MelanieWhitley.com

I have moved my journal to: www.melaniewhitley.com/site I will not be updating this one anymore. Thanks for reading!

I am working on updating my website. I don't like the style of it anymore. It is too busy, lacey, frilly...um... just TOO MUCH. So, here is a sneak peek of the new design. It is much cleaner and less frou-frou-ish. It is still a work in progress though.

The Journal page still has some work that needs to be done-- mostly adding links and such. I did have to copy and paste my old journal posts one by one into the new one since there was not an importer for this blog program, but there wasn't really that many posts so it wasn't that big of a deal. For now I have comments on, but I am not sure I will keep it that way or not. I will decide after I see if the spam filter works well or if I even get any comments or not. :/ Uh, what else... I have not gotten my "Meet Melanie" page filled out yet. That will come soon though. The slide shows for the jewelry, mosaics and drawings are up on their pages and I think they look pretty good with the new style.

Other than that I have several sketches I have done and a couple of drawings that are really close to being finished. I am trying my hand at a new medium-- watercolor pencils. It combines my preference for using drawing materials with the option to use a brush for blending and washes. It sounds silly but I was really nervous to try it and although I think when looking at the drawings it is obvious that I am a beginner with them, I don't think I am doing that bad with them. I like the look it gives to the drawings and the only way to get good at using them is to use them, right... Anyway, those will hopefully be up sooner rather than later, but we'll see.

Also, I have been regretting my decision to make my Facebook friends list smaller. Yeah I said they were distractions, but I come to find that when I am not busy I am easily distracted (oooh, shiny!) and I miss seeing the updates and the art especially. And, I just found out that you can control who sees the more personal status posts and pictures, which was another reason for cutting my list down. These privacy settings are a new feature and I am happy Facebook did this. I was thinking about making a Fan Page, but that seems a bit premature since I am not a professional artist. Perhaps once I start making and selling my crafts again I will create one. I'm not sure yet... But you can be sure that if I do make one, I will be bugging my friends and family to join. ;)

Well, I guess that's about it for the update. I do hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday season! I can't believe Christmas is now less than a week away... I still have cookies I need to make!

~Melanie

This drawing is my rendition of a flying fish. I used a couple of reference shots to get an idea of how I might draw it and added a heavy dose of artistic license in the mix. It didn't turn out looking much like a real flying fish, but it was the idea of something aquatic successfully leaping out from its natural element into the open air that inspired me to draw this. Flying fish are also symbolic for their ability to move in and out of emotional waters and making leaps of faith .

This is the first sketch I made in pencil just to layout the shapes and composition.

Here the border pattern is drawn in and more detail is added. It was at this point that I stopped working on the sketch and decided to transfer it to another sheet of paper. I didn't have graphite paper or a lightbox to trace it with, so I did it the po' (wo)man's way... I used a sunny window. Don't know this method? Use artist's tape to secure the original sketch with a blank sheet of paper over it onto a sunny window. Make sure the sun is coming in behind and through the original sketch so that you can see the design on the blank sheet and trace it like that. Hey, it works... :)

After it had been traced to another sheet I then worked on the lines, added more details and colored it in. This is the final piece. I am tentatively calling it Leap of Faith, but not sure if that title is sticking yet or not. I certainly had to keep the faith when making this drawing. There were times I was sure I ruined it but I kept at it and am happy with the results. All in all, it was a really fun drawing to make!

MelanieWhitley.com: I recently updated my drawings page to look like the mosaic and jewelry portfolios. They are all slideshows now made from a free program, Flash Slideshow Maker. I made this decision in order to keep the style of the pages consistent. Plus, slideshows are way easier to maintain than several pages of pictures. The only complaint I have about the program is the ad placed at the end of the slideshows, but this only happens because I have the free version. As soon as I get comfortable spending money on extra things again I think I will buy their professional program that has more features and doesn’t place an ad in the slideshow. I do want to look into other programs though, so if anyone out there recommends any other programs that look nice please contact me and let me know about them.

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Social Networking: I also have made my social network significantly smaller. It wasn’t too long ago that I totally got rid of MySpace, and now my Facebook profile is going through changes to a decidedly more personal one with a smaller group of friends. This is a good decision for me right now as I am formulating new plans and working on accomplishing new goals. It’s so easy to get distracted on these social networking sites and I believe that I need to focus more on what I am doing (and want to do) rather than what others are doing. When I get in a marketing phase again, I plan to reach out more and start networking again.

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My Moment of Zen: I think life is a mixture of periods of expansion, contraction, maintaining and a mish mash of all the above. Whatever phase I find myself in, or know others are experiencing, I think it is important to remember we still are all connected… even if we are just specks in the universe.

“"We Are All Connected" was made from sampling Carl Sagan's Cosmos, The History Channel's Universe series, Richard Feynman's 1983 interviews, Neil deGrasse Tyson's cosmic sermon, and Bill Nye's Eyes of Nye Series, plus added visuals from The Elegant Universe (NOVA), Stephen Hawking's Universe, Cosmos, the Powers of 10, and more. It is a tribute to great minds of science, intended to spread scientific knowledge and philosophy through the medium of music.”
MP3 available at http://www.symphonyofscience.com.
Lyrics here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk
For more original music by John: http://www.colorpulsemusic.com

FRONT:

A dear friend of mine was cleaning out her closet and gave me this really nice, never used, Liz Claiborne purse. With its blood red interior, I immediately came up with the idea of painting it as so...

I drew out the design onto it (Jesus' Sacred Heart in a tattoo like style) with a white charcoal pencil. I then began to use gesso to block in the areas that I wanted to paint. I feel this is a necessary step so that it creates a texture for the paint to adhere to better and longer than if I didn't use it.

Here is when I started to paint over what had gesso over it with colorful acrylic paint.

I decided I didn't like the center, top rose being red, so I again put gesso over it and then painted it yellow. The rest of the designed has been painted, as well.

After the first coat of acrylic paint was dry, I then took a damp rag to clean off any remaining charcoal and began to clean up the design and add more coats of paint with details.

When the painting was complete, I then put a coat of flexible varnish on it to protect the image even more.

Next verse, same as the first...

BACK:

This is the same purse. On the back side of it had a really nice zippered compartment that was just begging to be painted, as well. To go along with the theme, I drew Mary's Immaculate Heart, on it.

Drawing again done with a white charcoal pencil.

On this side, I went ahead and painted with gesso over all of the design elements instead of working piece by piece, like the other side.

Acrylic paint was then applied and let dry before cleaning it up the same way as described on the front side.

Here you can see the painting all cleaned up, with the details added. This is not the final image of the piece. It looked pretty much like this when done, but I made the dagger more straight and clean. Varnish was applied to this side, as well.

This purse was sold during The Red Show exhibition (See post below this) held earlier this year. It was really hard for me to put this one up for sale. I loved it so much, the thought actually crossed my mind to keep it for myself! :)

The design I made for the show. It was used for the postcards, show programs, and sandwich board I printed and made (with some adjustments made depending on what info. needed to circulate). It was also used for the ads that ran in the newspaper, The Copper News.

Back in February, I organized a visual arts show at the the Cafeteria Gallery in Ajo, AZ called The Red Show. The idea was proposed by Pilar Hanson many months before, but did not get the go ahead until January (!). As you can imagine, it was a real challenge to get this together. And even with the help of some really talented people, we were all scrambling to make this show a success...

and you know what? We did it. It was a great show!... both artists and patrons were pleased ;)

Here are some design details, progress shots and pictures of the show...

This is how the middle section of the gallery looked before The Red Show. It's a beautiful, airy space with a high ceiling.

Josh and I cleared the center walls to get them ready to add another wall, patch the holes, and get them painted before the Red Show pieces could be hung.

It was getting late but, after we did these things, we pushed on and separated and went to work on our own projects.

Joshua Collins is rearranging and hanging art on the perimeter walls of the gallery so that more art is up and it flows well with the center exhibition.

This is a very tired me going around the back side of the center walls, measuring and taping off the top stripes I just HAD to have for the show.

After these steps were completed, I then stayed to start painting the walls and pedestals. But it needed several coats and I just couldn't finish the job. I retired for the night (early morning), and thankfully, Pilar Hanson stepped in the next day and finished up the painting.

Here is what the walls looked like once the paint dried. It turned out to be a gorgeous, rich, deep red that was not too pink or orange. It was perfect!

In this picture, you can see Mari Kaestle (foreground, wearing black) and Pilar Hanson (background, in blue). The artwork is laid out on the floor as the decisions of which pieces will look good together and where they should be hung are made.

Pilar and Mari then got to work hanging the show in the morning, while I later made and printed out the labels, programs, banner, and sandwich board sign.

The front (l) and the back (r) of the show's program.

After getting all of that done, it is finally opening day. Hooray! But, we are not in the clear, yet...

Five minutes before we were to open the doors, I noticed two participating artists already waiting outside. I open the doors and see groups of people down the street walking toward the gallery. I hurry the two in (left: John Curry center: Joyce Chaney) and close the doors because we have one last thing that needs to be done!

"Here. Can you hold this?" Mari hands over a part of her artwork titled, Seeing Red, to Joyce as she and Pilar rush to get the work put up.

Joyce Chaney holds Mari's (a former Muppet designer) fantastic art doll.

OK... Are we ready? Yup. We're ready! Here we go, then!...

People were waiting outside as I opened the doors and more were making their way up the sidewalk. This is a picture of the show within the first ten minutes of the door being opened.

More showed up and enjoyed the art, the artists, the food provided by Oasis Cafe, and the wine provided by Indulgence. Things got too busy for me to just sit back and take pictures as I was assisting the guests, visiting with folks, and processing purchases.

The Red Show's opening is winding down at the Cafeteria Gallery & Enterprise Center in Ajo, AZ.

Thankfully, a good time was had by all and the event was the talk of the town for awhile. I finally had a smile on my face this whole night as things came together so wonderfully. I am so grateful for all the hard work everybody put in; the talent and beauty that surrounds me; and the good people of this town which all made this evening one of the best times I have had in Ajo, AZ!

Sugar Skull / Day of the Dead themed design painted on a suede clutch. Acrylic and Glitter. Unavailable.

You can also find this design as a button on the Pieces of Flair application on Facebook, and as one of the designs on a bottle cap pendant I make.

Inspired by the mehndi art form of henna body painting. Acrylic. Unavailable.

Detail shot of the purse. I had to use a really teeeeny, tiny, brush to paint this one!

Egyptian themed purse. Unavailable. Acrylic and metallic paint on an upcycled purse.

I have a few purses I have painted and realized I haven't posted them on this website. Well, they still are not on the main website portfolios, but creating a new category on this Journal is a good start! :)

None of these that I am about to post are available anymore, but I do have some I am working on that I will probably put up on Etsy at a future date. I will let you guys know when(/if) that happens.

Thanks to those who keep up with my sporadic updates! I hope to update it quite a bit in the next few days.

~Melanie