I have moved!!

I have a new spot for my blog, I am hoping to have it nestled into my site in the next couple days (help, Tom!) In the meantime, you can find it at his link! Tell me what you think!

http://monicalee.typepad.com/monicaleestudios/

Michelle wearing Isabel!

Did you see this? I simply cannot imagine that you didn't! Michelle Obama is reviving some talented but slightly unsung designers! This dress was designed by Isabel Toledo, a daring Cuban born designer who (as my illustrator friends may know) is the wife of fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo. Ruben did all of Nordstroms Fall advertising illustrations last year. He and his wife are a very talented eclectic pair. When I first saw the dress, I thought? brocade, what is it? No, almost an eyelet type cut work with a shimmer underneath, very pretty in close shots! My son who mysteriously became ill before school this morning is hold up with me in front of my office TV. We had blue and red m n m's to celebrate the Inaguration. I saw the daytime shimmer on this dress and was unsure at first, it did seem rather early in the day BUT after I saw all the other women (ugh!) I thought-Thank God for Michelle Obama! Loved the green J Crew gloves and colored shoes and the girls...bright orange and blue, happy! Thank you that you brightened a cold day with the REAL sentiment of the day-bright and hopeful. Fun!
(AP/ photo Jae C .Hong)

Studio

After coming home from NY I had to jump right into a deadline so I did a big clean up of my studio. It really helped clear my head. I always like to see other artists studio pictures. So many are bright and colorful. I really had to scale my small space back on color and use creams and whites, I work best this way. I realized that my whole house is in a soothing palette (except my kitchen). I am guessing since my art is so colorful that when I get up from my desk I need neutral tones. That's my story anyway, it sounds sophisticated. It may actually be because I can't commit to any strong colors in my home because I would want to change them too often. (The last place I lived was red, red and more red, yikes!) So I have not posted yet about the whole Printsource experience-sorry, I am still digesting it all. It was actually a small show but I did meet people whose blogs I follow, Lilla Rogers and her gang, Jill McDonald and her nice hubby and Tara Reed. I am very glad I am committed to be IN the Surtex show this May but I do think I have a heck of a lot of art to produce between now and then. I have art that I want to redo, new art I want to create AND I don't think I mentioned I just signed a contract on a book deal with LOTS of illustrations in it. Teen/tween right up my alley. All that art talk makes me want to take a nap! See that couch and my great grandmothers quilt in the pic above? I call it the magic quilt and sometimes it call out to me ..."Nap, Monica! Nap and then do art....!"

Pause here before moving forward

Morning! I just got back from Printsource and have so much to tell you about it! But first a bit of venting. Apparently my computer was quite mad at me for being neglected for 2 days and decided to act up this morning....although I have recently heard a rumor that a certain loved one of mine worked in Photoshop for "only 2 minutes" and now the program won't let me save files as jpegs AT ALL. This can prove to be a bit tricky considering I have to pump some art out TODAY!
Anyhoo, I will post a long blog in a bit about at the things I saw in New York after I get a bit of work squeaked out. Duty calls! I did want to post this this complimentary piece to my groovy girl prints below. I named this one Desert Girl. I have a passion for turquoise and all the coral and brown shade that go with it. I spent quite a bit of my childhood in the Southwest and my brain still loves the colors! See ya later after I have painted a bit!

My Cutie Pootie

My sister was digging through her files and emailed me a bunch of photos that I must have emailed her a few years ago. These are of Luke and I down on Cape Cod. He was such a cutie in his Ladybug boots (I did try to talk him into to frog boots but he knew what he wanted). He is a big 11 years old now but I think he still looks just like this except his face is thinner. Is that just a mom talking? My girlfriend Elisabeth was visiting that summer and she always takes fun photos. I remember on the way home Luke started making 'beep' noises in the back seat-which he continued to do for roughly an hour straight. Finally Elisabeth broke down, "Is that noise driving you crazy?!" she squeaked trying to be polite but clearly exasperated. "What noise?" I replied. It is funny how your brain changes when you are a mother? As long as he wasn't not crying, it all becomes white noise. This weekend Luke and Connor where playing out in the fresh snow. I could hear them laughing and shouting. It was the perfect sound to curl up under my favorite quilt and fall asleep to! Boys are wonderful, I don't care what anyone says!

From this to this....

I started out with a color palette and a few drawings and decided to design more fabric to make a "groovy floral apron". I just ordered the coffee fabric from spoonflower below and I got so excited! I also got that start of the New Year focus I was looking for ( a week late but at least it came.) I decided I wanted at LEAST 2 coordinating prints and then it grew to 4 . Then I decided it would make a really cute quilt but if I was going to design matching prints I should lay it out like a quilt. So so very fun! So in a matter of days, I ignored all the other work that I should have been doing and got caught up in this! I am already pestering my mother to sew the aprons for me. ALTHOUGH I do actually know how to sew and I AM going to pick it up again this year. I did think-however that I have a cousin that is a great seamstress too and my mom said she reads my blog and maybe Sue, if you are out there you might like to take some of the fabrics that I am about to print and make up some cute things for me...Isn't it funny how I can always find work for other people, when the ideas were actually part of MY to do list?!
I think I just needed to shake off the lingering pineneedles of the holidays, climb down off my sugar cookie high and spend a couple days at my desk!

Help, it's Monday!

Ok, It is Jan. 5. The holidays are officially over. My husband was all abuzz this weekend with his new business book. He issued the challenge to himself and his office mates to go to work today as if it were your very first day at work. UGH. I tried get on the bandwagon and I dug through all my old business books to get inspired. We even sojourned to Barnes and Noble with gift cards in hand and I searched in every section for an inspiring book that I could sink into for the weekend to get me feeling like today was my first day at my new business. So here I am sitting down with my second cup of coffee and all I can say is more please!

What I actually am doing is cleaning my office, organizing some of my file folders into work that has not been scanned and developed yet and into art that needs to be reworked. I re stacked books and took everything that needs returning and placed it in another room completely. I found my phone headset(lost for some time) but it is 9:02 am and I need more coffee!!! The first day of work is exhausting! Will any of the new employees take me to lunch? Will my boss notice if I slip out to do returns or go to the gym? Did anyone bring doughnuts for the break room? OH! That's right...I am the boss, there are no doughnuts and I would have to actually take a shower before I ran out to do returns. I think I am going to let my husbands zeal go out the door when he heads to work and in the meantime I am going to spruce the place up a bit and get to work.