Mary In Mike's, Biker Buddy and Giraffes conversing

Biker Buddy, by Mary Taitt
mixed media on Moleskine thin paper

Biker Buddy with the flu
mixed media on thin Moleskine paper

I started the first one in markers, but I didn't have enough colors for shading so I added oil pastels and then I added acrylics.  The second one is what I made from the bleed-through from the first.  I'm not counting it as a page, because the paper is very thin and I wanted to make the bleed-through into something.  I also thought it would be fun to make it into something somewhat different from the original.  In the first painting, I was experimenting with unusual light sources and also concerned with flat (dead) colors--and how to make them live (add light).

dead and living colors

I chose colors that I thought looked particularly "dead" on their own, olive green, Indian red, flat grey and burnt umber.  Some of the ways to add light included dry brush, adding other colors, glazing.  I am not a fan, generally speaking, in my own work, anyway, of large areas of single blank dull colors.

test prints
giraffes conversing
Mary Stebbins Taitt

We recently put my mother-in-law, ML (for Mary Louise), in assisted living.  She used to be a teacher.  One of the books I inherited when she left her home is called printing for fun, and I read through it and discovered from printing techniques I hadn't heard of.  One is printing with paper masters--not like mimeograph, but cutting and pasting masters with shapes and using them to print with.  I decided to try it with textured papers and did my first two test prints in Mike's book.  I then made a card and included the master, because as I discovered, paper masters do not last too long--they begin to wear out and disintegrate.  It is only for fun and very small "runs."

Pocket items: Sample card
paper master

sample prints
giraffes conversing (NOT in pocket)

I included a scan of a few of the sample prints I made and you can see the disintegration of the paper.  (although they are not in order).  It was still a fun and relatively easy project and would probably be good with kids who have a short attention span anyway.  Just cut out and glue the shapes, make a few prints and move on.

Mary in Aya's: Pocket items and envelope

Pelicans, front of envelope
Markers

Georges Braque
Back of envelope
Markers

For the pocket, I decided to make small note cards.

Fantasy in red
watercolor

I did the Fantasy in red first.

Fantasy in Blue
Mary Stebbins Taitt
Markers and pigment pens

I picked up on some of the shapes and composition of fantasy in red for my fantasy in in blue, and added an eye and a nose.  I "organized" the random lines in the wide band in fantasy in red into an eye.

Fantasy in Yellow
Mary Stebbins Taitt
Markers and pigment pens

For fantasy in yellow, I added a second eye and a mouth.  On the wide band, I made two eyes.

An Organization of Mind
Mary Stebbins Taitt
Markers and pigment pens

Because the two eyes on the wide band in Fantasy in  yellow resembled a mask, I decided I need one more (I had only planned to do three, in primary colors.)

The completed series

After I "completed" the series (or thought I had), I made one more card for my mother-in-law, who was having dinner with us, and although I hadn't intended it, it ended up to be the 5th in series.  However, it is not in the pocket because I gave it to her.

An organization of Mind II
Mary Stebbins Taitt
pigment pen and colored pencil
(NOT in pocket)

Kissed Frankie Goodnight
watercolor by Mary Stebbins Taitt
for my book
click to view larger.

They partied for days, weeks, months and years;

the sound of their laughter filled everyone’s ears.

They partied ‘til the moon came up in the sky

and then all creatures kissed Frankie goodbye.


*

I painted this with watercolors, finishing it (after many days of work), on 8/21/14 and today, I added the moon in Photoshop.   It is for the book I am working on for my grandson hopefully for his birthday, otherwise for Christmas.  He will be four years old on his birthday, and has just started school.

I posted it before, but I think this is the finished version (I hope).  This is in my largest Moleskine, and I wanted to share it with you.

I have mailed Aya's book to Mike (yesterday--9/15).

Painting the envelope or should I say drawing?

front of envelope
drawing with faber-pitt artist pigment pens
by Mary Stebbins Taitt
click images to view larger

back of envelope
drawing with faber-pitt artist pigment pens
by Mary Stebbins Taitt
click images to view larger

I'm getting there.

"Tut tut, Woman Scolding" Collab for Mike

"Tut, tut, Woman Scolding"
First half of a collaboration for Mike to finish
pen and ink with watercolor "wash"
click image to view larger.

Okay, here's my collaboration of the second pass of round four in my own Moleskine, for Mike to finish.

I still have one full page to do of my own work, plus I was going to do the back cover.  I may skip that until later, same with decorating the envelope,  If I'm running late.

Mary in Molly's: Half a Dahlia

Half a Dahlia
Pigment markers (Faber-Castell PITT artist pens)
plus watercolor
(Click image to view much larger.)

This is my last piece in Molly's Mole--half a Dahlia for Molly to finish--I think I got carried away and did more than half, sorry Molly!

I started with pigment Markers but was distressed by the lack of subtlety and painted over it a little with watercolors.

I am ready to mail--am I mailing to Molly?  RSVP!

I am leaving tomorrow after voting for a week-long trip to Upstate NY to see my grandson Frankie for his second birthday.

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.

Two small meditations in Mike's Round 2

Mike, I tried to do what you said you did, which was free-drawing, starting out with no idea and seeing where it takes you. You are much better at it than I am, I think do better if I at least plan a little. The lower one was a free-drawing and the upper one, which I did second, was inspired by the first (lower). These are both done with Faber-Castell PITT artist pigment pens. I may try more of these in your book, but since I'm experimenting, no guarantees on the results! YIKES! Scary! (As usual, click images to view somewhat larger.)

Self Portrait on Indian in Gretchen's

I was inspired by Andrea's portrait of me in my motorcycle gear to do a self portrait on an Indian. In 1964-65 (I'm giving away my age here, if you didn't already know it), I owned a 1949 Indian. This is not it, but an older one I used for the art. I have, believe it or not, NO pictures of that amazing motorcycle. But I had fun--on the bike(s) and on the art. I did the piece in metallic markers, but you can't tell in the scan.

Drunken Kisses, Collaboration with Steve in Ballookey's Mole

This is my Collaboration with Steve Loya in Ballookey's Mole. It is called Drunken Kisses. It is done with pigment markers and brush pens, some of which are metallic or glittery. The position of the two intersecting nose shapes reminded me of people kissing and the odd position of tentative eyes, eyebrows and mouths reminded me of drunkenness. Click image to view larger.

Skulls for Andrea

This skull picture is based on a similar one I did a while back. The last one was done in pastels, but this one, since it's in the moleskine, I did in pigment pens, watercolor and gouache. I did it especially for Andrea. Click image to view larger. I included a large print of the earlier version, which I copied from. They are similar but not the same.

Last 1 1/2 pieces in Hennie's Mole: Living Statues

I have finished with Hennie's mole and since I already put tons of stuff in her pocket while waiting for it to arrive, I will be sending it on to Mike.

I have been fascinated with the living statues at the Renaissance Faire. I've taken lots of pictures of them (and slipped one into Hennie's Mole.) I decided to try to paint two of them, but ended up drawing one with Faber-Castell PITT artist brush pens (pigment markers) and then painting over the white parts with white gouache. I could take some lessons from Anders on making good folds!!! I did the other in ball point pen because it is for Mike to finish and he often likes to work in ball point pen. I left the column out on that one because I wanted to give him maximum creative control on subject, materials, space etc. When I was all done, I decided that the living statues are a better subject for photography than art, because the pure whiteness of them doesn't seem as striking in the art pieces as it does in the photos--too late--they're already done. Click images to view larger.

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.

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

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.

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?

Parking Lot, Downtown Detroit, night

For Hennie's pocket, the ORIGINAL Hennie (not a print), of this brand new 8 x 10 pigment marker (Faber Castell India ink) drawing entitled "Parking Lot, Downtown Detroit, night," from the markers I got for Christmas only. The big monorail thing is called the "People Mover."