Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The Bluebird of Happiness Revisted and other Moles Sketches

The Bluebird of Happiness Revisited and other Moles Sketches, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. The others are called Self Portrait of the Artist speaking to her muse (maybe it should be called listening to her muse) and "Surviving the Holidays." Click images to view larger.

My sketches lately have been a little sketchy, I think because of impending deadlines and insufficient time due to holiday commitments. (Not that they're ever that great.) These are my last three from this month and the books have been mailed.

These three were done by a combination of image-transfer and watercolor (and goauche and pen and ink in some cases). I created the originals in Photoshop (all from scratch) (well, the bluebird was from a scanned watercolor, posted earlier today). I printed them and transferred them to the paper and painted over the images. I had intended to do more of a collage type of thing, but this is what I ended up doing. I painted the bluebird page with gesso and the other two transfers were done with acrylic medium. The moles don't work well with water colors and I don't know why I keep trying.

5 comments:

steve said...

They're all very good though Mary. Really, I like the sketchiness a whole lot! I admire your willingness to experiment with various media.

Ian russell said...

these are great, Mary. like Steve, I think the sketchiness makes these paintings. the portrait especially!

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

Thanks so much.

You guys all do such incredibly good work that sometimes I worry about not being good enough.

Some of your stuff is so careful and precise and imaginative and TALENTED!!! Aieee!

I like to experiment and try new things.

Mike Kline said...

Your experimenting and trying new things inspires me! I wish I had more time...

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

Thanks so much, Mike! :-D

During the break here between moles, I am taking a water color class and doing more of those.

Sometimes I wish I could be multiple people with endless time to try everything that interests me.