The domino effect

I was equally oblivious, and once I got the one from Ammon I sent off mine to Mike in New Mexico. Nothing quite like a movable deadline. :-) Sorry Mike!!

I Completely Forgot About Everything!

When I received the new moleskin in the mail from Steve it reminded me of our monthly exchange. I just sent one dust-covered book off to Willie in Texas. My apologies to all.

7 and 8 in Johnny Norm's: a bit of silliness

This is from a Wings 4 you challenge called Zen Suitcase. I made a "Zen backpack." It's all the stuff I want to take with me into my new improved life: my husband, love, happiness, paintbrushes, camera and books, my manuscripts, and the paper dolls represent friends and family. LOVE, yeah love. The backpack is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the dubloons represent abundance of all good things, LOL! Ink and colored pencil with gesso and Wite Out for white.

Process

Here are two of the pix BB took of me working and two I took myself. The last one shows the two-page spread of the "finished" images (sketches). I like to work outside, but don't always have all the pens and pencils I need out there, so I tend to go in and out.

page 6 in Johnny Norm's: Variation on a theme

Amanita Muscaria Revisited, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. I prolly won't make a habit of this, but I stuck the scan of this into Photoshop and fooled with it and put the results onto page 6 of John's Moleskine, paired with the other one. I applied various filters, did some burning and dodging and "re-painted" parts. I was going for taxture. I may post a couple process pix because BB kept coming and taking my picture while I was working. Filters used: colored pencils, rough pastels, poster edges, wind. Also some layer blending.

One for Johnny Norm's, page 5

Amanita Muscaria, the Fly agaric, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. Pen and Ink and colored pencil. OH, and I used gesso for the white--I hate the yellow paper! You could theoretically get high on these mushrooms, but the dose to get high is alarmingly close to the fatal dose. I'd rather just admire them.

2 more in Johnny Norm's: Sheeraffes and moonbirds

1)The Rendezvous of the Wild Mountain Sheeraffes, pen and colored pencil. 2)Why the Moonbirds Flew to the Sun, graphite pencil.

Now it is really on its way to the UK

2 in Johnny Norm's

1)"Madonna and Child," "Paintastics," colored pencil, ink. I wasn't crazy about those "Paintastics!" They were basically markers with a brush and didn't seem to work well on the yellow slick Moleskine paper, guess I'll try them on water color paper and see if they work better there.

2)"Power to the People." Ink and colored pencil. Used metallic pencils but they don't scan well. :-( (I seem to be good at discovering things that do NOT work well.)(Wahn!)

I really enjoy looking over all the wonderful art--each Mole that comes has more to see. So fun! (But feeling a little inadequte). Clicking on these makes them a little bigger for viewing details.

Johnny Norms Arrove

AND WHAT FUN LOOKING AT ALL YOUR WORK! YAY! Such a treat! :-D

Tamed with a twang

Three more in Ammon's:
Tamed with a twang.
Eruption in a boot.
Devil in the detail.
Also apologies for lateness, this is heading off to Baggelboy tomorrow.

Mike's Big Big Book

Sorry, I've been a bit tardy this month. Should've posted off earlier but the Post Office took one look at Mike's big book and said I'd have to come back as the on-duty postman's got a bad back and the other postman's on holiday. Well, I went back and between the three of us we managed to get it on the scales, but then we had to go for a cup of tea while they made the hole in the mailbox bigger and sent off for a custom-built envelope. Still, we got there in the end...

Only kidding. I've had so much on this month I forgot about the time!



from top: thought process, grab, mr. fleas goes walkies, long soak (with condiments), tail, the infernal piano.
(click to enlarge)

Milo's Moly

On the way to you Steve!

The Indicator Game...

I saw a bumper sticker which read, "If you can't operate a turn signal, what makes you think you can operate a car?" I laughed so hard...Please indicate. :)

Why We Invented Remotes!

I just realized something strange. If you were born after 1983 (Millennial/Generation Y) It is possible that you have gone through life without ever changing a television set without a remote.
How did we ever survive?

Just an FYI: I am running late on the Moleskin. I will post on Monday.

tomato-face buddha in mary's mole

Andrea Martinez Moleskine Exchange (Mary's Book, Steve's page 7), originally uploaded by steev-o.

This one's the final collage/drawing in Mary's Moleskine. When I originally set off to do a series (I had a whole other theme to go with originally) in her book, I found some pages with photos of tomatoes in a magazine and instantly saw faces in the fruit. Anyhow, off to the mailbox tomorrow morning, Mary's book will be visiting Ammon in Pennsylvania!

Smorgasbord

Pages 3 and 4 in Ammon's book. It got a bit involved..
Deadline looms...
Page 2 below - minimal instead.

My Pocket Sun

tomato-face children in mary's mole

I want to thank everyone for the feedback, regarding the book idea. I'm extremely happy Andrea is cool with this idea too. Again, I know we're all busy and I'm hoping nobody feels pressured or anything. I think we all have a lot to offer, and maybe I'm being way too naive and optimistic, but I think we have a shot at a book. I just researched several publishers who I think would be into our work, including Chronicle, Phaidon, and Upper Playground, to name a few. At the end of the month I'll be e-mailing some people at Moleskine, to see if they can get behind us.

Some of these companies require about a three-to-six month wait for a reply, which is fine. In the meantime, we can still consider the online publishing route. I'm glad Jess has some contacts, and any help whatsoever is a good thing. We might want to consider doing a self-published book first then send it out to some of the pros afterwards even.

Again, I hope I don't seem to off-putting here, or gung-ho, but I don't want to see an opportunity for something good and let it pass on by, only to regret it later on. In the meantime, I hope everyone's doing well and enjoying the remainder of their summers, and thanks again for the feedback all!

Madonna and Child with the Book of Nines (Raphael) [The Book of Hours]

{Madonna and Child, Raphael Pasadena.} This is my last piece in Bagelboy's Mole, so I will be sending it off tomorrow or the next day. My first piece, the crabs ("Confrontation"), was just something I wanted to try. The next three were my attempts at the theme Bagelboy started in his mole. According to Wikipedia, Jesus was conceived at the 9th hour and died on the cross at the 9th hour. The three are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The original painting was finished by Raphael Pasadena about 1504. As in my other two, I did not attempt to follow the color scheme of the original. (As usual, the image with get larger if you click on it.) PS: If you are wondering why I moved the Baby Jesus, I wanted to put his face in the colored quadrant. (I guess it's not a quadrant if there are nine of them.)

A Series of Unfortunate Events; Two in Bagelboy's

Unfortunately, the first of these suffered a series of unfortunate events including a wetting that was unplanned. These are: 1) The Temptation of Eve, or Original Sin, or The Fall of Man, by Hugo van der Goes, 1467-8, or Titian, 1570 and 2)The Coronation of the Virgin, Raphael, c. 1503. The first is on Gesso, water color pencil, colored pencil, ink, and gouache and the second in water color pencil, colored pencil, ink. I viewed the pix and then a week and a half later, I did the sketches in the car without referring to the original pix. Mary Taitt.

If you click on these, you can view them much larger, and, unfortunately, see the "staining" where the water-color pencil ran when it got wet. I tried to clean it up. So sorry, Alan!! :-(

I tripped--klutz-like--with my little container for "painting" over the water color pencils. Aiee!

I've been on the road traveling almost the entire month and have been having trouble finding time to sketch.

tomato-face artiste in mary's mole

Andrea Martinez Moleskine Exchange (Mary's Book, Steve's page 4), originally uploaded by steev-o.

For the artiste, art is life and life is art. Sometimes he'll paint, and on occasion he'll fart.

tomato-face rock star in mary's mole

Andrea Martinez Moleskine Exchange (Mary's Book, Steve's page 3), originally uploaded by steev-o.

Hey! Ho! Let's Go!

tomato-face pizza man in mary's mole

Andrea Martinez Moleskine Exchange (Mary's Book, Steve's page 2), originally uploaded by steev-o.

He only uses the finest ingredients and freshest tomatoes in his pizza. He'll tell you to get lost if you don't like-a the sauce.

tomato-face babushka lady in mary's mole

Andrea Martinez Moleskine Exchange (Mary's Book, Steve's page 1), originally uploaded by steev-o.

Yes, there she lurks, back hunched, still waiting in line for her bread and T.P. If you run into her, do a little dance for her - any dance will do. You might get a smile, even a chuckle or two.

just a thought

I thought I'd put this out there since it's rolling around in my brain currently. In fact, I've been wondering about this for a while now. Anyhow, there are quite a few good books out there compiling and showcasing street art sketches and drawings and the like. Not that this has anything to do with street art, which I think is kind of oversaturating the art book market now currently anyway. Anyhow I was pondering how a book compiling this project, which I think is somewhat of an extraordinary project, could very well become a reality, if everyone would be willing to be a part of it. Yes, you've got your zillion other Moly X groups going on, but this one stands out, with the larger-scale sketchbooks (as opposed to the accordian style of the Moly X groups). I was particularly inspired by the recent release of the 1,000 Journals Project book, and now film (out soon), and the way it went on to explain the idea behind the project, and how the art was showcased throughout the book.

Anyhow, this can be pitched to some major publishers or we can go the self-publishing route through online publishing groups like Lulu and Blurb. Perhaps we can even get a sponsorship from the Moleskine company. I don't think the reality of this kind of endeavor materializing is in any way out of reach, judging by the quality of work and the nature of the project. We, as artists get more exposure, Moleskine gets more exposure, plus, it would be just plain cool to hold an actual book, in material form (beyond our own sketchbooks), and seeing all our work inside.

I know this project is Andrea's baby first and foremost, so I'd love to hear what she thinks. I also know of the hard work and dedication everyone else involved has put into this and would be curious as to what everyone else might think. So please, give some feedback here when you can folks.

Our future among the stars

Baggelboy illustrated things
Cowboydog comic