Melanie (Melly) Testa

Two Years

Two years ago today, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. What a roller coaster this has been. Diagnosed, book contract, chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, making art, writing about it, Switzerland, Dreaming from the Journal Page, getting used to being a flat chested woman. Oh, did I mention the love and care that I was showeredContinue reading “Two Years”

Four more for The 20

I am plugging away at the images for The 20 Common Birds in Decline, in fact, I have 10 more images to go-I am half way there. But they are small, measuring 2.5×3.5″, so it won’t take very long. I am making them in groups of 4 and printing them onto cloth in one session.Continue reading “Four more for The 20”

Happy New

I have not blogged in about 3 weeks, if not more, and I apologize for it. To be honest, I have been depressed and needed a break. The Newtown sadness affected me deeply, life has not been easy for a few months and it all came to the forefront and slowed me to a halt.Continue reading “Happy New”

American Bittern

I have begun making my Deep Cleaning interview, but got distracted by The 20, so please-stay tuned, the interview/fugly giveaway will occur this week. In the meantime, let me introduce the American Bittern. This bird is a marsh wader, from the Heron family of birds. This is a secretive bird, confident in its ability toContinue reading “American Bittern”

Be prepared!

My studio reorganization is now complete. I went through every single box, prison 8-O, drawer, everything. Wow. I am impressed with myself! Over the weekend I am going to film an ‘interview’ of myself and my space and reveal all I have done. This upcoming post will have a giveaway of some Fuglies (defined asContinue reading “Be prepared!”

Deeper and deeper

Deep cleaning sure takes a lot of work. I have been going through every bin and drawer, sorting, rearranging, recycling and getting rid of a few things. I haven’t gotten rid of much, really, I keep a pretty tight ship over here, but I have been stuffing miscellaneous items into the wrong drawers and binsContinue reading “Deeper and deeper”

The monsters in my studio

The above cabinet is really a monster. I jam pack stuff into and need to pull stuff out and rearrange things every time I need something stored in it. My intention for this cabinet is to store items that will be used in wet work, In other words, soda soaked cloth, urea, textile paint, brushesContinue reading “The monsters in my studio”

Big Clean Sigh

As you may know because I have already posted to Facebook, my sweet Arrow passed away. This animal wrapped his double paws right around my heart, he taught me to love him, to communicate with and listen to him, he loved me deep into my bones. I felt as though no day were complete withoutContinue reading “Big Clean Sigh”

Stitching away the Blues

I am stitching away on this Breastplate. I guess this is called a running stitch, I just pick up a few threads and then continue to stitch, maintaining a similar length of stitch for each. It creates little dots on the back of the work, which is very pleasing to me. So far I haveContinue reading “Stitching away the Blues”

Print and Stitch

I am happily sewing away over here, working three Breastplates at a time. This Breastplate is the biggest of the seven. If I were to decide to wear them, rather than consider them an art object, this would be the one. Each of the Breastplates were made by ‘eye’ they are supposed to be clothingContinue reading “Print and Stitch”