Mollie September 9th, 2008
Business , Mixed Media , Pen & Ink , Show
I’ve been very busy! I have two illustrations for my children’s book in the final stages, and I completed a couple of smaller paintings that I started but never finished.
I also received my first pet portrait commission that I will be posting on www.PetIllustrations.com and mailing out later today. I haven’t launched my online marketing plan, in hopes that I get a few more local orders to ‘test’ the ordering process, but I should be starting by the end of the week. Wish me luck, and again I am open to ideas!
I got an idea for a new painting series that will allow me to branch off from the architecture series I’ve been working with for the last several years. It’s been a while since I had a series concept that I was excited about. We’ll see how that develops in the months to come.
Lastly, I’m hoping to start on a new piece, possibly for the gallery, to seal the end of my “Artist Block.” It may or may not have something to do with the new series idea. Oh, and with Halloween, my favorite holiday nearing, I might be doing something related to that, time permitting.
Mollie May 12th, 2008
Mixed Media , OLAG , Painting
I’m happy to report that the Oak Leaf Artist Guild website is in the completion stage. Translated: means that pending some very minor changes and any audits that the guild may have, it’s finished! Again I want to thank my wonderful husband for all his hard work in building the site for us!
This means that from here on out most of the work will be from the other guild members as they start to create their own accounts and upload the images for their galleries. I can’t wait to see what everyone posts!!
This weekend I was able to put OLAG on the back burner and concentrate on my new painting series, and despite it being Mother’s Day weekend I made a fair amount of progress. I might have even completed the first piece, I’m undecided, and I started two more. I also did some work on the collage, though it’s slow going. Hopefully, I’ll have images to post soon.
Mollie May 6th, 2008
Mixed Media , OLAG , Painting , Show
OLAG Website:
I’ve been working on it and it’s coming along nicely. Jesse hopes to have the gallery basics by the end of the week, and I’ve been working on adding content and getting the pages all put together. I should have something that resembles a real website to show the group this Thursday at the meeting.
Children’s Book:
I haven’t had much time to work on it, but I did get a chance to write a bit more. There is still a third or so of the writing left to do; including the ending which hasn’t been conceived yet. I bought some illustration board to get started, but haven’t started any of the artwork yet.
Collage:
Unfortunately, this weekend I made negative progress when I had to tear off part of a few of the collaged images. I think it’s coming along better now, but I have a way to go before I’ll be satisfied.
New Painting Series:
I started the first in a series of abstracts I intend to do for upcoming shows. I’m debating if I want to put animals in them. I love painting them, and it always makes for an odd atmosphere in the paintings that I love.
Mollie April 30th, 2008
Mixed Media
As promised, images of my newest two pieces! They are both collage, mixed media pieces on paper. I really love working with collage because as I create the collage itself I get impressions and create stories; which then translate into the painting and drawing that will often times cover up the inspiration images. It’s always interesting to see what it will turn out like.
“Mythology”
“Tale of Tails”
I also updated my gallery, so if you want to see bigger versions of these, or the works from Puppies are Biodegradable you can go to my Mixed Media page.
Mollie March 13th, 2008
Mixed Media , Pen & Ink , Show
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts I’ve been working on an extra project for the “Puppies are Biodegradable Show,” and I finished the last one today! Each of the below pieces are 5″x7″ Pen & Color Pencil on paper. I have to say that I’m really happy with how they turned out. I kept the rendering loose and used unnatural colors to emphasis the eerie subject, hopefully the shock value will lend itself to the cause.
Mollie February 7th, 2008
Mixed Media , Painting , Show
This is a detail of the St. Bernard painting after I’ve worked on it a little more. I still have a bit of work to do on the head, and I had to get more reference to piece together to get what I have so far; but he is nearly there.
Close up you can see some of the layering and texture of the background;some of the layers are slick, others are very flat, and when the canvas shows through it’s very textural.
Mollie February 6th, 2008
Drawing , Mixed Media , Painting
As promised, here are some images of the pieces I’ve been working on for the “Puppies are Biodegradable Show.” Please note that these images are of pieces I recently started and are thus still in progress.
It might be hard to see, but the background consists of paper glued on and painted over to create texture. The angry red-orange slash in the middle of the painting was part of the original piece. I thought to take it out, but now looking at it, I might try and make it work. The sketch in the bottom left corner is the start of the keg and the surgical supplies will be strewn about on the ground in front of the dog.
This seems a little lopsided, which might be a product of me skewing the image to cut out the wall behind the picture without cropping anything out. As you can see, it’s pretty basic pen and ink over color washes. I really need to introduce some contrast in the color area, it’s a little brown on brown right now.
More to come soon.
Mollie February 4th, 2008
Mixed Media , Painting , Show
I’ve been working on the pieces for the “Puppies are Biodegradable” show, trying to expand on some of my original ideas. Here is what I have at this point.
St. Bernard the Rescue Dog: I’ve gotten as far as roughing in the St. Bernard and working out the overall layout. This piece is going to contain a textured background (care of an old collage painting that I’m re-purposing for this project) with the St. Bernard as the main focal point taking up nearly 3/4 of the right side of the painting. The bottom third of the painting will be the surgical devices and tools of the trade and the background will be dark with the hint of dogs in cages.
Puppies Don’t Grow on Trees: I haven’t done much work on this one yet.
What’s a Puppy Mill?: This one is an experiment, please bear with me while I try to describe it. On a piece of clear thin acetate-like paper I’ve thinly painted an image of a scenic grain mill. In order to preserve the transparency most of the details were drawn in with ink. The affect is a little cartoony, which I’m hoping to use to my advantage, by lending it an artificial or unreal feel. Then I will paint a second piece depicting the horrors of puppy mills; that when complete will be placed behind the first image so that only part of the second image shows through. Hopefully, the viewer will first see a picturesque grain mill, but upon closer examination discover the second image peeking through.
Triptych: For the sake of simplicity and wall space I am going to try and get all the iconography into one painting. This piece has been personally difficult for me to conceptualize, therefore it will probably be the last in the series. It will depict the poorest, most miserable, and emaciated dog nursing her pups inside a cage that I can possibly depict; with each pup having a dollar sign shaved into the fur on it’s back to represent it’s worth to the Puppy Mill. I’m still trying to decide whether the cage door is open to keep the image un-obscured, or if I want the image to be scene through the bars to add to the horror.
I’m open to any and all ideas expanding on these concepts or ideas for creating new ones. I’m going to try and post some images of the pieces in progress as well. Hopefully, I will get some images of the two I’ve been working on tonight.
Mollie February 4th, 2008
Business , Mixed Media , Show
Below I’ve attached an image taken from www.framations.com of a small selection of the Centerpieces created for the Marti Gras Event. For more information go to www.bcifoundation.org/Events.htm and click the tab “Behind the Mask.”
Mollie January 26th, 2008
Mixed Media , Show
Below I have pictures of the finished Marti Gras Centerpiece along with one of the concept sketches that I did. When doing a concept sketch it’s generally more of a diagram with text and notes than a sketch. The real purpose is to get some ideas on paper before I forget, and since there isn’t really a client involved I don’t have to worry too much about rendering it completely.
