Metridium Tea

 

 

I've been busily plugging away at a new body of work that I'm very excited about. It's a bit of a sea-meets-land series of paintings, but with a heavy slant towards the sea. Composed of surreal still lifes and encounters between lesser-appreciated marine organisms and more familiar terrestrial residents, it combines many of my favorite things (nudibranchs! seascapes! polychaetes! strange patterned wallpaper! flowers! barnacles! Jello! etc.). I'm taking it slow with this series to make sure everything looks right and flows together. At the moment, I don't have plans to list the pieces for sale online and I'm hoping to eventually find a gallery somewhere in which I can show the work in its entirety in-person (something I haven't done for a few years now and have been longing to do!). But I thought I'd post a few snippets and behind-the-scenes views in the meantime.

This particular piece is one of the smaller paintings in the group, of which there will be a handful amongst much larger pieces. A while back, I bought a couple of these old Audubon nature paper books from an antique store ($1 each! How could I resist?) and was inspired by the colors and contained chaos of this little aged photograph of a coral and sponge encrusted reef. It translated into a 4x6" painting of sponges, plumose anemones (Metridium sp), and a dainty little teacup.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone!

Busy Bee

 

 

The tiny paintings are now live in the shop! I'm pleased as pie with how they all look together, quirky little things that they are. The bumble bee piece ("Escaped") just sold, but there are plenty of others waiting for new homes to fly off to!

Thanks, all! The sun is shining, I have a coffee date with a good pal, and have been making good progress on yet more paintings. Feeling both inspired and productive, which is always a hard combo to achieve. Hope your week is going well!

Signed And Framed

 

It took a while, but the last of my six tiny 2x2" paintings were framed up yesterday. I'm so happy with how sharp they all look and am thrilled to unleash them for sale in the shop on Wednesday next week (the 21st)! I gilded some 4" wood panels that I mounted the individual paintings to and that really gives them such a fantastic presence. Above you can see two of the paintings in their frames ("The Last Buffalo" and "The Pitcher Plant Room") and one in-progress shot I took of a piece while applying the gold leaf (aptly titled "Not Lunch Yet").

This will be the first batch of paintings I've done where I used a maker's mark/seal on the back, too. Last month I hand-carved a signature seal with my initials along with a simplified polychaete. I then mounted it to a piece of a branch from a cherry tree taken from my childhood home (the tree was chopped down some time ago, but while visiting there I managed to swipe a branch for my own devious purpose). The outcome is a very personal, handmade seal that I now use to stamp on the back of my paintings along with a title, signature, and date. Adds a bit more "me" to something I send out into the wilds of the world.

Polychaetes and Paintings

Hello, hello! Oh my, as usual, there is lots to catch up on around here. For brevity sake, let's go over it in list-form:

 
1) I graduated with my Bachelor of Science degree (Marine Ecology emphasis) last month! It's amazing how fast the time has gone, how much I have learned in that short time frame, and how much more well-rounded I feel. Being in the lab (and field) and working with marine critters inspires me to paint more while at the same time, sitting down with a sketchbook, pencils, and paints inspires me to get to know/understand/analyze those critters even more. As both an artist and a scientist, I truly feel like I've finally found myself, and it feels pretty awesome.

 
2) I'm currently still doing the occasional marine invertebrate sorting for WA Dept. of Ecology, but more importantly, I'm now a polychaete taxonomy apprentice with one of only 2 regional experts on the creatures. Polychaetes are marine worms--and there's a *lot* of different species out there with few people that can identify them down to the genus or species level (to do so often requires microscopic analysis of teeny hair-like features, jaws, and sometimes full-blown dissections). So, I'm slowly learning from a polychaete taxonomist how to properly ID them in hopes that soon I too will be a fully-fledged polychaete specialist. It requires excruciating patience, attention to detail, and a ridiculous amount of crazy love of these worms (which describes me quite well, actually). I'm going to try to refrain from writing too many polychaete obsession posts, but you can bet that there will be some here and there! They are amazing, and often misunderstood, animals.

 
3) Painting! With a more reliable schedule again, I've been doing more painting and it feels *wonderful*. I've started on a new, large body of work (with some of the largest paintings I've done to date). Above you can see one of three large cradled panels I'm putting together from scratch--after 3 days, I only have 1 fully completed (I now remember why I rarely build these things myself and usually have the pros build them for me). Once I get more pieces completed, I'll introduce this series a bit more to you.

 
4) In-between working on the large paintings, I painted some mini ones! Above is a sneak peek of all of them together--once I get them framed, I'll be listing them in the in the shop (and will post here before I do). Each one is its own tiny surreal scene. Most originated as random sketches in my sketchbook, so it felt appropriate to bring them to life in this small, delicate way. I've been massively inspired from both still lifes and landscapes lately, and I think that's coming through in my work in a bizarre little mishmash.

 
5) Lastly, I posted on my Facebook page (do sign up to get the latest news) earlier in the month about a new batch of note cards in the shop. Each pack of 3 has one of each of the three slug paintings I made some time back. And to make them extra slimy-special, I varnished the slugs on each card by hand! When you tilt them in the light, they really do have a "wet" look to them.
 
Whew! Are ya still with me? I think I'll end this book-of-a-blog-post here. Thanks for your support, everyone! I'll be back soon with more.

Shop Update!

It's true! The hooded nudibranch isn't lying: there will be a shop update on Monday, April 1st (around noon West Coast time or 3pm East Coast time). Finally! And no, I promise it isn't an April Fool's prank.

This update will be a mash of small paintings, the 4 original painting bracelets I teased you with earlier, and a special hand-colored original linoleum block print of deep sea tube worms in a limited edition of only 20. I'm particularly happy with the block print--it was my first "true" lino carved block print and I can't wait to do more.

My time in school is officially winding down and I only have one more quarter left. These past couple of quarters have been an absolute whirlwind and I know this upcoming one will be as well--but there's light at the end of the tunnel! Whew.

See you Monday!

They smelled of moss in your hand...

 

 

I'm working--I promise! And I also promise that there *will* be a shop update soonish (I know I keep saying that--it'll happen, guys!). I somehow got slammed these past two weeks with midterms, lab practicals, presentations, and deadlines for research symposium applications. But there's definitely a light at the end of the tunnel, and I can see it. Whew! School and sciencey stuff aside, I really just have to do the nitty gritty scanning and photo session and then I can finally list the goods in the shop. That's always my least favorite thing to do.

I thought I'd share some more pages from my small art journal with you. These were done towards the end of last year (kinda behind in posting them on the bloggity blog). From top to bottom: a brief review of a book I read at the time on the geoduck poaching trade (Shell Games: Rogues, Smugglers, and the Hunt for Nature's Bounty), plans for my contribution to a handmade ornament swap (I made peanut shell gnomes with spun cotton mushrooms), and a couple quotes that really stuck with me from another book (The Road, by Cormac McCarthy--I can't believe I waited so long to read it--so good!).

"The soft black talc blew through the streets like squid ink uncoiling along a sea floor and the cold crept down and the dark came early and the scavengers passing down the steep canyons with their torches trod silky holes in the drifted ash that closed behind them as silently as eyes."

"Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains...They smelled of moss in your hand...In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery."

Very Tiny Fishes

 

 

If you've stumbled across my Facebook page in the past couple of weeks, then you've already seen these, but I want to make sure and elaborate about them here on the blog as well. I painted some very small fishes (the size of a quarter) and after long hours with a needle and thread, fashioned them into bracelets with quite the bohemian edge! I'm mad about them and can't wait to put them up for sale so they can happily adorn bare wrists everywhere.

I've made rings and necklaces using my art, but never bracelets. And never bracelets showcasing one-of-a-kind original paintings. They were incredibly time consuming (and at times, frustrating) to make, but I think it was worth it in the end. I've even gone to the trouble of making fold-over envelope packing to house them in.

There are a few "larger" pieces I need to finish up (the minis always distract me!) and then I think I'll have a large enough pile of goods to upload into the shop, at long last.

Mail Art Freebies!

Late last night I got out the glue, scissors, and random found paper bits and made some collage postcards. I love the free form, subconscious flow of collage, especially after long hours of very detailed and planned painting. It's a great break and opens up my eyes to different compositions and visual plays. I like to grab random bits of old papers and put them together, puzzle-fashion, until something serendipitous happens.

To make these even more random and fun, I then grabbed my anthology of Edgar Allen Poe short stories, randomly flipped to a page, blindly pointed to a sentence, and wrote it on the back of the postcard. What's neat about doing this is sometimes the words actually match up with the collage image on the front, in some sort of universal "meant to be" way. Pretty cool.

Anyway! I'm slapping stamps on these and mailing them each away to 7 folks--all you have to do is comment on this post and then send me a private message or email (eggmanstudios at hotmail.com) with your mailing address. The first 7 to do this will get their mailboxes fed with mail art! Anyone, whether in the US or abroad, can participate too. I will randomly select the postcards to mail to the winners, so it will be a surprise when you get it in the mail.

Each one is a unique, original, collage postcard that is signed/dated on the back with elegant words by Poe. And as with all mail art, the marks, stamps, and smudges they receive along their travels through the post are part of the art making process. Mysterious and fun!

Have a lovely weekend!

In The Midnight Glen

A little late, but...Happy New Year! I'm very excited about the year to come. Are you? 2013 is just such a good number. I've been drawing, stitching, painting, and plotting for a little online shop update, which will likely be some time this month or the beginning of February. I have a variety of things up my sleeve and can't wait to unveil them. For now though, you'll have to be satisfied with a working shot of a teeny tiny painted ghost deer...

Woodland Sprites and Sugar Plum Fairies

It's that time of year again! As I sit here on my couch with a cup of tea in one hand, sketchbook in the other, and a warm cuddly cat on my legs I feel most content and happy. Life is pretty grand, indeed. I hope you have a cozy and pleasant Christmas and holiday season!

Thank you so much for your support and kind words, folks.

Cheers,
Michelle

On The Interwebs

My grand plans of updating the blog while away on my 3-month research adventure up in the San Juan Islands sorta, well, failed. Miserably so. I was so busy in the lab, out in the field, meeting new folks, doing/writing/presenting my research, and all-around having one of the most amazing experiences of my life that I had little to no time for the internet. Which is a pretty blissful state to be in, frankly.

However! I am here to announce that a) the shop is open and taking orders again and b) I now have a facebook page for my art! Finally! You can find me here:

Eggman Studios on Facebook

I've held out for so long primarily because I'm terrible with social media and find it all sorta confusing. But it's time to enter the modern era and all that jazz. I'll still be keeping the blog alive and updated when new things are made, but I'm hoping the post-and-run nature of Facebook will make it easier for me to post and update regularly.

For the remainder of the night, I'll be working on some paintings and plans for new pieces, but I also thought I'd share a few pictures from my time at Friday Harbor Labs on San Juan Island (which I am already aching to go back to)...

I spent most of my time there conducting research on the effects of warming ocean temperatures on byssal thread production in a cold-tolerant, native species of mussel. Here you can see one of my mussel test subjects in the flow tank, sticking out his "foot" to make byssal threads (the hair-like threads mussels create to tether themselves to rocks).

 

I also got to catch and play with lots of different intertidal invertebrates as well as various fishes, such as this teeny Pacific spiny lumpsucker (known as one of the cutest fish alive--I can see why!).

Thanks to my Ichthyology class at Friday Harbor Labs, I am now able to identify by scientific name over 50 species of local fishes (meet Agnopsis vulsa, also known as the "Northern spearnose poacher"). 
 

Every morning I'd wake up to the foghorns of passing ferries and I'd get to see this out my door. Heavenly.

 

I also met so many amazing people and made a lot of wonderful friends. So happy to have had the opportunity to go!

The Incoming Tide

 

Goodness, this summer has completely flown by. I was hoping to get so much more down, but lots of projects (some related, some not) have dropped into my lap. But I'm really excited about them! One is an album cover design for a local Seattle rock band named Service Animal. This will be their first EP and all (band mates and myself included) are stoked to get the album released to the public. It's been a while since I've tackled a design project--and never have I done an album--but this has been an utter joy to work on. The release date will be later in the year, and I'll link to it for you to check out (their music is really good!).

Second up, I was notified last month that I was accepted into a very well-known marine research program with a scholarship up at the UW's Friday Harbor Laboratories in the San Juan Islands. It's one quarter long and I'll be living in the blissful idyllic environs of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island  for 2.5 months until December. Part of my time will be spent conducting intertidal marine research and part will be spent in a class/lab setting with courses on fish (which will be a nice change in between my studies on marine invertebrates) and also ocean physics. Needless to say, I am very, very excited. And nervous. But mostly excited. I'm frantically packing things away and getting ready to move there in less than two weeks.

What this also means is that I'll need to put the shop on "vacation mode" while I'm away, as I won't have easy post office access. The shop will close Sept. 23rd won't reopen until mid-December, so if there's something in there that you've had an eye on for Christmas, now's the time to get it!

Up above are some more spreads of paintings and souvenirs from my art journal. Included are: a favorite quote by Rachel Carson from her book "Edge of the Sea" (which I read and loved); a painted crab wallpaper design; lichen I collected while snowshoeing earlier in the year; a ticket stub for Moonrise Kingdom (saw it twice in July and was completely smitten); a polaroid I took on top of my unfinished 2nd quilt; and a painting of a cedar waxwing I came across while on a walk over the summer (first time seeing one in the wild!).

While these next couple of months will likely see more marine science material on the blog while I'm away doing research,  I hope you'll stick around! Learning about and researching our salty sea friends is my biggest artistic inspiration.

Cheers!

Art Journal Part IV: Ice World

Some day, I'd really like to visit Antarctica (preferably to do research). I realized a month or two ago that my "list of places I most want to see" is dominated by cold-climate locales. Antarctica, Iceland, Northern Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands... Then again, my closet is also dominated by sweaters and coats (I don't even own a pair of shorts). Guess that says a lot.

I hope to have a finished painting or two to share with you soon--just need to do the final layers. Happy weekend, gang!