Developing a Design Workflow and Schedule

One of the most important things in running a store is to keep it constantly updated with new merchandise and activity.  This was true when running and offline store, and especially true online. When new items are added, it 

There are other things to be done daily as well. I write down ideas and sketches for new designs and post in my blog as much a

s possible.

I also have to be careful because making art is not physically active. I've enjoyed a lot of success with my art in the last several months, but it lost its glow a little bit when I discovered I couldn't fit into some of my summer clothing.

So an important part of my planning is to put the time in for taking a daily walk and planning household projects to give me some exercise. I'm setting a timer to remind myself to get up and walk around.

I lost a lot of weight and got in much better health in the last couple of years, and I don't want to lose that progress.

My routine is to get up very early in the morning and work on creating new designs first, and then on uploading them and filling out the information. Then when it becomes light I go on my walk.

That is my ideal routine anyway! I do it a lot of the time.

Today I made this black cat card:

Black cat red feed me card

by MelskyArt

and also put it on a clock:

Time To Feed Me Cat Clock
by MelskyArt

Watercolor Crayon Paintings in Progress

These look awful! But they will be good paintings once I complete a few more steps.

I start these by drawing a basic sketch on watercolor paper. Then I draw patterns and some details with colored pencils. Next I take the watercolor crayons and put some color and shading in.

Tomorrow I'm going to do the next step of using watercolor on top of these. That will make all the crayon parts turn into watercolor. I could just use water but I like to experiment with just a little more color. I may put in some metallic detail with acrylic paint, and then ink the outlines in.

I like this technique because I can do the first part in my home office at my desk. There's no water to spill! I will do the rest of it in my studio upstairs where the cats are not allowed.

It's also really fun to get the paintings to this stage and then see what happens to them when the water is applied. It feels magical.

Catching Up

I've been painting more, and also doing some digital art. I'm drawing on my Wacom tablet. It's very awkward to draw on it still, but I'm getting better. I plan on doing a line of greeting cards and other products such as magnets, t-shirts, etc.

Otherwise, I'm selling real estate. Yes, this takes up a lot of my time! I'm doing well though. I'm selling mostly to investors and first time buyers.

I am involved with cat rescue- I'm on the board of SANS - Spay And Neuter Syracuse. It's a clinic that provides spay/neuter services for homeless animals and people who can't afford full cost services at vets. Last winter I worked on Pawcasso, an art auction fundraiser.

I am going to post on this blog when I finish paintings. Besides the digital, I've been doing a lot of watercolor/ink/watercolor crayon. Watercolor is easier to do when you don't have much time. Though I like acrylic better, I can take a half hour in the morning and get quite a bit done on watercolors. With the acrylic, I have to use a lot of time for setup and cleanup.

This is one of my more recent paintings, itwas done with watercolor and resist. You paint the foreground first - the cat and fish. Then I covered them with a rubber-like substance and painted the backgrounds. When it dried, I rubbed off the resist. It was hard to get the resist just right, it took several coats. I like the way it turned out. I have cards and products with this image for sale in my Zazzle store.

Cat and Fish Resist by MelskyArt
Create a Post card with zazzle.com

New painting!

11x14 on canvas Psycho Kitty painting. This one is sold, it was part of an auction to support a cat shelter.

Sleepy Stars Kitty

This is an 8x10 watercolor and ink with acrylic accents on watercolor paper. The stars are metallic silver acrylic. It's going to be sold as a fundraiser for a cat shelter.

From the Past to the Future

This is a painting I did while living in San Franciso sometime in the early 90s. It's watercolor and ink. I'm going to do a new version of this painting.

Rose Cat

Rose Cat, originally uploaded by Melsky.

New painting! This is 8x10 inches, watercolor and ink on watercolor paper.

For Sale in Abstract Floral and Cat Art by Melsky

I'm pretty busy at work but finding a small amount of time to paint. I'm going to take some time off this weekend, maybe take a 4 day weekend.

Big Kitty City

Big Kitty City , originally uploaded by Melsky.

This is my painting for the Pawcasso benefit tomorrow night! It's 16x20 on canvas. It's going to be auctioned off to benefit SANS - Spay and Neuter Syracuse which provides low cost spay and neuter services.

Garden Cat

Garden Cat, originally uploaded by Melsky.

8x10 on Canvas - finished! Will be auctioned off at the PAWCASSO fundraiser to benefit SANS, who provide low cost spay/neuter services.

Summer Night Sky Cat

Summer Night Sky Cat, originally uploaded by Melsky.

I've finished a new painting. I decided to paint with acrylics today and see what happened. This is the result and I'm very happy with it.

This one is 8x10 on watercolor paper.

Summer Night Sky Cat painting for sale

I'm going to be doing the Art on the Porches festival on June 14th. It's really exciting to be doing a festival again, I have not done one in a long time. I hope the weather is good.

That's one thing I miss about California, the certainty that it would not rain on festival days. It doesn't rain in the Summer in most of California. I do like that it rains in the summer here in New York, it's just that I would like to be able to choose the days!

Ollie and Minty

Ollie and Minty, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Hi, sorry I haven't written for a while. I'm working full time now, and not that much time for internet. Don't have much time now, as a matter of fact! But here is a cute photo of my kitties.

Finally, a place to sit in the living room.

We got our new couch and loveseat today. It makes a big difference to have somewhere to sit in the living room.

This is another Psycho Kitty painting I finished on wood. It's hard to scan or photograph it because it has a glossy coating on it and they don't turn out well.

Earnest Cat

Grey Cat, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Doesn't this cat look earnest? Like he wants to go home with you maybe.

This is a painting I did very quickly and it's already been sent off to someone! But you can buy prints and greeting cards of it in my store: Melsky Art on Zazzle. This is a new store I just opened. They sell greeting cards, prints, magnets, t-shirts and mugs. I ordered mugs and cards the other day and I'm really looking forward to seeing them.

I'm working on Christmas Cards right now, ones that I made and am sending.

Oliver Inspects Art

Oliver Inspects Art, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Day five and I'm still at it!

Persistence/procrastination is my biggest problem. That and crack. Just kidding about the crack. But I have a hard time sticking to things every day, even something small.

Oliver is looking at a blow up of a magnet I just finished. It is today's Etsy listing: Red Cat Magnet

(In case you haven't read the other entries, I'm doing a thing where I put a piece of art in my store every day and blog about it every day in November.)

I also am in the middle of cleaning my studio. Here's the before photo:

A trip down memory lane

I'm working on my old web sites. I started doing them in 1999 I think. I have a bunch of web pages preserved in amber, with all these graphics, photos and paintings. I'm making myself a better page as my primary website. Mostly it will direct people to my etsy store, though I may set up a paypal store eventually.

It's strange to see all the old pages I made. Some of them were just started and never really developed. Some were totally outdated information - the one on San Diego web pages was last updated in 2003. Since I'm not interested in San Diego any more, I just deleted it.

This is a painting from 2002.

Yesterday we took a day trip to Rochester, New York to visit my husband's cousin and brother. The cousin lives there, the brother lives in Switzerland where he's doing post doctorate work in a lab in a university there. It was a nice trip. Rochester is pretty, many nice old houses and lots of trees. We went to a barbecue restaurant that I didn't like much, but my husband and brother in law really loved it so I was glad we went.

Yawn

Bored?, originally uploaded by Melsky.

I went to the gym for the first time in a week, after being sick and then went on a long, long walk. I'm so tired. I always overdo it when I get well. It's only 9:50 but I'm going to bed.

Didn't do anything creative today, except walking and taking photos. But I'll have some good pictures for tomorrow.