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

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.

MiniCards

Ten days ago I created and ordered some business cards from Moo.com, a printing company that many shop owners on Etsy recommended.  They have a very easy to use web site where you can upload your own images onto business cards, postcards, or stickers, perfect for artists wanting to put an example of their work along with their contact info.

  

 Today I received my order in the mail.  The sticker they put on the envelope says it all.

I chose the cute MiniCards, which measure 2.75" x 1.10" (about half the size of a regular business card).   

I'm very happy with how they turned out and I can't wait to give them out.

I don't mean for this post to sound like a commercial, but if you do want to check out the site, here's a link that will get you 10% off incase you choose to place an order: moo.com/share/z8r6jq  

Kid

I had a few containers of game pieces, plastic letters, Lego and other fun little things that I've been saving up, so I wanted to do an assemblage based on the fun of being a kid.  I imagine any one of these things could be found stashed away in a kid's pocket at any time.

Perch

Materials: a vintage book page, acrylic paint and magazine pages.

Crash Landing

Materials: Vintage photo, watercolor paper, acrylic and watercolor paint, Staedtler Fineliner marker.

Work In Progress

This one is a work in progress.  

I wanted to do a piece that was strictly paint, no added images.  My idea for it was stripped stockings coming from underneath a black dress where the fringe of it looked as it it was dripping.  

I'm happy with the legs, but the dress does not quite look like a dress to me.  I think I have to add something to the top to break up the dress, maybe showing the difference between the dress and the fringe/under-layer...maybe add a different color or pattern for the dress or add some texture to the black dress with molding paste...I just haven't quite figured it out yet.  

I'll come back to it.

Precursor

Although these pieces are technically not part of my 6 X 6 Art Project, I still wanted to share them on my blog.  I created them about 5 years ago or more (I really need to start writing the date on my pieces) and I think they are a great precursor to the 6 X 6 project.

They are both 8 X 8 canvases and the images are 1 inch squares.  I thought it would be a fun challenge to create a collection of tiny collage pieces that contain a single word.

Layers

Comprised of print from a Vanity Fair magazine, embroidery floss thread, gel medium, acrylic paint, a map and bits of paper from science and math textbooks.

Please click on the image for a closer view.

Traveler

Mixed Media on 6 X 6 inch wood panel

Pink Fairy

Lucky Charm

I started with the great image of the woman in the orange dress which I found in a magazine ad for a new book called The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani, then added various art papers that I felt matched the moody tone.  I finished it by adding some black acrylic paint, some yellow rinestones for her earring and the horseshoe token coin from Vinnies; a once popular Toronto bar/arcade that has sadly since closed.

The Problem Of Homework

Poor Philip is overwhelmed.

This piece started with the homework paragraph that I cut from a wholesome 1954 textbook called "Into Your Teens".  I took strips of various textbook pages and wove them together, along with the strips of red paper and a vintage photo reprint,  then affixed it to the 6 x 6 tile.  Marks from the teacher's infamous red pen finished it off.

Stormy Weather

Ah, the fun you can have with some black card stock and a hole punch.

Alphabet Soup

Comparing Luminosities

Patchwork 2



Patchwork

This piece was a bit of an experiment for me.  I wanted to try using a thick layer of gesso and draw lines in it as a base for the design.  I enjoyed filling in the little squares with pieces of maps, a chinese newspaper, stickers, art papers, as well as craft paint, crackle medium and even nail polish.  I really like how it turned out and want to try it again, maybe with bigger squares next time.

Creative Landscape

I had an abundance of extra pencil crayons and loved the look of all the pinks and oranges together.  Lined up, the pencils reminded me of a city landscape of buildings and skyscrapers, so that became the basis of this piece.

Secrets

I've had this idea bouncing around in my head now for about a year,

so I'm glad to finally have it out and finished. 

I wanted to do a physical representation of keeping secrets.