The Art & Poetry of Mary Coleman

I edited this to have a frame to break up the solid background and I put pigment in the dress to contrast the skin and hair. I really like it now. Here’s how it looked before… What’s your all-time favorite album? Probably the soundtrack from season 1 of The Leftovers.…

I finished this illustration. It’s my second try at the same image. It’s not my favorite of the illustrations I’ve done, but it’s not terrible either. I will include it in my book. If I only included illustrations that were my very favorites, I’d be working for 10 years! Which…

I wrote a poem on Monday and did an illustration on Tuesday but the illustration was wonky and won’t be going in my book and I won’t share it here. It was a learning experience though. I will take what I learned into the next attempt because I really like…

I finished an illustration this morning. Didn’t even have to take Concerta to finish it. I’m enjoying art these days, it isn’t a struggle like it was. My perfectionism seems to have been conquered because I’m not so devastated when something doesn’t work out and I’m not afraid of failure…

Here is a poem I wrote over a period of two days. Sort of wrote the introduction stanza on Wednesday and finished it on Thursday. Feeling pretty good about it, despite it being a poem that took a long time to write. Most poetry I jot down and finish in…

I’m really starting to enjoy art again. Truly enjoy it. I spent four solid hours this morning working on the illustration below. Didn’t even take a single break. It’s been so long since I really felt lost in the process of art making and recently that’s been happening a lot…

Here is my most recent illustration and a poem I wrote. I’m pretty proud of this one, it took about 3 days to complete. Definitely going into the book. The poem sort of goes with the illustration. What personality trait in people raises a red flag with you? Any passive…

Here is a poem I wrote yesterday. I am currently working on an illustration today that I started yesterday and will post that tomorrow. Getting lots of work done on my book. I nearly 2/3 done writing it (62 more poems and I’m finished with the writing portion) and I’ve…

Not my favorite drawing. I don’t think I’ll include it in the book but I might try painting it again sometime next week and see it comes out any better. If you don’t succeed at first, try try again as they say. Name the professional athletes you respect the most…

I haven’t yet done anything creative today so I am sharing a poem about creativity I wrote a couple of days ago. I do plan on doing some painting today so tomorrow I’ll have something visual to share. How do you relax? I read books of poetry and meditate. It’s…

So another illustration for my book. This one is from a childhood photo. I’m doing a mixture of current and childhood self portraits. I’m pretty pleased with this one. Are you holding a grudge? About? I am holding a grudge although I am not at liberty to say what that…

So here is a second illustration for my book. Definitely know the direction I’m going now. Watercolor pencil, acrylic, and pen. A mixture of self portraits of myself and a child and current self portraits. Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home. The furthest I’ve ever…

Here are some poems I wrote recently and a self portrait I did. This self portrait gave me the direction I want to take illustrations for my book; a watery, loose approach and black and white. That’s what I plan to do from now on. I am going to start…