The End.

Ladies and Gents, it's the truth!  

While the OhNo!Doom Collective has big and exciting plans for 2013, the brick-and-mortar gallery and shop space at 1800 N Milwaukee in Chicago will be closing.

This Saturday, December 15, OhNo!Doom will be having one last big barnburner at the gallery featuring all local artists.  I will have a small selection of both paintings and plush on display, so stop on by and take a look!  THis will be an all day and evening cash & carry event with some special offers as well!  

Personally, I've had the absolute pleasure of spending 2012 working with, in, around OhNo!Doom.  I don't even know what to say to express how much fun I've had with these six surly bastards.  So I'll just say: Come To The Dang Show!  It's going to be a blast.  I'll be there all day, handing out PBRs and hanging out.  

The End Is Near

December 15, 2012

2pm - 10pm

Click here for the Facebook Event Page!

xoxox

Melissa

In Progress this weekend

Pomegranite Snarl
(watercolor in progress)

Pomegranite

...moving along

I like this one. I bought pomegranates today.

Sketching it out, let's see how this weekend goes...

Basje

Basje
(Untitled)

Watercolor and Colored Pencil on Paper

2012

doodle-ooo

 

moleskine doodlin'

Monday

Sketchin' for a painting of Jaime and Dandelions, moleskine goofin'.

If I can get a composition I like, I suppose she'll be joining the two other ladies I have in the works.  Then those three lovely ladies will be on display next month!  Deets on that show later, of course. 

Lure

"Lure"

watercolor and colored pencil on paper

Here's a full-image shot of the other mermaid painting that is going to be over at Tymeless Tattoo & Gallery
Saturday, October 27th!

Nixe

"Nixe"

watercolor and colored pencil on paper

One of two fishy-lady paintings that are off to New York for 

"I'll Be Right Back"

October 27th, 2012 

Tymeless Tattoo & Gallery

Here's a link to where the event lives on Facebook!

Here's some detail pics:

 

 

dont blink

Good gravy, I am busy.  Although, it seems like everyone is.  Work work work, driving, driving, life.
But, I did take a couple hours off from the madness to sit with my friends and watch scary movies this weekend.  And if you're going to sit around and watch scary movies, you should do it with a Meatface.

MEATFACE 2012 LIVES!!

Sorry, I can't get enough Meatface.  I got this idea a few years ago from Super Punch and have been making at least one a year every Halloween since.  Delicious and Disturbing.  He's a conversation stopper. 

Anywho.
I'm still getting my scans of the mermaid fish-ladies put together, but when they're ready I'll post 'em.
In the meantime here's another teeth-teaser

It's certainly toothy and halloweeny around here.  More soon, internet!
xoxo

And the other mermaid

After some brief life-delays, this lady is done.  She gets scanned tonight and then I'll post proper pictures tomorrow.

Work work work.
Back to work and then puttering at OhNo!Doom tonight.  Stop by.  Bring me a beer.
xoxo

Hey Internet!  I been workin' too much to blog.  Boo.  My brain is a bit fried, but I'm getting a lot done.  Sleep is rare and full of Dr. Who nightmares. 

 

Things in the works include this lady, who is getting teeth tonight

 

And then she'll be all done and ready to scan. 

And then she and her long-necked friend fly off to New York for the show opening on the 27th. 

And then I will answer some emails and take a nap.

 

oh hey!

Ok so first off:

Riot Fest was fan-tastic. The bands themselves were amazing - and we saw damn near all of them - but the whole carnival atmosphere and way the thing was put together was perfect. Two days of dancing and whiskey and ferris wheels.

Moving along, it's Autumn, which means I can't help this from happening

New monsters and friends being sewn-up for my Etsy shop. If you've ever wanted one of my critters, next month will be a good time to snatch one up (ETA: the new Tootsie Monster has already been purchased ~ Thanks!)  I'll post more photos of these as they come along - I'm taking my time with them and they'll be done next month, along with some new Amigurumi. I've been sewing these little monsters in the evenings, in that little bit of time between when I get home from the day job and before I start the night's painting.

And then I'm still working on the fish-ladies

This one is just about done, with the other two close behind. She's 18"x7", watercolor and graphite pencil on paper. I'm working on getting details now, in the hair and wrinkles, which is my favorite thing and makes me wicked happy.
I should have details on the show soon!

xoxox

september!

1am in the treehouse, scratching out one of the final mermaid paintings, gettin' loopy on sleep-deprivation. It's been a week. Oof.


The mermaids are for "I'll Be Right Back" ~ a horror-themed show curated by Isaac Bidwell, which will open October 27th in Baldwinsville, NY. And of course I'll have all the details and fun info on that a little later.

That's all for this week, kids - me and my 2-day passes to Riot Fest are signin' off! Happy weekend! xo

where the time goes

workworkworking away

3 am in the treehouse

Another Monday Midnight

Late late nights, washing in layers and layers.
Started the hair a bit last night (this morning?) and very happy with all of that. I like painting hair. So, yay.

Mermaids

Having a ton of fun, and losing a ton of sleep, in the sketchbook this week.





Still working on that catfish lady, not sure about her yet. Starting the other two paintings tonight though!

I think I have some sleep scheduled for Sunday. I'm pretty excited about that, too.

Long Labor Day Weekend

Thurs/Fri/Sat were pretty much spent at OhNo!Doom. The radical Adventure Time show is off (but still Online!), and the Autumn is being slowly (and happily) welcomed in with The Grove

This show is lovely and full of surprises and little mysteries. I walked away with a particularly fantastic (and curiously disturbing) print by Teagan White.

Other Labor Day activities included:


Making new friends in unusual places


Dee-licious home grillin' and being lazy outside in the deep grass


Sketchbook Sketching. This fishy-lady will be painted and printed, along with some of her terrifying aquatic friends, for a show next month in New York state. Details on all of THAT later!

And of course,

Drinking with Goats and Friends.


..and as always, back to work. It was a long (long long long) day at the office today, but I'm thinking I can still get in a few good hours of paint.

Happy September, Internet. Who's ready for gourds and cider?!

while the iron's hot

Lana joins the list of ladies-in-progress.

...something like this sketch I did last weekend

but with fishes and things.

These larger watercolors take a bit longer and I seem to let them stew longer. Having a few going at a time keeps me working while some are simmering in my brain.




Things to finish in September.

Sketchbook Weekend

I started doodling in my sketchbook on Friday evening, sitting alone at the Beetle Bar, with a hard-week's-earned Revolution Wit.











I stopped doodling in my sketchbook at 3am this morning, sitting with two other sketchbook-doodlers on a couch, and sipping a delicous bloody mary.

It's a living.
or
"School Nights" are for sissies.

xoxox

keepin on

A much-needed 3-day road-trip & fishing vacation


Home again and back to work. When I'm too tired to work, I work in the sketchbook.


The sudden brief crisp in the air makes me drag out piles of books and yarn and schedules for life-drawing classes. I've been working hard all summer, but everything seems to move smoother in the cooler weather. We had to wear sweaters all weekend up north, and pumpkins were for sale on the side of the road.

WHAT

Not a whole lot to show you, internets, tho' I have been wicked busy on all fronts,

A lot of day-jobbing, driving, and other miscelaneous tasks that don't translate well into blog-updates or instagram.

First off

My Marceline "Shades of Red" painting is now available at OhNo!Doom (on the previously mentioned Preview List for today, online in the show and in the gallery for sale tomorrow).

And!

There are 12 (and only 12) prints available - they're lovely! Printed on thick quality watercolor paper and a nice standard 11" x 17".
These are the first prints I've ever had of anything, so I'm pleased as punch about them.


Besides all the ON!D stuff, I've been working on finishing this painting

Which I'm hoping to put a solid dent in on Sunday.
I've also started a small watercolor sketchbook

mainly to screw around with and enjoy my new watercolors. I've been using a terribly old and terribly terrible set of Van Gogh's for the last couple years. I finally (with the help of some birthday Blick gift cards) went out last weekend and got myself a right proper set of Holbeins. Wow. So, more on that in the coming weeks :)

Alright. I gotta hit the highway and get back to work - I might post some teaser hanging-the-show pics for Adventure Time tonight so check the ON!D instagram - @ohnodoom.

And as always, swing by tomorrow night if you're in the Chicagoland area! There's going to be a lot of artists in attendance and a lot of sweet tunes and treats.
OhNo!Doom gallery
1800 N Milwaukee
Chicago!

xoxox

Shades of Red

Hey guys!

Here she is! Marceline the Vampire Queen sayin' hello in my painting
"Shades of Red"

She'll be on display and available at Adventure Time - A Tribute Show
The show opens at OhNo!Doom in 1 week! Saturday August 11th, 6pm - 10pm.

There will also be a limited number of prints available. Join the preview list RIGHT HERE if you're into that, and also to get a first look at all the totally radical artwork that has been sent in for this show!

Shmowzow Dude!

Mossery

I'll just say it, Instagram has made me lazy.

I can just point and shoot and upload and call it a day. Which is fantastic because lemme tellya, there is a lot of crap going on right now that keeps me away from this laptop. The only things I want to see this machine for are visual references for painting, pandora rockin', and google-chatting my ladies.

So, Instagram, I appreciate the convenience, but I also feel disconnected from writing, emails, blogging, so on.

Partly, this is all going to explain why it's taken me so long to give a big shout-out check-out (and thank-you) to one of my favorite ladies out there


This Sussex-born Wales-living lady makes lovely music, entertaining bloggery, pretty photographs, and downright adorable babies. Make yourself a cup of tea and head on over to read her blog, Mossery: a collection of mosses. She recently did a re-post of one of my favorite entries, which has one of my favorite sentences in it:
"I've been sitting on my computer at my parents house for a week endlessly and cleanly extracting sunflower seeds from their black shells with my teeth, a technique I finally perfected whilst spinning through the Gobi Desert almost two weeks ago."
Love it.
She also recently did a post featuring my work, right here, which was so sweet I got a bit weepy.
So thank you lady! I love your work as well.
xoxox

I'm going to try to focus on writing actual words and sentences here more often. Like I said, I've been disconnected from writing in general, because of so many things. We'll see how it goes.
Meanwhile, you should totally follow me on Instagram --> @melissasuestanley

Cowabunga, Indeed.

O-M-Glob you guys, it's almost Adventure Time!!!



On August 11th, OhNo!Doom Gallery in Chicago is going to get wicked algebraic!

If you're in Chicago you don't want to miss this. C'mon and grab your friends and swing on by to check out the super amazing art, smash some cookies in your face, maybe do a little science-dancing, and play my favorite game, "Count How Many Hipster Girls Came Dressed Up As Marceline"



In the meantime, don't forget that the current show Septenary is still on! Which means it's not too late for someone to buy J. Shea's "Caligrapher" for me as a belated birthday present...

...it's seriously gorgeous.



OK, enough chatter. BACK TA WERK for me. A certain sweet gentleman is working on finishing up the scan-stuff involved in my Marceline painting, so I should have a nice final image for you of that later tonight! And I'll let you know about the prints of that which will be available at the show.
Painting, cartoons, and beer, here we go.
Happy Tuesday, internet.