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

portable washi art station
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

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!

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.

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

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.

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

Poppies at Nightfall - 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.

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

mmmm smells like milk
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Mermaids - #18 Collage
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

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.

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!

Progress
Originally uploaded by m.Lee Guess I lied when I said that I would be taking a break. What can I say other than that my moods can change on a dime.

Art Cards from today
Originally uploaded by m.Lee From yesterdays printing session. Here are some of the strongest art cards I have made in awhile. Sure, they might induce an acid flashback in some but I love the colors. Not really what I had in my head but that is half the fun! I never can anticipate exactly what I am going to end up with. Expect these and more working their way into my shop in the next few weeks.

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.

The Smell of Pine - ACEO
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.

Merry Christmas!
Originally uploaded by m.Lee To me.

Sunny Day Butterfly
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

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.

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.

Winter Light Shines on Ginkgo Leaves

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

new prints coming
Originally uploaded by m.Lee My day started off pretty terrible. Worried about my friend (thanks for the supportive words BTW) and then feeling like I got kicked myself not good. I felt like dirt emotionally pretty early on but since blee was being so good instead of wasting away and feeling sorry for myself I dove headfirst into art.

It started with some woodblock printing. The neat thing about this image is that for all these prints I used just one piece of newsprint carefully folded after each run through the press. And then I used that piece of newsprint + one paper towel for cleanup.

Me and blee - Self Portrait Thursday

don't tip over!