ATCs for trading!

I've been working, and created a couple atcs for trading. I have a trade for a couple of them pending, but if anyone else wants to trade these are some that are available right now. Just leave me a quick comment saying which you'd be interested in, or that you're looking to trade :)

Johan Hangaman, and a request for etsy jewlery suggestions

I've been keeping so busy here with doing some sightseeing around Seoul and shopping for things for my new place, and still buying christmas presents for shipping back home. However, i have had some time for doing other things too.

I have finished off another ATC. The background was created about a year ago, when i was experimenting with newspaper and inks. I really liked how it turned out, but didn't have a use for it at that time. I tucked it away for later use (as i do so many other backgrounds). I then was inspired flipping through an old issue of Cloth Paper Scissors (see 2 paragraphs down) and knew it was time to use that background. I sketched the main body with pencil, and then painted it in with acrylic. I cut a square hole in the torso, and then gel medium'd on a small metal frame i'd found at a dollar store. After, i used a packing tape transfer with a picture of a nest i'd digitally altered to make into blue tones and had upped the contrast.

I love using packing tape transfers because they're interesting to look at, simple and very cost efficient. If you have never tried one, they are the simplest thing. Take a laser printed/photocopied picture and burnish on a piece of tape. Put the picture in warm water for 30 minutes and then rub the paper off the tape. The ink will stay on the tape... you now have a transparant copy of your picture to stick wherever you like! I learned this at a mini-workshop, put on by one of my fellow ATC group people back home.

I was inspired on this one by Johan Hangaman's fabulous sculptures shown in the July/August issue of Cloth Paper Scissors, especially 'Ajar'. You can find her main page here or you can skip right to her fabulous gallery (Ajar is the second one)here. I would highly recomend checking otu johan's studio. Her work is so very beautiful, and i find it speaks very strongly to me. I am fascinated by the varied medias she uses to create her sculptures, including cement, wire, beeswax, fabric, and the list goes on. The very idea of working with all those fabulous media makes me drool, but not so much as the idea of seeing one of these in person! If you're in L.A. (or the area surrounding it), she has a spot in the Los Angeles Art Show. Wish i was closer myself. It is not only the media that i find beautiful, but the stunning simplicity to her lovely, lovely sculptures speaks very strongly to me. This is worth checking out!






I also finished off a bracelet. I've worn it a couple times now, and am wishing i owned a blowtorch to 'draw a bead on the wire' like they talk about in the book (i had to leave mine at home, as i don't think they wanted those on the plane hahaha).

Lastly, i've been poking around etsy for a bit... my book loving boyfriend and i have a deal... for our christmas presents (which are late this year as a result of the move) we are to make a wish list of 5 things online, and then the other will ship one of the five things. I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the etsy site... there is SO MUCH fabulous stuff! Unless you know really the type of thing you are looking for, it is a big thing to pick something special! One helpful way is to have a favorite artist or two on there. I know i want to pick up a necklace... but which one? Do you guys have any favorite jewelry artists on etsy? I like things that have a touch of 'steampunk' to them... something with a hint of lovely rust?

ATCs finished

I finished up an ATC before moving out that i hadn't posted yet. Thought i'd show it here. Maybe that will help fulfil some of my art fix? My fingers are just itching to work with some resin, but everything is packed up and probably will be till i hit korea. I think it would be great to create a resin bezel or something like that for the most recent Creative Construction challenge, which has 'fire' for it's theme.

This card i think will be going to Collette. She made some gorgeous atcs, and i am really looking forward to trading with her. I created the background with gesso and texturing, and scratched the word 'fly' into it. I then painted it. The first part of the nest is painted on, and then i glued on feathers. Three beads were wired up and then attached to the card.

I wish i could start a countdown to the time when i go to korea, but i don't know my leaving date yet! Sometime in the next two week, at latest. I'm so very excited!

Gesso and new bracelet

I occasionally pop in at the GPP Street Team website... this time i decided i would try out what they were talking about. The theme this time is gesso. I myself was specifically interested in the idea of stamping with gesso... that kinda blew my mind haha. Apparantly, the gesso acts as a resist when you stamp it, so that if you paint overtop of it with another colour after it dried, and then wipe off some of that colour the white (or whatever colour you used) of the gesso will show through. Fascinated by this, i thought i'd give it a shot.

I had previously stamped this card with the mask shape, as I found an irresistibly gorgeous hand carved stamp at an Artist Trading Card meeting (no one seemed to know who carved it...?). I got a couple stamps in while i could :). I then stamped the word 'masque' (french for mask) and used the resist technique... voila!






















































I have also been working on a bracelet for a friend of mine, Erin. I missed giving her a present on her birthday, so this is going to be a belated birthday present. I figure that late is better than none? This is a rather simple bracelet, made with twisted wire and these gorgeous beads I picked up while in the Rockies. Their frosted green colour reminded me of the ICY COLD glacial rivers where I went white water rafting. I want to finish of a nice case for it to go in. I am thinking something similar to the mint tin i made a while back for my friend Tasha's birthday... but with the bracelet inside instead of a unicorn.

I still don't have a date yet for when i leave for Korea... I am hoping that it will be soon. I kinda get the feeling like I am sitting here waiting for things to get started. That feeling you get when there is something totally exciting looming in the future, but it is uncertain when it will actually happen. Wish me luck that the immigration office processes our papers quickly :).

Candy Drops finished

Finished off another piece today... i was so very inspired by Sarah Ahearn's 'Falling fruit'. I created my own piece, 'Candy Drops' that was inspired by this.

I am not pleased with the quality of the photo here. Usually, i take a photo and then if it is giving me problems i adjust the lighting and sharpness in photoshop. However, I have bought a new laptop (woo!) but it does not have Adobe Photoshop. I would love to have it here on my laptop but it is sooooo expensive!! I cannot even upload my pics of my atcs on the ATCSforall website as they are too big. With photoshop, i could re-save it as a smaller file. I'm putting a question out to you guys... what program do you use? I do not need the immensity of power that is in photoshop, just something where i can edit photos brightness/contrast, crop, and most importantly shrink the size of the pictures (as in sort of compress or something). Any suggestions out there????

Finally back!

Things got a little crazy in the past couple months, and i had to let a couple things slip just a bit to get my bearings... blogging was one of those things. However, i am back and now ready to go again! I feel like i have so much to talk about, in relation to art and just my life in general! Many things are happening here. Sorry for the really long post here.... just getting all caught up.

I will be moving to Seoul, Korea to go teach overseas sometime late November to early December. I have been sooo busy lately with preparations to go... packing, preparing paperwork, working out storage etc. However, lately i have still been finding some time for art. I am very pleased about this.


I had signed up for an awesome swap on ATCs for all. I was very pleased with how my cards turned out. I experimented with acrylics on the pear card, with beading on the corn card, and with "stitching" (loosely termed) on the strawberry card. All cards turned out great.

















I also have been working on a new atc with a kind of christmasy theme. This is the card so far... but it is not done yet. I started by hand stitching together two pieces of canvas, and then stitching on two fabric pieces and an image of holly. Now, i feel that it needed a kind of stitching or something around the edges, more of a decorative type of stitch. I was originally inspired on this piece by Collette's blog piece here and i couldn't resist the blanket stitch around the edge... but i had never done one before. I found a fabulous tutorial on the web, and decided it was time to learn how... (tutorial here).













After many many MANY mistakes, a couple words coming out of my mouth I'm not quite proud of (oops) and a couple tries, i finally figured it out. Here is an edited version of my practice stitching... by the end i think i pretty much got it!

















I also picked up the new issue of cloth paper scissors! How exciting. I really enjoyed this issue. I was especially inspired by the art of Sarah Ahearn, in her 'artist profile'. I really liked her colour palettes she used, especially her use of gorgeous pastel colours. The pic here is a piece i was particularly inspired by. She called it Falling Fruit.
























I couldn't resist making my own impression of what she did here. I started with mixing watercolours and iridescent medium (my favorite thing to give things that bit of sparkle) and painted the background with nice pastel colours of blues, greens, yellows, and browns. I then covered it with a thin blotchy coat of white, and next added some drops of colour. It is still a work in progress, but this is what i have so far...


Just wanted to put out a little thank you out there to the bloggers who were so supportive of me while i was gone for a bit... thanks for thinking of me ladies! You are truly wonderful.

Life Changes

I know i haven't been posting much lately. I have been sort of thinking about things and doing my best to stay as busy as possible. Last week, i ended my relationship with Ray, after having been together for 9 years. This had been coming for some time and wasn't a shock or anything, but still is a little unsettling and sad. However, i am doing surprisingly okay.

I just got back from a visit with my grandparents. My grandmother gave me some lovely art supplies that i am very excited to give a go. Most exciting is a lovely set of gouache paints. I remember there once being a challenge on Jen Worden's blog that used gouache that looked great but i didn't have any.,... maybe now is the time lol.

I have finished off a couple more atcs that i need to post. I will get to doing that soon :)

Back to ATCs

So, I received an e-mail saying that a gallery in Vancouver is holding an ATC exhibition, and they are calling for submissions. Although i will not be able to attend, it still seems pretty neat. I love trading in new ways. I will be sending 9 ATCs to the Richmond art gallery by August 22nd. They are asking for the submissions to be along the themes of things like domestic life and such. You can find more info about it here.

So, i've been creating more atc's lately. There is a swap on saturday in a nearby town that i'll be going to... this should be fun. I have to buckle down and create some cards for trading before saturday. I really like how Secret Glen turned out.

Here's two i've finished. The first is for the exhibition, and the second is for the swap on sunday.




























I have finished the second jewelry project from Stephanie Lee's book Semi-Precious Salvage. I'll be posting it tomorrow, or soon. Time to move on to the third :). However, i think my ATC making may take precedence over it for this week.

A touch of darkness...

I just finished my 'Styx' ATC today. I had finished the acrylic, gesso and India ink background a couple weeks ago and knew i wanted a 'river styx' themed ATC, but wasn't sure what to put on top of the background. After doing some sketching in my new sketchbook today, i created a fabulous sketch of a skull with flames (inspired by a sticker i picked up). Although i liked my pencil sketch of the skull FAR more than the painted one on these ATCs, i am still pleased with how these turned out.

I realize that there is a touch of darkness to these cards... sporting skulls on them and whatnot... I usually do not have darkness in my art but i sometimes wonder why. Art is about SO MUCH MORE than just bright, happy shiny things. Don't get me wrong, i love a good cupcake card ( i was drooling over a gorgeous rolo earlier) but i find that people don't focus enough on the darker things. I would love to trade with someone for a card that had a little bit of gothic influence to it. Some major shadows... or maybe even just a touch of something evil. Not a lot... just a little. I'm still a fairly happy go lucky type of person, just have a hidden bit of goth deep within haha. Just a tiny bit...

Vintage pillows

I decided to have some fun with my sewing machine yesterday. Unfortunately my sewing machine was not completely receptive to this idea hahaha. I had decided to create two vintage style pillows, with the lace that i had just picked up the day before. The first one, i was able to sew without a hitch. However, when it came time for the second, i was plagued with problems with the tension on my sewing machine... as in there was no tension.

I took my sewing machine out of storage a couple years ago. It had been my mother's when she was younger, and when they moved it became mine. When i took it out of storage, it was in working condition, except for one small problem. The metal rod that the thread roll sits on and spins on top of the machine was missing. Who knows what happened to it? Either way, it wasn't there with the rest of the machine and hasn't turned up in the couple of years. However, i have up until now simply set the thread on the table beside the machine and it worked fine from there. It worked fine doing that on the first pillow. However, all of the sudden, on the second pillow, it didn't work anymore like that. There was no tension on the line anymore. I don't know what changed between the two. However, if you have 2 people and one hold the thread on top of the machine as the rod would have, it works fine. Which means that i have to suck it up, and take the machine to a sewing repair store to hopefully get that piece replaced. Sigh... Hopefully they can replace it easily, and cheap haha. It is an older machine, so i guess i'll have to wait and see.

Skavenjah last night

So, last night was a great night. My friend Mike and I got together and we went out to see one of my favorite bands, Skavenjah. It doesn't hurt that the trombone player in the band is my instructor, and that I played with the sax player in jazz band a number of years ago. However, i think i'd love them even if i didn't know a couple of them personally. The energy to their ska is overwhelming. Looking down at the dance floor from our balcony seats, it was a pure mass of energy. I just love going to see bands that are obviously loving what they are doing. The energy was not only in their music, it was flying off of the band members themselves. What fun! You should definately check out their music :) Here is a link to their website.

I have been doing some art and such. I have a project with these copper 'birds' that i am getting very excited about. I think i already talked about the copper houses and wings, I now have digital copies of pictures of bird heads. Just need to get them printed... but i'm out of ink!

I am so pleased with the enormous response that my previous card, 'Tribute', got at ATCS For All. A whopping 14 comments! I never get this many comments, they usually just get maybe 1 or 2 and it is not unusual for them to be none at all. However, i am just so happy with the lovely comments there on this one. It seems to be rather popular and i so enjoyed making it that i am using a similar technique again. This time i am making a 4" by 4" piece. I have one for keeping and one for trading started. Don't know how i am going to trade a 4" by 4" piece, since it is not ATC size, but maybe i'll just use it as a gift instead? Maybe a blog gift or something, if i actually ever win one of those Heart it forward''contests? I decided to go with a blue theme rather than a green theme for this one. I wonder what i will use for the picture? Another woman? Still don't know. If it ends up being for heart it forward, i will probably make a stylized heart type of thing. I guess i will wait and see what mood strikes me :)

Tribute to Kelly Rae Robertson

I was flipping through old issues of Cloth Paper Scissors, and i saw the beautiful art of Kelly Rae Robertson. I love reading her blog and i find her art style absolutely inspiring. I am drawn to the softness/strength of her women. I also love her use of colour and layered paper (in some paintings). Looking at the magazine, i made a version of her beautiful work.

I started this months ago, when i glued a collage of green papers down onto cardboard and cut it to ATC size. I always knew i would create a Robertson-style painting on top of it, but i just wasn't ready yet. Today, after looking in the magazine, i finally felt ready. I drew a sample sketch in my art book/journal. I was so pleased with the results that i felt ready to make this art :). After drawing the woman with pencil, I traced the lines with black gel pen (note to self... get better gel pens. This one was kinda crappy and didn't work so good. Myabe because it's old?)

After the lines were down, i mixed a variety of acrylic colours, mixing all of them with pearlescent medium. I was going to make just the wings shimmery, but then i liked the colour so much that i made them all like that. After all, who doesn't need a little extra shimmer in their life! Haha. I know i do :)

I wonder where this fabulous card will find a home? Will the artists on ATCsforall love it, or ignore it? I hope there will be someone that feels about it the same way i do :). I do find that the comments at the atc site are rather lacking lately, since the move of sites. Hopefully it will pick up later??

ATC's ready to go!

Wow, it's been a while since my last post! Hunh. I hadn't realized i'd left it for so long till a friend of mine ryan mentioned that the last time i'd updated it had been a music related post. I guess life gets in the way sometimes. I've been very busy with teaching, friends coming in to visit from out of town and my many music activities i am signed up for. I play trombone in the University of Regina Jazz band, and we are just winding up for the semester. Our semester concert is on this wednesday... and i'm not sure i am completely ready on a couple small parts. Sometimes life gets in the way of practicing (and blogging lol).

So, this month, on April 25th i believe, is the birthday of Artist Trading Cards. So, the MacKenzie Art Gallery here is having a celebration, as i believe i mentioned in previous posts. In order to participate, they are asking people to submit 6 artist trading cards, which will go on display at the gallery. So... i guess you could say... in a small way... my art is going to be part of an exhibit at the art gallery! I know for some of you supremely talented, experienced art bloggers this is a regular thing, but this is a first for a newb hobbyist like me. Here are the six cards i am going to submit:

This first one i created using some really cool dollar store finds. When i went to the local Dollerama, i found they had this really cool meshy/plasticy/straw like stuff. It was such a cool texture that i had to have some :). I also found these really cool painted feathers there too, and some stringy fiber/yarn. I sewed the fiber all around the edges of the mesh, sewed feathers on and created a stylized stencil of the letter f. I then spray painted the f onto the mesh. I have always felt rather inspired by the way i see the way so many artists using spray paint with hand-made stencils in their journals, especially at this blog, Dispatch from LA. In the end, i am fair pleased with how it turned out. However, i think i needed to use more spray paint on the edges of the thin stencil, or buy better quality spray paint or something. It didn't seem to work too clearly, i would have liked a clearer edge. Maybe the stencil needs to be taped down more securely? I will be trying this spray painting method again, as i now have a couple stencils made.

This one i had talked about in a previous post. It is createdon foam board, with iridescent ink, music paper and stamping.















I had also previously discussed this marylin atc. I created it with photoshop the colours into the picture, and then photoshoping a second pic that just had the high points of her lips, her eyes, her hair and her shadow. I then used a packing tape transfer to put the second layer on top of the first. I found this one appropriate as they currently have a warhol exhibit on at the gallery.











I have been playing around with felting. I created this card with my grandmother last weekend. I went up for a visit, and we had a WONDERFUL time, art-ing (is that really a verb? haha it is now) up a storm. She is the tin-snips queen. We prepped the pieces for a really neat soldered copper piece that i will be eventually completing. So far, we have the shape of bird wings and a house cut out of a sheet of copper with the tin snips she so expertly wielded. Maybe i should make her something, a plaque or something, with her new title of the tin snips queen? haha.

Other than working with copper, we also hand fun experimenting with ways to dye the wool i had previously picked up, and doing some felting. This pic, called 'stripes' is my first felted piece. I also created a second piece of a felted scene using sheet and grass and sky, but i seem to have forgotten to scan taht one *embarassed*. I'll have to scan and post taht one later.

Lastly, i created one with a copper base. I was rather unsure what i wanted to do with this one at first. I knew i wanted to do something that featured the copper, and also wanted to feature my new intrest and 'skills' (haha) with the soldering iron. However, i just couldn't think of anything that wouldn't be too thick to fit in the atc sleeve (they are quite thin... not meant for taking anything bulky unfortunately. I wish they could take more thickness!). I wanted to maybe make it with a copper base, and the solder a piece of glass to cover the collage within, but then i decided it still wouldn't fit in the sleeve. I liked the collage so much, i decided to just leave it the way it is. I like the texture of the copper as the background. I will have to play more with that as a base in the future... when ihave more ideas of things that will fit? Or maybe when i am creating a 4x4 piece or something? or maybe something entirely different? I like the swapping aspect of ATCs, but i am finding them limiting in some ways. I guess i will just explore and see what's up :)

So, there my cards are, all ready for submission! I will go drop them off tommorrow, and let you all know how the birthday celebration goes later on. It should be a blast!

Another ATC finished

So, a quick break from soldering... back to photo editing. In return for a totally gorgeous ATC of hers, a fellow atc'er asked me to make her an atc using photo manipulation, similar to my 'scratched door' atc i'd made previously.

So i went for a walk, taking some pics. My favorite ones were of the trees, stark and bare from the winter, reaching towards the sky. I took a bunch of pics of this, and choose my favorite.

I used photoshop to brighten the colours, edit out the other tree's branches that invaded the shot, and then played with the filters. The ending result was a very stark tree, against a blue white background with black ground. I loved it :)

After printing it off (assuring the print shop that no, they didn't mess up the colours and yes, i only wanted it to fill 2.5 by 3.5 of the photo and leave the rest blank) I played with bleach. Bleach does really neat things with photos. All the red and yellow ground here, and the red and yellow on the tree, were done with bleach. After bleaching, i sanded the sky, painted it fiery colours and sanded again. Voila! My ATC is done :). I wonder which of these three she will choose, and like best? One of them will be going to a good home with her, one of them i am keeping and the third is going to the Mackenzie Art Gallery for my submission of 6 ATC's for ATC day next month :) How exciting!

One committed swap down... only two more to go! Just got to (finally) finish off the altered domino. Waiting on the print shop on that one :) I'll show pics of it when i am finished. Also just signed up for an altered matchbox swap using swapbot. Need to make a spring themed matchbox.... How fun :) Now i just got to somehow find a 32 count matchbox. Ray said he'd pick me one up today.

'Get your butt in gear and finish the darn work' challenge

While this is not the official title for the challenge, this is how i view Jen Worden's challenge for this week. And even with the poke in the butt by the challenge, i was still a day late hahaha. Oh well. Luckily for me, her challenge was running late too so i was able to submit my piece for the challenge.

I have just recently stumbled upon DJ Pettit's blog. I find her work to be fabulously inspiring. She is absolutely fantastic at incorporating sewing into her art. I was in awe especially of her one painting of a woman posted on March 5th. If you're having trouble finding the post or something (though it is quite easy to find), here is a link to the pic.

I started this piece some time ago... i would say that i started it about 4 or 5 months ago, if not more. Then life happened. However, with my fresh reminder and inspiration by DJ, i decided to finish this one for the challenge.

This piece was created with watercolours on watercolour paper, and then stitched with my sewing machine. I believe the original inspiration came from a cloth paper scissors magazine?

Busy week

How time flies! I look at the last date here, and i see that it was a full week ago! This week seems to have gone by so quickly. I have been keeping very busy with work, and my art as well.

Have created two new ATC's this week. I am a little behind in my trades, owe a couple people atc's so these will go directly to them. I am pleased with how they both turned out.


This one was started a couple months ago. I saw this really cool art project where the artist nailed a bunch of hearts to a board. It looked so cool that i had to try the nailing myself. I went out and bought some cool blue nails, and i 'nailed' a paper heart to the paper bg (essentially, i poked the nail through both of them). I like the way the heart sort of spins on the nail. I then left it for a couple months, knowing that i needed to do something more with the bg before it could be done. After trying pastels at the ATC swap meeting, i figured that would be a cool medium to use.

So, yesterday i finally went to the only professional artist store in town. 'Colours' is wonderful, as it has great customer service, good selection and top quality suplies. They do tend more towards the 'fine arts' perspective, but that is to be expected. I can't imagine there are much for 'mixed media art' stores in existance, especially because you can usually find everything you need at the fine art type combined with a hardware or antique store (for me that is). Still haven't been able to find walnut ink anywhere.... hmmm. I'll have to look deeper into that one.

But i did find a variety of other fun things at the store. Bought myself a set of oil pastels i'd had my eye on, a new brush, some watercolour paper and some foam board (cheap for 50 cents!). I came home and played with my new pastels, and this atc is what came of it :)



This is another one that started from an inspiration of a work by Bridgette Guerzon Mills. I love her work, with all the colours blended yet present and distinct, and the awesome texture she uses. I'd love to try using wax like she does for her encaustic art. Just another project perculating that i will one day spend a bunch of money on suplies :). Can't wait hahah.

In this one, i created the texture with a really clumpy, bumpy coat of gesso mixed in with the first layer of paints. I really like the texture that this gives... even poor quality gesso is good for something hahaha. I had created this earlier with muted pastel tones, and then i took it to be critiqued with the artist guild i have joined. The main thing that she said was that the pastels were too light, especially if i wanted to add a bold red with the cape (in the end the cape wasn't as bold as i'd hoped but i still like it). I added more layers of bolder greens and blues, and i much prefer the final product there.

As for future projects, i am still working on making an altered domino. They have asked for it to follow a Marilyn Monroe theme. I think i will go with a warhol style. His exhibit is in town right now. I am looking forward to seeing it tommorow. Will blog about it most likely :).

Mackenzie Art Gallery

For a about a month, i have been informally searching for a way to feel a part of a local arts community. I am finding that the only way to really find out about these things is to talk to people. THere is no central place where you can go, or no central person, where you can just ask 'I want to be part of the local arts scene... where should i go? what should i do?'. However, if you casually ask around about these things, you slowly get little tidbits of what to do, where to go, who to talk to. I find this fascinating. You talk to one person, and they show you what they know, leading you down one path. Others lead you down another. I find there is actually quite a lot happening in my small city, but it is just all beneath the radar. If you aren't tapped into the arts scene, it's all kind of hidden to you. I wonder why that is?

I went to an ATC session at the Mackenzie Art Gallery today. The facilitator there from the gallery mentioned that he had a mat cutter available in the back, and when i went to use it i saw that they had full studios back there! I guess it makes sense, since they have all the artists there and such, but i had always pictured the making of this art as seperate... something created at home and then brought to the gallery. I bet there are many that are like that, but as i saw from the space there, that is not the case with all artists. I was amazed to see all the different materials they had there... my fingers just started to itch when i saw the big bucket of wax... "just take the wax and run" hahaha (i have recently been facinated by encaustic art). So i started talking with the facilitator, asking I could get in on this great space they had there. And he was all like 'Oh, we have Studio Sundays, where they are open to the public. Didn't you know?' Hunh. I definately didn't know. I love getting to know more and more about my city, and the things that hare happening 'below the radar' of the general public's knowledge.

THe trading yesterday was great. They had a small workshop about how to do packing tape transfers. Exciting, cheap, easy and it looks good. How could you go wrong with that?

As you were saying in your comment, Andre, i agree. I think it's time for me to start dabbling in larger art. I have been playing around in ATCs... i like them because they are small. It is a good way to experiment with different techniques, medias, methods and such without having a huge time commitment for each project. And I also love collecting the cards.... having little pieces art from all over the place. I find it rather exciting. However, i think it is time for me to start trying some bigger things out there too. Like actually using a canvas maybe? Making something bigger than 3.5 inches? I still want to continue making ATCs, for i do love them, but i want to branch out in other areas as well. Just don't know what direction to go yet. Maybe some time at 'Studio Sunday' will help me today? Just checking out what others are doing and such. Wish me luck :)

Finally posting again

My name is Dale, and i am a lazy blogger. It has been a week since my last blog post.

Feels like i'm at an AA meeting or something. BA maybe(bloggers annonymons)? hahaha

I have to admit, i briefly fell of the 'one creative thing every day' wagon. I missed three days of creative this week. And things got busy. As a result, the blog was briefly set aside. But i'm back now.

I have been keeping busy with a number of projects. In the temporary absence of an ATC website home base, i had looked around the net to see what else is out there. I admit, i was mostly fairly disappointed. There wasn't much that really called to me out there for trading websites. Until i found swap-bot.

Swap bot seems to be a website where you trade many different things. ATCs are part of it, but they have other stuff there too. That really interests me to branch out into other areas of altered art. I am especially interested in trying one of their 'matchbox swaps' but unfortunately, the floral one i really wanted to be in was for US only :(. Really... it can't be that expensive to send a tiny matchbox to canada from the US, is it? Oh well. Instead, i signed up for an Altered Journal swap. I uncoil a boughten journal, add some fun pages every 5 or 6 pages or so, add a cover and then mail it away. Someone will do the same for me :). I can't wait to get started. Just need to somehow find an A5 journal.... hahaha. Tried buying one at walmart today but realized that i don't know what size A5 is, and no one there did either.

Been keeping busy on another project. I thought for this one i could keep you posted with pics at each stage. My mother had a really neat mint tin in Carolina, and she gave it to me. I sanded down all the paint off the outside so it was scratched metal, and then proceeded to paint the lid iridescent purple. Here are some pics of how it is turning out so far. I wish i had taken pics of what it was like originally. Oh well, too late now.












































My plan for this box is to create sort of like a shrine type thing inside. I have seen many 'shrines' in magazines and on the internet, and i find them facinating. However, i don't fully understand what entails a 'shrine'. It is an odd name for them, since i doubt these have any religious significance. I know mine won't. I was thinking more of a burlesque, can can dancer type theme. Don't know yet, but the lid is painted a vibran, sparkly purple so far. That or a snake sort of theme? I haven'd decided yet. I need to look more into this. Anyone know a good 'shrine' artist, where i can check things out and be inspired?

I have also been creating some ATC's. There is a new site for us created by some ex-mods from ATCards.com. We're now at atcs for all. I am really pleased with the quality of much of the work being uploaded in the gallery there. I already set up a couple of trades.

A definite bummer about the couple days i took off from creating art is that my 'to trade' section of my ATC's is almost empty, and i have my monthly face-to-face swap that i am going to tomorrow! I feel bad going to the swap, and i only have 5 cards for trading. Here are two i just finished off tonight.



This one was inspired by an artist's work i met at the Artist Guild that i just joined. The only mixed media artist there seems to be quite friendly, and she showed me some of her previous work. Some of my favorites were the paper mache tree branches she had bumping out on a winter tree painting. I liked the idea so much i tried it for myself. If i remembered her name i would credit her for her idea, but i have a horrible memory for names so unfortunately she will have to here remain nameless.



I also finished this one tonight. Today i went out, and while at walmart searching for a journal, I found India Ink. I have always been fancinated by the idea of trying it out, and it was fair inexpensive so i bought it. This is my first experimentation with this medium. I do enjoy the shiny, smooth blackness that it leaves. I believe this is a medium i will definately need to further explore. The symbol is the chinese for 'fish'. The picture in the corner is cut out from an envelope i picked up at 'Grand Asia Market' when visiting my parents in Raleigh.

Good news and Bad news

So, i got some good news and some bad news today.... Good news first!

For the challenge i was participating in for Jen, i was supposed to create a red card and send it to a stranger. I created the atc shown last post, Red Dawn. Then i waited... my plan is to send it to the first person who comments on the post (this plan had a potential hitch when the challenge host was the first to comment... so i just changed the plan to the SECOND person)...and so..... CAT! It's you! You were the first non-host to comment on my card. Soon as i get the address, i will mail you the card. I think this is supposed to be a surprise who it goes to (as in they aren't expecting it) but it is hard to send it to a blog stranger without having their address first hahahha. Hopefully she doesn't just think i'm some kind of strange stalker or something hahahah.

So there was the good news, now for the.... bad.

:( :( :( :(

My favorite ATC trading website is potentially being shut down. By the end of this month, it is POSSIBLE that the site www.atcards.com will be no more. This is a site of 5000+ artists that i check daily. It has everything i would want from a site: a gallery with generous space, a lively forum, talented and friendly artists, organized swaps, a variety of medias besides atcs, iTrader ratings.... it was just what i wanted. Damian (the administrator) has received a promotion and will no longer have time for this time-hog of a site. While i wish many congratulations to him on his promotion, it still saddens me to potentially lose my favorite website. *sigh*.

There is still hope! The site says that they are working on a solution not to lose the online community (a new site to join, a new administrator.... something). I looked around, and there were no pre-existing sites that had what i was looking for. There is a new one being made called ACTs for all that isn't finished yet... maybe it will be good? I sure hope so. *fingers crossed*. How about you guys out there in blog land? Do you know any good sites to trade your atc's? I don't like yahoo groups and don't understand flikr groups (yet!). Wish me luck :)

Red Dawn

Another day, another monocromatic ATC!

Well, maybe not one EVERY day, but it does seem like i am churning out quite a few lately :) This one took me two days to finish (one for the background, one for the painting and collage). I have now done green, orange and red monocromatic ATC's, and have a blue one currently in the works (will show when it's done).

This one was inspired looking at the pictures you see that just seem to be so touchable. They have so much texture to some of them! I was looking through my copy of ARTFUL BLOGGING (which FINALLY arrived :):):) ) and i was simply inspired by one of Bridgette Guerzon Mills' paintings. The texture was so strong, and the colours beautifully layered. I used this painting as my original inspiration, and then went a different direction in many ways. I have always been inspired by Bridgette's work, and am a regular subscriber to her blog Contemplating the Moon. I was very excited to see her blog featured in Artful Blogging. You should totally go check her blog out.

So, on my ATC, I first tried creating dimension with gesso, but i found it wasn't enough. Maybe because I have too cheap quality, wal-mart gesso? hahah Is gesso supposed to make mini clumps on the picture??? I just don't know. To create more dimension, i glued down scraps of various papers of varying textures, and put even more gesso on top of them. Painted, glued down and created an impression of a grain elevator, stamped a title and voila! Another finished.

This card was created for Jen Worden's current weekly challenge (yes, this time i am going for the current one!). Card created.... now i need to fulfill the second part and give it to a complete stranger.... hmmm... this will be harder than i expected. While it is true that almost ALL my art goes to strangers, as i trade ATC's online, it is different sending my art to a non ATC collecter. I am somewhat nervous with this part :S