New Piece in Hennie's Mole: Paradise

I did this this morning as a sort of "worship" of beauty, done entirely with Faber Castell PITT artist pens ("Indian Ink" pigment markers) (except two lines with a Micron Pigma brush pen.) I took a picture last weekend at the Belle Isle Conservatory that I based this on--but it is not very much like the original. I think I will post the original on my process blog, "Half-Formed," so anyone who is interested can see it there. If you click the image, you can see it larger.

No Moley yet...

Just wondering if you mailed out the Moley yet Anders?

(The pic enclosed is of a fav quilter of mine. You can find more of her work at http://angrychicken.typepad.com)

Collaboration with Steve in Hennie's Mole: Diaphony, Dancers with Scarves

Here's my collaboration with Steve in Hennie's Mole. I am calling it: Diaphony, Dancers with Scarves.

The other is another little pocket treat--I painted it with gouache on orange paper--it's The Grand Canal in Venice. Hennie gets a print because it's too big for the pocket.

Click images to view larger.

Second Piece in Hennie's Mole: Nora's Entry

Nora is a Dermatologist whose office is at the corner of Mack and Moran and I walk by it nearly every day. I love seeing her flowers and I poked my head in and took a picture of them the other day, and made this piece from that picture. It is done with Faber-Castel PITT artist pens, pigment markers and pens, and a few other pigment pens. I was trying to capture the delicate range of hues that showed up in the flower photograph that to the eye in person were primarily white, yellow and pinkish, but unfortunately, the pens simply do not have the rage of hues needed so I had to do the best I could with the selection I had. I think watercolor paints, which can be mixed and diluted, might have worked better, but this coated yellow paper does not work well for me with water color--they tend to bead up and leave lots of little dots and look uneven and ugly. Maybe someone else can do it, but I can't seem to. So, this is my best effort to use the actual paper in the book rather than pasting something in. I probably should attempt to make pieces that don't refer to something real so that I won't be so disappointed by the results. I worked on this every day for 6 days, during and after meals and when I took a break from working on my Fellowship application. The intense concentration of studying each petal and subtle hues on it was a welcome break from studying each word in my application, and I discovered that working on it relieved my headaches that I got from the Fellowship application work, which was good.

Click the image to view it larger.

I have a suggestion: I added the tag Hennie's Mole to this, using the pseudonym she chose to sue rather than her real name. If everyone adds that tag to their pieces from her mole, Hennie can click on that link and see all the pictures people have done in her mole. The same for everyone else. We need to use the same tag for each person, though, for it to work properly.

People can also include their own names in the tags and then someone could chose to click on the artist names and see all the work they have presented on this blog. And if you include a tag for the media, someone could see all work done with pigment markers or all work done in pencil or water colors by all of us.

If we added the type of Moleskine, we could compare the work in the different types. We'd have to agree on a tag for each, eg: watercolor mole or ??? for the other kind with the greasy or waxy yellow paper.

First piece in Hennie's Mole: Goose skull

YAY! I have a mole again, so I can stop making pocket material and start making mole sketches. Woohoo!

I have a whole collection of skulls, including a number of goose skulls, all of which I found in the wild. This one was on my mantle over the fireplace. I took it out in the backyard next to the house where the snow had melted enough to expose some leaves and set it down there and photographed it and returned it to the mantle and then copied the photo using four Faber-Castell PITT big brush pigment markers and nothing (except the pencil to sketch just a little and the pen to sign). I wanted to make something in Hennie's mole with the markers I'd gotten for Christmas, just them and nothing else--and the skull in leaves seemed like a topic that would use those colors to advantage. Click image to view larger.
--
I am certain of nothing but the Heart's affections and the truth of the Imagination- John Keats
Mary

Ash's book is on it's way to Steve!

Though I am a bit late I am glad Ash's book is finally on it's way. What a couple month's I have had...Mother-In-Law passed away, two week's later we had to put down my dog Rusty- my best friend, then two blizzards in a row.
So I am happy to be back in the world of art again!!
Cheers everyone!

Phantom in need of Collaboration

447

Portrait of a raven that we had as a pet when I was a small child. Ridiculous amount of cross-hatching. The half-page that Aya left me was blackbird themed and this came to mind. I couldn't fit it in to that page compositionally, so I decided to instead continue the blackbird theme on this half-page for Ellen.

Another for Hennie's Pocket: Piran Alley

I still don't have a mole--I'm sure it will be here soon, but meanwhile, I am practicing for when it does get here, with gouache. I painted this with gouache on yellow paper, but I made a print of it to put in Hennie's pocket because it is too big to fit in. I painted it from a photo I took of an Alley in Piran, Slovenia when we were on our honeymoon there. Unless we have another delay, Hennie will surely have the fattest pocket of anyone. (Click image to view larger.)

sort of happy to not have a book right now

I know it hasn't been shipped to me yet, and that it'll take a few more weeks. But luckily, i've been so busy this week, I wouldn't have been able to work on it anyway. The reason is that me and Ned got backstage passes to some of the fashion week shows! We've been running around having a wonderful time. Ned shot 4 shows and I shot 2 so far.

745, 746

More abstract comics with the sanguine pen.

Happy Valentine's DAY! A Bit of silliness

I made the silly pigment-marker sketch (second here) for Hennie's pocket last night and then distally altered it on photoshop to make a valentine. It's all pigment markers except the skin--I have no skin-tone pigment markers.

Hope you all have lots of love in your life and with special LOVE for Andrea.

(The original sketch will be in Hennie's pocket once the pocket arrives here. Those of you between me and Hennie in the circulation can see it. And all the others--more pocket items for Hennie than anyone else because I've been without a mole a long time. Not a complaint, just a statement, or explanation of the plethora of stuff in her pocket.)

Click images to view larger.

Ballookey's Mix

http://filesanywhere.com/fs/v.aspx?v=8970628d5a61757caa9d

Prolly not my best mix ever, but I got it done.

This is something ...

Mailing tomorrow.

conglomerate entity 1 (in Heidi's book)

Well, this started out as a collab using Ellen's Santa, but started going very badly. I originally attempted some kind of stained-glass Santa-thing, but it was looking pretty sad, so I just started going all stream-of-conscious and I got this. I guess I wasn't feelin' the holiday vibe anymore, being this was started so long after Christmas. So, I guess you can call it a collaboration (or not), since I originally based my lines on Ellen's drawing (there's a Santa in there somewhere). That's the great thing about art sometimes - you don't always know what you'll get - you don't always stick with the original idea, or have a plan even. I don't like how some folks think someone who is creative or is skilled in art can simply, magically whip up a work simply because they are "talented". The fact is, we all have the ability - we are all creative and artistic, however some of us don't use it and therefore lose it. It's all about work and making decisions (and hopefully fun).

two for andrea

Got some nice Pitt sanguine pens.



Thought I'd try them out on an abstract comic too.

Mmmm, I do love bananas...

More sketches in my gray book. After the eggs, I was thinking about how Steve said he's inclined to do images in a series. I rarely do that (ADHD?) so I tried it. Steve's idea, it's got a-peel, HA!

In Hennie's pocket

Sardinian Bridge, copied from an exercise in a book on gouache. But changed it. I am trying to learn to use gouache better because it requires less water and works better on that shiny yellow paper of the yellow-paper moles.

I am putting a small print of this in Hennie's mole. The picture is too big to fit in.

This is painted on purple paper, which of course, the mole is not!

Valued Eggs

I'm without an official exchange Moleskine currently, but I'm amusing myself in a small handmade book. The paper is gray card stock. Mary recently did some value studies, so I decided to try some also. Eggs seemed an easy way to focus on light & shadow, with little distraction... and Lord knows, we got plenty of eggs around here!

playing with pigment markers

I need more colors. This guy looks like a skunk. (For Hennie's pocket).

I couldn't help it. I had to fiddle with it some more. Click to view it larger. The newer one is on top.

I've been seeing possible pictures to do in these colors everywhere all of a sudden!!

Toadbreath! (in Hennie's pocket)

More with the pigment markers! I need to read up on them, I have some questions. But anyway, another attempt for Hennie's pocket. (The original) Done on watercolor paper with Faber Castell indian ink pigment markers.

Hennie may end up with a fuller pocket than anyone else because of the holiday delays.

I had to clear the dining room table for company the other day and lost my painter's masking tape and now I keep goofing the edges of my work. Can you imagine anyone thinking that a table was for eating on--a table is for art, right?