Holy Moley!

My new mail art obsession is Moleskine journals, known fondly as "Moleys."  The correct pronunciation -- I looked it up cuz it was driving me crazy -- is, "mole-uh-SKEEN-uh," because it's Italian (I guess.)  I think most Americans probably Anglicize it to "Mole-skin," though.

Anyhoos...  I'm hosting one Moley swap at IllustratedATCs.com, and playing in two others.  We're using the small Japanese accordion-fold Moleskine; it measures 3.5 x 5.5 and has two pages up front and a pocket at the back, plus one incredible huge, fold-out accordion-style page which is perfect for an endless stream of awesome art to be laid down. 

The Moley swap I'm hosting began August 1, with eight participants.  Our Moleys will circle the globe, traveling from person to person in round-robin style, until March 2010.  I chose the theme, "Burlesque" for my first-ever Moley swap, and painted a watercolor of gorgeous, fleshy Beth Ditto as the portrait centerpiece of my Moley's beginnings. The corset-and-tassels Betty covers the first two, separated pages, and my contact info (and close up -- yes, that's me!) are on the back pocket.  I can't wait to see what my artist friends do with my theme, in my book.

 

Tonight, I finished my first-ever spread in someone else's Moley. This one's for Katilady, worked in her book; Kati's theme is, "DARK GODDESSES." I am so stoked about how this turned out! The section on the far left (with Kali) is Kati's start in her journal, and my image flows from there. I chose to depict Yuki-Onna as my dark goddess. Her write-up reads:

A Japanese goddess of death, the Yuki-Onna appears during snowstorms. She is known to lure unsuspecting wanderers toward her with an infant; when the child is taken from her, the victim instantly freezes to death. Other times she kills by breathing frigid air onto her victims, or by leading them astray to die of exposure. Betrayed by her husband and left scorned with an empty heart, she brings freezing death to those made cold by bitterness.

I'm participating in two more Moley swaps which begin September 1 and October 1.  My themes are "Tattoos" and "Vibrant Asia" (that one's a color-based swap with an Asian sub-theme.  These are a BLAST!!  

Comments

[katilady]

i just love what you did with the pages in my book shelli!