**Happy New Year**

Love From Clare

Another better view

Here is a spread shot. (That sounds bad, doesn't it.)

A bit better view.....

....though still not very bright as photochopping it didn't really work....

After the Picasso party....

......a Klimt inspired sleep-over!

The light here is so bad for photos. I'll try photochopping the image of the whole spread and posting it later but then the colours won't be as true... sorry this shot is a bit murky!

Alison's Moly

This is not quite all of it but I think you get the idea. It's also not really the colours so use your imagination.

The Red Wheelbarrow

The Red Wheelbarrow

For my second entry in Jan's book (theme Red/Read) I thought of the William Carlos Williams' poem "The Red Wheelbarrow." I googled it to be sure I had all the words correct and one of the top results was a bookstore in Paris with the same name. It seemed too good to be true. I also added some chickens from one of my daughter's favorite books "Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type."

Marker, Ink and watercolor.

Kerry's Moly in Canberra

Canberra doesn't really have a 'big' anything - except the egos up at Parliament House. So I decided to enjoy some plein air sketching directly into someone else's book - very scary - at the Botanic Gardens. It's Spring and there is so much to see - not to scale. Two lizards busy sunning themselves got included. Lots of people stopped to have a look - it's sad how many people think that talent from birth is required. It's such a delight what one can do with just a little box of watercolour paints, a water-brush and a few watercolour pencils. This goes off to Jan, now.

And... the Full Spread

It will be on it's way to Melissa tomorrow November 13th. It is a public holiday here today for the Bendigo Cup.

Jan's Book by Clare

No: 4

Jan's book by Clare

No: 3

Jan's book by Clare

No: 2

‘What’s in your Moleskine’ Contest Deadline 11/14

Promote yourself and moly_x. Enter your fabulous moly_x entries.

Moleskine, the heir to the legendary notebook, wants to know what’s inside your Moleskine! With over 140 different formats and styles, there are many different ways to use a Moleskine—to sketch, write, watercolor, reflect, collage, collect mementos and as photo albums.

In celebration of creativity and imagination, Moleskine is looking for readers to share photos and comments about their Moleskines. Email pictures of what’s in your Moleskine to webmaster@chroniclebooks.com with the subject line “MOLESKINE.”

Five submissions will be randomly selected to receive a Free Moleskine Pack of Notebooks. The pack will include a Pocket Ruled Notebook, a Pocket Sketchbook and a Pack of Plain Kraft Pocket Cahiers.

We’ll post the images on an upcoming post announcing the winners! Also check out our Facebook Company Page to see the latest entries. Entries must be submitted by Friday Nov 14th.

My Pages in Jan's Book

*Finally*................ I am finished doing my delicious 'Red / Read Spread' in Jan's Moly.
This book has been one of my favourites, because of the theme or perhaps
the fact that I got to do so much more with the extra pages I 'm not certain, but I have
had a ball. I am pleased with the overall look of my work, however, my hand writing
lets me down it is terribly shoddy....eeek.
Hope you LIKE Jan!

Sorry to post each picture separately but it seems the only way I can do it to enable them to enlarge when clicked on.

Full circle

Clare's moly made it all the way around, and will begin it's reverse orbit later this week. Will get better pics tomorrow and a scan or two.
I struggled a bit with my favorite things. I'm not a collector of anything, except art supplies, which seemed to obvious. Some of the favorite things include: chocolate, chai, toe socks, good hair days, jodi picoult novels, fireplaces, christmas carols and an assortment of intangibles...the sound of my daughter snoring, the crunch of my husband's tires pulling into the drive, the smell of cookies baking, the sound of my grandmother's crochet needles, the color of the sky when it snows...

Melissa's moly....

....not quite sure where this one came from. Partly an obsession I have at the moment with drawing faces. Partly because I'd been looking at Marty Harris's sketchbook posts. Partly because Melissa's opening page featured a jigsaw, Clare's aboriginal dots, and Alison's a series of overlapping drawings so the idea of lots of little faces came to mind.

I hope you like it Melissa and that I haven't gone too far off base on this one.

Tracy's Moly, Alison's round

Matisse has been joined by Picasso in Tracy's Moly and there's a party on. I was really just working from Jan's Matisse page and looking at the whole spread now, it looks like Van Gogh, Matisse and Picasso have taken over the Gallery and, what with the bedroom scene and all, perhaps things are getting saucily out of hand. Maybe this Moly needs some inspiration from a female artist to make sure it strays no further from the path of respectability! :) What do you think, Kerry? Do you want to clean up after the party?

Kerry's Moly's getting big!

Coffs Harbour has two main tourist attractions. One is the Pet Porpoise Pool which is an excellent spot to kiss seals and pat dolphins and even have a swim with them. It is always a great day at the Pet Porpoise Pool. The other is The Big Banana.

There is a little artistic license in this sketch. I left out the gift shop, the snack bar and the History of Bananas building. From this perspective you can't see the lolly (sweets) factory, the puzzle shop, the toboggan ride, the snow slope, the ice rink or the water park, so it was easy to leave them out.

There is a fine tradition of Australian artists sketching and painting Luna Park in Melbourne. I love these works. They capture the essence of the conflict between fun, fear and sleaze in Luna Park and other attractions like it. When I look at them I wish I lived in Melbourne to be able to paint it too. Then I realised - we have the Big Banana right here! I could paint it. That idea was firmly implanted into my 'one day' basket right up until Clare drew Luna Park in Kerry's moly and posted it off to me to follow on. Too good an opportunity!

But it's not the same when it is a conflict of fun and sleaze only, without the fear. I'm left thinking 'it's just a big banana.'

At Last...............

...I have finished my piece in Alison's moly.
I will try to mail it out to you tomorrow Jan.

A bit blurry

Jan's Book, My entry

Jan's Book, My entry

I love the way Tracy's apple unknowingly set me up to draw the Twilight book cover. The quote from the book that I chose to illustrate is hard to read in this pic. It says "And so the lion fell in love with the lamb... What a stupid lamb...what a sick, masochistic lion."

Going in reverse

Rotation and Shipping
Originally uploaded by 3MW

A quick reminder for when you begin your October book:
1. You may use up to five pages. Think of it as a centerfold. You will only have this person's book one time.
2. This marks the halfway point. When you finish your October book, you will begin shipping to the person who used to ship to you.
Sooooo by November 1st,
Melissa ship's Clare's book to Tracy
Tracy ships Melissa's book to Kerry
Kerry ships Tracy's book to Alison
Alison ships kerry's book to Jan
Jan ships Alison's book to Clare
Clare ships jan's book to Melissa

Moleskine Exchange-Clare's Book

Moleskine Exchange-Clare's Book
Originally uploaded by TracyU

Some of my favorite things are Sharpie markers, vintage metal recipe boxes (I have many) and books. I mailed both books to Melissa today!

Moleskine Exchange-Jan's Book

Moleskine Exchange-Jan's Book
Originally uploaded by TracyU

I drew my daughter's outgrown little red boots. I added text from an old health text book about a field trip to a farm. The colored pencil didn't photograph very well. It looks like I colored them with crayons.

At long last......

....I've finished. Apart from lack of time I really enjoyed doing this one and for the first time did not do any pre-planning. I'm getting braver. Sorry if I have delayed the whole cycle. I shall though package this up and send it on its way tomorrow. Hope you like it Melissa. I missed out that one of my favourite things is ...colour but maybe that's obvious!!!

Tracy's Moly and My Matisse

It took me a very long time to work out what to do to follow on from Clare's Shabby Chic in Arles. But then it came to me!
Unfortunately my art has always suffered from an over exposure to Mr Happy's decor in the Mr Men books. I just never got over it. And Matisse of course. I never got over Matisse, particularly his cut outs. I did this the same way he did with gouache on paper I'm still affected by my monotone phase and so I added just a little more white than he would have.

Clare in Kerrie's Moly

Hi Everyone, Here is a peek at what I have done in Kerrie's book.

Soon to be with Jan.

'Luna Park', St Kilda. A Melbourne Icon.

Melissa's Moly, Alison's section

Here we are - using new scanning software. The pelican was inspired by some lines Jan carried over the fold - exactly fitting the wing of a pelican I drew from life during my Five K Radius jaunts last year. I have been attending a workshop on journalling and one of the artists we looked at was John Woseley who does work on many sheets of paper put together such as this one. On the paper, he draws map type markings, botanical specimen style drawings, many sorts of expressive messy marks. Sometimes he begins by burying the paper for some months. watercolour, gouache, pen and ink

Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrum Rolllllllllllllllllll Please..................

It's Arrived At Last! The Missing Moly has ARRIVED!

I am OH, SO PLEASED, Over the Moon In Fact, ECSTATIC you might say, and so very, very RelieveD! Kerrie, Melissa & all... you can now breathe a sigh of relief too. ;o)

Oh and did I mention that I picked it up at my P.O. ten minutes ago after spending all this morning working on the replacement Moly. I have my suspicions about what had happened to it. The post lady here was mixing everyone's mail up and had been for a long time now, turns out she couldn't read. Cut a long story short, after my extensive neighbourhood door knock at

the weekend I believe someone has returned the parcel to the PO, It had been opened and it was not by customs. They let you know if they open it. Someone got the guilts, I think...............Doesn't matter..............It's here, in one piece and it's Beautiful!

And just as well it is here as you can see from my photos I would have given Melissa

hardly any room to re-do her Glorious 'Seussical' piece.

PS: Mail lady got the sack & our new Postie starts tomorrow. I will be signing for my parcels just to be on the safe side.

Alison's Moly

Alison's Moly

Just some friends trying to help me get back into drawing. I've been so bummed all week about the missing moly that I truly didn't feel like touching any of the three in front of me. Marty's words helped and so I got back on the horse last night. Clare, I've set you up with another favorite from your pal, Vinnie. Will be posting early next week. There are a few loose ends I saw on the video that I want to clean up.

Tracy's entry; Alison's Book

Tracy's entry; Alison's Book
Originally uploaded by 3MW

As promised, here is a better shot of Tracy's playful illustration in Alison's book. These books keep getting better and better. So great to see three different artists this time around.

This is what....

.................I have decided to do. I have a spare Japanese Moleskine here, it's just begging to be opened and I am missing my turn, sob-sob-, SO, I will do my piece on the pages where Melissa would have finished in Kerrie's Moly and send it on to Jan. When it eventually reaches Kerrie she can restart her book, then Tracy and Melissa can try again when it is their turn. I know it won't be the same as your first book Kerrie , but If the original shows up I certainly don't mind adding to it too and you will have a BONUS book to play with.

WHAT do you all THINK??
Is This OK?

I am still in the process of chasing up the missing book. It is hard to keep going to the P.O when I am with my Dad every day. There has been some issues with my local P.O. and I am guessing this is where the problem lies. So fingers, toes & eyes crossed I can find the wayward Moley!

Melissa I will need you to arrange it so I must sign for future parcels, sorry if this is a pain or costly but it is safest thing to do. PERHAPS We All Should Do That.??

New arrival

Overwhelmed
Originally uploaded by 3MW

Well, I am pretty sure that two (or more) members of this swap were sharing a brainwave this past month. Alison, your moly is here and it is a sight to behold. It is such a powerfully delicate combination and I will try not to barge in like the bull in a china shop (down! down! inktense pencils.) I cannot wait to begin. I will scan the latest entry as soon as a certain toddler naps.

Catching up.....

Just wondering who has received their books for round three?

I guess I am just getting worried some may be lost.

Now that I have gone into 'Panic mode', what's the bet the late ones arrive at their destinations today?

I will be questioning my local P.O. if it has not arrived today.

Oh, the places this moleskine went.

Kerry's Book, My entry
Originally uploaded by 3MW

I didn't mean to leave the dirty work to Clare, so here is the scanned version of my entry in Kerry's Book. I hope you'll enjoy the seussical direction, but I couldn't help turn the east coast into a marching elephant.

Apologies..........

Sorry Jan, I missed the deadline to mail this to you. Life sometimes gets in the way.

I posted it this morning so it should soon be in your hands. Have fun!

Finally...

....finished

or is it??.....not decided yet whether to add the wolf's paw prints or not. I'll decide by Monday and leave it as a surprise!!

The drawing was inspired by Alison's little Red Riding Hood at the bottom left of the image, starting out on the path. I pinched Alison's idea of a book in a book too as it seems to fit well with Jan's theme of red/read. ....great theme by the way. I think I've also been influenced by other moly exchange artists as this is nothing like my usual style.... but I thoroughly enjoyed doing it.

...and thank you very much for the wee gifties Jan...excellent!

Tracy's Moly

At last, I 'think' I'm done.

I was all ready to take my wee parcel off to the P.O when "The Critique" aka "DH", (and I don't mean Dear!), asked to see what I had done...........Grrrrr...........

This man has an eye for perspective and an even keener eye for MiStaKeS, &#!* So here I was thinking I had done a beautiful take on Van Gough's 'B i A' only to have it crit'd to pieces. Now I know he means well and I actually appreciate his input as I learn so much from it, But, It always seems to come when I think my masterpiece is brilliant!

Back to the drawing board I skulk, muttering to myself, armed with instructions, brush & gesso and "The Critique" close behind.
I could see an improvement once I had finished re-working a few lines and scrubbing a few more. It was much better..........

It is still a great deal less than perfect, If I had wanted perfection I would have photocopied the real thing. It's quirky, wonky, shabby & chic and it is my own work.

She stepped back to take a look at her finished piece and she was Pleased!!!


(The colours in these photographs are not as bright as the real thing)

Alison in Clare's Moly

Here we are - I'm not happy with the new Irfanview scanning software that we had to upload for some reason - it looks too bright but anyway, you can see the general content. I enjoyed choosing what to include, made easier by the knowledge of a second round later. Clare, when my daughter was on exchange in Germany, we sent for her 14th birthday a made to order family of Deepings dolls - we sent the company photos of us all with detailed instructions and they produced a beautiful set of the 4 of us - I'll try to borrow them and post a photo.

Oh the Places You'll Go

Oh the Places You'll Go
Originally uploaded by 3MW

This is a teaser for my entry in Kerry's moly, themed "Around the World and Back." It will be heading to Clare tomorrow.

Melissa's Moly - Jan's page

My addition to Melissa's Moly was chosen because of those watery little dots Clare left me. I began the pattern and wanted to keep the local flavour Clare had started so I chose to go beach.
In the original woodblock print by Hokusai. He included Mt Fuji in the background. In mine I've put South Solitary Island and it's lighthouse. The beautiful coast at Coffs Harbour is protected by the Solitary Islands Marine Park. From Coffs we look out over these islands. It is truly beautiful.
I'm not sure how long this limited colour phase I'm going through will last. But I'm really enjoying it and I pushed myself to add just a touch of colour to the island itself. The rest is silver, white and black. Oh, and a touch of blue pencil. I will post it off on Monday to Alison.

Kerry's Moly

Kerry's Moly
Originally uploaded by TracyU

I've finished Kerry's Travel Theme Moly and am mailing it out to Melissa tomorrow. I have a long-standing affinity for vintage large letter linen postcards and decided that it would go nicely with the theme. I am going to have the post office "stamp the stamp" on the faux postcard.

Melissa, I've outlined the rest of the US shape. I didn't know if you needed it, but if you did, it might be hard to find the right scale. It is in pencil, so you can erase it if you don't need it.

Sorry ....

...for the delay but at long last my moly entry is finished..










Not at all sure about the perspective on that saxophone, something's wrong there but I've tried to keep going with the style and the "story" started by Alison.....and I'm now the proud owner of a 0.05 micron pen. Really interested to see what happens to the mouthpiece on that saxophone!!

Right .....off now to pop it into the post!

Two and a Half Pages

What can I say? I'm a visual person. Hope this answers your question! Each person does 2.5 pages per round. So you will share a half page with someone, either the person before or after you, depending how it splits, but I would consider overlapping and not ending exactly on the edge as it gives the next person a little something to work with if that makes sense. No one's going to be mad about taking a little more or less. It all evens out eventually. Also, the second round might be confusing, because some people counted the "flap" (the page that is not really part of the accordian) and some did not.