The Art & Poetry of Mary Coleman

So another day of Inktober done. Well, technically I did this drawing a few days ago, but I’m trying to stay a few drawings ahead to make up for days I won’t have time to draw or days that a drawing doesn’t work out. I would really like to have…

So for Inktober day 4 I have a picture of some migrating swallows which relates to a poem I wrote. It was a fun and easy one to do and didn’t take very long. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. What’s a topic or issue about which you’ve…

Here is my drawing for the third day of Inktober. It’s been going pretty well so far. I am way ahead of schedule and have a bunch of drawings ready to go. I have done 11 illustrations so far, so that should cover days I do a drawing that doesn’t…

So I completed the second day of Inktober. I’m trying to keep the illustrations simple and easy to complete within the span of an hour. Some of the ones I have planned are much more complex than the one below though, and might take multiple hours. Your life without a…

I’m doing Inktober this year, but I will be illustrating my poetry instead of doing the official prompts. I’ll try my hardest to produce 31 drawings, but some may take more than one day, some days I might have to miss, and some drawings might not turn out at all,…

So I finished this illustration and I’ve started a new one of my mother. We’ll see if that turns out. This illustration below is going to be the cover of my book. Crows are often featured in my poetry so it seems fitting. So far I have 95 poems and…

Here is the illustration I’m working on today. It’s not finished yet but I like it so far. I’ve decided to branch out and do things other than self portraits for the book. I was getting a little bored of just drawing myself over and over. What things give you…

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…