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

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!

Delicate
Originally uploaded by m.Lee Good night and good morning. I am off to bed as soon as I post this. Blogging before bed seems to be the best time for me.

In case you missed it yesterday I am running a Studio Sale in my Etsy Shop in honor of spring cleaning. Clean up my studio and clean up my shop to make room for new pieces like this one and of course plenty of collages and other fresh goodies. Nothing is over $50 so if you have been coveting a piece for awhile it is worth checking out.

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!

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.

Yes! I am an artist!
Originally uploaded by m.Lee First things first.

Quiet Playground
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.comThe new street team for Etsy Printsy is up and running with me doing the first artist interview. Check it out over at the Printsy blog. Printsy Interview : Fustian

Last Thursday and Friday I was finally able to get some printing done, first time since March I believe. It felt very good to be printing again and even better having new prints like these. I was able to use my latest block, but only with this one for now but I know I will be bringing it out again in the future. All of my latest creations will be making their way into my shop in the next week or two. With new pieces in the works this week my shop will stay current for a good long time hopefully. Check it out!

framed reproduction!
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Wish me luck! My heart is racing from it, I finally opened up a second shop for my reproduction prints. High quality archival prints in various, easy to frame sizes. I am going to stick to selling reproductions of my more expensive pieces and never in the same size as the originals. My 4" x 4" block prints and ACEOs will not be reproduced.

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

Printsy on the Etsy Homepage!
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com Something that I have been thinking about but never getting off my butt to do for about oh two years now has finally happened. Printmakers on Etsy finally have their own street team named Printsy. I came up with that one half as a joke and it took.

Are you a printmaker that sells your prints on Etsy? Would you like to get together with other printmakers to get the word out about original prints versus reproductions? Help show that there very much is a difference between the two and that they can co-exist. Then please consider joining our group.

You can contact me or sherisdesthelion via Etsy convo to find out more information about this growing group of artists.

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.

Square Art Magnet Set
Originally uploaded by m.Lee (or lack of them)

Monday! What a long weekend it was for me. Not terrible, but with some difficult moments for sure. Hope others fared better than I did.

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.

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.

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

Gouache ACEOs
Originally uploaded by m.Lee Hi!

Back from a pretty cold and grey weekend here in Boston. Not so good for my spirits.

But I do have some colorful little gouache paintings to play around with. Some will probably get printed on, planned on doing that tonight but I don't feel well so am just going to head off to bed. Some will get collaged on and maybe drawn on and some will probably be left as is. A fun little project to keep me going during a pretty blah time in my creative brain.

My Wacom Tablet may arrive Monday, or Tuesday at the latest I expect. Not bad for free shipping. I'm not really in a good mental place to play around with it but hopefully I will be once it arrives.

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.

Pfau
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Woodblock prints are back, my first of the year actually! Not that I am anywhere near done with collaging and gocco. In fact I made a collage that I am quite proud of just last night. But I had a chunk of time and was in the mood so I made about ten prints. Not a lot for me but it was what I was feeling. The peacock is my favorite.

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!

Boston Globe Feature

Reproductions

Overgrowth
Originally uploaded by m.Lee Hello, it's me. Marissa. I used to fit pretty nicely in an artistic box and I was comfortable with it. I mean, I may have only done printmaking for the past two years but I did do unconventional printmaking. And I really enjoyed going back and doing it again on Wednesday. It felt fresh again now that I have many other things to feed my artistic spirit.

Collage #14 - Collage Challenge
Originally uploaded by m.Lee That I am done with the collage challenge . The original challenge the creator Magic Jelly set up was two weeks. Well I of course decided in a manic fury that two weeks was nowhere near big enough so I would go to the end of the month. Heck maybe until my birthday next month!

Best Friends
Originally uploaded by m.Lee This is something that has building for awhile but I have been keeping it to myself. But I just can't.

Mermaids - #18 Collage
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

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

365blee - 22/365
Originally uploaded by m.Lee I have a very pretty daughter. She's sweet and smart too. And I am able to spend as much time as I want with her and get lots of snuggles with the babywearing. She's happy, I'm happy and Jon is happy.

I did a drawing for the 365 Sketch, but I really disliked it and couldn't bring myself to photograph it. I know that it is about the act of drawing not making masterpieces each time. But the camera battery was still being charged and this drawing just didn't feel worth the effort. Sorry!

It is rainy and grey today so I am not sure what we are to do. It isn't super cold so as long as it stops raining a bit we will go for a short walk. Our walks are important to us.

Seven Weeks