It Came From The Beanworld Archives!

"Self-portrait of the bean as a young artist."
Undated
8 1/2" x 11"
Technical pen, felt tip pen, color markers on Bienfang 360 mounted on color clay-based paper.

So there used to be this weird colored paper that was once a fairly common art supply. For the life of me I can't remember the trade name for it, but when I was first in advertising, at the agency, there was a big flat-drawer full of it.

The older art directors called it "clay-based paper."
No one ever used it.

The back side was white and the front side was coated with a thin layer of beautiful lush smooth color.
Brilliant colors.
But the clay-based coating was fragile and easily cracked.

You wanted to work with it because of its brilliant hues. The clay paper surface was so "thirsty" it hungrily soaked up all forms of ink and tempera paints. So I think it was considered a superior art supply in the "Golden Age" of advertising layout when everything was rendered with pen & ink, brushes, and chalk.

But it was absolutely incompatible with dry transfer lettering.
Dry transfer lettering wouldn't adhere to the clay base for even three seconds before it just slid off.

Colored Pantone papers were developed and marketed to work hand in glove with dry transfer lettering. By the time I entered the advertising business Pantone Matching System (PMS) papers had elbowed clay-based out of the way. PMS stuff (papers, markers, and inks) had became the new standard for making layouts.

So, as I said, we had a drawer full of these gorgeous clay-based papers. They were too expensive to throw out but no one wanted them either. Sometimes I'd play around with them.
The illo above is one of those times. The clay-based paper is probably 35 years old or more and the color is still brilliant.

Based on the shapes in the night time sky, I think this is from the late '70s, around the time I made my Beanworld Tarot deck. The "orb"and "hot dog "shapes later transformed into hoops and slats and became the Four Realities. The original shapes became the Mystery Pebbles we know today.

I believe that this piece is less of a true Beanworld study and more of a self-portrait.