Happy New Year: What Does A Year Look Like in Color?

A detail from a color spectrum created at the website Year of Colour. The site took Melani Grube's Instagram posts throughout the year of 2018 and extracted the colors and responses to those colors to make this color representation.

  Happy New Year! Would you believe they make a way to look back at how you used color over the year?! That’s what the image above is showing: the colors I used in my posts to Instagram and Facebook in 2018 and how you reacted to those posts and colors. You can do this,…

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Art Display Ideas: Dancer in Shadow

A display of The painting, "Dancer in Shadow" by Melani Grube. A dancer steps forth from the depths of our psyche, holding our secrets and mysteries, while her dazzling gown shines forth in a display of brilliance.

  How would you display this painting, “Dancer in Shadow“? Okay, so this was just a quick throw-together display, put together before I have to deliver this piece to Verge Center for the Arts for the Preview Show for the 13th Annual Sac Open Studios Tour. You will be able to see this piece at…

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Illustrated Title Banner for the Painting, “Wild Horses”

A detail from Hand-lettered title for the painting, "Wild Horses", with illustration element of a horse head with flowing mane.

  Happy Sunday! I hope you are having a wild and wonderful time. “Wild Horses” is the title of my newest painting for which I have been sharing the work-in-progress pictures. Now, watch for my next post when I reveal the completed piece. What is your favorite thing to do on Sundays? Tell me about…

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The Art of the Flat Lay

A flat lay of mystical images, color studies, patterns, handlettering, ribbons, gathered from a mood board.

  What is a flatlay? A flat lay is a photo of an assortment of items laid on a flat surface (thus, flat lay). The photo is most often taken from directly above the items. The surface serves as the background to the photo. The objects usually describe a theme, like “a day at the…

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Happy Mother’s Day!

Pen and ink portrait of Native American heroine Sacagawea with her infant son on her back. Blue ink and blue wash featured.

  Happy Mother’s Day! In developing a pen and ink portrayal of Sacagawea, one famous mother, I created a lot of “good try’s” (those images that didn’t make the grade). First off, I was working from my imagination, because there are no photos of Sacagawea. There is a painting of her with Lewis and Clark,…

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When Red Beret Meets Raspberry Beret

Girl in a raspberry colored beret.

  Ever get a song stuck in your head? As I worked on my version of Picasso’s “Woman in a Red Beret “, the song, “Raspberry Beret “, by Prince floated into my mind. I started to wonder if Prince had been inspired by Picasso, too. And then, I realized the poetry of following “…berry”…

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Creative Exploration of the Woman in the Red Beret

Detail from the flat lay for The Woman in the Red Raspberry Beret painting. Possessions shown include French poetry book, lipstick, iphone earbuds, eyebrow shade kit, sketchbook, pen, wrist bangles.

  Do you like flat lays? I love using flat lays as part of my art process. They help me throughout the process, before I start, during the creation of, and after I’ve finished the painting. (I also love flat lays for flat lays’ sake.) This flat lay told me so much about the personality…

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Woo Your Muse

Hand-lettered, "Woo Your Muse", on a white to light blue gradient background.

  Your inspiration for the week: Woo Your Muse. And unfortunately for me, this is exactly what I am NOT doing right now. Instead, I’m nose-deep in preparing my taxes. But I’ll have to write more about the muse, one of my favorite subjects, after I’ve recorded my 80 billionth receipt and got the whole…

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A Big Secret That Will Help You Create a Website You’ll Love

A flat lay of mystical images, color studies, patterns, handlettering, ribbons, gathered from a mood board.

  Want to build a website you’ll love? With all the details and possibilities, where do you start? I asked myself, “What am I all about? How will this site reflect what I’m about?” At first, the technology and practicalities of building the site loomed large and in the way of the design. But I…

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