Hello!

If you have arrived here you most likely are a new owner of a "Penciled In" drawing...our collaborative series for Art-o-mat®.

UPDATE: Late Summer 2012 This edition of Penciled In is a collaboration with William Hessian. William and Took met through Art-o-mat and enjoyed each other's art. William conducts Miniature Art Hunts across the US and Took knew she wanted to bring William and the Miniature Art Hunt to her hometown of Northville, MI. In 2012 Northville celebrated its 2nd Annual Miniature Art Hunt and William and Took decided to collaborate on 100 Penciled In portraits.
William started out with Took's basic characters that were transferred to the blocks and then added color and his own unique touches, giving them a whole new personality. You can find out all about William HERE and HERE -- he is one dazzlingly brilliant guy!
PLEASE -- leave us a comment, name your character, tell us how you got it...just look for your character's number on the back of the block, then find it in the Blog Archive on the right side of the blog...scroll down. We'd love to hear from YOU!

UPDATE: Summer 2011 This batch of Penciled In is a sort of "All-Stars" edition. Juana and I made 100 blocks with an assortment of 17 of our favorite Penciled In characters, as well as 3 *new* "Youngsters" -- a young cat, a young dog and a young rabbit. Each character has 5 variations. We hope you like them! PLEASE -- leave us a comment, name your character, tell us how you got it...just look for your character's number on the back of the block, then find it in the Blog Archive on the right side of the blog...scroll down. We'd love to hear from YOU!

UPDATE: 2010 "The Youngsters" is the all-new set of Penciled In characters. They will all be getting names and comments from us. If yours doesn't have a name yet, please check back periodically -- or tell us what YOU think it ought to be. Oh, and please disregard the instruction insert in your box...just look for character's number in the list in the Blog Archive on the right side of the blog.

We would LOVE to know how your teensy portrait came to you -- leave us a comment. Did you get it from a machine yourself? Was it a gift? Did we trade with you at the swap meet in Minneapolis? What machine was it in? Was this your first arto-experience?

Oh...and give the guitar on the right side of the blog a try, too!

Cap & Leo -- about us

Cap: aka Took Gallagher (a triple Capricorn)

Took is an arto-host and artist. She is living happily ever afterly in Northville, MI with her 4 cats.
Took is very easily entertained and enjoys a semi-wide variety of activities such as: cutting magazine pictures for collages, doodling new characters, playing Magic: the Gathering with Juana, drinking waaaaaay too much coffee. She also loves cotton candy and finding ways to turn her tongue blue.


Visit Took's other blog.

Leo: aka Juana Moore (a Leo)

Juana is a lifetime painter, collagist, and maker of stuff. She loves hanging out with Doug and the cats, playing with dolls, watching movies, customizing and painting toys.

Visit
Juana's website.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

#50 - Maddy

CAP: Most of my Wolfys look angry. This handsome (and marvelously colored, btw) guy looks to me like he hasn't crossed all the way over the line to angry...he is just mad.

(And no, this is not short for Madison.)

LEO: Yeah, Maddy looks grumpy more than anything. And although 'Maddy' sounds kinda girly, it's NOT Madison... maybe he's going, "DON'T call me Maddy... woof. But he doesn't really object, just a tiny woof or grrrr.

#49 - Bertie


CAP: Say hello to Bertie Blue Eyes.

LEO: Hello, Bertie! Don't know if Bertie actually has a back-of-the-head, or if his eyes are just holes to the sky, but he looks serene, copacetic, even. This one makes me really happy.

#48 - Sunday


CAP: Ooooh...nice job, Leo! Great colors!

I will call this one Sunday (because it is.)

LEO: Another glowy one - a pooka should be black, not pink, but Sunday is a pooka like Harvey. He could be BIG trouble if you don't keep an eye on him. Robert Anton Wilson's ghost is keeping an eye on him now.

#47 - Mocha


CAP: I love the luscious colors of the cat and also the blues in the background. This is Mocha.

It looks to me like Mocha can see the background and likes it, too.

LEO: Aieeee - another vibratey Louis Wain kitty! Mocha does look one with his caffeinated environment.

#46 - J.J.


CAP: I don't know why I automatically started hearing Donovan's "Jennifer Juniper" in my head when I looked at this cat.

This is now J.J.

LEO: J.J.'s palette looks sort of Mary Englebreit. It shoud be raining cherries, or she should be hugging a planet or something. J.J. likes her colors, and i do, too.

#45 - TRFM (Mac)


CAP: This dog's full name is TRFM (as in "the real Fleetwood Mac.) But you can just call him Mac.

And by the "real" Fleetwood Mac, I mean Peter Green's band from the late Sixties. THAT Fleetwood Mac.

LEO: Hey, i saw them once (TRFM, i mean). It was at the Grande, i think, or maybe the Eastown. Mick Fleetwood did his swingin' balls deal (don't ask). Peter Green was good, but sad. Come to think of it, Mac looks a little blue. He looks like he needs that pick me up.

CAP: Yeah...he's blue thinking about how wrecked TRFM got.

#44 - Lucky


CAP: Lucky is lucky he was designed with this marvelous plaid and color palette. I was seriously considering not doing more rabbits for this series. This rendition changed my mind.

LEO: I really like doing the rabbits, i'm glad you drew some more. And i'm glad you give a reason for him to be lucky, otherwise i'd think it was because he was missing a foot, or had an extra one!

#43 - Mousey


CAP: Mousey.

Mousey is a great mouser...earns his keep every single day. Here he is enjoying a well deserved break at a fabulous arty coffeehouse.

LEO: Mousey kind of looks like my parents old cat, Desmo. Desmo was also a good mouser, and he was always picking up chipmunks and baby bunnies as well. He wouldn't appreciate a coffee house unless there was someplace soft to sleep.

#42 - Buster



CAP: Well...let's see...how about Buster?

I really love the colors and background on this guy.

LEO: He's almost camoflaged... i like Buster.

#41 - Louise


CAP: About a million years ago I was married to this guy who was a writer. We teamed up on a little handmade book. It was called "Kitty and Louise". They were both cats, Kitty was the girl.

This could easily be Louise.

LEO: This is another favorite, i like the colors and her serene face.

#40 - Spike


CAP: Spike...because he usually spikes his dog brew.
LEO: Spike appears to be a Weimaraner.

#39 - 'Treuse


CAP: 'Truese because his is chartreuse (and looks pretty zoned out from drinking Charteuse).

LEO: I thought he was another of those radioactive guys, but, yeah. 'Truese is listening to The Cramps, which goes well with chartruese.

#38 - Mirabelle


CAP: This is Mirabelle, after one of my twin Irish Wolfhounds (who no longer live with me). Got that same kinda look in her eyes...LOL...and such a sweet face.

LEO: Super intense colors on this one. It's fun to make the fur 'girly', give her a 'do.

#37 - Prince Floss


CAP: Prince Floss.

Man, this makes me really want some cotton candy right now...even more than normal.

LEO: Well, i'm glad i succeeded in making this kitty look like cotton candy! Bet he's sticky.

#36 - Rudy


CAP: He just looks like a "Rudy" to me...so this is Rudy.
LEO: Rudy can't fail.

Friday, May 21, 2010

#35 -Kepa


CAP: Juana, I am thinking this guy must be Basque -- so you should name him.

LEO: Okay, his name is Kepa (after Kepa Junkera, who has been blogging his ecounters with Basque Americans while he roams the USA).

#34 - Binky


CAP: Binky.

This is a wonderful family dog. The people the family got him from when he was a puppy said "no, he won't get very big"...so the little twin girls named him Binky. Ha. They still put bows in his hair -- and he lets them. That's the kind of good guy Binky is.

LEO: Yes, Binky looks the the perfect good natured giant. I love doing this kind of dog, these colors!

#33 - Stoney


CAP: Stoney, because I like the pebbly background and I didn't want to call him Pebbles.

LEO: Stoney is another fave, i almost kept this one. He looks like a white tiger. A psychedelic, Louis Wain style white tiger. That background took a while, but you get in the zone. Like Stoney.

#32 - Fabio


CAP: The male supermodel of our cats...Fabio. Just look at this guy's fabulous hair!

LEO: Yeah, he's hot. Probably has a hairball issue, though.

#31 - Queen Millicent


CAP: Queen Millicent.

LEO: Kinda went all out on the queenliness on millicent, then gave her a silver crown to sorta tone it down. She's too noble to believe in bling.