Morning Journal

I've been trying to find more bits of time to get some drawing in, and I've come to realize that I almost always wake up around 4 and don't sleep for about an hour. Aha! What a perfect time to slip out of bed and draw some dreams. It worked yesterday (for about 30 minutes until Phin woke up because I wasn't there- we still co-sleep.) Here is the dream from Jan. 27th:



Today, Phin was up many times in the night with what I'm guessing was teething pain. Needless to say, at 4:00a.m. I was comforting him and giving him a bottle instead of drawing. I did manage to do a quick sketch of him during breakfast, though. So that's something.



Now it's time to change a diaper and get ready for an art-viewing adventure with a friend from college. Phin hasn't yet been to a large art museum- we'll see how he likes it.

Take care, all!
Melanie

Painting with a One Year Old in your Studio

Now that Phin is walking and doesn't happily hang out in my wrap anymore, it's become a bit more interesting in the studio. I still have the pack 'n play and he does play in there sometimes, but he really wants to be on the move exploring. I'm amazed at how flexible I have become and how much I can accomplish in 10 minute bursts. He sits on my lap, he draws on a piece of paper I put on the wall next to my painting, and I've recently decided to let his presence in the studio be seen in the work.

On Monday we did our first collaboration, as you can see by this detail shot.



I have begun a 32"x34" painting on canvas with acrylic. In my pursuit of exploring the paint, I did not prime the canvas first with gesso. Instead, I painted some marks directly on the raw canvas and used medium to coat some of the other parts of the canvas. That way I could really play with the surface I was working on- the paint goes on so differently to raw canvas versus one with a paint or medium ground. The collaboration came when there was a spot in the lower part of the painting I needed to "mess up". Enter baby. I gave him a mechanical pencil and let him work in that spot making both pencil marks and moving the wet paint around. He enjoyed it and I love watching him discover different materials and all the ways he can use them. I'm not sure how "present" his mark will be in my future work, but I do want to continue to paint and I do want to continue to have him with me as much as possible. So we'll just see how it goes.


Here is the full painting in progress and a studio shot of my guy:

Have a wonderful week and be well!
Melanie

Lillstreet Open House

Hello all-
Lillstreet's holiday open house is happening tomorrow 12/5 from 6-9pm. My studio will be open, but so will the entire building. It's always a really fun night, so I encourage you to come by and make your way through all 3 floors of gallery, classrooms, and studios. There will also be free activities for children if you'll be bringing any, so they can make their own art. You can go here for more information.

It's been a busy couple of weeks, so I don't have a new art image to show you. But I did recently rewrite my artist statement, so I will share that instead. So here goes:

I have always had a rich dream life, and a need to make these things I see in my head visible. I use art to squeeze them out like a saturated sponge of its water - to share with others, yes - but mainly to get them out so I can examine them. As a sensitive person living in the 21st century I am constantly soaking up the visual information that bombards us all daily. I believe that all these images are then filtered through my subconscious and shown back to me in dreams. I use visual language to create a plane of reality where seemingly disparate images come together to create a world unique to my experience. I paint and draw from my intuition and seek to distill dreams and memories to their most succinct expression. I allow the physical material I am working with stay fresh and alive so that the image I hold in my head and the material I use to put it to canvas or paper combine to create something that is neither pure abstract expressionism nor surrealism, but rather something in between. I'm telling stories, but the act of painting allows the narrative to evolve as it is told. It is a relationship that fills my life with constant surprise, joy, and terror.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Melanie

Open Studio

I'm having an open studio this Saturday, so if you're in the Chicago area come on by and view my work both old and new. I'll be offering pieces for sale, and when I say sale I mean that you can walk away with original drawings for 10 bucks. My most ambitious project to date that was made with my own living flesh will be there as well to cute up the place.

November 22nd
12pm-5pm
Lillstreet Art Center
4401 N. Ravenswood 60640
Third Floor (across from the Print studio)

Hope to see you Saturday!

Birds

So, the birds came about because I saw a horrific event of crows eating baby robins out of their nest. I know crows have to eat, but I don't have to like watching and I can't help assigning human emotions to the mother robin watching her babies get eaten. Anyway, with tears in my eyes I went straight to my studio to make angry ink drawings about crows (as pictured to the left). I have now just become very interested in exploring the textures and properties of acrylic paints and then finding the birds in the marks and colors, as I've done with the painting below. It's from last week. That's all for now- Phin is covering me with kisses and it's difficult to type.

Be well,
-melanie

I am a painter living in Chicago, Illinois with my husband and infant son. I work mostly from dream and memory and will be posting work as it is completed. I've been learning to like acrylics instead of oil for the sake of my son's lungs. Speaking of my son, I've gotten very good at painting with him on my lap.

I've been working on a very small scale since he was born, since I find I only have spurts of 10 to 15 minutes of uninterrupted painting.

Here we are in the studio, and below is the latest painting. I'm finding motherhood to be a wonderful thing and am feeling very lucky to have a child who enjoys being in the studio with me. I often put paper underneath my painting so that he can draw right along with me.