Daily Drawing - "bully"

"bully"

Just got back from our Tuesday outing at the rec center. Sam had a lot of fun until a 9 month old tried to climb up on his riding toy with him. He didn't care for that.

It's cold and gray here. I thought Spring was here!

Happy Tuesday.

Today's drawing "bully" can be found at my Etsy shop.

New Painting - "the last one"

"the last one"

Happy Monday everyone!

Today's daily work is a painting. I finished it over the weekend. And a happy accident happened on this one. I painted the "berry" with opaque acrylic in vermilion which has a very matte appearance. Then I added tiny red dots to give it more shape. But it still didn't look like a berry so I added high gloss varnish and let it dry naturally (usually I have the old hair dryer out) and a great thing happened...the varnish dried around the dots so they are still raised up and it really looks like a delicious & shiny red berry! Love when something unexpected happens like that.

This painting is available at my Etsy shop.

Amazing Plants

It is gorgeous here today...finally! After 4 days of rain we woke up this morning to sunshine. Sam slept until 9:00 am again today. We sure do hope it lasts. After breakfast we went to the Nature Center and walked around looking at the animals. We saw wolves, foxes, sea otters, a cougar and Sam got to pet a goat. We went on one of the nature trails and I saw these amazing plants that look like tiny umbrellas. I took a ton of pics. I fell in love with them. If anyone knows what they are please let me know. I'd love to plant them in our garden...once we actually have a garden.

I finished a new painting yesterday. I'll post it tomorrow.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend.

Daily Drawing - "yours and mine"

"yours and mine"

Today's daily drawing "yours and mine" is available at my Etsy shop.

To see all available daily drawings click here.

Still trying to decide if I'm going to nap or work. With all this rain I'm really leaning towards nap.

Still raining but...

Sam in his "new" raincoat we got from the local Free Cycle.


Indoor Farmer's Market

We had a great morning. Sam woke up at 9:00 am!!! There was a time in my life when that would have been really early for a Saturday but, as anyone with a toddler can tell you, 9:00 is late and it was so nice to wake up before Sam and lie in bed listening to him babble on the monitor.

So, we ate breakfast and got on the road to do some errands. Even though I work for myself and can pretty much take off any day, there is still something special about Saturday and Sunday. So, despite the rain we had a lot of fun driving around singing to The White Album and watching Sam do his groovy head-bob to the music.

We stopped at the indoor year-round Farmer's Market which is filled with local produce and tons of homemade local jams and jellies. Yum! Sam loved it because it's so big and open.

We just finished lunch and now we're winding things down getting ready for Sam's nap. It's such a good day to nap but I think I'll try to get some work done. Daily drawing will be posted soon.

Have a great weekend.

Art & Light Gallery - Greenville, SC

I am pleased to announce that my prints (including limited edition prints) will now be available at Art & Light Gallery in Greenville, SC. Lily of Lily Pottery put me in touch with Teresa a few weeks ago.

Thanks to Teresa for the wonderful mention on her blog today. I hope to make it down to Greenville to visit the gallery one of these days. The art featured on their site and blog is really great.

For those of you who might happen to live in the Greenville area the gallery is having a 1st Friday reception on April 3rd from 6-9 pm.

Daily Drawing - "lonesome lovebird"

"lonesome lovebird"

Okay, so it's been raining here or 3 straight days. Don't get me wrong, when I lived in LA I loved rainy days (the one or two times a year it happened) but this gloom is really doing a number on me. I just want to go back to bed. But I have been in the zone lately with drawing and painting. So, I gotta snap out of it! Back to work!

Today's drawing "lonesome lovebird" is available at my Etsy shop. Don't you just love the word "lonesome"? You pretty much only hear it in songs.

Have a great weekend!

Freebie Friday!!

Today is my 2nd Freebie Friday!! Buy one print (excluding limited edition prints & originals) in my Etsy shop and get a 2nd one free. Freebie Fridays will be announced at least twice a month. The day of the week could change though. Stay tuned!

Just convo me or put in your "message to seller" the name of the free 2nd print that you want and I will send them both together.

Happy Freebie Friday! Have a good weekend!

Daily Drawing - "I'll wait for you"

"I'll wait for you"

Today's daily drawing is "I'll wait for you". I used both brown and metallic copper pens for this one. Still trying to use some more colors but like I said the colors are pretty dull. But you'll see some color one of these days. Sorry for the post with nothing in it right below this one. I keep hitting a key that automatically sends it to post and I have no idea which key. Annoying.

Anyway, today's drawing is at my Etsy shop.

I got a lot of drawing done last night while "watching" American Idol. I used to think the show was ridiculous but now I'm hooked. It's the perfect show to have on while I'm drawing because I only need to hear it. In fact sometimes I get so embarrassed to watch some of the contestants (especially when they look right in the camera) that it's better just to listen.

It's cold and rainy here but I refuse to put on that winter coat again.

Happy Thursday!

Daily Drawing - "not today"

"not today"

Today's daily drawing seems appropriate. It's chilly and rainy here and I don't want to leave the house. Our friends Marsha, Pete & Ever just left. We had a playdate and some lunch. Now I'm ready for a nap. But too much work to do.

Got a lot of drawing done last night so stay tuned for more. Hope it's sunny where you are. Happy Wednesday!

Today's drawing is at my Etsy shop.

New Original Painting - "blue happy"

"blue happy"


my inspiration

Today's drawing is a painting. This one was also inspired by the amazing trees that are in bloom all over Asheville. I don't know what the tree is (maybe someone out there can tell me) but they all seemed to be instantly in full bloom overnight.

The painting has been sold.

We put our winter hats and coats in storage today. I hope it wasn't too soon. Did I just jinx it?

Feeling warm and inspired. Happy Tuesday!

Why Asheville?

Ian & Sam during our visit in June, 2008. Our house ended up being right up the street from where this was taken.

We (my husband, 1 year-old son & I) picked up and left Los Angeles in August of last year. We moved to Asheville, NC. It happened very quickly and a lot of people wanted to know "why Asheville?" which is on a different coast and with only 69,000 people VERY different from L.A. Our answers usually seemed to focus more on why we wanted to move out of L.A...paying too much rent to a crazy landlady, didn't want to raise Sam there, etc. We would also mention that Asheville was always mentioned on the "best places to live" and "most liberal" lists in various magazines. All good reasons but...

This weekend I was reading the Mountain XPress which is the free paper here and read an interview with a local metalsmith/artist named Alex Austin. She studied in Australia and 8 years ago brought her business to Asheville.

She says she moved to Asheville “because it’s one of the only places I know where museum-quality artists and craftspeople live as a respected part of the community.”

And there you have it. I couldn't quite put it into words but that's it exactly. It just feels like home. We have met the most amazing people here already and know that Sam will be surrounded by tolerant and creative people growing up here. Oh yea, and it's gorgeous here too.

Thanks Alex!

Daily Drawing - "nothing to see here"

"nothing to see here"

Happy Monday! Had a wonderful weekend... painted the living room a pale linen color. It's not my favorite color in the world but it really makes the dining room, which is a beautiful golden buttery yellow, pop. Next is Sam's room. I'm leaning towards a blue that is somewhere in between aqua and mint green. I haven't found the right color at a paint store yet but I could mix it up in a few minutes with acrylics!
Here is today's daily drawing titled "nothing to see here". Available at my Etsy shop.

Daily Drawing - "pests!"

"pests!"

Having a lazy Saturday hanging out with my boy & hubby. Almost forgot to post today's drawing.

The drawing is available at my Etsy shop.

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend.

"beautiful once" - revamped

"beautiful once" (revamped)

Well, I've been looking and looking at this painting and I just couldn't stand the lack of color (which was kind of the point in the first place). So, I added a splash of orange. I think it's better. At least it doesn't bug me anymore. It has been relisted on Etsy with the new orange drop.

Daily Drawing - "can we keep him?

"can we keep him?"

Well, I got a pretty good response to the small splash of color in yesterday's drawing so maybe I'll start doing more. If anyone knows of some good archival ink pens with interesting colors I'd love to know about them.

Today's drawing, "can we keep him?" has been sold.

Happy First Day of Spring!

Freebie Friday!!!

Today is Freebie Friday!! Buy one print (excluding limited edition prints & originals) in my Etsy shop and get a 2nd one free. I plan on having these freebie days at least twice a month. The day of the week could change though. Stay tuned!

I figure in this crappy economy we could all use some freebies. Just convo me or put in your "message to seller" the name of the free 2nd print that you want and I will send them both together.

Happy Freebie Friday! Have a good weekend!

Daily Drawing - "spring? is it you?"

my inspiration

I very rarely use color in my ink drawings mostly because the micron pens that I use come in really blah colors. But I was so inspired yesterday on my walk with Sam by all the beautiful trees just starting to bloom. The trees look almost dead except for these tiny & gorgeous pink blooms. So, I decided to get out the only pink marker that I had and add a little color to this one. Above is the drawing and my inspiration.

The drawing was sold to my dear friend Marisa.

Have a wonderful day!

My Little Artist

Yesterday was so beautiful. We went for a long walk and Sam started whining as soon as we turned back down our street. None of us wanted to go inside so we sat on the front porch and Sam colored. His new favorite past time. I sure do hope it stays warm.

New Original Painting - "beautiful once"

"beautiful once"

Today's daily drawing is actually a painting. I finished it last night. I don't think I've ever painted with so little color but I wanted to keep it neutral. I've had this color combo in my head for a while now. But while I was waiting for the shiny teardrops to dry I painted another piece of wood a bright vermilion red/orange and just loved the way they looked together. I contemplated painting one of the teardrops orange but I decided to stick with the original idea and keep it just gray, black & silver. The gray is on the warm side though. Neutral gray is just too depressing!

I did several more drawings last night so stay tuned. I am loving this new prolific me. I just hope it lasts!

Happy Wednesday!

Oh yea, this painting is available at my Etsy store.

Fancy Pants on Purple Pink and Orange

The title of this post sounds like some sort of secret agent code. My print "fancy pants" was featured on PurplePinkandOrange.com today. There are some really great finds on this blog. Thanks so much to Amy for the mention.

Daily Drawing - "harmless"

Well, the sun is finally out today and it's gorgeous. Too bad I threw my back out last night picking up one of Sam's toys. I'm trying not to let it affect my mood. Not too hard when it's so beautiful outside. And I actually started a painting yesterday so I hope to get back into it during Sam's nap. I'll post it soon.

Forgot that it was St. Patrick's Day so I'm wearing brown and black. Sam made me a cute little clover pin at our Tuesday outing at the rec center. I couldn't get him to use the green crayon though so it's mostly blue. Tempermental artist!

Here is today's daily drawing called "harmless". Available at my Etsy store.

Happy St. Patrick's day & Happy Tuesday!

Daily Drawing - "night out"

Raining again here today. Ugh. My L.A. brain can't handle the gloom. Hopefully tomorrow we'll see the sun.

Here is today's daily drawing called "night out". Click here to purchase on Etsy.

Featured on Girl Indie Blog

Thank you so much to Lindy who featured my work on Girl Indie blog today. And thanks for the very nice words. I really appreciate it. Click here to see the mention.

Daily Drawing - "so mean"

"so mean"

It's a cold and rainy day here today. We just got back from a little excursion to find Sam some summer clothes. We went to two large used/consignment events for kids. Yikes! There are a lot of pregnant women and moms in Asheville! The first one had a line around the entire event and it was a 2 hour wait to buy anything. No thanks! So we went to the other one and I found some cute summer shirts for Sam. He is growing so fast.

So, we're back home now and feeling drowsy after a big lunch and the gray rainy day doesn't help. So, as soon as Sam goes down I think we're all going down.

Here is the drawing for today. Sadly, I cannot post this one on Etsy because as I was trimming it I realized that I had already drawn some stuff on the back. Oh well. Not everything has to be for sale, right?

Happy Saturday!

Daily Drawing - "fading beauty"

This original drawing is available on Etsy.

Daily Drawings!

"you okay?"

Inspired by my good friend, Marisa, who used to amazingly post a new painting on her blog everyday, I am trying something new in an attempt to stop my creative brain from turning to mush. Since having Sam I haven't really been the most prolific of artists. It seems that if I have the time I am too exhausted to paint anything. So, I am now committing to a drawing a day which will be posted here and will be available on Etsy that day. These for the most part will be small, simple drawings but I may throw in a more complex one every once in a while or maybe even (gasp) a new painting!

I am hoping this will keep that part of my brain active and I will be able to create more.

Check my blog daily to see the daily paintings.

Follow me...

I just joined Twitter and have no idea what I'm doing. All I know is you follow people and they follow you. I just got the Facebook thing figured out. Ugh. I can see why people are addicted to these things now!

Didn't really have a good image to use for this post so I used one of my new prints, which is also my profile pic on Twitter. My username is melissamossart so...follow me...PLEASE!

Work of Genius

Well, at least I think so. Sam had a play date today and he created this gorgeous mixed media (crayon & watercolor) piece. It was so beautiful today (high 70's!) so we all sat outside and played and painted. It made me so happy. He wasn't into the whole crayon thing for a while but now he really loves it. And he has a real sense of when a piece is finished too. He just puts down the crayon and that's it. He's done. My little artist! I wish I could paint like that. I tend to never think my paintings are finished.

I took a walk downtown today and just felt so happy to be here. Everyone was out and there was this great, happy energy. People were playing guitars and eating outside. I know it's supposed to get cold again later this week but it sure has been nice to not wear a jacket and not have to turn on the electric mattress pad an hour before I get into bed. Can't wait for summer!

New Original on Etsy

I'm still trying to get into a routine where I paint everyday. But with the move and Sam and well, life, it has been difficult. I have managed to get out a few. The two newest paintings that I posted sold in the Enormous Tiny Art Show. This one I finished a couple of weeks ago but have just now gotten around to posting it. It's called "sway". This painting is available on Etsy.

New! Limited Edition Prints

Limited edition prints are now available at my Etsy store. These prints were created from original ink drawings that have been digitally colored. Each edition is only 10 prints. Click here to check out the new prints.