Embroidered Collage

  Marissa Lee was one of my first "favorited" artists on Etsy back in 2005.  Her layers of pattern and the evident texture from the woodblocks called to me.  I love her work but kept not being ready to buy a full-sized piece, so when she first printed ACEOs I knew I had to get one.  That's it to the left, my very first purchase of an art card ever.

Each of her artworks is a hand-pulled relief print from two or more carved wood blocks.  Some are only patterns and some are representational.  Sometimes she'll shade ink colors on one block and sometimes use only one tone.  The intriguing part is how the two overlaid images complement each other.  I would like to be able to capture this effect in my own work, despite the difference in media.  The prints themselves don't have texture, but the texture of the carving shows through in her delicate inking, which only increases their appeal to me.

Marissa, or mlee, sells her art at http://mlee.etsy.com and has been a featured artist there.  She blogs regularly and well at http://mleefineart.com .  The best place to see the range of her prints over the last couple years is at her flickr account - http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_lee/ , just click on the first collection - Woodcuts - and enjoy.