New work

I wanted to give you a peek at how things have been going at the studio. It has been wonderful to be able to leave all my tools out, and have a large wall to pin up working images and pieces in progress.

This image of a tense, haunted little girl really spoke to me. She seemed to have a story to tell, so I have been working quite a bit on her.

The original photo (which is only about two inches square) doesn't have anything going on in the background, so I decided to play with something imaginative.

I feel like this is what is in her dreams, or her fantasy world that helps her cope with whatever is going on in real life. When I was a kid, I was fascinated by fairies and was able to play for hours, making habitats for fairies, so maybe she can imagine a secret garden or the like. I don't normally make up stuff like this in my work, but I decided to roll with what my inner muse was leading me to do. It's actually difficult to stop working on this when real life calls, so I know I am happy with how it's going.

I have also been able to indulge in some drawing when I have felt stuck on a fabric piece. This was just a free hand drawing on watercolor paper with colored pencil. Being able to move into other mediums is a wonderful exercise to help keep from getting bored. I have this tendency (hope I am not alone) in wanting to destroy my work when I hit a snag. Spending an afternoon on a drawing kept me from trashing what is turning into something I am feeling good about.

By the way, I am doing more posting of my work on Instagram, so please find me there @melmorestreetstudio

Cheers!