Welcome March!

February is finally over and I am running head first into March. While March has traditionally been my worst month emotionally for years now I think that could change this year. So here I go with some big plans, goals and dreams for the month. Here is to a fabulous month for all of us! Begone winter!

I do believe that these doodles are building up to something major. People have been saying that they remind them of my woodblock prints with the layers of colors and I am starting to see that. I can't believe it but I haven't printed in over a year. I only touched my press in 2009 when we moved my studio into the smaller room and that wasn't even me but my husband and a friend. Not only have I not been able to get much art done the last year and a half or so (hmm that lines up to when Alex became mobile) but I've been so focused on collages ever since she was born. It is really difficult to set aside a chunk of at least two hours, preferably around four, to print. But a collage lends itself so well to being worked on in stages. I even did a few of them with Alex in the Ergo or wrap on my back! That just wouldn't work with printing. Whenever I did have any longer periods of time I was way too exhausted for printing as it is quite a physically and mentally draining process for me. So much of the creative process is done at the press and I need a clear and focused mind. Factor in a dash of boredom after doing printmaking pretty much exclusively for over two years and I moved on. But I'm feeling that this year the press will be used. That I will find a balance between my sketches/ doodles, making collages and printmaking. I even have paper that I tore in either early 2009 or late 2008 ready to go for printing. Eeep!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Building a Habit

I'm still loving my Brushes iPhone app. The only thing I would change would to add a pressure sensitivity option. But I can work around the lack of it through transparencies and layers.

I've been doing them daily just as planned and just as expected some are better than others. I feel no pressure making them, just freedom to play. And some days I really don't even want to take the five minutes but I do and it stinks but I don't care because at least I stuck with it.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Why thank you App Store!

iPhone doodle
Originally uploaded by mLee*

My iPhone and I are best buds, we are quite literally attached at the hip. It has been a life changing product, and I don't say that lightly. My name is Marissa and I am a bit of an AppAddict. I'm constantly looking for the ones that will somehow complete my phone and quite possibly my life.

And this Brushes one is just one of those life changing near perfect apps. I just ponied up the five bucks for it the other day and it is true love. But what makes it even better is pairing it with other well matched apps such as the accurately titled Awesome Note.

I am a bit of a computer art flunkie. It is hard to get more old school than woodblock printmaking and moving my vision into the computer has never gone well. Not that I am making any masterpieces on my phone just yet. But this is intuitive to use and I find it easy to make something quickly and it either works or it doesn't. And fixable. The layering of colors and the spontaneity of it does work with my style.

And then comes in the note program. I have used it for awhile to replace the junk native note app and I am always looking for new ways to use it. This time I added a folder specifically as an Art Sketchbook for me to post these images plus write any text along with them. Loving it! This morning I did a quick Brushes doodle and then imported it into my Awesome Note Sketch Journal and wrote about the experience.

Everything is super low resolution so nothing is going up on Etsy, Artfire or any wall. But what does that really matter. There is more to art than making a product. This forces me to focus on the process part more than I have in a long time.

Now I just need a good app for blogging from my phone!

Manic? Me? No!

Crazy Block
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Okay, maybe just a little bit! smiles

It is Monday already? Why does my weekend feel wasted? It wasn't, but it is just never enough since there is so much to do.

The heat got to me and I wasn't able to print yesterday as planned. My body just wasn't cooperating at all. Instead I made a promo poster (side A, side B) to and sent it to the JPOS for them to include in binders throughout the area. Postmark date today!

I took a nice nap and actually woke up feeling rather refreshed for a change. My brain was hopping a bit and I started going through my sketchbook and adding new doodles. I'm not a huge sketcher but sometimes I doodle or do very loose plans for images. That is where this crazy block came from. Pulling random images and throwing them all on one block in a mad drawing fury. I had more that wouldn't fit that I was tempted to put on the other side but I restrained myself, reminding myself that the drawing part is the easy part of this process. That carving this won't be a fast and easy task for sure.

And I won't be letting myself carve this no matter how much I want to until I print. I have around 50 sheets of beautiful Japanese papers torn and ready to go and those four new images to print. This new crazy block can wait or I may end up totally screwing myself over and not have any new work before blee comes!

It feels so good when my brain works like this with energy and not wanting or needing sleep but it wears me out eventually and if I don't force myself to focus I don't get things done I just get too many things started and end up overwhelmed. I feel very impatient with myself right now wishing I had carved or printed yesterday but my body was not able to print and by the time I finished drawing the block it was midnight and time for bed like it or not. Plus, starting carving means messing up the studio I cleaned up for printing.

This morning it is raining and cooler. Still muggy but not nearly as bad as yesterday. I had a so-so night sleeping having woken up feeling icky a few times but managing to control it. Then around 6am (I think) I was woken up again by a thunderclap. I love thunder but I need my sleep! Right now I need my coffee or a big pot of tea.

Currently the colors I am thinking for today are a golden yellow/ orange. slate blue and deep purple. I hope my body and the heat don't do me in.