Friday, December 26, 2014

Monday, December 8, 2014

Bingo



Mixed media on 8 x 10 inch wood panel
This is one of my very first collages, made many years ago.  
I had never shown it online before and finally just got it scanned.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Same Idea 2 Ways


I made two attempts with this idea.  
The first one I worked on didn't come out as I had hoped, so I tried it again.  
Now I'm not sure which one I like better.  There are things I like and don't like about each of them.

Monday, December 1, 2014



I had a bit of a creative set-back in October and it left me with a lot of self-doubt.  Even though I felt the urge to create and had ideas, I was listening to that negative inner critic that told me everything I make isn't good enough.  It can sometimes be hard to get out of the mindset of, "If I don't even try, then it won't be bad".  
Well, today I finally dove back in and made something.  I'm trying not to judge it too harshly and instead just enjoy the feeling of creating once again.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Little Owen

Today I visited the Stony Lake Furniture Company, a beautiful store located in Lakefield, Ontario.  They specialize in locally designed and handcrafted furniture, art and home decor items. It is perfectly curated and has a light and comfortable feeling that reflects the natural beauty of area.

While there I got to meet Owen, store owner Lisa Besseling’s adorable brussels griffon.  She assured me that Owen could handle the stairs quite well, but he seemed happy to survey his territory from his perch at the top of the stairs.


How cute is this little dog?!  Apparently he's a bit of a local celebrity too and has his own Twitter and Instagram following.  You can see more of Owen at @OwenTheGriff.



Saturday, October 4, 2014

Meet Alex

In Lisa Congdon's information-packed online class "Becoming A Working Artist" on CreativeLive.com,  she mentioned that IKEA makes a great unit for storing art work.  I just had a look on IKEA's website and met ALEX...and he's wonderful!    

The ALEX Storage Unit comes in white or gray and the dimensions are
Depth: 18 7/8 "
Height: 26 "
Width: 26 3/8 "

I want this...no, I NEED this!  I'm finally getting my "studio space"  in order and this would make a great addition.  I use quotations because my "studio" is a very small room in my house that has a few other uses too, but it's where I make most of my art.  
Now I just have to get myself to an IKEA ASAP.




Thursday, October 2, 2014

Becoming A Working Artist

September 30th and October 1st I attended a live online class called Becoming A Working Artist on CreativeLive.  They are an excellent website that hosts a wide range of classes for creative people.  They stream a lot of classes for free and you can purchase specific classes to watch on demand.

Becoming A Working Artist was taught by artist Lisa Congdon, author of the indispensable book Art Inc. She is an artist who's work and career I have followed for quite a while and I consider her a mentor and role model for my artistic endeavors.



The 14 hour course was comprised of 22 segments that ranged from Embracing Yourself As An Artist, Actionable Goals to Achieve Your Dream, Crafting Your CV, Statement, Blog, & Portfolio, Understand the Fine Art World, Successfully Promote Your Work, Make Money Selling Your Own Work, Understand Illustration & Licensing, and Planning for Success.

 I highly recommend Lisa's course and book to any artist who wants to get serious about what they are doing and take their art career to the next level of success, whatever form they envision that being.  It's really given me the tools to start heading in the right direction and the motivation to do it.  Thanks Lisa!

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Confused State





I had started this piece a few years ago but it wasn't quite working out how I had envisioned, so I put it away on a shelf.  I just picked it up recently and decided that it didn't have to remain a failure of sorts, that I would  start fresh and take it in another direction. 

Originally I started with a layer of spackling compound mixed with pale yellow acrylic paint.  Once it was dry, I painted a layer of blue tones with acrylic paint.  I used the cutting wheel on my Dremel to cut out the lines forming rectangles and squares.  From there I applied various images, papers and fabric.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Now Available: Phone Cases and Skins!

I am thrilled to announce that my art can now be purchased in the form of Fine Art Prints, Stretched Canvases, Cell Phone Cases & Skins, Laptop and iPod Skins and Greeting Cards.  I am working with Nuvango to produce high quality products featuring several of my art pieces.  For my launch, I am offering 6 designs to choose from, with more being added soon.  Go here to have a look all the designs with sample pictures like the ones listed below.








Please stop by and have a look at:
http://nuvango.com/leeannemery

Monday, July 14, 2014

Doodle


Lately I've been inspired by artist Jennifer Mercede's artwork. ( www.jennifermercede.com )  Her abstract pieces are always very colorful and full of free flowing doodles.  She fearlessly paints and draws layer upon layer, continually building up interest.
My nature is to work clean and exact, and the idea of partially painting over something I've done to add another layer scares me.  I'm always afraid I will ruin it.  I'm trying to break out of that a little.
So this is my first try doodling.  This one doesn't have a lot of layers, I'll build up to that on my next few pieces hopefully.