Embellishing the Pug
I had to include Emmitt in on the fun. I knitted him a collar on my circular needles too. He seems to enjoy his present.

Knitted Purse with Crocheted Bottom
Circular knitting needles are the coolest! I used to use them when I made sweaters years ago, and i just got a new wooden pair that are size 10, 18" from tip to tip. They are amazing and inspired me to make this purse. I did not have a pattern. I just knitted a tube, crocheted a circular bottom, knit a strap on straight needles and sewed it all together. the great thing about circular needles is that you can knit in the round and do not have a side seam. I am very happy with how it turned out.

The Creation of a Painting

I had so much fun documenting the stages of my painting process. I have never stopped to capture each step from my initial sketch on wood to completed painting.
I am excited to share it.
The painting is the latest from my Pug Pal collection.
I sketch each painting on a piece of hemlock wood that is 8 x 10 x 3/4. Then, I open up my box filled with acrylic paints and choose my colors. Each step is completed by a flow of energy that either keeps going or encourages me to take a break and step back to see what I have created. Now, for the first time, you get to see what I see when I step back.
Enjoy!

How I Carve my Stamps
My favorite medium to carve into is PZ CUT. I create my hand carved stamps quickly and easily with this wonderful product. You can buy it here http://www.stampeaz.com/ . You will also need a piece of tracing paper, pencil, wood/lino cutter tool, #2 and #3 V shaped cutter blades and an ink pad. That's it!

1. Draw your design on your tracing paper with a pencil.
2. Flip the tracing paper wrong side up onto the PZ CUT and trace your design lines over again with your pencil to transfer your design. Your drawing will look backwards on the PZ CUT. Don't worry, this is correct. Your stamp will produce your image the way you drew it when we are done.
3. Now you are ready to carve. You do not have to carve deep to make a line. It takes very little pressure to carve in PZ CUT. Carve out all of the areas that you want to be white (or not print). Leave alone all the lines and areas that you want to be black (or the color of the ink in the ink pad you choose).
4. Press your stamp onto your ink pad and stamp on your favorite paper. Voila! You have created your own hand carved stamp that you can hand color with paint, colored pencils or even crayons.

Oscar is here!
Emmitt, Fred and I are so excited to have Emmitt's best friend stay with us for a few days. Emmitt and Oscar have been best pals since they met 9 1/2 years ago! They romped over to each other across the grass infront of the Boulder Humane Society where they were taking obedience classes. It should have been set to music. It was meant to be!
Here is a painting i did of him this year. We love Oscar!

Crocheted ATCs
I love how these cards turned out. They are my latest contributions to a weaving theme swap that will be traded out in October.
I used acrylic and wool blend yarn and then added some wood and glass beads for fun.

ATCs

Hand Carved Stamps
Here are my latest carvings.

ATCs
Here are some example of my ATCs. I have traded hundreds this year. It is exciting to experiment with new mediums. I have crocheted them, made them out of fabric, watercolor, acrylics, pen and ink and my latest joy is combining the carving i learned in printmaking with rubberstamps. I now carve my own rubber stamps, print them and then hand color them. It is so much fun and much easier to carve than wood.

Artist Trading Cards - ATCs
My other great interest is creating ATCs and trading them with people all over the world. ATCs are 2.5 x 3.5 works of art that are made to trade with others, not sell. You can trade in person or by mail, join a theme hosted by someone or trade on a blind exchange. I love to have another outlet to create new art on a small scale and share it with others.

Crocheted Dishcloth
I just finshed my first cotton dishcloth. I am not sure how functional it will be, but it was fun to make.

Art Camp!
I loved the art of printmaking so much that I wanted to learn more. I was fortunate enough to find Anderson Ranch in Aspen, CO. I went for a week in June and learned Solarplate etching. It is an amazing way to make plates to print from. Instead of wood, the medium is steel and a light sensitive polymer material that is etched by using sun and water instead of harsh chemicals. Here are a few of the images I created...

Creating One, Two and Three Color Prints
Before my class, I had no idea it was so much work to add color to woodblock prints. Each color is a separate plate that is hand carved and hand pulled through the press. Each time through the press, the paper must exactly register to the plates or the image will be off and will not look right. Here are examples of three, two and one color prints I have created.

Woodcuts
In February i took a class to learn how to create woodcuts. It was inspiring and very different than anything I had tried before.
Woodcut etchings are printed from relief plates.
I create each image by hand carving the reverse of the image into a wood block.
The white areas have been carved out of the block while the black areas have been left intact for the ink to be applied and printed onto the paper.

Fiber Art

Fiber Art... Crochet, Knitting and Rug Hooking
I think it is fascinating to turn strands of wool and yarn into fabric. I love to crochet. I have joined several yahoo groups where we exchange granny squares every month. In the last year, I have made several purses and pillows. I am currently working on my first cotton dish cloth.

Fabric Pugs! I have had a blast creating pugs in different mediums for my collection. Here are a few...

I choose to document my last year of creating art starting from September 2005. It is exactly one year ago that I left my day job and started a new one as a full time artist.
In years prior, if I created 5 paintings, I was thrilled. My paintings do not come to me everyday. I describe them as energy. I tell people that I can feel a painting coming on. So, when I count how many paintings I have created this year and see that the number is 51, I am amazed. :)
The 51 paintings include 11 pugs and 40 what I call Pug Pals. For the first time, I wanted to capture other breeds of dogs as well. With all of these wonderful faces starring at me, I realized they were another children's book. So, in April of this year, I started my journey of writing "Why Am I Special?"

I am extremely proud to share my book with the world. The lesson taught to me everyday by my pug, Emmitt shines through. We do not need to look long and hard, sometimes beating ourselves up on the way, to find our purpose, why we are here, why we are special. The answer is unique to each of us because we are all unique in who we are and what we have to show the world. The answer is to be yourself and appreciate who you are because it is a gift to the world that inspires others around you more than you will ever know.

Hi!
This is my first attempt at blogging. I have seen lots of other great blogs and thought it would be fun to try.
I am often inspired to make lots of different art that is not for sale on my website. I make it because I feel a spark of inspiration that brings me joy from the concept to completion of my project. I would love to share that spark.
This is my blog.
Enjoy!
Melissa