Mary in Ballookey: Frankie putting Noah away for the night.

Frankie putting Noah and the animals of the ark away for the night
click image to view larger.

I've been working on this painting and also on cleaning up one of my earlier ones where the blue paint from the sky got on the yellow wings.

Ballookey's Moles, pocket and pieces by Mary

"Bid Noah Goodnight"

"And they came in in twos . .  ."

Casual Poppy Card
print card from acrylic painting
for pocket

Not sure if these are done yet.

Bag of Lies

Scans of Hennie's Conversations I and II.

Blast from Past: Henniemavis Hijacks Ballookey's Mole

I hope this is permissible, but Mary is visiting me in NH & happened to be traveling with Ballookey's book... so... I couldn't resist! These 2 pages are entitled "Conversations Between Friends I" and "Conversations Between Friends II". All imagery is directly related to snippets of tales told between Mary & I. We spent a lot of time outdoors & did a lot of drawing, painting & blabbing. No further explanation will be given. Not that you would want any further explanation, I'm sure :-)

Slow progress, Balookey's Mole

I am sorry to report that my scanner is still not working, so I have tried to photograph the pieces I am working on.  The first one is a collaboration with Andrea.

Collaboration with Andrea,
PITT Faber Castel pigment pens and colored pencil

Day 1

The second piece is the one I am currently working on, showing two stages of work. It is for my book, Frankie and Noah have a party.

day 2
I don't think the colors show up quite right.

After a week of work I still haven't got the first layer of paint down!
This is with a different camera!
Getting the colors right without a good scanner is a pain!

Day 8 on this piece
Still not finished!

Collaboration, 1st half, for Mike

The last piece is a collaboration for Mike to finish.  My intention was to do a simple graphic black and white but I got carried away and colored it.  "The owl and the Pussycat went to sea/ in a beautiful pea green boat." Mike, feel free to change the these, paint or color over or change any part of what I did, etc. You can erase the lines of the boat and the ear of the owl if you want to do something entirely different--it could be a scene in the daytime.It could be a graphic abstract.

Click images to view larger.

Andrea in Ballookey's Moleskine

Reasonably Sweet

Andrea in Ballookey's book ... In ~ 2/27/14

Here's my first go at Ballookey's book, I have had it forever.  Ack!  Sorry for the delay Mary, I will keep at it and get it mailed to you soon.  

Aardvark, Shark, Lark, Ark, Dark: Pocket item for Ballookey

Aardvark with Shark and Lark

Sailed in their ark (in the dark)

This is a pocket item for Ballookey.  It's watercolor on 140 lb cold-pressed Arches paper, 7 x 10.  It was entirely painted with the water brushes that you fill with water.  I got two new ones and wanted to try them out.  One is a fine point Koi that came with a field set, which I'd never used, so I used it last night and in the wee hours this morning when I couldn't sleep.  The other is a Niji flat.  I painted most of the painting with Niji and then added the detail with the Koi brush.

This is theoretically for the series I am doing of San Cassimally's book, Animal Carnival.  However, as you can plainly see, it is in a different medium and different style than the others, so I will probably redo it?  (Or redo the others?)  I just really wanted to play with watercolors.

Collab with Andrea "If you Play your Cards Right"

Collaboration with Andrea

Detail

I think I have completed my collaboration with Andrea (although I may see something later I need to do.)

Ballookey's Arrives

Ballookey's Moleskine arrives in Detroit
in time for spring.

2-page spread
Glechoma hederaceae
click images to view larger

Glechoma hederaceae
botanical diagrams

Glechoma hederaceae
botanical painting, acrylics

I am sorry to report that I am not only still sick, but I am also getting worse rather than better.  I have a medical procedure scheduled May 30, which is supposed to help and I hope and pray it does.

I kind of messed this up a little, and I apologize.

Red-headed Woodpecker in Ballookey's Mole

Red-headed Woodpecker, Watercolor

I guess I am on a woodpecker kick.  Water color, 5 x 8.  Click image to view larger.

Ivory Bill in Balookey's

I've been traveling and unfortunately, too busy to do art on the road, but I'm home now and just completed the Ivory bill. Below is the two-page spread.  Watercolor, micron pen.  (Click images to view larger.)

A Potpourri for Ballookey (Round 3)

After having not worked in Ballookey's mole for what felt like ages (mostly on account of not having energy after taking care of a couple of people I love who went through serious medical issues) I finally picked up the markers, paints, and glue, and got to work.



The collage at the very top started with a pink background and ended with a girl on a swing. I used found images plus cut up a monoprint that I'd made, and the result is that the page is super thick, almost like cardboard. Hope you don't mind, Ballookey, but your Mole has some girth to it now.

The second piece above started with stick flowers on a ochre background, and it was only after finishing the first collage that I got inspired to re-work the stick flowers into something meatier. (You can see an earlier version of it in my last post.) And finally, the piece below contains small prints of some of my doodles, which I made into loteria cards.

I'm enjoying making collages. Something about the idea of layering and the richness of many disparate elements added into a whole. Kind of feels like my life right now.



Ballookey's mole is on its way to Gretchen. After holding on to this mole for so long, it will be strange to be mole-less for a while.

s k y l a r k puzzle in Ballookey's

Ballookey's Round 3 Mole is coming along, although I still have a full page and a collab half-page to finish before sending it to Gretchen. The s k y l a r k puzzle (above) was the most fun of the various things I've tried in this Mole, although the collab with Mike (below) was a close second. The flowers piece was an experiment; didn't go exactly the way I'd hoped. The pink background piece still needs a foreground, which I plan to finish now while I'm in Arizona with my husband, who is going through a lot of testing at the Mayo Clinic.

(Sorry for the blurry images, taken with my iPhone in a not-so-well-lit hotel room. Also, the black borders are from a Photoshop app and not in the actual images, although I kind of like a border, especially for the Mike collab piece. Might add it now that I see it.)







Many apologies for being late in getting Ballookey's Mole finished, as well as for my absence from the blog. Between the stress of travel (this is my fourth trip in a little over three weeks) and caring for the family, I am moving slowly with the Moleskine Exchange. I do want to say, however, that having Ballookey's Mole with me along the way--working on it in hotels, hospitals, clinic waiting rooms, and planes--has been a lifesaver. The healing power of art! Sometimes I really do believe it is what saves my life.

JACOB AND THE MERBOY last one in Ballookey's

I wanted to put text on, but stupidly, I forgot to leave room! :-(

This is from (for) my as yet unfinished children's picture book, tentatively titled Jacob, Merjon and the Great Fish. By unfinished, I mean I haven't even finished writing it--I do have a first draft. This page comes earlier in the book than the previous one and they are not contiguous or continuous in the book.

These are the only pieces I've made so far--I haven't decided on a medium, but I may actually use these (or the scans of them) IF I can clean them up OK. (Otherwise, they may be "studies" for the book.) They did not scan perfectly because my scanner is not that great and the nook is not flat. This page has an acrylic painting on the other side. You can see the texture of it right through the paper.

Anyway, I have finished with the art in Ballookey's book and in a few days, will get it packaged up and sent off to Mike Kline. Click once (and then again) to view the image larger.

Jacob and the Waterspout

This is my third page in Ballookey's Mole. It is an illustration (or study for an illustration) from my as yet untitled brand newly written children's book. The temporary title is, Jacob, Merjon, and the Dream Fish. It's (obviously) a children's picture book. This page occurs several pages into the book, but it's the first one I've done. I have not decided yet what medium I want to work in, but I kind of like the line drawing. However, I wanted fog, and I don't know how to create fog in a line drawing in pen and ink. Micron 005 pen. Click image to view larger--click again to view even larger. Click HERE to read the early draft version of the story.

WASHING UP, pages 1 & 2 in Ballookey's

I had two moles and this one arrived a little late--so patience please. I want to take the time to do my best possible job, though I sort blobbed this up a little.

It has a story. Onondaga Lake, in Syracuse, NY, where I used to live, is one of the most polluted lakes in the country if not the world. I was there one day walking and taking pictures when a migrant worker drove up in his pick-up truck, got out, and washed up in the toxic waters of the lake. A storm was approaching--I tried to tell him that the water wasn't clean, but he didn't understand me. I was thinking the storm was a figurative one as well as a literal one.

I had some problems with this, and may try it again sometime.

acrylic.

I still have two more pages to go in this, but I did get Gretchen's mole mailed. Yesterday. (This one was more than two weeks late getting to me, so patience, patience!)

Measles on measles, First half of a collaboration with Mike in Ballookey's

This ended up going in a different direction than I'd originally intended. Probably not the best technique to use when you're overdue--very time consuming. Multiple pen varieties, Micron, Faber-Castell PITT, etc, and then some acrylic because I do not own a white gel pen--or if I do, I couldn't find it.

I forget how long it takes those blasted metallic gel pens to dry and stuck the heel of my hand in it and smeared it on the bottom right--sorry!! :-(

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.

The Arrival of Ballookey's Mole

YAY! it's here! (Of course, now I have two, one round 2 and one round 3. --Gretchen's and Ballookey's, so please be patient.) Click image to view larger.