more figs, and then we're off to see the wonderful-wizard-of-Oz(oux)

Helena's notebook is ready to move on. Is oO ready to take it? Should I wait until after the holidays?

Figs, figs...

I started working on Helena's book. It's got so many awesome works from everybody already. I decided to have figs (yes, the fruit) as my theme this time. And I am sorry they kind of look like onions.

Sing your heart out!!!!

I sat on this one for way too long.  Sorry about that.
I added three little birds singing their hearts out in oO's book.  I thought the paper that Barbara added looked kind of like a wing shape, so I tried to build off of it.  The rest is history.  It's a really cool book and I loved working on the watercolor paper.  Might have to look into making one of these guys for myself someday.
In other news, I will be moving back to the States in December.  I've been in contact with Barbara, she has sent books to me and I expect them any day now.  I will send oO's to EWian this week.  I still want to be an active member of the group, Barbara will just need to send to Michigan instead of Germany :)
Be well.
Jenn

Ewian's book: flowers for Mathilda

My cat helped me paint finally the flowers for Mathilda in Ewian's book.
The books (Jennifer's and Ewian's) left to Jennifer in Germany today. I just posted them.

Barbara

Pretend to be a bird

Jennifer's book
I am working in Jennifer's book.

Her theme is "pretend". I was inspired by a lovely paper origami bird that I bought to support Fukushima victims. Origami art is very fascinating, or how a flat sheet of paper pretends to be a bird...

Jenn, I put the little bird in the back pocket for you :-)

Who do I send it to? Is everybody still active?? Jan, ??? Emma??? According to the status sheet you didn't do anything in the book. Do I send it to you or back to Jennifer? Please respond.

I just received Jenn's and Ewian's book! I will take them with me to Barcelona next week to work in them :-))
They look gorgeous!

Barbara

Birds for Helena

I've been a bad girl.....I've been sitting on books for waaaay too long and I don't want to be THAT person.

Barbara's lovely little lady is there to the left, my blur of birds is to the right.  I'll post this to EWian this week.

I also have Oliver's book that I hope to get out within the week.

Barbara's Moleskine: Falling Man

I actually sat down and did Moleskine work today. Three is too many to have on one's desk.
This is Barbara's and I am going to send it to Jan with Rowland's. I know, I should have done that a week ago, commitments have taken over my life (the Pop Up shop mainly that I was unexpectedly a lot more work than we all expected), now it is cleared a little and organised, I feel relaxed enough to think about this.

Rowland gets a dragon

I have been a bit busy, and have had this moleskine loitering on my desk, done, while I procrastinated if it was... well, it is. I have Barbara's also in a state of where to go from here after I started. It is brewing in my brain. Never fear.
I'll find out of Jan wants Rowland's while I still work on.

Poppy lady

My entry in Helena's book!

As Helena draws wonderful female creatures and plants, flowers, greens.... I was inspired by her and found I had to make something female and flowery.
Pencil and watercolor.
On the first page I put an envelope where everybody can add treasures. I put some very old stamps from my old stamp collection there. You can use them in your creations.

Helena I hope you like it.

I now post the books to Jennifer. Or maybe I still add some text in it?! :-) I cannot stop!

Barbara

oO's book : can you hear the music?

Here's a picture of oO's book in progress and finished! I make a collage with very fine hand made japanese paper with golden cherry blossoms on it to hide away the shining through of the silver washes on the front side of the paper.
I glued some blossoms around Rowlands drawing to make the link. and finish with blossoms on the right as well to hide away a shining through.

As oO has this music USB-stick in his book, I want to make something about music. So I took a page of a partita of Bach and started to paint the music in the Moly. I will finish with watercolor washes of course, on this fine Arches paper Moly. I use winsor & Newton watercolor and the fine new Sennelier watercolor with honey.

I took 4 pages after Rowland's drawing, and then I continued to the left around Rowland's two pages darwing.
I glued an ex-libris in the lower left coorner because the paper was damaged on that spot by the USB-stick stuck behind.

oO I hope you like it!

Jenn can I send you the book ? Are you at home for the moment?

Barbara

Jan's book on its way to USA

My entry in Jan's book is called "the therapeutic cat". "Family pets can sometimes have a therapeutic effect on the family's dynamics", said a friend of mine.

Barbara's Moleskine is done

Hi guys! This is Barbara's moleskine. All good and ready to go!

I played around with some of the drawings on the book. I really liked Barbara's lady so I covered her up with some blooms and a sleeping cat. I've also added some opal dust on the leaves, which doesn't really show up on the photos...but let's just say...this glitter stuff is da bomb man!

 

And here's another illo on top of some swirls that Olivier did. I hope you like it Barbara! I had so much fun with your book:)

Hi Everybody !
I received Oo's and Helena's book yesterday from Rowand! They look great, but... Oo's book is totally full already. Rowland why did you fill up 9 pages in Oo's book? I tought we agreed to fill up maximum 3 pages to leave room for others? How about me, Jennifer, Ewian and Niniji who still had to paint something?
Please don't fill up more than 3 pages... !
I'm sorry to have to write this but I 'm dissapointed...
Pity because I love this watercolor paper and I was looking forward to paint in this wonderfull book :-(
Oo can you make me one? How can you get this long paper so flat??
So I send oo's book back to USA.

Barbara

Rowland's Moleskine is finally done

Just a quick post to show where the end of the string is tied to on Rowland's book.

I hope Olivier doesn't mind that I've made his winged angel a little bit fancy!

Will work on Barbara's book now:)

Hi from Italy

The next two books have arrived! I still have two books ready to go to Barbara but I still don't have her address! It's good to see that books seem to be moving around :-)

Rowland's Moleskine

Hi guys, sorry this is late. I had artist block for awhile. It was bound to happen...after receiving 5 moleskines at once. Here is my contribution for Rowland's book. (I've been thinking about gnomes lately!).

My scanner isn't large enough to see what the strings are tied to. You'll see it soon enough when you get the book. Can't wait to see how others interact with this drawing.

Will post Rowland's book off to Jan this week.

Jan's moly in Taiwan

Hello all. This is my first post since moving to Taiwan.
I have received Jan Allsopp's book from EWian.
Helena, are you coming next month as planned?

So, as I haven't been working alot for others lately, I have had copious amounts of time to work away on moleskines. Above is Jennifer's "Pretend" moleskine.







Ewian's "Waltzing Matilda" moleskine, I had to scan quite a bit of it to show what I did. I decided the jumbuck was getting a raw deal, so I, as usual, went the animal route. These sheep obviously haven't been stuffed into a dillybag yet... hopefully never.
I believe I am sending these to Jan now.

Moly_x_3 the whole lot!

I'm sure you've all been waiting excitedly to see the moleskines all spread out. As promised:

Top to bottom: Em's book, Barbara's book, Rowland's book.

And the two completed moleskines: Ewian's book, Jennifer's book.

Have posted Ewian and Jennifer's book off to Emma. Will start on the others soon. There's so much lovely artworks in all of the books that I'm feeling a little nervous on my part!

But it's also nice to see the whole project coming together nicely (slowly but surely) and it's wonderful to see all of you lending your time and effort on each of the pages. Nice work everyone! Keep it up!

Jennifer's moleskine

Hi all, I've just finished Jennifer's moleskine. Nice 'Pretend' theme, Jen:) I pretended I was sitting in a room with a lovely view. Oh how I wish!

I also included an Emily Dickinson poem for my 'pretend' morning view.

Dawn
When night is almost done,
And sunrise grows so near
That we can touch the spaces,
It's time to smooth the hair

And get the dimples ready,
And wonder we could care
For that old faded midnight
That frightened but an hour.

FYI: I've received a stack of moleskines from Olivier: Rowland's book, Barbara's book and Emma's book. Hope to get started on them fairly soon:)

I'll be posting Ewian and Jennifer's book to the Aussie ladies this week.

Emma's balloon ride

For Emma's book I was inspired by the floating movement of balloons. How much fun it would be to go for a ride.

Mediums used: Pencil for sketching. Medallion permanent marker for lining. Distress ink for shadowing. Colouring and pastel pencil for the houses and face form Faber-Castell and Derwent. Odourless white spirit. Acrylic paint for the balloons, mouth, glasses and hair. Leaf gold dust. Nail polish for the scarf. Distress stickles for the sweater and scarf. White gel pen from Sakura.

Ewian's book is done

Well I had to paint in the jumbuck:) The bunny needed a friend.

So a freshly brewed Billy tea with a Coolibah tree steaming out of the teacup for Ewian's Waltzing Matilda theme. Closing this book now to start afresh for Jennifer's book.

Work in progress: Ewian’s book

Hello! I received Ewian and Jennifer's book. I'm working on Ewian's book at the moment:) I listened to the 'Waltzing Matilda' song and picked up a few elements to draw. A teacup filled with Billy tea and a steamy illusion of the Coolibah tree.

While sharing this on my blog, I realised that I probably should have painted a jumbuck (sheep) instead of a rabbit in the teacup! Will post more pictures when I'm done. Hope you are all well.

hello to my Australian friends

I came across this and thought of you guys :-)
an exhibition in Taipei called "WONDERLAND: NEW CONTEMPORARY ART FROM AUSTRALIA"
(2012.2.11 - 2012.4.15)
curated by Antoanetta Ivanova

"The Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei is proud to present “WONDERLAND: New Contemporary Art from Australia” as the first survey exhibition of Australian art in Taiwan in the new millennium. The exhibition aims to express the dynamic processes of rethinking Australia’s identity and its place in the Asia-Pacific region. It promotes the values of respect between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, openness and tolerance, creative innovation and excellence, and a growing sense of environmental responsibility.



Further, in surveying contemporary art the exhibition brings an unusual cross-section of media, art forms and processes: found objects sit next to hand-made sculpture; documentary video next to abstract moving images; paintings next to interactive installations. Explored in their own right the 45 artworks created by 27 artists and several production teams, offer diverse pathways leading to another kind of wonderland: one found in inspiration, curiosity, and unexpected encounters."

just wanted to share...



http://www.mocataipei.org.tw/blog/post/27791273

Helena's & Olivier's Moleskine about to take a trip to Italy.

So in between seeing every relative and friend imaginable (more relatives than anything), I have managed to get the two moleskines sent to me in Australia done whilst here in France.

They are now off to Rowland by the end of the week.
Top is Olivier's, bottom one, as you have all seen a preview is Helena's.

Helena's Book almost done...

I have just a few finishing touches to go, then scanning, but I think Helena's moleskine is almost there. I am at this moment listening to Olivier's music, and thinking about how to follow up such beautiful pieces. But my aim is to send to Rowland from France... so not thinking too long. Heheeeee.

Moly book status as of 1st February 2012

Ok just an update on all the moly books. Mostly for Rowland (can sense he's getting a bit frustrated:)

As of 1st February 2012:

Olivier (00) (USA) has 3 books: Rowland Jones' book, Barbara Luel and Emma Kidd. All finished (except for Emma's book as he'd like to draw a little more). Usually it would go to Karena but as of 1st February, she is no longer in this group and has pulled out.

Jan Allsopp (Australia) has 2 books - Helena's book, Olivier's book. All finished. To be sent to Emma Kidd (Australia).

Karena has 3 books - Niniji's book and 2 more books that I'm not sure belongs to who. They could belong to Ewian (Norway), Jennifer Kraska (Germany) or Jan Allsopp. She has only done 1 book and has not touched two books. She has already told me that she will be sending all the books back to me (she will not continue working on them). I have yet to receive them.

As I have already worked on Niniji's book last year, I will send it to Jan and work on the remaining 2 books from Karena.

And FYI now that Karena has pulled out, Olivier should be sending all 3 finished books from his end to me (Helena) as my name is after Karena. Our names on the homepage of this blog is the order of how the moly books travel. If that is the case, I will have a total of 5 books to work on because of the pile up...and that is ALOT. I don't want to rush with the books and I don't want to take my time either. So suggestions please? I'm happy for O to pass some of his books to anyone who is willing to work on them first. But as always this is open to discussion.

I hope everyone is clear with the book status. If anyone would like to correct me on the book status, please do so:) And I hope we are still in happy spirits!

And please guys, lots of positivity and creativity! This is supposed to be a fun project. And I understand it's gone through some hiccups but I bet it will be worth it when you get all your books back:)

1,2,3 c'est reparti... Three sketchbooks ready to go!!!

Ok. I know have all 3 moleskines in my possession ready to go somewhere else. I just need to get addresses. Should I send Rowland's back to him, or forward it along with the other two? Also if Karena is out, who in Australia should I send the other two?

Rowland's book



Barbara's Book



Emma's Book



Although I reserve the right to add a few more things to Emma's book first. So where do I post all this?

oO

Hello, Sorry & Here are 2

Sorry I've been absent for so long. I don't really have an excuse except, in hindsight, I can see I've been suffering severe artists block.  I didn't realise it at the time though.  Kept thinking I'll do it tomorrow, on the weekend, soon etc etc.  The time moved on, as it does, and before I realised how bad it was a year had passed, as you well know.  So sorry to hold you all up.  Things are looking up here now and here are the two I've currently got.

In Helena's book (above)

and in Olivier's book.