eat steak

2009-07-10T21:53:31Z

inspiration for the next thing i'm doing

these boys

i adore them

this fat bastard

you may remember him

im finishing up the sketches, i'll show them to you soon.

tonight: korean food and bruno and chubby.

firsts

2009-07-07T04:13:55Z

My art business has been a little quiet, at least on the surface. I've been processing a lot of information and ideas from travel, catching up on work, catching up on the part-time desk gig, catching up on spending time sketching and drawing, writing, cooking, cleaning, settling.

thinking

Meanwhile, as i do that, my first published article came out, in Stuffed Magazine, and hit Jo-Ann Fabrics, Borders, Barnes & Nobles, etc, all over the country.

Meanwhile, my first check for writing an article, for said magazine, came in the mail, and I felt another milestone under my feet.

Meanwhile, these three bastards are on their way home, and will be available for consumption soon.

Meanwhile, I've got two more of my 'children' arriving in Maryland for my first plush-art-show experience, at the Art Whino gallery, for the Mortal Plush show, this Saturday, July 11.

Meanwhile, I am keeping to what I want and keeping it honest and keeping quiet.

wabi sabi
dusty yarn
expensive beer
worn-out hands
5am
charcoal
my dog
banjos
gondry
cheddar
florenza pincushions
mini comics
cambodia
chubby
higgins ink
henry miller
your face

art_lurker @ 2009-07-04T13:30:00

2009-07-04T18:33:18Z

dear internet

if you're not following

this blog here (clickit)

then i don't know what's wrong with you.

art_lurker @ 2009-07-04T10:08:00

2009-07-04T15:16:46Z

last night was a night for Old Rasputin

joe has a scary man growing out of the top of his head

joe, cat, and my new penpal. hooray, penpals

i am frightened by dancing vegans.

that's about right.

this guy

im kinda bummed we didnt get through all of them

ed is not into cameras

the reason: joe and maggies new appartment

goddamit i forgot to get a gift bag. :( chubby drew on a lot of them and he makes the best little drawings.

alright
i'm going to go clean my house and crochet myself into oblivion
happy 4th of july

art_lurker @ 2009-07-03T17:53:00

2009-07-03T22:55:12Z

sketchin' sketches

available here

happy july

2009-07-02T04:53:33Z

workity work

awesome. more here

time to refresh your browsers, kids, this thing is pretty much up and running
www.melissasuestanley.net
flickr/blogger/livejournal/facebook/myspace is ok i guess, but i prefer having a nice, clean, neat place to look at my work together more cohesively and more professional-like. Something that says "Hello, I am an artist and I'm not fucking around"... rather than "OH HAI! I MAKE STUFF wanna See? and we can be Friends!!!@!"

wouldn't it be fun to turn off all social networking sites for one month?

art_lurker @ 2009-06-30T21:40:00

2009-07-01T03:05:22Z

well hello there

so many little things

i'm back, i'm working, the wheels are turning, less is being more
i can't really talk about my painting, or even my soft-sculpture, here
i'm so frustrated
but if before i go to sleep each day i've made something or some drawing that didn't exist when i woke up, if i can make something exist each day, then i can be ok

i need to lighten up.
here is a picture of my husband:

here is something i saw on the internets today:

here are some birds i made:

(sarlo is a nickname, i can't really explain it, it's a chubby thing)

i think i go grocery shopping three times a week because i just love it so much

the farmstand is running, and vegetables are getting better, and i love getting home and putting fresh and good smelling food away

here is a new studio monster available in my etsy shop

my paintings make pretty nice backgrounds for photographing these things.
eventually there will be a shift between sewing and painting. i'm not ready yet. but soon.
until then, these guys will continue to come into existence with my little fingers and live with me in the studio

last night chubby and i got our plane tickets for southeast asia, this fall.
to celebrate tonight i wanted a big bowl of pho

sleep now.

art_lurker @ 2009-06-28T12:23:00

2009-06-28T17:25:00Z

Hey! Can we all please stop freaking dying for a week or two? WTF.

so long, you crazy bastard.

art_lurker @ 2009-06-27T22:08:00

2009-06-28T03:15:36Z

travel brained

taking a little break from work (update later, tomorrow maybe)
i'm going through and fixing the travel blog - putting back in all the pictures from Vietnam and Cambodia.
Planning the trip for this fall.
vietnam-thailand-laos-cambodia-vietnam
in vietnam we'll see thiet and ly and mien
in cambodia we'll see samedi's family again
in thailand we'll see my brother
in laos we'll see everything

in the meantime, slowly putting the photos back in. click here, scroll down a little

home

2009-06-22T11:51:12Z

sweet home, chicago. suburbs.

apart from a little jet-lag, an 8 hour flight ain't nothin'. i like that.

my little bosaki did not make it, he was gone when i came home

sad.

my magazine came in the mail

and it looks great. it's out July 1, or order from stampington.com

the pile of work on my desk is enourmous.
i just want to draw
i will now find time for everything.
pour a pot of coffee, crack the knuckles.

art_lurker @ 2009-06-16T07:56:00

2009-06-16T12:58:30Z

RAAAAAA!

switzerland is awesome.

bloggin' monster

slothy wall monster

2009-06-09T17:20:52Z

Hello from Switzerland. Again.

Sitting in hotel waiting for chubby. Dinner. Rest.

In the meantime, here's something I finished before I left. It's slothy.

ok, i'm on vacation. no more work. seeya!

art_lurker @ 2009-06-05T11:37:00

2009-06-05T16:37:55Z

HELLOOOOOOO FROM SWITZERLAND!!!

i got a sunburn and a belly full of beer.

---->http://edandmel_travel.livejournal.com

art_lurker @ 2009-06-04T00:52:00

2009-06-04T05:53:27Z

i have a whole photo shoot for the guy on the left to upload, but i'm exhausted and need to go to switzerland now K BYE.

(PS: Posting from Switzerland starts FRIDAY. You can read it here: http://edandmel_travel.livejournal.com)

July 1

2009-06-04T05:30:42Z

this thing hits July 1! get yo' copy. i got some things going on inside of it.

never a dull moment

2009-05-31T18:24:43Z

before yesterdays wedding

after yesterdays wedding

good long catholic mass all in polish

i dont know what everyone else did in between but me and chubby and issac found a great place in justice that served amazing pierogi and okocim and sausage and cabbage and we shacked up there for 3 hours

then, reception where i got to talk to samedi's cousin about cambodia

and an endless supply of home-made polish vodka

and, mr zane lampry, if you're reading this, what the guy smoking outside told me was actually true: if you drink *only* the polish home-made vodka, you will -not- get a hangover. (you might go blind, or lose a few hours of your night...) and, this morning i can say that was a true statement.

i'm amazed.

art_lurker @ 2009-05-29T17:08:00

2009-05-29T22:20:54Z

oh, the internets.
i want to unplug you now but i have 2 commissions to complete, a website to finish before my magazine article comes out, a travel blog to fix before i leave.

in one week i'll be somewhere around..
oh...

here:

...where i will rest my brain and sew nothing and think a lot about painting and hopefully draw a shit ton

also we had a picnic again today

you've got to have picnics.

art_lurker @ 2009-05-28T13:33:00

2009-05-28T18:43:05Z

for me these fortune cookie embroideries are somewhere between: reactionary joke against the perpetuation of bullshit aesthetics and general crap, and, just something i think is funny and a good idea and enjoy making.

i amuse only myself, i suppose. probably bad for business...

(i do like these though and hope someone else does too...)

anyway.
this catcow is almost done

i've been really itching to use this great colorway yarn i got - the one up front there - it's from uruguay and it smells amazing and its soft and the colors are amazing. i dont like making whole ami's out of colorway yarn - but for horns and details it's perfect.

prototype

2009-05-28T03:45:40Z

art_lurker @ 2009-05-24T19:43:00

2009-05-25T00:43:57Z

free range

2009-05-24T21:31:11Z

studio monster

most everything i make spends its 'at home' time living in a plastic bag in a box under my desk... away from dust and coffee and paint.
(also in picture - comic from larrybear and drinking glass from YAVAglass)

studio monsters are, however, completely free range.
(also in picture - print from stellarbaby)

they pretty much go wherever they want

please get it out of my house

art_lurker @ 2009-05-23T09:57:00

2009-05-23T15:02:34Z

i suppose i have a twitter now, whatever that means

i dunno about twitter. but i'll try anything i suppose. i do like deleting online social networking profiles, so at least i have that to look forward to soon.

i promise you nothing!

im making little mini-monsters, and all i can think about is tater tots. i think i've fried my brain on dirty bastard beer and scott birams new album.

undine

2009-05-21T13:51:50Z

the claws go through the bottom (but are fixed in, they dont come out)

In the shop today

art_lurker @ 2009-05-20T09:04:00

2009-05-20T14:06:08Z

organization is for suckers.

(in busy studio pictures like this i always have to look through them closely to make sure there's no taco chips or cookie crumbs mixed in with my stuff)

art_lurker @ 2009-05-19T10:47:00

2009-05-19T15:49:19Z

well...

MY ladybits just did a cartwheel.