful and well organized work station. I also have a runny nose, headache, muscle ache, sore throat and a fever. I caught it from Jon who caught it from his dad when we saw them in New Haven. Thankfully the only hint of it in blee has been a slight cough. She's behind me right now in her bouncy chair inspecting one of her toys.

This reminds me a lot of last years three month illness, but thankfully without the throwing up.

I am going to go relax in my comfy chair while supervising blee and hoping she doesn't need lots of holding today as I don't have the strength. She's a tough kid. Tougher than her parents. Hope everybody is doing better than we are over here.

Yesterday we missed the perfect mother/ daughter sling moment. Jon was gone but on his way home and she fell asleep cuddled up in our cotton pouch. For about forty minutes she napped against my chest all snuggled up in the sling while I relaxed on the sofa. She woke up and I had to use the bathroom less than five minutes before Jon got home. I would have loved a picture of that moment. It was so precious.

Welcome to Thursday!

addicted to rounded corners
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

This week is going by so fast! Monday was long but since then it has been zippy. I'm excited because tonight I am getting out with a girl friend to a local coffee show after blee is put to bed. This is a first for me in awhile. I love having her with me everywhere but when she is sleeping going out is great. And boy is she a sleep champ these days. Last night she slept twelve solid hours! We were shocked when we woke up this morning. She wasn't even grumpy, just chit chatting away with herself.

Blee is just two days off her fifth month! Wow how time flies. And more good news as my friend Heather the Gocco goddess gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on Monday. After 24 hours of labor and 3 hours of pushing! Man my five hours of labor and 13 minutes of pushing felt like hours I can't even imagine going through it that long. I don't think I would have made it, I was so exhausted.







Art is going well. Mostly drawing obsessively at the moment, and I must say that it is nice drawing for the simple pleasure of it. It doesn't always have to be a means to an end but I can just enjoy doing it. And I am so much that I started a group on Flickr called 365 Sketch to encourage others to attempt sketching daily. It is a pretty loose structured group as 365 is just the best case goal and anything in between is great too. Thanks for the tip on using a brush pen. I should have some Pitt brush pens around here somewhere to try out if they aren't dead. And maybe I will order the kind from Japan next time I make a Dick Blick order.

I will still be able to keep my shop updated daily.

Onward!

Here they are! All of my six inch square collages. And I am quite proud of all of them. But I am officially out of all my canvas panels. I have one 8"x8" gallery stretched canvas and I had better make it good as those aren't cheap. If I get into using stretched canvas I am going to start doing it myself. I did it in art school, even high school all the time. Even going as far as making my own stretcher bars. That part I won't be doing.

The top right collage may be my favorite having added a touch or a drawing from my sketchbook in the upper righthand corner. I like how it ties in with the pattern in her shirt. I think without it the piece just wouldn't be the same. That gives it balance. Whenever I am making anything balance is very high on my mind. It is delicate and easy to throw off if one isn't thoughtful. But at the same time I want to be spontaneous.

Right now about half of them are in my shop with the others coming shortly. The mixed-media ACEOs are with all my other ACEOs. Making sections that make sense is difficult!

I need to shower, run some errands and go to the doctor today. At least the weather is nice. Blee and I enjoyed taking the dog for a long walk yesterday using our new Ergo baby carrier. It is great and will be even better for back carry, but I am getting a bit impatient waiting for my mei tai. The company says it takes three to three and a half weeks to make but this is really pushing it.

playful week

monotype plate
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Hope I am not the only person enjoying this week. If you live where you are getting unseasonably good weather I hope you get to enjoy it, because it never lasts.

I probably should have waited until I had more time, but I was in the mood so I experimented with my new monotype inks last night. With limited success but that is okay. I'm still learning. Unlike relief work this is a process that has never come naturally for me. I took to woodblock carving and printing flying but with this I really have to see improvements in baby steps. The plate looks pretty cool at least! Also, I forgot to order a medium that I could really use. Next time I order some wood from McClain's I think I will include that. And I could use some midsized woodblocks.







The walk to the doctor went well and today is even nicer so we are going to do it again just for the joy of the walk. No shutting myself in when I don't have to! When there is good weather in January I had better take advantage of it. I think the greyhound playgroup around here is tonight, maybe we can make it for the first time since blee was born.

Had a bit of a scare about our insurance while at the doctor. Seems a secretary told him I had an HMO that isn't covered. It got straightened out since I do not have an HMO but it really left me feeling vulnerable for awhile. His office was hot as heck too and I was covered in fleece and warm baby so I was pretty uncomfortable indeed.

I can't wait until spring when blee and I can walk all over Boston together! It just can't come soon enough. Weather like this in January is great but I know that tomorrow we could always get hit with a blizzard because that is just how New England works.

Here is my list for today;
1) tummy time and babywearing with blee. try playing peek a boo without scaring the crap out of her like yesterday
2) enjoy this weather - long walk
3) blog
4) etsy list 2
5) put away laundry
6) pack and send orders (before walk)
7) greyhound playgroup at 6pm

Seven Things

first of the year
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Starting with the first new work of the year. Well, kinda. The prints aren't knew, but what I did with them is. This is something that I have been thinking about trying for some time now and I finally got to it. Printed on Japanese mulberry and then carefully glued to lightweight single ply shina blocks. They are ready to hang with a wire in back. Well?

Day:
1) bleetastic day, play with Moby Wrap
2) blog
3) pack and send orders
4) doctor sans stroller
5) Flickr/ list/ email catchup
6) photograph studio (it's a secret)
7) art experimentation

Week:
1) wear blee as much as possible
2) experiment with monotypes
3) walk / exercise 3-4 times
4) list on etsy every day
5) spend more quality time with Jon
6) get the ball rolling JP babywearers meetup
7) finish The Omnivore's Dilemma

Year:
1) lose twenty pounds
2) twenty pieces (ACEOs included) every month
3) challenge myself as an artist and as a mom
4) read (and finish) six books* (sigh, this is such a low number for me I have really gotten out of the habit)
5) be aware of and work to manage my moods
6) participate in an exhibit
7) take a class/ workshop

* Oprah's bookclub isn't really my style and baby books read to blee don't count







Here's some blee and some art for you. And I was on the homepage on Etsy Saturday night for about twenty minutes before my item sold. woot!

So, I did not print this weekend but that is alright. I ended up doing two spur of the moment carvings. Well, one was a sketch that I had been playing around with for months that I finally got out on wood. So no monotypes for me as planned. Jon is most likely going out on Tuesday night after we put blee down so that sounds like the perfect time for me to print. If I have the energy. If I don't it is okay for me to wait until Friday or the weekend.

Today was great in that we were able to visit a woman and try the two baby carriers that I am most interested. I loved them both, though I couldn't use the Ergo with her at all yet as she is too young. But I have a good feeling about that one in a couple of months. The Mei Tai was awesome! Plus she had the brand that I was leaning towards and that sealed it for me as soon as I got home I ordered it. With a yummy Klimpt inspired fabric in the center. It is custom made so I will have to wait about three weeks for it. I hate waiting but it is not like I am carrierless. The pouch is still awesome and will continue to be for awhile now. Really until spring most likely.

The seven things of the day have been a normal thing for me to do for a couple of weeks now. A weekly set sounds good too. And I have been working on one for the year as well. I consider that one to be a rough draft that I might add more specifics to later. I tried to not be too general as those tend to be harder to follow.

Keep Dreaming

Rapture in the Forest
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

So far so good with 2008. This year is going to be all about pushing myself further creatively. Breaking out of what is comfortable and playing with new materials and techniques. This started for me in December when I started getting into cut washi additions and is growing. I am hoping to play around with monotypes tomorrow but first I have a spur of the moment block to finish carving tonight. It is being difficult because the block is turning out to be all splintery during the clearing and I have to be really careful not to lose control of the blade. Normally shina is super easy to carve but sometimes it has weird spots. Oddly enough I had no problems with the other side. Adding to the problem I will most likely need to sand these areas so splinters don't get into the ink during printing.

I've gotten so into taking frequent process shots that I even made a new Flickr set to document them.

hmm... I have a bit of a problem. A growing and dangerous obsession actually. Babywearing. I loathe strollers. They are a pain to drag onto the T and so in the way, a nightmare in the snow and they just don't feel like me. I'm determined to walk to my doctors appointment on Monday wearing her strollerless (last time I went out I wore her and pushed the diaper bag in the stroller, much easier than having her in it) Early on I realized that I want to avoid using ours as often as possible. But I am no superwoman (at least not when it comes to strength) so I need carriers. The Baby Bjorn didn't last long due to blee's weight. It just isn't a comfortable carrier past 12 pounds. The ring sling I was given was great right after she was born but then she got fussy and didn't want anything to do with it or any other carrier. Plus, I really didn't know what the heck I was doing. The pouch (another handmedown gift) was interesting but the fleece was much too warm for late summer plus she got kind of lost in it. But by two months we were getting into it and now it is something I can't imagine being without I love it so much. But it won't last past winter for sure since what is so great about it now will render it useless when it warms up. Plus I want to be able to wear her on my back so I can get even more done while keeping her close to me. I have a Moby Wrap which I love when I can do a good wrap which is about half the time. But I am lazy and in a hurry most of the time and just stick her in the pouch. Back carry is doable in it but I don't feel skilled enough for that. So now I am trolling around this site trying to figure out what next. I spend way too much time going from site to site and getting more overwhelmed by the minute. I joined a mailing list and tomorrow am meeting up with a local babywearer to try two carriers that I am interested in. At first I scoffed at the women with their 10+ carriers but now I realize that I am quickly turning into one of those women!

This is why I have no money. At least they don't take up tons of space like all the strollers that some people seem to collect.

So, how is your year going?