HAPPY HALLOWEEEN from us!

Nyah-hah ha hah!

Hope you have a good one!!!!  :-D

May you have all good treats and only good tricks!

1st spread in Mary's book

The combination of the apple Heidi drew and the request for self portrait just made this drawing come out of it's own accord...

Look what I got in the mail today!

Yay! it's a book! I hope I'll have some time to start working on it tomorrow.

Update from Reno

I haven't gotten the next book from Willie yet, so I have nothing to mail this month.

Feel free to use the comments here to communicate to the group if you are behind, or let people know where their books are lurking.

Mary's Pocket Treat: Passion Tea

Tazo "Passion" tea, but I made my own hangtag for it. That's supposed to be a heart (the back has flames). I tied a kitchen match to the string. The idea is that you make the tea & as you drink it, you can actually light your heart(tag) on fire. Interactive. I love playing with matches.

Portraits of Friends: Online & Off

Mary requested a "self-portrait" as a suggested deposit in her book. If she wants that, fine... but it's only fair that I get to draw her too, HA!

So here we are, 2 friends. We have been friends for 20 years. I was thinking of our upcoming visit when I painted this, "Remember when you blah, blah, ha ha! Remember when I blah, blah, ha ha ha..." I intended to record some of our funny stories on the painted lines between our portraits, but I sure as heck wasn't going to do it before the photo, for all to see... too embarrassing! Sorry folks, nothing to see here ;-)

Mary's Book Leaves NH for NYC

Finally got these pics taken so Mary's book can be mailed to Aya in NYC on my way to the airport Wednesday. Fall apples & garlic on top with an apple for Aya as the collab below. Ebony pencil & acrylic paint with a touch of white Prismacolor highlighting.

I'm off to Detroit to visit Mary. Ellen's book is going with me. Her book's already been to Mary's once. It'll be there again, but this time I'll be filling it :-)

holy smoke..... finally!!!!

safe journeys...

4 Ash

and...

...more

Ash's molie...

In my round one mole: Keith Driving

Hennie Mavis has added some wonderful art to my mole from the first round. I visited her the day before yesterday, and on the way home today, with ballpoint in the round one mole, I drew this picture of BB driving, then colored it with colored pencils, and then painted over it with Windsor Newton mini-pan watercolors. I was fascinated by the way I could see his chin through his beard in the brilliant light coming in the window of the car. The original pictures in this mole were from May of 2008! The Mole still has a few blank pages.

This was all done going about 80 miles an hour on the interstate highway and I had trouble with bumps and sways etc. I used the watercolors full strength and they acted a lot like gouache. I wanted the beard to be white and not the yellow color of the paper. Below is a photo of the original sketch in ballpoint. Do click on the my mole link above to see Hennie's Hermit Thrush, if you haven't already seen it! It's great!

and one more thing

which is totally non Moleskine related, (I was trying to think of something clever to tie the two together, but I'm simply too tired. Ned and I got a puppy!!! she's about 2 and a half months old, came from a shelter in the city that got her from a shelter in GA and her name in Ginger.
We have no idea what's the breed or how big she's going to be, though she's so perfect now, I'll be happy if she never changes at all!

Lazy scanner

Well, the scanner is actually OK, it's my that's lazy, I completed my first A4 non-exchange book last August and only now got around to scanning it, and that's cause I had a deadline that I was 2 weeks too late for...
You can see the whole thing here. Funny with working in double spreads and only on one side of the page, a Moleskine's only 15 drawings long.

I Got a Book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a note...I received Ballookey's book from Anders today! I will do my best to get it back in the mail as soon as I can!!!

In Ballookey's

Twinkie The Kid Pest Control

One half page to go and this one is on its way to Ballookey!

Cackling with Amusement

Today must be "Artists in Publication" Day. Not our art, tho, HA! Mike just posted that delightful "centerfold" of himself on the same day I received a complimentary issue of Chickens magazine, courtesy of the editor. I am featured on pgs. 35-39, Fall/Winter 2010. That's right, there's a magazine about backyard chicken farming (I was surprised too). They had a writer interview me, sent a photographer to our home & whoops, I'm in print.

If you want to know about keeping your food sources as natural, fresh & "close to home" as possible -- in your backyard, for instance -- I'm a credible expert, apparently? I sure hope this wasn't my only chance in life to be "famous," HA!

Mike Kline "Centerfold" AISES

http://www.aises.org/userfiles/2010RegistrationBrochureFinal.pdf
Check out the 2010 AISES Event Brochure in Albuquerque, New Mexico! I am on pages 3-4.

Tribal Designs