My Moly is ready to go out the door to Sharon! I decorated the back pocket and I have added these little honeycomb tags for each of you to embellish and decorate as you wish for your own personal signature cards.

BTW I added a new background to our blog for the fun of it, please feel free to change it if you'd like something different.

Hi

got my Moly in the post today and am ready to start! Look forward to receiving everyones as one of the other Moly groups I'm in seems to have died a death and come to a complete halt. It started in March and I haven't received one yet so do hope that this group grows and goes from strength to strength.

First Entry!

Today was one of those perfect rainy Sunday afternoon/evenings when making art and listening to the last chapters of Harry Potter #7 on the ipod was the perfect way to spend my time.
I had already drawn a rough sketch to work from so it was just a matter of bringing my idea from the ethers into form.


Lately I've been working a lot with a combination of markers & pens starting out with a light pencil sketch which I then work into with layers of permanent colored marker, pitt pens in sepia & sanguine, microns, opaque markers, gel pens & metallic pens. I love the richness and saturation I can get with these and the speed and ease of use with them.

In addition to the start of the spread, I also illustrated the inside cover page which contains all my contact info and such (blurred for public privacy purposes)


I still want to create something for the very front cover however I think I may create it separately and glue it on when it comes back to me completed to protect it from wear and tear on the road. I also want to decorate the back pocket as well as design a set of hexagon shaped tags for everyone to sign in so that the book has a special place for each of us.

I hope you all have as much fun creating yours as I have had doing mine & may it perahps help to get you excited for your own process!

Progress

How are you all doing with recieving your molys, deciding themes and drawing the first pages?
Should we start sending them out the 15th of October or sooner? Maybe later?

Theme: Stream of Consciousness

Hi everyone,
I have had a pretty busy week, so haven't got round to posting my theme until now.

I have chosen the theme 'Stream of Consciousness'. It is not so much a theme as a way of working.

I have been exploring using a stream of consciousness approach in creative writing - you can see some on my blog. The idea is that you write - or in this case draw, paint etc. without letting your mind do much thinking.

Instead you sort of let the image draw itself without editing or criticising. I have found it to be an amazing way of working with writing, as things come up that never would have done if I had tried to control the process. So I am curious to see what happens with visual art.

I hope you can all get into working in this way. Just let it flow!

Let me know if you have any questions about it.
I have my moleskine now, so I suppose I better get drawing!

theme

"listening to music" will be my theme.

pretty free, i guess.

in the way i like.

Theme: Everyday

I've decided that my theme will be "everyday", it could be an everyday object, a situation, something you see every day (like train or a person), or even monsters or trolls if you see that every day <3

The backpocket in the moly is also very handy, I'm thinking of putting small inspirational pictures or words in there; an inspirationpocket!

Do you think the theme will be okai? :3

themes

hey! about the themes...

i was thinking about it the whole weekend and didn't decide myself yet.

just to let you know what i thought:

- collections (i love collecting things - pencils, stamps, teabags, business cards, postcards...)

- books (my biggest passion)

- music (all things related - lyrics, instruments, singers...)

- home (sweet)

(...)

Themes

I decided my theme is going to be Bees! Actually the Magic, Mystery & Mythology of Bees and those who serve them. I have been attracted to bees and the spiritual practices associated with keeping them for many many years now. I created this piece last spring to give you a bit of a feel for what I am thinking...

This was created from images I found online and a photographic self portrait, the woman's body was adapted from a drawing I found by another artist. However for the moly I am planning to draw & paint I will not create my images digitally for this process.

Mailing Dates & ...

A few more thoughts...

1. Mailing date what works for everyone? It seems often molys go out at the beginning of each month, however that certainly does not need to be the case considering that some of us do not have our molys yet, perhaps we might want to consider mailing mid month starting in October. When I ordered my moleskine from Amazon and it arrived within a few days so if people order today they'd probably have them mid month. Also, just FYI mercury goes direct after this gnarly bout of retrograde we've been in on October 16th perhaps we could launch the mailing process then. What do you all think of this idea?

2. Delivery Confirmation/Tracking? Marty probably has an answer for this one. Is it customary to mail with some method for tracking? With US post it is possible with express mail or global express & Priority, but not First Class. Fortunately the Priority rate for up to 4 lbs is reasonable. First class can be sent registered, however it can not be tracked.

New question

Should we draw a few pages in our moleskine before we send it off?

hey, i'm carolina!

hi there!

so i'm carolina, a 21 years old girl living in the very south of brazil, close to uruguay.

i'm a graphic design student at university.

i've worked for 3 years in an ad office and now i'm up to freelancing.

despite drawing i like taking photos, reading (a lot!) and listening to music (unfortunately i'm not able to play any instrument...)

how do i know moly_x?

trough Lilian Maus, an artist that lives close to my city and is exhibithing her work in an art gallery at my university.

i went to see this: http://moleskinex18.blogspot.com/2009/09/liu-and-james-in-exposicao-atelier.html (just great) and the artists had a talk with us and she and James Zortea talked about moleskinex. (:

so i think that's it for now.

my moleskine is ordered.

i'm just waiting for the good part.

love.

Ready, Set, Go

Hi guys,
so, I have taken a few steps. I ordered my moleskine, sent me address to Carolina and received Jen's address.

So now I need to think of a theme. Once my sketchbook arrives, I am ready to get started.
How are the rest of you getting on?

Jenn asks:

Greetings Marty,

I am curious as to the logistics of the next phase. As of now we've got you, me and Mjux following the blog. So obviously we'll all need molys (got mine) and figure out our themes. Who coordinates the mailing schedule? What kind of time frame do we have for prepping our molys before they launch? Who is responsible for collecting everyones' mailing addresses and servings as the point person?

Do you recommend tracking confirmation with mailing?
With a group of 5 do we do all of our pages in one shot or do we send it around for 2 goes?
Is there anything I am not asking that I should be?

Jen


Marty answers:

Yes, you all need molys, Moleskine Japanese fold pocket sketchbooks, http://www.amazon.com/Moleskine-Japanese-Pocket-Notebooks-Calendars/dp/1601100043/ref=pd_sbs_op_2 .

For mailing, you may choose to follow the rotation listed on the right, or you can change the rotation. Simply send a flicker mail to the person you will be sending your books to requesting her mailing address.

The moly_x guidelines suggest that each artist complete and mail her entry within a month. Entries may be 2-4 pages. The exchange is more interactive if you go around twice, but keeping people interested and comitted for 1 1/2 years is a challenge. Up to you all.

You will have other questions. I recommend that you post your questions on the blog and on the moly_x discussion board. I think that there will be many with the same ?s. There will also be many different answers to choose from.

How's that?

Thanks for the questions. Communication is key. Also, please let your group know when receive and send a book.

MArty

Concept & Guidelines (as reposted from Flickr)

Ann-D says: What is the Moleskine Exchange? Each artist will set off with a small Japanese (accordian) folded Moleskine. Creating a drawing, collage, or painting, then send on to the next artist. Each artist will draw on a spread (2 or 3 pages) then send it on to the next artist. When the artists book is filled, it will be returned to the owner with images created by artist around the world. Each artist has a month to make an entry. The outcome will be a pleasant and surprising adventure, as artists are encouraged to interact and merge their art with others. Project begun by Marty Harris, Minnesota, USA. The concept: 1. The artists start with the Japanese fold Moleskine - Name, address, email address written in book. 2. Each artist gets 1 month to make a sketchbook entry, and mail it to the next person. The order is listed to the right. 3. Each artist will do 2-3 pages each round. 4. Artists are encouraged to interact with other images in the book. Please be respectful. 5. When the book is full, when one side of the unfolded book is filled, the book will be sent back to its original owner. That artist may continue by buying a new book and sending it to the next person. 6. If a person decides not to continue, she will simply keep her book when it comes back to her. She should email all of the participants to say she is not going to continue. We will decide, then, if we want to find a new person. 7. Please communicate regularly via email. Let each person know that you have received/sent the book. The goal is to have a dialogue. Any comments and questions are welcome. Posted at 5:19PM, 17 April 2008 EDT ( permalink )

Kathrin Jebsen-Marwedel says: Hi to all members and fans ;-) May I remember you to add the following informations whenever you post a contribution here in the group: (Please change the interrogation marks in the 2nd link into the number of the group of which you're member of) This drawing was done as part of moly_x: international sketchbook exchange,www.flickr.com/groups/moly_x/. Please visit moleskinex??.blogspot.com/ I think it becomes more and more important, because this group is growing lightning fast and it's more easy to keep track of all entries if we add this additional information. Love, Kathrin

Hello

Hi everyone,

When a curious image caught my eye on my Flickr page, I followed the link to discover the new world of Moleskine sketchbook exchanges. A flutter in my ribcage told me that some deep part of me wanted to take part.

My name is Roshnii. I live by the sea in Hove (the less famous end of Brighton), UK.
I am a full-time Mum at the moment to my 9 month old son, so most of my activities these days are connected to him.

I still find time to keep at some remnants of a creative writing practice, though - a passion I have had since I was small.

I also enjoy singing and I used to write a lot of songs. Somehow, the inspiration to write them dried up and I moved back to poetry and prose.

Art-wise, I am not 'highly qualified' I did an A-level in Art when I was 18. I still love to draw and paint and make sculptures from clay when I get the opportunity.

I also enjoy printmaking, but I haven't done that in a while.

I look forward to getting back into visual art and seeing what we create together.

(I guess I better get out and buy my sketchbook!)

Hello!

Jen made such a nice intro of herself, so I thought I could do one too.

My name is Oda, going by Mjux. (I'm female, seeing as Oda is a male japanese name I'd like to state that sooner than later<3)

I'm norwegian and 18 years old, currently in my last year of high school where I'm taking art as a speciality. In the future I hope to attend an art school but that'll have to wait till my economy is secure.

I'm quite experimental with my art and I dislike being stuck to one direction (though I won't experiment in your moly, of course). My favourites are colourpencils and ink in moleskine, but also collages and some kinds of marker.
My inspiration range from colours to pretty objects. I'm more visual than spiritual as I never seem to get my thoughts out of my head(therefore they stay there and I go by estethically pleasing).

I really hope we'll get this group on the run and create lots of wonderful art in eachothers moleskines. I don't think it'll be a problem if we all try to stay on time. Of course life can get in the way and if it does I'd love it if you could make a post here alerting the others about it (:
If one of us should loose intrest, making a post alerting about that would be great too, so we can sort something out.

Other than that, the questions on the bottom of Jen's post are important, and we should try to sort them out as soon as possible so we can get going <3

Greetings & Questions

Hello, I'm Jen (aka Langelbleu).

I live in the Maine on the north east coast of the United States about 7 miles from the ocean. I've been an artist my entire life as well as a spiritually & magically oriented person. I live with my husband and our menagerie of 2 pugs & 3 kitties, abundant vegetable, perennial gardens & compost piles and pair of Kombucha Mamas that live quietly fermenting in huge jars on the kitchen counter.

I have worked in many mediums over the years and am rather comfortable with quite a few. My formal training started in ceramic sculpture, drawing & painting and evolved to a BFA with a focus in photography & film making, which eventually transformed into a full time career as a professional custom tattoo artist/medicine woman.

Spiritual healing, energy work, shamanism and following an earth centered devotional path is a profoundly integral part of my work as an artist and life. For me creating art is touching the sublime, connecting to the vast undefinable Mystery, and is my means of meditation and transcendence. At my core I consider myself a Universalist. I believe there are infinite ways to define and discover the Sacred. As an artist I spend my days working with others to create what they seek, so I am especially delighted to work collaboratively with others and create images based on their unique desires.

I am looking forward to learning who the rest of you are and discovering what we shall all create together!

---

So here are some questions I've got about our process...

I am curious as to the logistics of the next phase. As of now we've got you, me and Mjux following the blog. So obviously we'll all need molys (got mine) and figure out our themes. Who coordinates the mailing schedule? What kind of time frame do we have for prepping our molys before they launch? Who is responsible for collecting everyones' mailing addresses and servings as the point person? Do you recommend tracking confirmation with mailing? With a group of 5 do we do all of our pages in one shot or do we send it around for 2 goes? Is there anything I am not asking that I should be?