Masks
Originally uploaded by m.Lee This is one of my first woodblock prints. At the time I was still pretty into doing self-portraits and masks are a theme that have come up in my work on and off for many years.

This piece was made for the class I took at Mass Art called "Print into Books" taught by the inspiring Annie Silverman. She's a printmaking not a bookbinder and the book part was a bit of an afterthought. And I am cool with that because she and that class changed my life.

Bitter Pills - ACEO
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com I can't sleep so here I am making a hopefully quick blog post after dusting off the Wacom tablet and doing a little sketching. A sketch that I added to my sketch collection on Flickr.

Both blee and I are still a bit sick so I am going to try and get back to sleep and take it easy today. Getting back into the swing of things slowly.

Done this week:

1) Made this new ACEO/ ATC
2) Finished carving
3) Hung art at cafe
3) Cleaned studio
4) Sketched with Wacom tablet

Things to do:

1) List ACEO/ ATC
2) Print
3) Finish hanging art

The Smell of Pine - ACEO
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Cultivating the eclectic
Originally uploaded by foftychel I was feeling pretty stressed out and awful yesterday, then I saw this and I smiled and then laughed for the first time in awhile.

Check out the statue next to it. Squirrel headed bride! Just another reason for me to love BirdNerd! Not only is she a talented artist, a sweet person but she is cute and funny. And of course she has great taste as well.

Thank you my dear!

now this is my kind of bouquet!
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.comHope the mother's reading this blog had a great day and that the sons, daughters and partners were able to appreciate the mother's in their lives.

This was my first mother's day, even though last year while I was pregnant I did get a mother's day blessing from a gas station clerk while driving back from Brooklyn.

It started on Thursday when Jon surprised me with this incredible bouquet of fruit flowers. He told me later that he basically could have had the whole thing dipped in chocolate for an additional fee if he had clicked a button but I am glad that he didn't. There were more than enough chocolate dipped strawberries to keep me happy for days. Yum!

365 Sketch - 12/365
Originally uploaded by m.Lee First, I would like to thank everybody who participated in my little Valentine's Day contest. I gave everybody who commented or wrote me a number and then picked a number at random.

The winner has already been sent her lovely prize.

I have a lot of information to go through as there were so many great suggestions. Apparently I need to get started carving some monkeys and Ron Paul along with using more metallics, bringing back monotypes, and working in black and white.

Reindeers Hide in the Forest
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

ACEOs
Originally uploaded by m.Lee Back to my roots, well one of my roots. The ACEO! (or art cards in general as I do love trading for these little gems) These have been one of my favorite methods of experimentation. My first mixed-media woodblock print collages were ACEOs and there is no reason for me to stop now that I have moved on to larger pieces. They are still fun to make and still the best for experimenting. The two I made on Tuesday night are no exception. Enjoy!

what I did with my day (while blee sleeps)
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

duckie shows what the mirror can do
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Purple Locks
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

mmmm smells like milk
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

New Hair with clips
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Royalty
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Winter Light Shines on Ginkgo Leaves

Peaceful Butterfly
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Process
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

I'm sewing!
Originally uploaded by m.Lee Sewing can be very calming as it requires a lot of focus for me. It worked once before and liked it, I just kept forgetting to bring out the needle and thread and do it again. This time I had my composition all laid out without it but something was missing. So I dug around for my monotype printed and drawn bags and cut out a strip from it and then got out some thread and a needle. This time it is on an 8" x 8" gallery wrapped canvas. Once I stitched the strip to the backing woodblock print. From a woodblock print that almost worked but not quite, but I knew I wanted to keep it mostly intact like a stage for the rest of the image to come. Then I got out a brush and some gel medium and got to collaging.

Sunny Day Butterfly
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Mermaids - #18 Collage
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

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.

theme for the day - Day 1
Originally uploaded by m.Lee I've started doing these from cards that I wrote and put in an empty drawer. At night I shuffle them up and pick two. Then when I sit down to do some art I keep them in mind. We'll see how it goes. I didn't have much time for art yesterday so all I ended up from these suggestions was this simple sketch, but it was good to get back to my daily sketching.

Today I have:
Change Tools
Read a Page from the Closest Book (that would be Eat, Shoots and Leaves

Me and blee - Self Portrait Thursday

Moments in Time magnets
Originally uploaded by m.Lee New in my shop are a new collection of totally different magnets and buttons/ badges to collect. These go well on their own or paired with my earlier woodblock print sets. They can all be found here along with my Gocco printed sketchbook journals.

Things are okay. My friends surgery went alright. No miracles but no disasters either. Honestly I am still in shock by it all as it unfolds I can't believe it is happening.

We had decent weather and it is looking like good weather for the rest of the week and I am going to focus on that.

Sparkly ACEOs
Originally uploaded by m.Lee Any happy holidays to those that do not celebrate Christmas. But since tomorrow is Christmas I am covering that one first.

I haven't felt like writing much lately. But I am making art. Cutting paper, playing with gold and getting my fingers messy. It's fun and exciting. I also have some fun art stuff to play even more with coming hopefully this week.

don't tip over!

stamping thank you cards
Originally uploaded by m.Lee For being so wonderful. Please bear with me while I deal with a teething baby that fusses all day and doesn't sleep well at night. I'm trying hard to keep up with everything and am struggling. Right now my online activities including blogging, Etsy and blog reading are suffering the most. Since I end up wearing her most of the day I generally need to keep moving. I try to catch up on reading blogs at night but am often too fried to comment. I'm a bit of a lurker these days.

Peacock
Originally uploaded by m.Lee Is new around here. Little blee is still pretty sick and needing to be held/ carried constantly. This is wear my baby carriers are coming in extra handy. Especially two shouldered. I wouldn't have anything done if it wasn't for them.

I'm feeling a total creative block at a very bad time. I really want to make some new pieces for my show but I am just not feeling it. I did manage to list this piece and this one
from last month in my Etsy shop