Art in Progress

I love doing art! It's so satisfying and a great way to spend a snowy evening. This piece is for a book I am working on for my grandson. it's not done yet.

Click image to view larger.

Stay safe and warm!

Bethany with Crown of Thorns (The Human Condition II)

Bethany

I did this as yet possibly unfinished painting in the car driving to and from Krista's baptism last night. I did it on my iPad using Artrage. I did not start from a photo of any kind, not even a reference photo-- it's a freehand digital finger painting. I used almost all the available tools--experimenting with them, just for the fun of it. I combined things that might be hard to combine on paper: oils, acrylics, water colors, pastels, crayons, pencils, air bush, etc. I think I used everything.

I painted it in the car in the dark in the backseat hurtling along the freeway over bumps and around turns. I am working to learn the new iPad Artrage. I couldn't have painted with oils or acrylics in that situation. I couldn't even type--I tried it!

For some reason, I kept wanting to add a crown of thorns, but felt it would be sacrilegious. I was thinking perhaps it reminds me, maybe because of the colors, of a famous painting of Jesus with the crown of thorns. I had a painting in mind, after I thought of it, but I googled it and couldn't find it. Maybe it wasn't a famous painting. Maybe just something I saw in someone's house. Originally, Bethany wasn't smiling. Smiling, it seems like a crown of thorns would be wholly inappropriate.

Click image to view larger.

The Messy Baby project continued

After an hour of severe flickering, our power went out last night--it flickered while I was cooking--making cooking difficult, and went out while were eating--I was painting this picture. I packed up and went to R'dale and spent the evening in my studio painting--a large area of GPF had no power--high winds, downed trees--but Detroit was unaffected.

I know there are lots of things wrong with this as YET unfinished picture, but I had such a good time painting it that I felt like an artist for maybe the first time ever. (NOT DONE YET!)

Remember, this is a SECRET project, so don't mention it.

Scroll down to the older blog posts see the entire process of this painting.

This is a multi-media piece, which so far has gouache, pencil, acrylic and water color. It is the final image I am interested in, not any sense of faithfulness to a particular medium. However, I must say, I really enjoyed the process.

Messy Baby Digital composit

I am going to start a new painting and I spent the morning creating a digital composit from which to paint--that it, a reference to study as I work. This is for a children's book I am working on--I'd say more but it's a secret.

A Tale of Two Paintings

Many years ago, I squatted in the pouring rain with my Nikkormat and my mother--who held an umbrella over my head--and snapped a photo of a yellow lady's slipper on the property of my botany professor, John L. Morrison. As a gift, he had the picture printed for me. It sat on the wall many long years and got all faded.

I was trying to learn Sketchbook Pro app on my new iPad and decided that I wanted to "finger paint" a picture of the Yellow Lady's slipper. It took me 3 1/2 weeks to complete it, in part because I was a newbie, and in part because I'm not that good. My friend Pam Perkins Frederick asked me to paint one on paper, which did--in gouache on green paper. I did it in three sessions.

The top picture is the new painting for Pam in gouache. The second picture is the same one 3rd draft, the third picture is the scan from the end of my first session working on it. I forgot to scan it at the end of my second session. The fourth picture is the iPad version which I made for Ballookey. I did not look at that while doing the new painting, I looked only at the original photograph. I did not draw either of these nor use a photograph in any way other than for reference. I painted them from scratch, both of them. The final picture is the original ancient photograph printed in 1971 but probably taken several years earlier.

I had considered doing one in water color and one in oils or acrylics, or both, but I'm tired of it for now and want to paint something new. (For some reason, I never get tired of painting Keith.)

Bird of Paradise plant, art and photgraphy

I took the photo at the Belle Isle conservatory and then "painted" the picture with pigment markers (Faber Castell PITT artist brush pens). Click images to view larger. (I also photographed some of the leaves in another photo.)

Benthic

I painted "Benthic" first in Watercolors and then scanned and added a gradient. I did nothing else to it. Click to view larger.

Everyone We Love

Everyone We Love, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. For Jim Doran. The sad fact is that everyone we love will die--including ourselves. WAHN! ;-(

I've been working on this off and one for a week. The original is 3 x 4 inches. (Moleskine size and smaller). It may be done now, but I'm not sure, probably not quite.

It came from an accident where I inadvertently printed a DAISY on the instructions brochure for the paper which had gotten put into the printer with the paper by mistake. The third image is one where I attempted to put back the original daisies--it is called "Pushing up daisies, but I don't like it; it's too messy looking and hard to distinguish.



































The second image is a scan of the original picture, which was done with markers over the top of daisy on the how-to brochure. If you look closely, you can still see the daisy underneath. You can click on it to see it bigger--remember, the original size was very small. On the third iamge, I attempted to add the daisy back in, and called it "Pushing Up Daisies," but I don't like it because it looks messy and is hard to decipher.

Slow Reader

Slow Reader

I gnaw the flesh of a poem, tearing it
from the bone. My teeth rip
into the juicy meat. I chew slowly, savoring
each bite, rolling the sweet umami on my tongue,
sucking the juice from every morsel. One bite,
a pause to consider the flavor, and then another.
Slowly, I devour, tidbit by tidbit, the whole poem,
then suck the long curved bone until it is as white
as if it had lain on the desert for years.
Though may take months to consume
the entire carcass of the book, my mouth waters
at the prospect of such prolonged delight.

The next book may be a pear tree.
I could pluck a single pear, hold
its smooth curved, ripe body and examine
the pattern of its speckled skin. The shape
pleases me. I caress it and admire its taper.
When I bite into it, it squirts; juice runs
down my chin. And the stone cells—such strange
and inviting texture. Leisurely, with careful attention,
I sample mouthfuls of pear poem, eating it
down to the stem and seeds. The rest of the tree
remains, full of pears. They blush in summer light
and whisper my name.

Mary Stebbins Taitt
090121-1107-1b

This is a brand new poem. Click the "broadside image" to view it larger. For Creative Every Day art and words.

Thin as Our Fingers
(Turning Flowers to Garbage)

A lake appears along the trail, above the cliffs
and pounding surf beneath. Bounded by cliff-side rocks,
it stretches nearly as far as we can see. Huge,
like the ocean below, but calmer. More welcoming
than the crashing waves of the sea. The trail
enters the lake and continues out of sight under the water,
as yellow as the yellow brick road in the Land of Oz.
I plunge in, eager, excited. Warm as air, the water
caresses me. Soft. Buoyant, delightful. I exhale, sink into it,
and rise again. “We can swim to the left, we can swim
to the right!” I tell you. And demonstrate. A smile
blossoms on my face and fills me with light
like the first sunny day of spring. You hesitate, then follow,
slowly. Wade, then swim. Then smile, too. We drift together,
above the yellow path under the water. You laugh,
bob, sway, almost seem to dance, until you see
the snakes. Green snakes, hundreds of them.
Some are as thin as our fingers, some as thick and long
as our arms and legs. The snakes float on the water like lily pads,
hold only their nostrils above water, heads suspended, tails dangling
like the long stems of water lilies. I swim and glide among them,
easy, relaxed, smiling. No clouds crowd the horizon; the sky
wears the clearest, deepest blue robes imaginable. Reflects
the endless blue water. But you stiffen. Hang back.
“Look,” I say, “they are harmless.” Snakes surround me,
and pay me no mind. Still frightened, you refuse
to swim forward. Suddenly, you yell and splash at the snakes.
In an instant, they all rear up, draw scaly lips back
to expose their fangs and hiss. They charge us both.




Mary Stebbins Taitt
For Keith and Janine
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Snakes in the Water

Read more about the dream that caused this poem at my dream blog, Hidden Rooms.

Ozark Autumn, in progress

A partially completed Moleskine sketch for a Moleskine exchange group. Click image to view larger--it is all made out of dots laboriously added by hand.

Abstract in Blue and Yellow

OK, I'll admit that I made this piece for the sole purpose of breaking
up all that text. Is that a logical reason to make art? (Is this
art?) (It MUST be art, I made it on ARTRAGE!)

Predjama Castle, unfinished

I've been painting this all day but it is not done yet.

It's from a photo taken in Slovenia last June.

If you click on the image , you can see a larger version of it and thus see the details.

The D of Spades

This is a SKETCH of one of the cards for a deck of Tarot-like fortune
cards adn playing cards I am creating as part of two books I am
working on.

One is a child's Alphabet picture book. Each of the four suits is
represented for each letter with a little caption.

The other is an older children's (young adult) illustrated fiction
with a story that begins (perhaps) like this:

"I had a dream last night, Ted."
"I hate dreams, Lia, You know I hate hearing your dreams. Please
don't tell me. Just shut up, okay?"
"I found a playing card, like your favorite deck. only instead of
being the Ace of hearts or the one of clubs, it was the D of Spades!
And it had dragons on it. And they could talk and help you with your
game."
"That's pretty cool. Could you draw a picture of it for me?"
"Sure, if you stop being so mean to me."
"I can't promise that. Sure, I'll stop being mean--but my
fingers are crossed behind my back. Aw, come on, Lia, just draw it
for me."
"Well, okay, I'll try. Since you're so sweet."

After many more dreams, Lia discovers that the cards are part of a game and can also be used to tell fortunes and she and Ted get dragged into a strange mystery.