Round 4 HURRAH!!!!

For the pocket of the first Round 4 Moleskine that comes my way, I have created two mandalas and a set of mini mandalas.  I am so excited for another round of the Moleskine Exchange.  YAY!

I am waiting to post a movie of the Round 3 Moleskine until I finish it. There were a lot of blank pages.

Milo's Pocket again: Fractal Dragon

I created this fractal in Xaos and then manipulated it in photoshop. You will not find another like it, I don't think, as it it quite changed from the original. For Milo's pocket.

Here is the fractal that I manipulated to get this "final" image. The image below was also manipulated from an original fractal, which I did not copy, on Xaos.

It is sort of like splotch monsters in that I looked for creature and a dragon is what I saw.

Three Pocket Items for Ash

Nothing I put in anyone's pocket will EVER compare with the boobies Hennie put in Willie's pocket, so I guess a few prints of my current artwork will have to suffice. I have made 4 x 6 prints of these three recent pieces for Ash's pocket.

They are:

1)Magnolias. This is created in my practice watercolor Moleskine, which is a 5 x 8 Moleskine. I colored the page orange with an orange permanent marker (Sharpie)[which by the way, I received as a gift from Andrea, thank you Andrea], and then sketched the vase and magnolias with a Crayola water-soluble marker (the one I've been using for water-brushed sketches), and then painted it with gouache. It was an experiment. As I expected, the marker blended with the gouache to darken the edges of the petals, branches and vase. My first attempt at this technique.

2)a from-life sketch of BB in the cover-leaf of the same sketchbook, done with ball-point and gouache. I think it's the best sketch I've ever made of BB in that it looks more like him (which is my goal, to learn to do likenesses) than any other I've ever done. At some point, I may try to make this into an art piece without the centerfold, but I do not have time right now. I did it when we were eating out at the Coney, and he was holding a beer, but I didn't finish it before it was time to go.

3)Tulips at the Village Market 100328--a digital smudge painting sketch which is a practice for what I hope to do over maybe in water-soluble oils, big.

Inquiring minds want to know, so here is the totally unadulterated version of my sketch of BB (K).



The paint beaded up a little on the coated surface, making it look like he had the pox. This does not happen on watercolor paper.

From the Providence of Dreams, for Ash's pocket (I Think)

I don't have a Moleskine right now. So I decided to make a fractal for the next person, whom I think is Ash. But I got carried away and made it into something else--a digitally manipulated fractal art-piece, I guess. I printed a small print of it for Ash's pocket. Click image to view larger. I made the original fractal from which this came using Xaos, a free fractal download for macs.

And here's another for Ash's pocket:



It is a print of a drawing I made in one of my earlier Moleskine Exchange books--the last picture to be completed in that book--from the Jim Doran Exchange. It is a series of experiments combining media: colored pencil, pigment markers and gouache. Click image to view larger.

Reach: for Hennie's pocket

Reach, by Mary Tait. Aya's Mole is gone toward Mike and if I am correct, Hennie's will be the next to arrive. I painted this tonight and am preparing a small print for Hennie's pocket. Click to view slightly larger.

For Steve's Pocket

Today is my father's birthday. He died in 1998, but every year on his birthday, to remember him, I make some piece of art. Often, I give it to a family member, but today, I am giving it to Steve, by placing it in his mole pocket.

The first is the original watercolor abstract, Mozart in Heaven, 5 x 8 on Utrech Bristol. In memory of my father, I painted it with a child's Crayola watercolor set.

The second one, Mozart in Heaven Blink, I added a color gradient in the background digitally in Photoshop. (Blink is Blue and Pink). My father loved Mozart--so do I. Click images to view a little larger. You can see these as "originals" in Steve's pocket when they come around.

Abstract for Steve Digital Variant.

The Cover of the current Aperture Magazine shows an abstract by William Eggleston, a great photographer who also does abstract art with markers. There are images inside of his work, and also on the website, though the ones int he Journal are much bigger. I was wondering if the cover image was digitally manipulated from a white original, and decided to try it with mine. (I don't claim my art is in the same style at all, mine was done in water colors, not markers.) It was just something I was eager to try and Steve gets the results in his pocket. I changed the aspect ration and am printing it 4 x 6 on photo paper.

digital stencils (for Andrea and . . . ?)

I don't have a mole right now, so forgive me for sharing this--I know Andrea loves stencils. I've been playing with the stencils on artrage, a computer program that you can download free (smaller version) or $25 for full version.

Of course, you can't use it on moles, unless you paste your work on, but I thought if you didn't know about it you might enjoy it--maybe you all do already. These three were made from stencils. You can make your own stencils from art or photos. Or use theirs.