A Little Tour for You: Painting to Print to Shop

A thumbnail image of "Dancer in Center", a painting by artist Melani Grube, shows a dancer drawing all her energy back to her center, as her skirts sail around her.

  Have you wondered why it takes a while for my finished paintings to become available in my shop?   There’s just a few details to attend to: Scanning Proofing Printing Packaging Styling Photo-shoot-ing (hee hee) Measuring Documenting Description-ing Pricing Listing   And the most important detail: letting you know it’s available!   So, just…

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To Inspire You: Fly High

A thumbnail version of An illustration by Melani Grube of an eagle soaring high amongst the mountaintops and blue sky.

  Fly high and don’t let anyone take the wind from beneath you. Sometimes it may feel like you are the only one who believes in you. It’s lonely. It’s hard. And it’s the most important time to keep pushing on: it will carry you to your potential. Give yourself some love, ’cause you deserve…

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Play Big!

Detail of an Illustration (by Melani Grube) of a woman playing a very large string bass, a ribbon-framed corner and a flurry of butterflies emerging from the strings.

  How are you enjoying your Saturday? Let me encourage you to: Play Big! Work, rest or play, let’s put everything we’ve got into each day,  and we will make a difference in our lives and the world around us. Fiddle on.

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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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Using a Flat Lay to Explore the “Wild Horses” Painting

A detail from the flat lay exploration of associations we have with horses, through an assortment of objects: a horse shoe of good luck, the glove of English-style riding, the wildly beautiful horse on the book cover, the bow-tie of the proper gentry riding class, the red and white lariat, the silver cowboy, an arrowhead pointing to the Native American riding tradition, the archer-horse-man of the horoscope sign Sagittarius, and a mini celluloid pencil for scoring horse shows.

  Have you noticed all the different ways that horses touch our lives? When I started working on my “Wild Horses” painting, I  kept running into associations with horses. But I got worried when I started putting together a flat lay image to expand my ideas for the painting. I thought I didn’t own anything…

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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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Inspiration: Believe in Ourselves

  Inspiration for your week: The rewards for hard work are often delayed, so we have time to learn to believe in ourselves. Does it ever seem like you’re not getting anywhere? Do you question whether you’re using the right approach?  Wonder if it’s making a difference? I often feel that way. But then, some…

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Journey of Hope 2017 Exhibit: Unveiling the Completed Painting

A surreal woman stands and floats in a sea of waves and flowers. A rose-colored cloud escapes her lips. The flowers embrace and surround her. Mystical faces watch and accompany her. Violets and blues featured.

Official title: A Portrait in Song   Do you ever experience anxiety as you work on an important project? When I started this piece, I had anxiety about finding the image. I didn’t have an image in mind after reading the mental health journey story I was given by the exhibit coordinators. But that’s normal…

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Inspiration for Your Week

  When you work with your imagination, you work with the best in the world. Could you use a little inspiration? I know that I could use a little inspiration this week. Life threw me some curve balls like my son breaking his hand, a gas leak at our house, and looming radiation treatments for…

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