Talented artist giveaway

I follow quite a few blogs and really love this one.
http://jessicadoyle.com/2009/12/17/the-2009-end-of-year-art-giveaway/
Check it out!

A 3rd addition?

Hello Ladies, hope you are all well.

I've been approached by another artist who is interested in joining our group for the second go around. I said that I wouldn't mind asking the group. Her name is Keron, here is a link to her work:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecolourguru/

She lives in Melbourne, Australia. Let me know what you think.

Take care.
Jenn

Alice in Wonderland

Here's my entry for Carolina's Alice in Wonderland Moly. I had wanted to make the Cheshire Cat, and then the Catepillar, but both designs didn't flow with the previous scenes. So I kept the subject matter to the Rose Garden and made the Queen and King of Hearts as a pair of immature royalty...and a worried little rabbit.

Of coarse, I had to add my beloved lettering. It's an addiction I can't seem to stop.

New Banner!

Do you like the new banner I made? I'm thinking some side bar action next but not sure what to do.
-Rach

In need of a mailing address

Carolina-
I have your moly. Just finished the drawing and ready to start color. I need your new address please! Will post the final image here later this week.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving my dears!
-Racheal

It is definitely much much much better in person...

even though it was gorgeous online. Jennifer, I got Kari's moly today and let me say the same thing that I always say...
You are amazing!!!
Your drawing is truly stunning. I need to find some new descriptive words - I feel like I always use the same ones, but they are still true.

Kari's Sunshine & Summertime

Kari - your book is looking awesome!

Let's not talk about how long I've had this book. I departed from the water theme, hope it doesn't look like a hiccup in the book. I love sitting outside in the summer. There is a gorgeous white lily in my backyard right by where I sit and draw. Always happy when a butterfly visits.

Be on the lookout Stacey, I'm dropping this in the mail tomorrow.

One book left...

I was just reviewing all of the posts and the entries that I have made and it looks like there is just one book left - that I have yet to make an entry in. I have not seen Kari's book with the summer theme. The reason that I bring it up...if you ladies remember we had discussed adding two new members to our group on the second rotation. I just wanted to be proactive and make sure that these new ladies are ready to start once the second round does and to determine how we can integrate them into the group.

More Dreams

I'm finally ready to send Racheal's moly off to Racheal. hehe It turned out a little too pastelly for me but I'm sticking to it. Racheal your book is really amazing.

How's everyone else doing? Things have been quiet lately, so I'm guessing you're all as busy as I am. Things are good here in southern Utah. The leaves are changing colors and my little town is beautiful. I can't believe it's November!

Kari

stacey's books

Hi everyone
I finally found some time to do an entry in Stacey's book
Hope you like it Stacey and really sorry for the long delay
but with the move, the renovation, work, going back to school.... it has been just crazy!
As for my entry, it's based on a saying my grandmother used to say whenever she saw a crow. She looked at the crow, crossed her fingers and said: "Martes hoy, martes manana, martes todo la semana" Which means Tuesday today, Tuesday tomorrow, tuesday all week. She told it was to protect us form the bad luck the crow brings because they are witches in disguise. The theme of the night and the vampires remind me this saying and I just had to had some type to follow Racheal's entry. This was really fun and a good break from my crazy break
ps. I'm trying to catch up in my moly so my next entry just be completed soon. thanks for understanding.

Ali in Wonderland

Well, I thought it was time for Alice, or in this case Ali to show up in Wonderland.  My daughter Ali absolutely loves Alice in Wonderland so I took this opportunity to put her right in the middle of it.  Here she is smelling the roses that were so recently painted red.  I hope you like it.  This is is the mail to Racheal and I have already started my next Moly.  

I hope you are all doing great.   

Smiles

Kari

Racheal's Update

Hey Everyone!
I just saw Stacey's post and was planning on writing my update post [was wondering where everyone was as well] this weekend, but you beat me to the punch. Anyway, I figured list form would be the easy way. Here goes:

1. Hope you all are well, have had great summers, and ready for the autumn.
2. I have had an insane and busy summer. Vacationed on the beach, went parasailing! Back to reality right now and catching up on a lot of work.
3. This was my entry into Stacey's moly. I sent it to Carolina back in the beginning of July I believe.



I was really sick over the summer and unable to draw/use my hands. So when I finally was able to get back into it I had to start where I felt comfortable. For me that's typography and lettering. Aside from that, I felt the quote stuck with Stacey's theme well.
4. This was my entry into Jennifer's moly [I think it was Jen's--it started off as the hummingbirds]. I took it in a bit of a creepy direction:



I sent this to Carolina mid/end of July. Carolina-did you receive these? I just read the post about your address change, I hope the moleskines made it to right place! I will also need your new address, s'il vous plait!
5. I have not received any moleskines since creating in the ones I sent to Carolina. Kari- I am ready! :) I hope you are allright [I know you have been very busy and I hope you are ok]!
6. Hi Kelley and Rose!

That is my status. I've been starting a new working schedule so hopefully I won't be absent for long gaps like this summer. I was also wondering how everyone felt if I made a banner for this blog and a banner to put on our personal sites?

Big hug from CT.

Where is everyone?

It has been a little while since I have seen a new book. If everyone could please post a comment and let me know who's book you have and where you are in your entry?
Thanks

Hi everyone

I have just moved to my new house
So I have a new address.
Email me if you need it
thanks!

ps: because of this move... my art supplies are all in boxes
it might take me some time to finish my entries in the sketchbooks
sorry for the delay

First round nears its end...

It is amazing to think that our first round of entries is nearing its end. So far this has been a wonderful fun and amazing experience for me and from all the posts that everyone has made to the blog - for everyone else as well.

As we continue forward, I wanted to remind everyone that in our second round we will have 2 new group members. Kelley http://www.flickr.com/photos/30724506@N06/ and Rose http://www.flickr.com/photos/30999513@N06/ who were displaced from an exchange that ended. Both of these ladies are wonderfully talented and I look forward to having them in the group.

In the next couple of months - once our first round officially ends - I will be updating the group mailing rotation and will send out the appropriate information to everyone.

Hello Ladies,

Just wanted to check in.  I'm sorry I've been absent.  You wouldn't believe the things that have happened to me this past month, none of them good, and some of them incredibly heart-breaking.  

I did get a new job, starting Monday as a graphic designer for a company called LearnKey.  Designer jobs are few and far between here in Southern Utah so you can bet I'm counting my blessings and looking forward to some new challenges.  I'm sure this means my stars are starting to align:)  

Thanks for all of the wonderful work and posts in this exchange, it is amazing how therapeutic and exciting these little books are.  It's cool to know there are people out there that think just like me and enjoy being creative.  And it's a gift to have their artwork to keep forever.  

Here's to the future.

Kari

I'm almost finished with Alice in Wonderland, I'll post this weekend.

Moly in the mail

Racheal's moly is in the mail on it's way to Kari. Should be there in the next 2-3 days. I realized as I was signing in to post this that I forgot to take pictures of the envelope. Ah well.

I don't know if anyone else has realized this but we are very close to finishing up out first round. Holy cow.

Racheal's moly - entry finished...

This one was a hard one for me. I was finding it hard to follow after Jen this time around. Her entry was so amazing!! Add to that all of the things that I have been going through lately and I am surprised that I did get it done. I am however behind now. I have 2 entries for a watercolor moly that need to be done now. I am still loving the moly exchange though. So, I know Racheal said that she didn't really have a theme, but after reading her entry - I knew what I had to do. My entry - is a recurring nightmare that I have had for years. What you see is only a part of it. The other part is me not being able to scream.

This was my first attempt at using crosshatching to shade. I will say that I don't hate it and am not as repulsed by my own entry as I thought I would be.

it's in the mail

Hello everyone!
I finally found some time to finish my entry in Kari's moly.
Here is the envelope... it's coming your way Jennifer

Stacey's moly

Hi everyone!

Just a quick note to tell you that I have just received Stacey's moly .... but I still have Kari's moly. My entry is halfway done and I'll to mail it as soon as I can. I have been super busy with the purchase of a new house... and now I'm in renovationland. 

I'll try to cath up

Kari - sorry for the delay

I am so sorry for the delay on mailing you Carolina's moly. I had intended for it to go into the mail last weekend and then the bottom dropped out of my life. I have not been myself this week. My husband is taking it to the post office today. Also now that I am feeling better and things are getting back to normal - you may end up with Racheal's moly by the end of next week. An idea finally came to me yesterday, so I put it on paper and just need to add some color.

Jen's book

Here's my addition.  I thought I would add the trees that were up til now part of the background.  I found a great photo of Aspen trees with some graffiti on them, added a couple of lizards and a butterfly and this is how it ended up.  There isn't really a identifiable focus but I thought it made a good transition to... whatever comes next.  Hope you like it Jennifer, it was fun. 

Jennifer's book now.

Just wanted to share how Jennifer's book is looking with all of the drawings.  

Bat Man

I finally have a moment to post these scans.  I couldn't make up my mind what to draw in Stacey's moly.  Then I came across a photo of the cutest bat!  So I drew the bats and then added a "Bat" man checking out the beautiful girl.  I've never drawn bats before so it was a challenge.  I kind of wish that I had stuck with the bats and left the man out but it's too late now.   Hope you enjoy the story that is happening Stacey and I promise to never draw a bat again:)

Just checking in....

As we get closer to another mailing date (June 30th) - I just wanted to check in with everyone to be sure that we are all on schedule (on the same page). As of right now...
Kari - you should have Jennifer's moly
Racheal - you should have my moly
Carol - you should have Kari's moly
Jennifer - you have Racheal's moly
and I have Carol's.
If this is not the case please let me know and we can allow more time if needed. Each of our moly's have 2 more entries/mailings before they are sent back to us. Recently, I emailed eveyone to see if it would be okay to add 2 more ladies to our group for the 2nd round of entries. It was a unanimous "yes"...so once everyone gets their moly back I will post a new rotation and send out any/all pertinent information and introduce our new group members.

Hope everyone is having a great summer and staying cool - it has been 100+ here in Texas.

Dreams don't always make sense.....

Here is my entry into Racheal's moly.
Racheal's awesome moon entries in the front & back of her book really made me want to do something related to dreams.
I'll be dropping this in the mail later this week.
Hope all are well.
Jenn

2nd mailing...

Eveyone should have made their 1st entry in the moleskine that was mailed to you in May and those moleskines should have been put in the mail to the next person. If anyone wasn't able to complete their entry and mail the moleskine, please let me know.

I am going to propose June 30th as the next mailing date. Let me know if this is okay with everyone.

Sunshine & Sumertime

I'm sorry I am behind! Lots of deadlines. But making this was my treat and now I'm definitely in summer mode and feeling nice and relaxed. I made no plans on this one. I told myself I would (because it was someone else's Moleskine that I didn't want to mess up) but decided to follow an idea without plans instead. It's more exciting for me that way. I was going to move it on land but waited, the sea felt better.

I hope you like it Kari, and that it reminds you to relaaaax.

Carolina's moly - The roses have been painted

I finished my entry in Carolina's moly today. I am pretty happy with the way that it came out. Before I added color, I went back and forth about what I wanted to use - colored pencil, marker, watercolor. I ended up using my Copic Sketch markers. The colors are very rich and thick and I thought that would suit the Disneyesque feel of my entry. I wanted the tree and the roses to be the brightest thing on the page.

The only problem now will be making my signature entry on the back. While the markers produce rich color - they also soak in/through the paper. I may have to paste a piece of paper to the back for my signature entry.

WoNdeRlaNd has arrived!!!

Carolina's moly arrived in my mailbox yesterday. Didn't have time to take pics of me getting it out of the mailbox, but will definitely share pics of my working on my entry. I want to take some pics to share with moly_x_life of my creative process and where I work. How many people out there spread there stuff out on their bed and go to work? Drives my husband a little nuts.

Carolina's Moly - painting the roses red...

Here is my preliminary drawing for Carolina's moly. I spent some time on Saturday watching Disney's Alice in Wonderland with my little one and decided that this was what I wanted to do for my entry. I took this straight from the video, so I will end up tweaking a few things so as not to completely copy Disney.

It's in the mail...

My husband will be taking this baby to the post office on Friday. It is on it's way.

I am not crazy about the marker that I used to color in the big seagull's head/body. Was just something new that I was trying. Not sure I will use those markers again. I am not impressed.

Wonderland is coming your way Stacey.....

I'm dropping this in the mail tomorrow.

Jen's Moly - entry 1 - FINAL

Here is my entry in Jen's moly. After coming up with the idea to do a sort of bird/girl - I wanted to be sure that my entry blended with Jen's so that the girl truly looked like she belonged to some big bird family.

racheal's moly in the mail

Just a heads up for Jennifer. Racheal's moly is in the mail. It should arrive at your doorstep in a few days. Had I little bit of fun with the envelope, hope you like it !

My entry - Carolina's book

So the heartless queen to the left gave me a bit of an uneasy feeling. By the looks of it Mr. Rabbit is a bit concerned too. Think he's gonna get a move on.

I just need to 'sign' the back, then it will be on it's way to Stacey.

my entry in Racheal's moly

Here is my entry in Racheal's sketchbook. As a follow up to the moon, I decided to do a Pierrot. I love Pierrot so sad and so beautiful. I was inspired by the song "Au clair de la lune". It's a french children song which speaks about Pierrot and the moon.
Well hope you like it, and hope that Racheal likes it.

2nd mailing deadline...

per a request from Racheal - our next mailing date is going to be:

June 1st

If anyone else needs more time, please let me know.

summertime is in CT

kari your moly arrived saturday!!! your details are remarkable! i'm feeling so pressured-i don't want to ruin it! anyone else having this problem?

i was wondering what was the title of the faith hill song you were inspired by for the theme? i'd like to listen to it for a little inspiration myself.

as far as due date-can we extend it to the 1st of june? is that too late?

a suprise in the mail

I finally got Racheal's moly !
Yeah, this is so fun! Racheal, it looks really good and love the little surprise at the end

Hi Everyone, 

Sorry I'm so late.  I have finally finished my entry and sent my moly on it's way.  It should be with Rachel in a couple of days.  I ended up doing a japanese-aboriginal-anasazi inspired sunshine and summer themed drawing.  Ended up overworking the sunshine so I just kept going.  hehe  Anyway I drew my favorite things about summer.  Now it's your turn.

Kari

It's Here! It's Here!

So happy it made it! Loved the package, and it's so cool to see the entry in person.

Discussion - 2nd mailing - deadline

As of Friday, everyone should have mailed and possibly even received their molys. I am proposing the next mailing deadline for:

May 22nd

(no later than May 26th)

If this is not okay with anyone, please feel free to let me know.

My entry in Jen's moly

Here is the preliminary drawing for my entry in Jen's Moly. I tried to follow your style in a number of places, Jen, so that the entry would flow with the one before it. I hope you like it.

Now to the color stage...

(It comes out a little blurry when you add the picture to the post...)

It's even more awesome in person!!

Jennifer's moly arrived in the mail today. It is even more awesome in person! Now I am a little intimidated about adding to such great work. I do have an idea though.

Guess I need to get started...

in the mail

My moly is ready to go in the mail. So get ready Jennifer because wonderland it coming to you

It's in the ENVELOPE!!

Sign in - done!
First entry - done!
My moly is in its envelope and ready to go. Just need stamps.

Finished! 1st entry

Finally Finished!
Not real sure why this took me so long, seems like I fought with it the whole way. These guys will be flying to Stacey later this week.
As I stated earlier, I chose to remain themeless. Can't wait to see what you do with it Stacey :)
Here we go!
Jenn

entry 1 - with color

There are parts of this entry that I like and parts of it that I don't. I think it is okay for my first entry.

sign in - final - with color

When I first came up with the design - I was worried that I would mess it up when I added color, but I am really happy with the way this came out.

Just Checking In

Hi Everyone,

I've been busy with a move but I am finally almost settled in my wonderful new home.  More importantly I now have a wonderful office/studio!  Woo Hoo.  All of my wonderful stuff in one place.  hehe

I am working on my moly and will be posting some sketches this weekend.  I've finally chosen my theme based loosely on the song "Sunshine and Summertime"  by Faith Hill.  It's hot here now and I'm just so happy, I am a true sun worshipper so I thought it might be a good moly.   I'll be ready to post next week sometime.  Looking forward to seeing my first package in the mail. 

Have a great weekend.  I'm headed to Nevada to drop off the kids and play some slots.

Kari

Racheal's Bella Luna

So, I'm not good at keeping secrets or posting in process work. Therefore, this is my completed sign in page...which is unconventional. I don't have a plan when I work, just a visual in my mind. I ended up with no room for signing in, but I figure, everyone can sign their name on their work.

In the mail she goes!

Racheal

To answer your question from your previous comment:
"i am confused though-are we suppossed to make our own image to start off the moleskine?"

Yes. Everyone makes the first entry in their own moleskine. That's what gets the rest of us started. Based on your entry (or theme - if you choose one) - everyone else makes their entries.

a twist on the sign in page

Hi all
I just wanted to let you know that I didn't do a conventional sign in page. Since I really love the whole idea of the traveling sketchbook (ie: different cities, different dates, different artists, one sketchbook) I did a new kind of sign in page. I signed my piece on the other side of the paper, with the date, the place and the tittle of my piece. Here is a sneak peak. I would really appreciated if you did the same with your piece when you get the sketchbook, well if you don't mind
Tell me what you think

Jenn's book - work in progress

Pretty satisfied with the lines..........time for some color.

I've decided to remain themeless. Looking forward to seeing how we all play off of one another.

DISCUSSION - First mailing date

Most of us are up and running on our first entries, so I think we need to start disscussing the date for our first mailing. I am thinking that May 1st is a good date. Everyone can throw their moly in the mail on Friday and it should get to most of us by the beginning of the next week since we are all in the USA/Canada area.

What does everyone think?

work in progress

Here is a sneak peak of my sketchbook. Hope you like where I'm going.
I have a small confession, I did this illustration without thinking to much and just following my inspiration and suddenly a theme was in placed. With white rabbits and queens of hearts, I think the Alice in Wonderland theme is pretty obvious. So if you don't mind, I would like you to follow my theme in my sketchbook when it gets to you. No obligations, I just taught it could be fun for my sketchbook.

Sign in done - color has been added

After much anxiety...I have finished my sign in page.

I got everything transferred into my Moly and used my new watercolors to add color to the design. I also found that I really like working with watercolors. I was a little scared to actually put paint to paper as I am new to using watercolors, but I think it came out really good.

I will wait and let Kari post the finished work so as not to totally ruin the surprise.

Jenn's sign in page

Well ladies here it is, my sign in page.Hope it is clear where you all are meant to sign. Am aiming to have my first entry completed by this weekend (we'll see how that goes)
JK

My moly - entry 1

My moly - entry 1
Originally uploaded by gwsmomma

Just as with my sign in page - this was originally something different. Not as completely though. The face on the left started out more realistic than cartoonish and it was awful. The woman lying down was originally sitting up naked with her back to you. I couldn't find a way to add the wing without covering her up, so I tried this instead. I am not crazy about the face on this one, but I will probably tweek it a little before I put it in my moly and add color.

My sign in page

Originally this started out very different. My first idea for my moly sign in page was not what I wanted. This just sort of flowed out. I like it a lot better and now just need to transfer it to my moly and add some color...no pressure right!?

Sign in pages and first mailing

At this point it looks like most of the group has already received their moleskine. Once Racheal has received hers - then we can decide on a date for the first mailing.

Racheal - I am okay with your having a regular sketchbook. Maybe in your book each person can do a 2 page spread - instead of the 3 pages in the accordian album. I am sure that it will work out just fine.

Karo - While I am here, I will go ahead and answer the question about the sign-in page. When you open your accordian album (I think this is the same for moly sketchbooks also), the inside cover is blank and on the front of the first page are lines where you would put your name and address in case your moly is lost. In quite a few of the exchanges that I have looked at people will make an entry on those two pages. Their entry will either have all of the names of the people in the group or they will let each individual person sign their name when they receive the moly. This is not a requirement. Just something that people do.

I have worked up a design for my sign in page that I am happy with. If I can remember, I will scan in my sketch this evening. Call me a chicken, but I am working up sketches in my sketchbook before I put them in my moly.

Talk soon!

My moleskine cover...

I received my moleskine about a week ago and have had it sitting on my computer table ever since. When I first opened it and unfolded all of the pages I was quite intimidated. Now, not so much.

I used a Prismacolor in Metallic Silver to draw a simple little design on the front cover.

Now on to my sign-in page...

Get ready, get set, DRAW!!

.....hi everyone !!!

Most of you have ordered or received your moleskines. As you get your moleskines start drawing everything you want, you must complete at least 3 pages.

Feel free to post pics here of your drawing progress and whatever else you want of the whole process. In my first post I stated that the person who receives the book will scan the previous artist's work and post it on the blog for everyone to see. Here I post the rotation of the group to be more efficient, if every one agrees...

Just to make it a little easier - this will be the mailing order:

Kari >> Rachael (Connecticut)
Rachael >> Carolina (Canada)
Carolina >> Jennifer (Michigan)
Jennifer >> Stacey (Texas)
Stacey >> Kari (Utah)

I will be emailing each of you the address and contact information for the person that you will be mailing to as well as the email address of the person who will be mailing to you. Please keep in contact with one another. You may email your progress or you may post it here.

If everyone would post a comment to this post and let me know whether you have your moleskine - I will set the date for the first mailing. You do not have to stick with 3 weeks per entry - if you finish sooner, you are more than welcome to send your moleskine on to the next person.

Hope to hear from you all soon.

Welcome to moly_x_70!!

Each artist will set off with a small Japanese (accordian) folded Moleskine. After creating a drawing, collage, or painting on a spread of approx. 3 pages they will send the book on to the next artist (the order is listed in the sidebar). In order to encourage more interaction, each book will make 2 rounds before it is filled. When the next artist receives the book, they will scan the previous artist's work and post it on the blog for everyone to see. When the book is filled, it will be returned to the owner with images created by artists around the world. Each artist has approx. 3 weeks to make an entry. The outcome will be a pleasant and surprising adventure, as artists interact and merge their art with others.

The majority of artists in this group have selected to go theme-less, if you decide that you want a theme for your moleskine, please be sure to put your theme on your sign-in page so that others will know.

The concept:

1. Each artist starts with a Japanese fold Moleskine - Name, address, email address written inside book.

2. Each artist gets 3 weeks to make a sketchbook entry, and mail it to the next person. The order is listed to the right.

3. Each artist will do approx. 3 pages each round. Each book will make 2 rounds.

4. Artists are encouraged to interact with other images in the book. Please be respectful.

5. When the book is full (when one side of the unfolded book is filled) the book will be sent back to its original owner. That artist may continue by buying a new book and sending it to the next person.

6. If a person decides not to continue, he/she will simply keep her book when it comes back to him/her. She should email all of the participants to say she is not going to continue. The group will then decide if they want to find a new person.

7. Please communicate regularly via email. Let each person know that you have received/sent the book. The goal is to have a dialogue. Any comments and questions are welcome.

Up & Running.

Sorry for the delay. Any questions or comments, feel free to write to me. You should also post your questions and comments here, so you all can work it out, come up with brilliantly creative ides.

Have fun. Thanks for you patience.

Yours,

Marty