Growing up, I always knew my mother would come to get me. She’d always be there to pick me up after school, she’d always be there when I got off the plane, and she’d even be there if our plans changed suddenly. (My dad on the other hand did forget me twice. In his defense, the first time happened when I was a baby in the car seat and he only forgot to drop me off at the daycare – he must have thought I wanted to go to work with him instead. After that he had 18 good years until he forgot to pick me up after my SAT exam. Thankfully, I was entertained by the Boy Scout Jamboree that began shortly after the testing.)
So I’ve never truly worried that my parents would not come back for me. However, if my mother was a selkie, I might well have to worry if she went out to sea.
“A selkie ocasionally comes on land, shedding her seal skin so she can start a family. Years can go by. Sometimes it’s only a few, other times it can be decades. It all depends on how strong the pull of the sea is. Eventually all selkies go back to the water and their first families, leaving their children by the ocean to wait for them. Sometimes they wait for years, other times they wait for decades. It all depends on how strong their resolve is.”
“Waiting for Mom” is my newest, quirky pen and ink print. I’m so pleased with how it turned out! It’s my first time using the computer to add that brilliant teal blue and the little bits of yellow on the buttons. I can’t help but be a little jealous of their sailor jackets. I’ve always wanted one, ever since I developed a love for stripes. It helps that I’m dating an ex-Navy man but sadly he left his uniform at his parents’ so I can’t wear it whenever I’d like. (Though he does still have his hat and coveralls!)
Whether you enjoy the sailor jackets or the idea of two girls watching for the return of their seal mother, you can now hang “Waiting for Mom” on your wall! It’s available as an open edition print and a limited edition print (I’m only printing 100 of these lovelies!).
This lovely image marks the second to last one I’ll be creating for my sea book! What do you think?
Do you ever have those months where everything seems to come due at the same time and you have to set a count-down clock to the day it’s all done?
Well, my boyfriend and I are there. We have 40 days of stress, chocolate, kitty videos, and nervous breakdowns to live through and then it’s one big sigh of relief! We’re so worried about making it through that we’ve made shoulder rub coupons that can be redeemed at any time. (My boyfriend also offered to walk on my back but I’m not sure I’ll take him up on that offer.)
In between prepping for my two big spring sales and getting the contents of my sea book in order, I’ve been having a great time sketching this commission for a book cover. It’s not often I get paid to draw a sea serpent!
On Easter I chatted with my youngest cousin over a large amount of food. He asked me what my job was. When I told him, “I’m an artist,” his eyes got really wide. ”Cool!” Yes, it IS cool. Haha. When I told him I got to draw sea serpents for a living I was suddenly even cooler.
So as long as I remember that being an artist and getting to draw sea monsters all day is cool (and let’s face it, fun), I should be able to get through these next 40 days.
If you have any silly cat videos to recommend, let me know! You can never watch too many when you’re having a stress attack.
Spring is officially here and I’m coming out of hibernation for 2 great art fairs! If you live in the Bay Area, you’ll want to mark your calendars because these events are going to be fun!
April 21st I’ll be at the 2nd annual SJ Made in San Jose. It’s a full-day event that features local artisans, music, and food trucks! What could be better? I’ll be there all day so stop by and say hello! I’ll be showing off my new line of pillowcases and will have lots of embroidery kits there as well. It’s a perfect time to pick up an early gift for Mother’s Day.
Then May 19th and 20th I’ll be in San Mateo for the enormous Maker’s Faire! I’m so excited to do this show but I am also scared beyond belief. I’ve been told it’s like Burning Man without the dust. Either way, I’m ready to see some robots, meet some cool people, and give away some Studio MME temporary tattoos. (Yes, you read that right! Temporary tattoos are in the works!)
I hope you’re as enthusiastic about these spring shows as I am. Whether you come for the food, the robots, or me, you should definitely give yourself a mini-vacation on these days and have some fun! I’ll share more details on each as they get closer. (For now, to get a sense of how I’m getting ready for these events, imagine two generations of hamsters running around on their wheels, chugging water, and taking short naps in their wood chips. That’s how it feels here. Haha. But I’ll pull it all off and celebrate with some robots and food truck food.)
You know the phrase one step forward, two steps backward. Well, this illustration is certainly going in that direction. I had finished the inking and I took a giant leap and decided to color it on the computer. I thought it looked fabulous. But then when I printed it, it looked uglier than those ugli fruit they sell at the grocery store. So now it’s attempt number 2 and perhaps back to the drawing board for the selkies. Poor girls. All they want to do is look for their selkie mother, not languish on my desk awaiting Photoshop insight.
Here’s a peek at my last attempt. I was becoming quite pleased with it until it decided not to print.
But I’m not going to get discouraged yet! If there’s one thing I’ve learned about art, it’s that you have to keep trying until you get a good illustration.
I’ve been quite busy lately but I can again show you one of my secret projects!
A while back I teamed up with the amazing singer, song-writer, voice-finder, and rabbi, Minna Bromberg. She’s launching a new CD soon and I had the honor of illustrating the cover, inside, and the CD itself. I know! I’m the luckiest girl in the world!!!
Minna is the kindest woman I know and her voice literally blew my socks off! If you haven’t heard her before, you’ll want to check out her website and listen to one of her songs. I know you’ll swoon over the deep melodies she creates.
We put our heads together for the cover of her album, At the Edge of the Unknown, and created this mixed media piece that blends mountain, air, water, and words. It’s not often I combine paint and ink, but in this case it worked out beautifully and I’m grinning ear from ear over the finished piece. What do you think?
Now it’s just a little bit of layout work and it’s off to the publishers! Minna’s CD will be available soon and then you’ll be able to have a piece of my artwork and Minna’s voice. This is my first time joining forces with a singer but I can’t wait to do it again!
Growing up, I constantly heard, “100% Megan!” As in, finish your projects, finish cleaning your room, finish your nasty Army green peas 100%. My poor mother had to put up with a child who could never complete something 100% of the way without several days going by and several ‘ahems’ being not-so-slyly issued. I would get distracted or secretly not feel like cleaning up my paints, even though it meant I couldn’t g0 to bed until I did.
I thought I’d grown out of that tendency but I think it will plague me for a few more years, if not indefinitely. You see, I’ve had two illustrations sitting on my desks for MONTHS now just waiting to get that last little 2% done so that they could be 100% complete.
Now, don’t get too excited because while one is done, the other is still not finished and it might well take another month or two. But I wanted to share them with you because I think you’ll really enjoy them and it might just give me a little boost of motivation.
I realized that my ocean book, and all of the drawings I’d created for it, is making a new mythology for the sea. And this piece of an antique diving suit is no exception. In this aquatic mythology, this diver is the depths of the sea. He is the thing all drowned sailors see when they open their eyes on the bottom of the ocean. He’s a memory from a past time that has slowly immersed itself in salt and sand. He has no name but will occasionally stick his helmet above the surface to check on the progression of the land’s erosion into his depths. In essence, he is Davy Jones.
As of yet, this sea piece is untitled but it will be appearing in my shop this weekend and I’ll post again when I have the name figured out. I’m open to suggestions, if you have any.
This piece is the prequel to “Coming Home” and shows Imogene leaving the city via train and heading to the forest. Thus, it’s entitled, “Leaving Home”. It needs work still and more green in the walls of the train but I enjoy the play of the paintings (one by Van Gogh and the other by Renoir) that show glimpses of the trees she’ll soon live under. I’d love to know what you think!
Sometimes it’s frustrating that I can’t finish something 100% right away but there is a satisfaction that comes (no matter how late) from finally setting something down and being completely, 100% happy with it. Don’t you agree?
When I was about 8, I got my first locket. It was gold and heart-shaped and the teeny, tiniest locket in the world. I’ve still never seen one quite so small and I’m not sure if the concept was that it was for a child and thus children have teeny tiny fingers, but it was a bugger to fill with a picture. That’s what lockets are for, right? To store a little keepsake. Personally, I’d wanted to store a lock of someone’s hair (I had no one in mind but I’d read about it in a book and it had seemed like a good idea at the time) but it was too small. So the next best thing was a picture of my younger brother. Since the locket was 1cm tall, I had to use one of those itty bitty ‘trading’ pictures from school. (The point of these tiny pictures is to feel like you have 20 friends who actually want a picture of you but my reality was that I went to school with 20, came home with 19, and told my mother that, ‘Yes, I had given them out like she asked me to.’) Anyway, I had one of my brother and I set about cutting out his head to fit in my locket. I only had safety scissors at the time (smart move, Mom) but I had to cut it into a heart-shape, so it took a really long time. In the end I think I only managed to get one eye, half of his nose, and perhaps his chin into the locket. But I had a photo locket now! I’d never been so cool!
Ever since then, I’ve been intrigued by lockets. They have their own hidden history and contain secrets. I think it’s their mystery that I like. Mine certainly would have been a mystery to anyone who found it (if they’d had tiny enough fingers to get it open).
It was my fondness for lockets that drew me to Cat of Polarity. Her locket design was so unusual and yet very modern. Plus, you could actually fit a picture in it. I was instantly hooked and I knew that I wanted to team up with her to make a locket with my artwork on it. We made one design last year and we heard so many nice things about it that we decided to do it again.
So last weekend, Cat released our new Seaside Mirror Locket that features 3 of my ocean illustrations.
The lids are interchangeable, which means you can choose which image you need to get through each day. If you need the help of a wish-granting fish, then you’d want to wear, “If Fishes Were Wishes.” Or if you knew you would need a very large hug all day long, you’d certainly want, “The Love Whale.” And if you felt like a ship in a storm, then there’s no alternative but, “Savior of Ships.” Three lids, one locket. Isn’t that cool?
This new locket is now in my shop and personally, I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Can you?
I seem to have water on the brain lately. It might be because the plumber finally came to fix our shower and I can now shower without taking a needle nose pliers in with me to turn on the tap. You can’t imagine how nice that is! A knob that actually turns and doesn’t break in your hand! The plumber was even nice enough to come an hour before his 12pm to 4pm window but that meant we had no water over lunch time, which probably upset a few neighbors. (In the plumber’s defense, his car broke down while he was getting our parts and that’s why there was no way to flush a toilet for almost 2 hours.)
But besides bathroom water, I also took my family to the beach for their visit! My boyfriend and I got to poke, pick up, and play with our first ‘wild’ sea cucumbers and starfish. Thankfully my boyfriend didn’t decide we needed a new pet for our fish to play with.
So all this water makes me want to share some sneak peeks for my ocean book, which is still planned for a July release!
Allow me to introduce you to two daughters of a selkie. Their seal mother gave her magical pelt to their father so that she could stay on land with him and raise a family. But the sea is always home to selkies and eventually they take up their pelts again and return to the depths. These two girls still watch for her every day in the hopes that she’ll return.
This is obviously an in-progress illustration. When it’s done, it will accompany a short poem I wrote about what it means to be raised by a selkie mother. Again, this is just a snippet of it (I don’t want to give it all away yet!) but I think it will make you chuckle.
Selkie Mother
Was your mother a selkie?
And wide as any boat?
Did she take you in the tide
And teach you how to float?
My mother was a selkie.
She smelled of salt and sea.
She never sang or whispered,
Just barked the words at me.
Don’t you wish your mother was part-seal now? I’ll definitely be sharing more sneak peeks of my book as more pieces get pumped out. The deadline is fast approaching and I’m so eager to let you put the finished piece on your bookshelf! Are you excited too?
I’m working on 2 secret projects right now and I can’t share any details for a few more weeks but I can tell you about one former-secret project that came out this month!
Last month I worked with an author and a magazine editor to create this magazine cover for a serial story. I’ve always loved serials, ever since my dad let me read his Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. There’s just something magical about a story being told little by little each week. It’s similar to the Advent calendar (which I think my mother used to pop open and eat while we weren’t looking) and the birthday count-down.
This serial is a darker story, featuring The Company, Ouija boards, and a Constantine-feel. It was a different subject matter for me but when readers caught a glimpse of the cover, I guess there was quite a stir on Twitter! (I was a little worried the short story would be a little too scary for me – I don’t do scary – but it was the perfect blend of suspense and eeriness.)
Cover for “The Darkest Shade of Grey”
You can read the short story over at Red Penny Papers. It’s available now online and very soon it will also be available as an e-book! This will be my first e-book cover!! I’m so excited.
I sometimes forget that artists lead unusual lives. To us, they’re just lives and we start to think that everyone fills their home with pens and paint and palette knives. But that’s not the norm. Most people collect cleaning supplies (which they then ONLY use to clean, not to concoct new painting mediums or transfer images from paper to steel) or magazines (which they don’t tear apart for collages or garlands).
My parents are visiting this week and as my boyfriend and I are hurriedly cleaning our small apartment, I’m beginning to see just how unusually we live.
- My studio is the kitchen and I’m writing this from my desk squished up against the refrigerator. There are more printers and office supplies in this tiny cooking area than in most cubicles.
- Our walls are filled with art hung salon style (floor to ceiling) because most of the people we know are artists and we’ve begun to collect their work. Of course, we’re secretly hoping that some of the pieces will one day be worth millions and then we can actually buy more wall space.
- Our bed is supported by prints and boxes of old artwork that may yet see light again when we make it big and someone is willing to buy a sketch that would otherwise make friends with dust bunnies over the decades.
- Our bathroom doubles as a darkroom from time to time and that’s the reason why our white bathroom walls are splattered with blue and green. (I’m not quite sure what the green chemical is and I’m scared to ask. For now I just remember not to lick the walls.)
So I realized that because I’m an artist and most people are more normal, it would be helpful to have a little framing how-to on my FAQ page. I was silly all this time and thought that everyone had basic frame-building skills and owned 2 mat cutters, countless razors, and stacks of mat board so tall they act as bed risers. But that’s silly! Who is like that? Only art grad students…and those rare people who actually get a kick out of matting.
So if you’re ever wondered how to frame some of my work, you’ll definitely want to take a peek at the how-to.
Otherwise, I’m hoping to share some more amazing with you concerning a new pillowcase and two secret projects but I also want to spend every moment I can this week with my family, who I haven’t seen in a year. If you don’t hear from me, it will be because I’m in San Francisco attempting to leave my brother on Alcatraz while the rest of us go and watch the seals at the Fisherman’s Wharf. I hope you have a marvelous week! Thank you so much for understanding!
Sew a New Story!
Newest Print In The Shop
Grab a Widget!
