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

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.

Pocket item for Ammon

I almost mailed Ammon's Mole off today and then I remembered that I had not yet done a pocket item.

A Light in the Forest
5 x 7 Copic Marker and pen
on "bleedproof" paper (NOT!)

I bought some bleed-proof marker paper today--it does make a more precise line, but it bleeds through.  I was kind of disappointed because I wanted to do double-sided marker images for the sketchbook project.  This paper is very thin, almost like tracing paper.  The Copic blenders do NOT work. (or else I don't know how to use them).  By the way, the actual image (drawing) does not look as dark as this scan.  (This is an original, and I was experimenting with the media.  I am also including two 5 x 7 prints of paintings that have been accepted at an online Zine (The Browsing Corner) but will not be shown until June, so I am not to post them until after that.  This now completes the package and I hope to get it mailed tomorrow!

Collaboration with Gretchen in Stephanie's: Hen Turning Eggs

Turning the Eggs
Collaborations with Gretchen

Turning the Eggs, Collaboration by Gretchen Owen and Mary Stebbins Taitt
markers and pens.  Dedicated to Hennie Mavis.

Summit County Colorado Virtual Paintout, first one in Stephanie's

YAY!  WHOOOOPEE!  Hurrah!  Stephanie's Moleskine came in the mail this afternoon--thanks Gretchen-- and I did a quick sketch in it for the Virtual Paintout in Summit COunty Colorado.  I've tried three times and I've always screwed it up somehow, so I'm trying again a fourth time.  Felt-tip Markers, graphite.

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.

Another for Willie's "Pocket": Homeless and Hungry

OOoh, an unintenional Cripple! I made this for poor Willie--it's pretty big, 9 x 12, I think, slightly too big for my scanner. I'm going to send it with the other too-big homeless pictures I made for Willie before I knew he had a small mole.

Here;s the kicker--I drew it, painted it and scanned it and then noticed that I drew NO ARM!!!! I made a hand without an arm. DUH!!

Sorry Willie. Since I made it for you, I think I will send it anyway. You can use it for a dartboard or toilet paper or something.

I was holding something in my hand and looking at my hand and forgot all about my arm. And I have the thumb on the wrong side because I had turned my right hand around to face myself to sketch it. Galloping Alzheimer's, I guess. :-(

Water color and black permanent marker. Click image to view larger.

I fixed it up a little on photoshop and Artrage and printed a new copy for Willie--he will get both the new one and the old one. The bigs ones, however, will go directly to him, since I can't put them in the pocket for the remainder of the people to see--UNLESS y'all tell me you want me to mail them all together in a larger envelope--then you'll have to mail them all on. Other wise, when I mail the mole on to Mike, I'll mail the big pix and poems directly to Willie.



This is "self-portrait" of myself as a homeless person, but when I was homeless, we weren't called homeless, we were called street people" and we had no signs except if we were hitch hiking somewhere.

Songbird Cutouts for Ruth

I'm killing time between books with other creative projects, so to prove I'm not idle (HA!), here's a tease. Recent bird drawings from other artists in this group, plus an influx of real nests around my home lately, have me obsessing about my feathered friends.

I have a friend in the hospital indefinitely, so I am sending her these birds to decorate her room. Here's a link showing all 6 birds, some real nests & the story on this project. Whew, snapping & uploading pics & writing posts takes longer than doing the art! Weary sigh :-)

Still a Girl Without Style

How is it possible that I still seem to have no style, tho I paint & draw plenty? Isn't a distinct pattern supposed to eventually emerge? Besides bananas, I mean. Geez.

Top image: Cat drawn with a waterbase marker, then brushed with water. I still love the simplicity of this mixed-media thing. Reminds me of those books that allow kids to "paint" by brushing water over printed outlines. Same deal here, only I had to draw my own image first.

Middle image: Watercolor with black pen & clear nail polish (for shiny lips, which don't photo well). This is my token "surreal" contribution to Milo's book. Don't ask, because I can't explain it.

Bottom image: Collab for Aya, watercolor & Prisma pencil. I know, I know, another banana. At least I threw in a Bosc pear for some variety!

Learning About Pigment Markers: a new one for Hennie's pocket

I never used any kind of markers for art before, and now I am learning the difference between pigment markers and dye markers. Y'all probably already know this. One of the cool things about pigment markers is that you can shade within the same color, it gets darker as you color over it--that has great possibilities for hair and fur and shadow texture etc, but on the other hand, it is difficult (for me, so far) to make large smooth areas with pigment markers.

This drawing is done exclusively with pigment markers that I got for Christmas. There are four colors plus the white of the paper. The man, as y'all know, is my husband. I tried "cover stock," but I like water color paper better! The picture is 8.5 x 11, but I will have to trim it a little to get it into the pocket.

It's another experiment. I learn something from every experiment.

More for Hennie's pocket

The first is called "At the Black Canyon of the Gunnison" and is made with Christmas markers. It is 8 x 10, on watercolor paper, and I am going to put the original in the pocket. The second is gouache--I was just fooling around testing the transparency/opacity of the gouache. But I made it too big so I am putting in a print.

In Aya's Pocket: Still Life with Unicorn and Craquelure Vase

In Aya's Pocket: Still Life with Unicorn and Craquelure Vase, by Mary Stebbins Taitt--I was experimenting again, combining watercolor, markers and pen and ink. I'm including a small print, because the original is 9 x 12 and will not fit in Aya's pocket. I am not sure I am done with it, but decided to print it anyway and include it, as I am hoping to mail the blog off to Mike soon, though I haven't had time yet. The next person may get an updated version of this if I actually have time to work on it any more.

I am hoping to do some gouache in the next mole, as Steve tells me it's one of those yellow paper ones and I've discovered gouache, which requires less water, works better on those. I bought a new book on gouache and hope to try some new things in the next mole when it gets here later on.

In Aya's Pocket, Portrait of Keith from Memory with Markers

I made this marker portrait of my husband Keith (Biker Buddy) from memory today--I usually draw him looking at him. But I've studied his face so much drawing it that I remembered fairly well. One thing I cannot do without looking is the folds in his shirt--I could learn a lot from Anders.

I did the marker portrait on 9 x 12 water-color paper (I like watercolor paper!). It's too big to go in the mole or pocket, so I made a print of it for Aya, since I have her mole right now. (Underneath is a pile of poems for that fellowship I'm working on.)

The markers I made it with were all from holiday gifts, some from mole people--thank you!

The images will get bigger if your click them.

In Aya's Pocket: QuickSketch of Veloce

I decided to put my little quicksketch on a poorly cut piece of scrap paper for the piece "Veloce" ("The Girl with the Scarves") in Aya's pocket. This is done in markers and is ~ 4 x 5. ((Ammons' name is on the back 3X)).

for Aya's pocket

Quick marker sketch with markers gift. I sort of copied the picture on cover of the markers; it was my first drawing with the new markers Christmas morning.

I need to learn to use markers better. They are not a media I am familiar with.

Last One in Ander's Mole: The Handiest Model

On the left is a value study of my husband's face at dinner, done in markers.

On the right is what will probably become our Christmas card this year. Pen, marker and watercolors.

I sketched two pictures lightly in pencil facing each other as close to each other (similar to each other, the "same") as I could, then worked from there on each side.

Click image to view larger.

Crone Ceremony: Collaboration with Steve in Ander's Mole

YAY! The Mole arrived today, woo hoo! I'm so happy! As usual, the pieces are so wonderful to see up close and personal! YAY!

My first piece is a collaboration with Steve. The finished piece is on top and his contribution is shown below. Unfortunately, the scanner didn't get the colors quite right, but I guess that's okay, since most of you will see it in the flesh. It's done with markers, some from Andrea. I discovered, as I'm sure many of the rest of you have, that some markers work MUCH better than others!!!

If you click on these, they will get larger.

All done! - Aya Rosen

So I really got into this in the past 3 days and did pretty little but draw in Heidi's book. I'm really happy with the result, though using watercolor in the non watercolor sketchbook was a bit of a challenge, and in some cases I had to change my plans to not make the paint or marker bleed through to the opposite page.




This is my half page, wonder what it will look like after it's done: