Three Parrots, Egg Tempera

Rainbow Lorikeets
Egg Tempera

I painted this last night during a bout of insomnia with homemade egg tempera paints made with pigments from France brought to me by daughter and son-in-law.

new sketch of Biker Buddy

It is a sketch I made tonight of Keith from life--sitting at the dinner table. I know it's imperfect, but I like it anyway.

Still-Life with Last Leaf of Autumn

Still-Life with Last Leaf of Autumn, by Mary Stebbins Taitt.

This is my first attempt to do watercolors in Artrage on the iPad. Click image to view larger.

I am doing a giveaway of cards of my art on No Polar, and this is one. Please sign up.

A Walk with Caroline

On Monday, Caroline and I had lunch at Blufin--a fabulous, tasty (if pricey) lunch, read each other's poetry, and then walked at Pier Park. We walked and talked and looked at dead things on the beach, mussel shells, perch that a gull was eating, crayfish (we only found the claws, bluegills and pumpkinseeds, and a plethora of think dried out crumbling fish. I told her how I loved the dead carp with their wide scales and bony skulls. I was afraid she might think I was a nutcase, but she seemed to accept that--and then we found a carp. I came home and painted it for her.

Weekword: Amuse

This week's Weekword is amuse. You can see it here: thanks to Junebug. It's a cool word, so please drop by her blog for her take and the takes from all of this weeks participating bloggers, I am sure, as John at healing seed says, you will find them all most amuse - ing.

I amused myself by creating this piece of art called "Redefining Insomnia." I used photoshop and Picasa and repeated screenshots, as I was zombified from lack of sleep.

I also amused myself by hugging my husband and drawing pictures of it.

I hope you all have an amusing week.

I know I laughed my head off at some point, but I am too tired to remember what I was laughing at. So I will have to go with the other definition of the word for now.

Hatching: Watch Out World

Hatching: Watch Out World, here I come. For Illustration Friday

New art today. Click to view larger.

Willie's Moleskine with my Work in it

Willie Baronet made the movie of HIS mole from the our first moleskine exchange and it has some of my work in it. Can you find my work among the others? I really love this exchange! View it bigger on You Tube!

Three sketches

We've been on the road for ten days and I haven't done much art. I did these three sketches in Hennie Mavis's Moleskine when I was visiting her in New Hampshire. We are leaving again on June 30. The center one is ball point pen and the other two are water colors. All on that funny coated moleskine paper.

Subtraction: Dream of the Waning Blood Moon

Subtraction: Dream of the Waning Blood Moon, By Mary Stebbins Taitt. Cartoon, for Illustration Friday. Question: When something is taken away, does something else fill its place? When do dreams go when they are subtracted from the night?

Today's work, in part from a fractal created on Apophysis (A free download for PCs*) and in part with cartoon images my creation.

*(Oxidizer and FractalWorks are free fractal downloads for Macs)

Not a flower Julia Flower

I "made" this on FractalWorks, thanks to Andree for turning me on to it. Then I fiddled with it on Photoshop a little, including posterizing it a little. It is the 3D view of a portion of a Julia
fractal flower. FractalWorks is only available for Macs--and it is a real time sink because it is endlessly fascinating.

Climb

Climb, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. Sissy and Garryd, two characters in my children's novels, climb the Easy Beezy. This is the 4th "from scratch" painting (drawing?) I did on my new Cintiq tablet that I got for Christmas. I still haven't gotten the hang of it. For Illustration Friday theme, climb. (This is a brand new drawing that I just did today.) (I don't know if it's a drawing or a painting.--I read somewhere how to tell the difference, but I forget.)

More Bluebird of Happiness

Playing with this piece.

(I made the card for my friend Blue Rose--and for YOU!)

The Bluebird of Happiness

The Bluebird of Happiness, after Steve Emery, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. This is a quick watercolor sketch, shown alone and in the two-page spread in the sketchbook exchange book. Each sketch is about 5 x 8.5. I made a very quick pencil sketch on this one, and then quick-painted it. With the fruit and wine by night window, I did not make a pencil sketch, but just sketched with the paints.

I love Steve Emery's work, but am not really good enough to emulate it. This one is after his Woodpecker one, but not meant to be an exact copy (OBVIOUSLY!!).

Blackboard Girl, Take 3

Blackboard Girl, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. Trying to learn to post pictures directly from Leo, my Mac Leopard. I am having trouble learning to use my Mac and the new Tablet is hooked to the Mac. This was a quick sketch to practice posting.

Painting with a Brick

Painting with a Brick, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. (Self Portrait). Made with the mouse on Photoshop, which is like "Painting with a Brick." Revisited and reworked a piece from last year.

Les Fleurs incomplet

Les Fleurs incomplet, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. This is my second from-scratch original painting with the new for Christmas Cintiq which I have hooked up to the Mac. I also have the new CS4. I am having a TERRIBLE time with it all because the MAC is hard to use for me as a verteran PC user, CS4 is new and seems more difficult, and I am have a wretched time getting the hang of using the Cintiq. It doesn't help that I have a miserable cold and haven't been able to cleep because I can't breathe.

Niche, Predjama Castle (Grad Predjama, Slovenia)

Niche, Predjama Castle (Grad Predjama, Slovenia), by Mary Stebbins Taitt. For Nadine, over at In Blue Ink, because she likes European windows and niches.

This began as a photograph, which I painted over digitally with a smudge brush. I then added the flowers and leaves with a combination of collage (compositing) and digital painting. I will post the original photo here for your comparison if you are interested.

We are in Syracuse NY and I will not always have internet access, so responses and comments may be slow or nonexistent until I return home. I started this in the car on the way here, and just finished it. Click the image to view it larger.

Crossing the Fractal Moon

Crossing the Fractal Moon, by Mary Stebbins Taitt.

I made a fractal flame in Apophysis, a free download (try Oxidizer if your own a MAC), and then fiddled with the fractal first on Irfanview (a free download) and then on Photoshop. Then I created a digital collage in photoshop. Creative Every Day Challenge #1.

Still Life with autumn flowers

Still Life with autumn flowers, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. This is the first and only card I have painted so far this year as a gift (for someone who hopefully won't be coming here to see it ahead). Been very busy, dunno if I'll paint more or not. Water color.

Braided Hazel's Maiden Voyage

I have a new shop on Etsy called Braided Hazel. It has ONE item for sale (well, four copies of one thing) which is the card shown above. They are $3.75 plus postage. If no one buys them, my family will be getting them as Christmas gifts. I don't really know how to work anything on Etsy yet, so I hope I didn't mess it all up! Please click on the link if you have time and give me a comment. Fave me or something, LOL! Click the image to make it bigger.