Kumquats

Kumquats, a photo by studiomelange on Flickr.

New blossoms for new fruit coming in too. The tree is absolutely covered.

Fuzzy Beauty

Fuzzy Beauty, a photo by studiomelange on Flickr.

Baby Grapefruit

Baby Grapefruit, a photo by studiomelange on Flickr.

Arbor Respit

We have moved again, and one of the features of the house that we really love is the raised deck along the south side of the house. The previous owners were avid urban farmers and one of their ventures is the grape vine that grows out of a 2 ft. x 2 ft. (no joke) brick planter bed by the garage door, which is on a watering system. The vine has been trained to grow up two stories and over the top of the arbor, which is about 20 ft. long and 12 ft wide. It's really quite impressive. With the large pine trees that border the lot, we get a first hand perspective of all the birds who stop to preview the situation and then swoop in to nibble on the fruit. When the temps aren't too hot, we love reading the paper and eating meals out there. The down side? It's a little messy with all those birds and plant matter falling down this time of year, but, to me, it's well worth it.

Green Pages in a Snow Storm

After adding my pink pages, I realized that during the crazy schedule of summer, I had never added these green pages to my blog. Today, the weather has turned from cold to colder. My outdoor planters and vegetable garden will most certainly be frozen beyond repair. Truthfully, I'm a lazy gardener and in a way, I welcome the change because it signals the start of a time when life is a little less busy worrying about yard work.






Warm pumpkin muffins should be coming out of the oven and it's time to put up a few Halloween decorations. The kids love them both.

Pink Pages

Here are the pink pages I came up with for the Monochromatic Pink swap at Amusing Muses. I forgot how much I really enjoy the color pink until I started working on these.

Anyone ever heard of suzani fabric? Well, I just recently learned about the stuff which is hand stitched in India I believe and I couldn't be more in love with the colors and patterns. Of course I took liberties, but, two of my pages were inspired by the shapes and colors somewhat of the fabrics I learned about. I'm also very attracted to soft blush type pinks that are paired up with neutrals like woody warm browns and creamy warm wools.

In Tempe, AZ there used to be a remnant shop (don't know if it's still there) where I found a bunch of old powder puffs. Now mind you, I am the kind of person who buys strange items like that to make art with. I was especially attracted to them because of the word "Lushus" that is printed in gold ink on the back. I've had these sitting in my studio for ages and finally put one to good use on this page. I sewed sequins and beads on to add a little sparkle and funkiness as well. I really like the way it came out.

School is back in. More time for art and unfinished projects.

Bad Mother and Seeing Red

The following pages are from a monochromatic red swap that I participated in during the month of May over at Amusing Muses. Like many mothers, I find myself this summer trying to sneak in creative time, but, have had little success. I guess that's okay for now.

I've been thinking about reading a book called "Bad Mother." Anyone read it? I'm one of those women who love my kids and love being with them, but, at the same time I enjoy my private art time and really need it to be happy. Having the kids around all day... and mind you I have three boys who are constantly jockeying for position.... is a real stress inducer for me. Truly, I would fail miserably as home schooler. I mean seriously, just bring in the white coats right now.

A couple of weeks ago I was looking for some reason to join twitter and found an artist who has made it a personal challenge to create art at least 20 hours a week. She has started a following of other artists that are attempting the same and even though they aren't all able to achieve 20 hours, they are all joining together, talking about it, working together, posting art etc. I love the idea of it, but, at this point in my life, I have to be realistic. Twenty hours ain't gonna happen, but, maybe I can squeeze in 4 hours or even 2. That's okay though. How many times have you heard someone say, "They are only little once."?

Next post, I'll add some pages from my recent monochromatic green swap. Now I've gotta go and see what color comes after green. Stay hydrated!

Inspired by the "red light district" in Amsterdam

I just heard from a friend that Rainier Cherries are on sale this week.

Woot!! I love those things.

Greetings Blue Fans

At my kid's elementary school, a handful of dedicated moms decided it was time to start a much needed after school program 2 days a week. It began about a month ago and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Enthusiastic kids just showed up and seem to be coming out of the wood work... or orange and green panelling in the case of our outdated school. On one day we have homework help and on the other we alternate between some sort of sports activity (kickball for example) and an arts and crafts project. After one of our days playing with homemade play dough (thank you Jeannette) we came home and continued the fun. Here are some photos that we took of the stuff we made at home. I plan on taking more photos of the projects we make at school to post here. The kids are so creative and uninhibited. I love that about them.

This is NOT a toilet! It's a basketball hoop with an automatic ball return built in.

The office re org project is 80 percent complete. I ran out of steam and insight so decided to finish at a later at an undisclosed and undecided date. How's that for being noncommittal?

Over at Amusing Muses I am participating in a chunky book swap called "Monochromatic Blue". I just finished my pages this morning and couldn't be more surprised at how different they are. More proof that "melange" is the right studio name for me. Mixed media pages using mostly blue were the primary criteria for the swap. I'll be doing the next mixed media monochromatic RED swap too. It was fun and I already have some pages that are primarily red. If yellow ever comes around, that might be a bit challenging.

"Blue Mood"

Wouldn't it be interesting if bobby pins were used by aliens as body jewelry or even perhaps antennas of sorts?

"My Favorite Pair of Jeans"

"Storm"

"My Favorite Time is When You Just Laugh, Laugh, Laugh"

"Lushus"

"Blueberries"

"Sea Energies"

I thought it might be neat to do a stained glass kind of technique so the image below shows that. I used vellum and dye markers to get the effect.

Thanks for stopping by. See you next time.

Lenny Found a Home

Happy New year to all. In reviewing my previous post I realized that Lenny the Alien was mentioned and wanted to let you know that he was adopted over the holidays. I'm hoping to get some feedback from his new family about how he is doing with his lazy antenna. I'll let you know what they say in future posts.

For some unexplained reason, it seems that everyone I know is going through a clean out and organize period, myself included. For about two years now I have been feeling less than comfortable and inspired in my studio space, but, thanks to a very supportive husband and the start of school after winter break, I find myself reorganizing my space. I finally invested in some Elfa organization shelving and it's been a breeze figuring out how to get this space in a funtional state. If my instincts are correct, 2009 holds to be an extremely productive year for art and all things creative in my studio. As soon as it's finished I'll post some pics. Only problem is I don't think I did a "before". Oh well!

Until next time...

December update

Not surprisingly, I have been rather busy with the holidays, working on things for my Etsy store and some unfortunate family events. Not that there are many following my blog in the first place, but, I still think it's a good idea to regularly make entries. Here are a few things I've been working on and some thoughts about them:

This is a close-up of my new Slumber Buddy design which my 12 year old son has named "Lenny". He's two-toned... green on the front and purple on the back. I really like him, but, can't decide if I like the fact that his antenna are floppy. The kids seem to like them just fine, so I have him listed as such. You can check him out at my Etsy store.

The following are my chunky pages from the cupcake swap over at mail art world. Roc was the hostess with the most-ess for this swap, which seemed to be plagued with bad juju as one of the participant's pages (barefootchef) were lost in a postal black hole. BFC ended up recreating all eight of her pages and mailing them out individually to each person. What a trooper!! Many thanks Cathy. You really came through. I got my returns last week and let me tell you, they are spectacular. All I need to do now is get a binder ring and put my book together. I'm excited because I have a couple of other books that are started, but, none that are complete like this one. The recipes all sound yumalicious too. Mine was Black Bottom Cupcakes. I tried them and YES, they are really good. There isn't any icing on 'em, which suits me just fine as I don't care for it anyway. Just chocolate and cream cheese. What's not to love?

That's it for today. Happy trails and good luck with all your holiday preparations. God knows I'll need a little help to get everything done. ♥

The nice thing

Slowly, I have come to realize that creating art for the sake of art is rewarding both personally and financially. I have been playing around with collage for a few years, and now that I am getting back into freelance work, I have found that all that experiementation is paying off. I created this piece for a client who is trying to promote recycling in their area. The entire image is made from materials that I found in my recycling bin or papers that were made from recycled materials. Well, everything except the base surface. I wanted that to be neutral pH, so I chose a heavy weight illustration board for a base surface. I'm excited to see the final printed piece.

This is a photo of my latest Slumber Buddy design. Her name is Ellie. Call her an alien or a monster... whatever you like, but I really enjoy her bright color and circular antenna. I'm working on another one in green with two antenna. Should have it posted by the end of this week. That's my youngest, posing for me with the pillow. I thought he did a pretty good job faking sleep, don't you? Sitting still can be a difficult task for a wiggly six year old.

Tonight I'm working on some pages for a chunky cupcake book that is due this week to my friend Roc. There are eight partipants including myself and I have to say I'm really looking forward to the returns on that. Come back soon and see how they turned out.

See ya later.

Incredibly Creative Day!!

I think I've discovered the secret (for me anyway) to loosing weight. Just hang out in the studio with no kids around for six hours straight, making art and having fun. OMG!! I took the kids to school this morning, came home and went to "my room" determined not to let anything get in the way of making art today. I finished three pieces that I had started before, began and finished two and started another three new ones. I listed five new things in my etsy store today as well. I didn't actually come up for food and water until after 2.

Let me know what you think of my new stuff. It's mostly watercolor, but, there are a few other things in there too just for fun. If you want to see more detail shots or even purchase one, just visit my etsy site (http://www.studiomelange.etsy.com).

"Penny Rug Pair"

More of my colorful circle shapes.

"Leon"

Recently, there was a fatal car accident here in Denver where a man slammed his vehicle into an ice cream shop. Ironically, I had already begun working on this piece. Two women and a little boy were killed that day. This painting is dedicated to them.

"I Always Miss You When You're Gone"
When my husband is out of town on business, I never sleep very well, but, my little pink water bottle at least helps keep me warm.

"Cupcake"

Seems everyone is using cupcakes for their subject matter, so I thought I would try one too. I really like the colorful nature of these little treats. Next month I have a cupcake chunky book swap coming up over at mailartworld, so I thought this would get me in the mood to start painting some for my swap buddies. I have to create eight in all. Better get cake-in, huh?!

Thanks for stopping in. You're visits mean so much to me. Really they do!

Halloween Swap

Hi all. Hope you're enjoying the amazing colors of fall and the crisp weather. Really today it's rather soggy here and not very crisp. It's more of a cold day so I'm hold up in the house working on Buddy designs and relaxing a bit too. The pile of laundry on the bed keeps calling me to be folded, but, frankly I'm ignoring it.

These are a couple of postcards I created for the Halloween postcard swap over at mailartworld. I will never be as fantastic at collage as my buddy Roc, but, I'll keep trying. The first one is called "Shellie the Skellie's Favorite Mask" and the second is "Bo Peep Clown Skellie". I think the second one is a bit disturbing, but, then again, it's Halloween and what better time to bring out the creepy stuff, right?

Funky, Fantasy Flowers

This week I actually had a moment to play around with some art. What a nice change of pace from the activities I have been doing for the last month. Between trying to finish up our basement project and getting my Slumber Buddies going, I haven't set aside any creative time at all. Shame on me. If you are familiar with my work from the last year or so you know that I have been playing with flower and other botanical shapes. It's fun to see what kind of weird unusual things I can come up with. While I'm working on these images I catch myself wondering if they are in fact all that fantastical. Perhaps somewhere in South America or in Africa, there is a flower or leaf that looks like mine. There are some very strange looking animal and insect species on earth. Why not plants too?

This card was just for fun.

...and these three cards were made for a trade with one of my atc buddies over at atcsforall. We agreed to do a tryptic of three cards using the theme of "fantasy flowers". She commented that after seeing this, a great thud was heard in the land and the local handsome firemen had to come and revive her. Shucks, that made my day.

ABC School Days Postcard Challenge

No time to chat tonight, but, wanted to share this goofy postcard I made for the school days postcard challenge over at mailartworld. Normally I don't do collage, but, thought I would for this one. I'll be curious to see how she goes through the mail with those funky cut corners.