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!