Holy Molly!

Look what I just got in the mail! My round 2 book from Heidi! I'm so excited about it, because it's been so long and I totally forgot what any of the art work looks like. Looking at my own artwork in it, I cringe a bit since my style really evolved a lot since, but I love everything else and how many animals there are in my book.

She also send me a beautiful gift.

Really I couldn't be happier right now!

Thanks everyone for making such beautiful art for me!

Collaboration: The Pigephant (Evolution of the grub)

Someone left me a perfectly nice outline of an elephant, I assume as a collaboration, and I messed it up BIG TIME.  I'd never used oil pastels to speak of, so this was my first attempt, and I didn't really know what I was doing.

First try:

Pigephant (the grub)

My husband said it looked like a grub.  I was calling it a pigephant.  I decided the back legs were too far back.  (That was something I did!)  I kept fiddling with it and finally had this:

King Tut-tut

I decided his trunk was too short.  (?)  I made it longer.  I moved the tusks (but couldn't quite hide where the old one was.  I also moved the eye.

King Pink

So here is the maybe final version, in my round 3 book, a collaboration.  It may still need more work.  Can anyone tell me how to preserve it when I finish?  Can I spray it with fixative?  Will fixative stick?  Do oil pastels ruin the paper?

I am sorry to say I haven't had a chance, with the wedding et al, to post about my returned round 3 Moley. Sometime relatively soon, I hope.

Happy New Year!

Hi all,

I hope all of you are well and are ready to tackle 2013.  I am still wating for some books to get back to their owners.  If you have someones book, please finish up and ship it home.

Round 4 ... I don't know if I can do it.  I want to, I love doing the exchange but I do not love hassling people to mail books.  It really bums me out.  I will still considering starting another one once all book are home.  I guess we shall see.  I have been saying that for months now and yet here we are.

Just wanted to touch base with all of you and send out another plea.

HAPPY 2013, friends.

Where oh where can my Moley be??????

Ballookey in Mary's Round 3 book

Hey all - I finished and sent Mary's book out before the holiday last week. Hopefully if she hasn't gotten it already she should get it soon. That was the last book I had to work in, and I have my own book back, so I'm officially done with round 3.

The drawings I did in Mary's might look a bit like I just re-drew the same thing over & over, but really they tell the story of a kitty passing from this life into the next. I was inspired by Jessie Hirsch's (some of you may remember her from Round 1 of the Exchange) story of her cat making the trip over the rainbow bridge last year.

These images don't really match her story or her cat, but that was the inspiration.



The following image was a collaboration Andrea started. I was supposed to start it for her to finish, but I was so behind, I sent the book to her asking her to start the page. She gave it to me with the outline of the figure shown. I knew it was supposed to be a garden gnome, so I tried to make it something a little bit different. ;) It serves as a trippy welcoming committee to the kitty upon reaching the hereafter.



This is the completed collaboration page with Mike. His drawing reminded me of fuchsia flowers, which hummingbirds love. Andrea did the lettering, and I'm not sure if she or someone else did the cloud-shapes on the right. I added the hummingbirds and the breeze.

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.

Mary in Molly's #4: Asher/Garryd

Asher/Garryd high in a tree
watercolor
click image to view larger.

I've been traveling, went to a workshop called The Writer as Shaman, camped on the way.  Was unable to work in the mole while I was gone.  So, this is my fourth painting.  I have a half a one to do, and I'll be done.

This boy, Asher, I met on top of Bradbury mountain in Maine, while I was traveling.  I asked if I could take his picture.  He looks like Garryd, one of the characters in in my children's novel Frog Haven.  I'm going to paint some pictures from the photos to use as illos for the book.

Asher, like Garryd, loves to climb trees and goes way up high!!!  You can't see here how high he is.

So, Here's a photo, and even this doesn't show how high he was:

Asher/Garryd in tree, Bradbury Mt., Maine

Mary in Molly's (more)

pocket item:  BB
graphite and water-soluble graphite

Dana revisited
Water color, graphite and water-soluble graphite

Rheta
Graphite and water-soluble graphite

Heidi and Mary
with Mole-work

I know everyone is dying for a picture of Biker Buddy, so I made one for Molly as a pocket item (It's too big for her pocket, though).

I did more work on Dana.

Rheta is another character in my novel.

BB and I drove to Maine and stopped at Heidi's in NH on the way and she and I did mole artwork together--they are both pix off Biker Buddy!  Both a little stylized.

I loved visiting Heidi--we had so much fun!!!  THANKS Heidi, for the hospitality!!!  :-D

Sorry to say I've been sick since I got home.  More to follow asap.

2nd page in Molly's by Mary

I'm going away shortly for a week and I am hoping I can do this before I leave (but I can't promise to, as I also have other commitments.)

But tonight, I have to stay up late because my son is coming home on the train for the weekend from college.  So I worked on another page in Molly's Moleskine.

Dana Waznik
(by me standing in for Yllsa)

Dana Wasnik is the protagonist, main character, of my serial novel, Discovery at Little Hog Island.  She, like Ross in the last post, is a fictional character, so I'm making her up.  Watercolor.

The part of the novel where this picture will appear has not been written yet, but you can read earlier parts here if you wish.  (Links to the installments on cowbird).

Molly's book arrove!!!!

I attacked it with joy and looked at all the the yummy wonderful pictures and then Keith did.

Grinning at artwork!

Can you see him secretly grinning at the picture?  (Please ignore our mess.)

And I did one and a half pages.

First I did the second half of the page Aya left for me:

Storm Brewing

I tried and failed to match the color.  (Watercolor and Pentel Hybrid Technica pen)

Then I did a drawing of "Ross" who is one of the main characters in a serial novel I am working on.  I am posting it in installments on Cowbird.  All the links are here if you are interested in looking at it--there is art or a photo with each installment. I had this idea of redoing all the art and publishing it as a coffee table novel.  Not sure if anything will come of that, but I'm having fun thinking about it.

Ross
from  Discovery at Little Hog Island
by me,
but supposedly by Yvonya

Pentel Hybrid Technica pen and Derwent Water-soluble Graphite Sketching pencils.  And water.

Something for Molly's pocket

Brace yourself for a long story...

So, as I said before, Ned and I got super busy for about a month, shooting lookbooks and other projects like crazy. it was a lot of work and a lot of fun...

One of those projects was a top secret hush hush shoot we did for a new TV show called Elementary, which is a modern Sherlock Holms story. The episod hasn't aired yet, so I can't give too many details, but we shot something that's going to be in a book that will be used as a prop in a scene.

As said, can't tell the whole plot, but basically, they needed a series of images of different woman looking glamourous, sexy, beautiful and strong. We had to cast the whole thing and find time to shoot it within a week and get the images to them super shortly afterwards. We found a bunch of friend-models that were brave enough to be shot in sexy underwear for TV and got to work...

I'm really happy with the shoot, and decided to use the images as reference for a little illustrated book for Molly's pocket.








I had quite a few leftover prints from attempts to align the pages, and so I painted them with watercolor and add one to Molly's book.





If you want to see the rest of the illustrations, check out this.

Molly's book - Half a page for Mary

It's going to take a couple more days because I had a cute idea for a little book for the pocket but then the book is going to Mary - the last person who need to work on it before it goes back to Molly.

Molly's Book pages 6 & 7

Molly's book pages 4 & 5

WIP in Molly's

Just finished the last half page today! Better scans and something for the pocket tomorrow and then it's off to Mary.

Hi All

Round three peeps, please finish up the books you have and get them back to their owners.

Also, this is a space to throw out ideas for Round 4.  Should we do less people and go around twice?

How should I screen new members?  Generally I would just do it by asking artists I had recently been following or enjoying, but I have struck out with that way a few times now.  :(  Some folks just don't understand the level of commitment.

Those of you who have been doing this for a while or who have branched out and done sketchbook exchanges of your own, what advice do you have?

I am not starting another round until all books are back to their owners, so if you know who has your book, hit them up and encourage them to get it finished.

Happy fall to all!