Ombre love

Saw these tights by KronKron via Modish. Instant love. Kind of gushing over them. At first I thought it wasn't a true ombre, because it's not a smooth gradient. However, a little research proved that the color just needs to be graduated in tone to be ombre, so it fits the bill. For sale at Olive Shoppe.

Peacock

Peacocks seem to be very popular right now. And I'm on an animal kick. And I'm always on a color kick. I'm not quite sure what my goal was for this piece. I guess I originally wanted to rip off of an Anthropologie design. But it's grown into something else, and I'm thinking if I still have energy and interest when this piece is done that I'll make a partner piece of an albino peacock on tiger/leopard print. In the meantime, here's a few shots of a work very much in progress.

Not quite sure how long I spent to get to the above, but that state was as of 6/27

Detail of 6/27 state.

I was pretty sick this weekend, so I had some time to devote to the piece. This is one day, and many hours later. 

Final image to come, pending additional work hours. (Note, these terrible photos are taken via Photobooth, and are mirror images--I was too sick to bother changing it. The peacock faces the other way.)

Pennsylvania Dutch

Around the ages of three to five, my parents took me on a visit to York, PA to see my godmother and her family. My primary memory is of spilling two cups of chocolate milk all over myself, and a series of photographs my dad took of my sister and me in front of a rainbow, depicting us seeing and getting excited about a horse and buggy.

Since living in PA, my interest in and appreciation for the PA Dutch has grown exponentially. I am currently obsessed with their Hex Symbols. I love spotting them when driving around, and I have fantasized about getting some version of this one tattooed onto myself and partner should I/we get married:


(Image borrowed from Pennsylvania Dutch Gift Haus) I just love the double Distelfinks, tulip, and laurel wreath, the classic shapes, and the simple hopes and faith of the PA Dutch. Now that I've got CS4, I'm hopeful that I'll get around to designing my own. If it happens, I'll post it. Ditto that if I get married/tattooed.

In Memoriam

I was cleaning up my Flickr account, and rediscovered this image below. It's a painting I did in July of '07, after my grandmother's cat, Jasper, died. It was a sad summer, especially since my grandmother is getting older, she had a bit of a health crisis, and she took her cat's passing so hard. While at her house I found a box of wedding chocolates and promptly ate all of them, but then held onto the box for a while, and set up this painting for Jasper. I was in the middle of an obsession with bows and ribbons, and was starting to explore woodgrains (which I'd like to try out with embroidery sometime soon). I like this painting a lot, but I'm not sure where it is. I think my dad stole it. Oh well, that's art for you.


Jasper, oil on paper, 8" x 10"?, July 2007

The first twenty minutes

In my opinion, the worst part of starting a blog, is the frustration of picking a title, url, and premise. Once you think you really have something good, it turns out someone else already has it. Bugger. In turn, this is a blog, like any other blog, based off me: the blogger. I have a website that I don't updated too frequently (www.MaiaLee.com), so I'm starting this blog to share art that I like, tidbits about me and my day to day life, things I like, and ideas and images of works of art in progress, unfinished, and never begun.

My patience and train of thought are at an end, so I will leave you with a painting from one of my art heroes.
Walton Ford
"Falling Bough"
borrowed from: PBS