determined - SPT
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.comHas been following me around mentally. But not today. I'm not going to let my negative thoughts get the best of me today. Today is going to be different. This is the face of somebody that is determined to feel better!

I've been sketching daily using the Wacom tablet every day. My goal obsessed brain needs to turn this into some sort of goal to suck out the fun and I am fighting that urge. But I am going to do thirty of them. They don't have to be one a day every day. But I want thirty by the end of June! Some days I will need to double up because I am going to be out of town for five days this month and won't have my tablet with me, nor will I have the time regardless.

I'm trying not to get hung up on the quality of them and just enjoy the time to doodle for fun.

portable washi art station
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

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

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.

Night Falls on Two Trees
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.comMy normal Wednesday plans have been canceled and I am going to try and made the best of it.

Things aren't so good. My friend's illness is not getting better and my cat seems to have a problem with his eyes and I need to call the vet today. I might end up putting him in the carrier and pushing him in the stroller while I where blee down to the vet today. Good times. I also need to call a woman about pet sitting next month while we go to a funeral in Ohio.

But if I have some time I will use it to print and not jerk around and waste time. I still have a bunch of paper printed in various stages of completion. And while I have a fair amount of work from last week I would like to have more, in different colors.

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.

mmmm smells like milk
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Thank you!
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.comFeeling overwhelmed and needing to take a step back. This is about all I have energy to blog about right now. But I wanted to do this and to thank my readers, my customers and my friends for being there. I try to do the same.

What are you thankful for this Thursday? It is Wednesday night here and I am thankful that I got done some of the more mundane tasks that I have been putting off today.

Now here is my list for the week.

Things done:
1) packed and shipped orders
2) took cat to vet
3) spent $200 at vet on treatment and meds
4) dragged 14lb overweight cat back home in carrier while wearing 20lb blee
5) rescheduled dental appointment
6) called about getting a pet sitter in June (expensive!)
7) walks
8) house cleaning
9) got meds refilled ($60 ouch)

Things to do:

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!

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.

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

hiding out
Originally uploaded by m.Lee He is hiding from the three dogs that lurk outside this room and I am hiding from everything else. I moved his litter box, food and water in here so he can just stay in here all day. He loves this room anyhow. He will happily sleep on my glider chair for hours.

I am really feeling the stress. I am going to try and take these moments to finish up a carving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Winter Light Shines on Ginkgo Leaves

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

Mysterious Stranger
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.comAnd goodbye. I'm going on a much needed vacation.

But don't be sad I will still be around but I just need to give myself some more time off the computer and away from the constant creative pressure that I put myself under. It can be quite overwhelming. And since we are going away to Ohio for a funeral in two weeks anyhow I figured I might as well take the whole month off.

I will try to blog once a week, keep my shop up to date and even continue to sketch. But mostly this month is about enjoying nature with my daughter, sitting down and reading (and finishing) a book for the first time since becoming a mother and playing some silly video games like Mario Kart for the Wii.

I'll be a quiet presence while I take this month to regroup and hopefully re-cooperate from a bunch of emotional setbacks. Mmmmm I can smell the flowers already.

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.

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

flower behind fence
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.comI don't take what I would call exciting photos during my nature walks. I take snapshots of things that catch my eye, usually with the camera from my phone as it is a decent camera and is simple to use while wearing a baby!

I take in the images and then go through them later looking at the colors, shapes and general ideas for work. Here are some of my quick snapshots from today. I didn't have a lot of time to stop and gaze at the flowers because we were on our way to see the pediatrician for blee's nine month visit but I caught a handful of interesting images.

I like how this flower is growing in a tiny yard behind a fence so almost nobody can enjoy it unless they look for it like I did. I like seeing the dug up lawn with what looks like a Maple tree sapling springing out of the ground. And then there are the gorgeous colors all around.

rearranged print corner
Originally uploaded by m.Lee First thing this morning I did what I had been thinking about the night before and rearranged my print corner so that the drawers faced out in a better direction. They had been facing toward the press and the top ones would bump up against the paper rack and not open all the way.

But it could be more productive. Like right now instead of being at the computer blogging I could be finishing up cleaning my studio so I can do two things.

Mermaids - #18 Collage
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

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!

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!

Working in my jammies
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com To get over a major case of the blues than to pull out an old partially finished block and get to carving. Everything is already drawn I'm just clearing wood at this point before adding details here and there. It is a little boring, but just what I need right now. And yes, I am wearing a nightgown under my printmaking apron. That way I can hop right into bed as soon as I am ready.

I'm also getting back in the drawing groove. But what I am not going to do is to stress myself out about creating a finished product. After all, art is about more than making and pushing a product isn't it?

my hair is dark
Originally uploaded by m.Lee My friend's cancer has spread, we don't know much more than that. Right now it seems like the best we can hope for is stage two. Stage four is very bad. Thirty-eight year old father of three young boys.

I'm having a friend over for lunch today because I could really use the company. He works from home so can bring his laptop and work in the living room. There is a great sandwich place about a ten minute walk from my place. They have popovers and lots of veggie options. They are much better than the hipster place down the street five minutes from me.

I am going to get back to drawing with my Wacom tablet before doing some light cleaning before my friend comes over. It isn't easy to use, but that is part of the fun.

Duality
Originally uploaded by m.Lee After being sick feeling well feels incredible. Things were pretty good yesterday, I had some time while blee napped in the Pack n Play (a big deal) to tinker with my shop so tinker I did. If you mosey on over and have a looksie you may notice two distinct changes. The first one is that the size categorizing has been replaced with categories based on subject. I think this will make searching easier, and to help even further I have added dimensions to all my titles. Other than ACEOs, I think the ACEO label is enough for now.

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.

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.

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