Last gasp in Mike's

Everyone cheered to watch racers run
"final?"
by me, Mary Stebbins Taitt

I am finally finished with Mike's Moleskine, and will mail it ASAP on hopefully Monday or Tuesday.
*The paper is getting progressively thicker!  Below is the prior version.  Since then I have repaired the head of the last wolf, opened Frankie's eyes, changed the color of the grass and added detail.  This was the hold-up. I kept fiddling with it, trying to get it right.

"Had Races and Won"

Acrylic on thin Moleskine paper*

4th coat

Because I had it so long, I did some additional pieces:

Biker Buddy
by Mary Taitt

At the end of a long day
By Mary Taitt
markers, Copic, Faber-Castell pigment artist pigment markers,

The Nature Conservancy wants to publish 20,000 elephant pictures, so I am trying to help them out.

Old Bull
collab for Mike

And a new pocket item--with elephants:

Dusk
card by Mary Taitt for Mike's pocket

More Mary in Mike's: Angry Man, Weird Keith, collab

"Angry Man"
Acrylic and oil pastels on Moleskine Paper
Mary Stebbins Taitt
Click any image to view larger

"Biker Buddy #20140218"

Acrylic and oil pastels on Moleskine Paper

Mary Stebbins Taitt

Click any image to view larger

This scan looks a little lighter on my screen than the actual painting.

Collab, first half, for Mike
Faber Castell artist pens (including dry one for dry brush)

Mary Working in Mike's" Early "Had Races and Won"

Often, when I start a new painting, I get very discouraged and wonder why I pretend to be able to do this.  It seems obvious I can't.  I want to give up, because it seems hopeless.

"Had Races and Won"
Acrylic on thin Moleskine paper
1st coat
click this or any image to view larger

"Had Races and Won"
Acrylic on thin Moleskine paper
2nd coat

The images are photos with a point and shoot camera, sorry about the reflections.  I'll start scanning, if I can, I'm having difficulties with my scanner!  :-(

This is a slow process for me, but I am working on i!  It is as of yet quite unfinished.

"Had Races and Won"

Acrylic on thin Moleskine paper

3rd coat

I added another layer of paint.  Most of the paint I am using is fairly transparent (although some is thick and opaque.  I Have to put many layers on to get it to look the way I want it,  I scanned this one, but the scanner is messing up and I don't have time right now to fiddle with it, and since it isn't done yet, I'll just post this--hope you can see the difference between the layers (versions) (drafts).

"Had Races and Won"

Acrylic on thin Moleskine paper*

4th coat

I've added a fourth layer of paint, which took about 4 days, and as you can plainly see, it is till quite a ways from being finished.  I added turtles in the audience at the lower because the space seemed too empty, but they need work, and I painted out the head of the wolf on the furthest left because its legs were too short.  Since the light is coming from above, slightly behind and to the right, I will have to do some work with the sun and shadows, which right now is just plopped on (To make the turtles more visible.).  Too bad, because I was reaching a point of being almost happy with the grass before.  I think the Dachshund is finished or nearly finished, and maybe the cat, too. The elephant is getting closer. (Too bad the scanner won't scan the gutter! :-( )  Frankie is my grandson and this is for a book for him.  The four dark corners are where the clips were holding the pages down.

*The paper is getting progressively thicker!

"Had Races and Won"

Acrylic on thin Moleskine paper*

5th coat

I changed the color of the grass, added the head back on the left-most wolf, worked ont he turtles and miscellaneous other changes.  I think I am nearly finished.

Final Spoonbill/Duckbill Plus Envelope Plus in-the-pocket

Spoonbill, Hornbill and Duckbill
Acrylic, by Mary Stebbins Taitt
Click on this or any image to view all of them larger

Spoonbill and Duckbill
with their friend Hornbill
Rode a red wagon downhill
with glorious freewill
past the sawmill
and came to a standstill
at Frankie's doorsill.

 Frankie is my grandson.  One of four.

I can't find the paper with the "poem" on it, and I'm not sure I'm remembering it right.

I forgot to mention that my over-enthusiastic painting damaged the thin paper and I had to apply two patches.  If you click on the upper picture to make it bigger, you can see the patches at the top left on a smaller patch just left of center at the top--sorry about that.  :-(

I am working on removing the gutter between the pages
for my book for Frankie.
and tweaking it
(not quite done yet.)

Roseate Spoonbills envelope
acrylic, Mary Stebbins Taitt

Pumice Fish
Acrylic, Mary Stebbins Taitt

I never went to art school, so I have to learn everything by experimenting.  I bought some pumice medium and played with it on the envelope for the first time ever (dumb, I know).  It was so rough, like sandpaper,only worse, so, worried about the mail carriers and postal employees injuring their fingers, I put a couple layers of matte medium over it, but that made it look dull.   :-(  It has lots of texture!  But less than before. (I also used a tiny but of the pumice medium on the rocks and on the road in the Spoonbill hornbill duckbill painting.)

In the Pocket:

Twin Poppies
oil on Graham Cracker box treated with acrylics
Mary Stebbisn Taitt

Flute Practice
oil and Arches Oil Paper
Mary Stebbins Taitt

Flute practice, side view
showing topography of oils

Mike, take the oils out and let them dry some more.  I hope they survive the journey to your house!!!

Cassandra Elise Lapwing revisited yet again (I'm probably still working on this):

Riding the Storm; Andrea and Mary in Mike's

Riding the Storm
painted collage
Collab Andrea and Mary
click image to view larger.

When we were in Colorado, driving south on the east side of the mountains, a storm sat over the mountains and funnel clouds, sometimes a number of them, kept snaking down out of the clouds.  It was creepy, scary and fascinating.

Andrea added the house.

I made a college and then painted over parts of it.  The witch is my friend Gail Slaughter and Dorothy, the scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion are all friends of hers.

Cassandra Elise Lapwing: An Extra and a Collab in Mike's by Mary

I had a bout of fairly severe insomnia the night before last and was up for several hours between 2 and 6 AM, and spent my time painting. First, I covered the backside of the painting of Frankie and the spoonbill, hornbill and duckbill with a painting of Cassandra Elise Lapwing, in profile. I THINK she is played by Julianne Moore. This is acrylics, and it is an "extra" painting, to covered the bleed-through. Since there seem to be MANY pages in this Moleskine, I didn't think Mike or anyone would mind my doing an extra.  I used 3 "colors," black, Payne's grey and neutral #5 grey.

Cassandra Elise Lapwing profile
acrylic
Mary Stebbins Taitt
Click images to view larger.

Now I was really into Cassandra Elise Lapwing, so I did another HALF portrait of her for a collaboration with Mike.  This is entirely done with one black gel pen and some Faber-castel PITT artist pigment pens in 4 colors, black, sepia, sanguine and grey.

Cassandra Elise Lapwing collab
gel pen and Faber-Castelle PITT pigment artists pens

Mary Stebbins Taitt

Click images to view larger

Here is the two-page spread:

Two-page spread

Mary Stebbins Taitt

Click images to view larger

Here is the collab image doubled.  This is not what I expect from Mike; I'm sure he'll be much more creative.  Doubling it like this tells me there is something wrong with the original that I couldn't see (or didn;t notice) in the half-image.  That is one weird-looking chick, LOL!!!!  (I did not complete the process of doubling her because my main computer has died and the Cintique is still attached to the dead computer.)

 

Cassandra Elise Lapwing half doubled.

Cassandra Elise Lapwing half doubled
and slightly fiddled with

I really need to get the Cintique on the piece of junk I have to use for a computer now, since my Mac died.

I need to stop playing with this, pointlessly, and get back to the actual Moleskine. What remains to be done is finishing the paining of Frankie and the spoonbill, hornbill and duckbill and the collab with Andrea, which I have started on, but not completed.

Slow progress

I decided to post my slow progress on Mike's book because I'm afraid I won't be ready to mail on the 15th,

Session 1

First I searched for reference photos.  Then, because the paper is so thin, I sprayed it, then drew on it with a white "soufflé" pen. (I tried pencil and ballpoint, but they didn't show up.) I intentionally made Frankie and the animals proportionately a little extra big relative to the porch and door etc.

Session 2

I worked on the boy first.  He is my grandson,  Unfortunately, the ballpoint pen ink keeps coming through the paint, and unfortunately, I only used it on Frankie, on his face, legs and neck!!  :-(

Session 3

Frankie's face was too short in the beginning, but I overcompensated and made it too long.  This is a very slow process.  It will be a while before I finish it, and I have the two collaborations to do--I started on one, but not on the other yet.  I've had some health issues and family crises (including a kid in jail, a kid with a concussion, etc).  But I am plugging away.

Session 4

I worked on the mountains plus trying to get rid of the stupid white lines from my sketch.

Session 5, Monday Night, August 12

I worked on Frankie's Face, the trees on the hills, the logs, some of the clouds and fog in the mountains. I'm very slow--each session is a couple hours long.  You probably can;t even tell the difference.  None of the photos quite look like the actual painting.

Giraffe on a Raft: First (2) in Mike's by Mary

Giraffe on a Raft
acrylic
Mary Stebbins Taitt
in Mike's
Click to view Larger

Gerry Giraffe, kneeling fore, not aft

paddled a raft, his favorite craft,

with a hearty laugh at the cooling draft

while his friend Danny Deer, always sincere

and full of good cheer, steered from the rear

sipping root beer.

or

maybe just

Giraffe paddled his raft

kneeling fore, not aft,

whole his friend deer

steered from the rear.

For a kid's book I am working on.

Mike's Mole Almost ready to ship to Ammon

Hard times have hit--we had two floods. Photos, manuscripts, artwork, clothes, sleeping bags etc all got soaked. The house is chaotic with stuff spread out drying and boxed hauled up from the cellar. It will be long time before we get dug out. I had wanted to do some work on my kids books in Mike's mole, but the prep time was prohibitive.

1)Leopard. Faber-Caselle PITT astist pigment pens and PRANG metallics--the Prang pens ran out of ink, I bought more, they were a different color, I bought more--they were dry AND a different color--so I had to go with it--apologies. What do you do when the pen you start with runs out of ink in someone else's mole and you can't replace it? AK!! :-(

2)Impala, prey of the leopard--I pity them both face to face for the lifetime of the mole. One terrified and the other hungry but thwarted. Faber-Caselle PITT astist pigment pens and PRANG metallics

3)Pocket items, iPad Artrage painting print 4 x 6--I had to rescan the print because nothing was working that day!

4)pocket item #2--eagle skull. Just finished today. iPad Artrage painting print 4 x 6

5)Our living room at the house where we live--the studio house flooded too.

We are leaving for a short trip Thursday 6/16.

Click images to enlarge.

Collaboration with Roma in Mike's Round 3

I tried to follow suit with themes of color and shape already begun by Roma. (Click image to view larger.) It's fairly textural, which doesn't show up in the scan. See her part without mine here.
here are some details:  (Click images to view larger.)

Meditations on the Vishanas of Gluttony

In Mike's Round Three Mole.

1)Meditation of the Vishanas of Gluttony I. Carp is considered a delicacy by some people. Here is a plate of well-cleaned carp. I do not, by any means, intend to imply that everyone who eats carp is a glutton.

2)Meditation of the Vishanas of Gluttony II. Here is the lone worm from the collaboration between Mike and Roma. The hungry carp want the worm and gulls want the carp and the hawks want the gulls and so on. It is also called "ripples." I kept giving this piece different names, e.g.: "Food Chain." And others.

3)The two page spread, captured with a little point 'n' shoot. Won't fit on the scanner. Ha ha, I just noticed you can see the tablecloth drawn in the first one behind the drawing in this one! :-D. Unintentional!

4)Meditation of the Vishanas of Gluttony III. Pocket item. IPad sketch on artrage.

The Vishanas are Habit Energies, in case anyone isn't familiar with them. Well, everyone, of course, is familiar with them in some ways. LOL! :-D

Each image will enlarge to some extent if clicked upon.

Going away camping in Canada (Pinery) for a long weekend.

Collaboration with Ammon in Mikes Round 3 Book, 1st half

This is my first piece in Mike's Round 3 book and it is my collaboration for Ammon, 1st half. I haven't named it because I do not know what Ammon will make of it. Click image to view larger.

Small Meditation on the Effects of Melancholia

This is the FINAL piece in Mike's Round II Moles which will be headed to Mike perhaps as early as tomorrow and if not, as soon as possible. It is done in Faber-Castell PITT pigment artist pens. Click image to view larger.

Small Meditation on the Nature and Memory of Bliss

This was combining compass use with "free-drawing" (free-coloring?) in the sense of not planning but seeing what evolves. I think I am a little too married to the idea of being pleased with the results to do this sort of thing--that is--not plan--at least until I get somewhat better at it and at least not in someone else's sketchbook! :-( I have a desire/need to please. Anyway, here it is, in Mike's round 2 sketchbook. Faber-Castell PITT pigment pens. Click image to view larger.