2012/365 - Day 319

Wednesday Morning at Joan's and ATC

This morning Joan, Leann, and I got together to work on projects at Joan's house.

Joan worked on her pillows commission, Leann worked on a quilt, and I sorted Magic: the Gathering cards.

Some of my Magic: the Gathering cards, sorted into colors.

Tonight was the monthly Artist Trading Cards group's meeting.  The theme this month was "poetry".

My card used imagery I originally made in '05 from an eraser carving of Richard Brautigan.

The backs of my cards featured a scan of one of Richard Brautigan's poems. 

I especially love "Death Like A Needle".

These were the cards I received in trade.

2012/365 - Day 218

getting back to work on things I have been putting off

I have really dropped the ball on my end of the collaboration for Art-o-mat with William Hessian.  Today I finally started painting the edges of the little "portraits" that William delivered to me in late June (!) when he was here for the Arts & Acts Festival in Northville.

You know how much  I hate to paint...well, I really hate to paint (neatly) the edges of the MDF blocks -- they don't take paint easily -- and -- I am having to choose the edge colors myself (oh, poor Took).  Each time when Juana and I made an edition of Penciled In, she'd also pick the colors for the edges for me.  I think she even chose my edge colors on the last edition I did on my own -- LOL.  Yes, I have that much trouble with choosing colors.

Anyway...

Here are the first ten of the William Hessian collaboration edition.  One has pewter edges, the others have dark purple...I think it's called grape.  I really had to force and threaten myself to settle down and just finish ten...then I could take a break.  Ha -- that break has managed to fill the rest of the evening so far.  Ten down, forty to go!

But it's not like I am not doing anything else in the meantime...I'm just not painting edges anymore tonight.

My attention is now on the ATC's I should have figured out already -- the meeting is on Wednesday night.  The theme this month is "dream".   I usually like this theme, but I was having a bit of a hard time with it today -- it is feeling too broad of a topic.  How was I going to illustrate or represent the word?  Song lyric, quotation, drawing, eraser carving, collage...yikes!  I couldn't narrow anything down.

Then it hit me.  I just brought home my artist proof print of "This Bear Dreams" from the Northville Art House store...they are changing some of the art and I was kind of glad this hadn't sold...I wanted it back.  It inspired me at the last moment to try something.

When we were in the thinking stages of the yarn bombing (of the Art House) I looked online and printed out some pictures I liked.  After we were done with the photocopies I brought them back home and I was using the paper as a coaster for my ice coffee.  The condensation on the glass made a little puddle and pattern on the back of the photocopy...somehow changing the colors as it got wet.  I was going to toss the pages into the paper recycling bag when I thought they looked pretty cool.

Then I laid them all out face down on the studio floor, spritzed them (and played around with spritzing some glasses) and tried to recreate the effect.  I like how the colors look...sort of like water color washes.

This is an example of the "right" side of a water-ruined photocopy.

















This is the "wrong" side of the same photocopy where I have spritzed more water and set a glass down on it in several places.

It is strange and cool to me how the colors are different -- more blues and purples than the "right" side with the reds and yellows and greens.

This is the one I am practicing with and that I will keep for myself.

I found an area on the photocopy I liked and glued it to an ATC-sized playing card.

Then I started fooling around with an image of my printed eraser carving in my computer's photo program because I knew I did not want to print the actual eraser carving -- it is too large -- and while I was messing around I decided to do a mirror image of the bear so that he is facing the other direction.  Then I printed the reversed image onto card stock and cut him out.

For now, this is as far as I have gotten -- just gluing the reversed bear onto the flipped over wrecked photocopy paper.

I really like this so far...pretty dreamy.  I will be calling it "This Bear Dreams, Too" -- I am not sure what else I will do to it -- or IF I will do anything else to it (besides putting the title on it).

Happy accidents.

2012/365 - Day 101

sometimes talking is just as good as doing

I got together with Ruth today...it seems like it has been quite a while since we've been able to just get lunch and coffee and talk...and then come back to my house and work on artist trading cards or other things.  

We started out with good intentions, although Ruth hasn't been feeling the theme for this month's ATCs. We were hoping to get something going for her when we came back after our late lunch/early dinner at Tuscan Cafe.  

 When we pulled in the driveway I wanted to show Ruth these tulips that look like they have been painted by an artist, there are so many colors on each flower.

Ruth wanted to bring one inside to look at it closer.

See the stylus and little foam rectangles just beyond the flower?  Ruth really did try to make something for the trade but she really just hasn't been feeling connected to the theme.  She carved a picture, we printed it...but it wasn't happening.

We talked some more about some of the things we talked about over coffee and I went down to the basement to retrieve some photo albums to show her so she could put faces to people I was mentioning.

While I was grabbing the photo albums I remembered the Rubberstampmadness article about some carvings I did a long time ago and she hadn't seen it...so I brought that up, too.

Ruth is always so interested in seeing what I'm working on in person...she sees things in the blog and likes to come over and see for herself.  I dragged the canvases out to the dining room because it really is easier to see the emerging creatures in person vs viewing them in photos on a laptop.

We had a sort of mini work-in-progress show.

It was cool because we brought each canvas over to the table and looked at it closely.  We talked about how I might be able to define the creatures, how much to leave in, where to stop, do I paint them, leave them alone, ink them, add more paper...

stuff like that.  It was really good to get feedback.

We had such a good time.  We both really needed it, we really needed to get out of the house and get together.  Sometimes talking is just as good as doing.  

I'm a little talked out and thought out right now.  I have all the parts for my ATCs printed out and cut out -- all the pieces and supplies are ready -- I just need to assemble them.  I will do that later tonight and have them ready for trading tomorrow.  I wanted to blog now so I don't have to worry about how late it is getting and rush the deadline and all that later on. 

2012/365 - Day 64

still working on artist trading cards for this month!

This month the theme for the ATC trade is "circles".



Yes, this was my work area this afternoon. What a mess I made!

I had a few ideas for "circles" but I was having a really hard time executing anything.

I knew I wanted to use some of that leftover butcher paper that I colored with alcohol inks and water...





...and I think this is what I will end up with.

I covered the card and cardstock circle with the paper. Then I attached it to the card with an eyelet and then I punched circles/holes into the disc and also through the bottom card.


I might (probably will) do something else to the cards...make a picture or something...but the gist of it is that there is only one way to turn the disc so that it aligns exactly to see the "surprise".






























































Here is the stack of the cards that I made.














Earlier I tried doing automatic drawings with random circles (that I punched into a piece of cardstock and then traced onto the cards) and scribbles. That didn't really work out so well, except that I did get one I kind of sort of liked.

I went back to it and colored it in so it would be easier to see what I was seeing, which was a sleepy cat face. It was also a way to practice making circles of color with "smeared" edges. I used colored pencils on the cardstock but what I was trying to mimic were the colored dots I sometimes see in fabrics or in pre-printed decorative/scrapbook papers or in water color paintings.





I like the smeared colors circles enough to keep the card for myself.













I drew around the card to complete the silly drawing.









Now I will stick this into an inexpensive frame and put it on the wall in my studio. It is goofy but I like it.









Ruth is planning on coming over tonight to work on her tarot cards for the trade and also her circle artist trading cards. I was going to wait until my circle cards were finished, but I think our card making session may run pretty late because Ruth isn't coming over until after 8 p.m. I wanted to be able to enjoy making stuff with Ruth and not have my deadline to post the blog entry hanging over the session, so I am posting this much of it now.

2012/365 - Day 11

MI ATC Exchange meeting tonight

The theme this month is "Weather".



Here is the completed linocut block.




















This is the full size print (without the dots I added for the eyes).

















I pulled sixteen prints to select the best five (or six) for trading with the group tonight.











And here they are...I added the dots for his eyes.

This is a detail of the (somewhat) larger print. It has been cut down to meet the ATC size requirement.








I loaded my trading cards into plastic sleeves and slipped them into the wonderful traveling case that Ruth got for me.


I will add a photo of the cards I get in trade later tonight.








Here are the wonderful ATCs I got in trade!

365 Day 359

possible image for January's ATCs

Yesterday while I was sorting things (again) in the studio, I found two tablets of tracing paper. They had been in the very bottom of an old Rubbermaid bin that was full of paper stuff that I have been saving for years and years. I didn't think much of it at the time...just "cool -- more tracing paper." Last night when I needed a piece of tracing paper I grabbed one of the tablets and this full size page fell out. I don't remember exactly where the image came from but it looks to me like I traced a "real" bear for a simple outline to carve, leaving one plain/smooth and doing one fuzzy. I thought "ooh -- neat -- I will do something with these guys sometime."


This morning they were really bugging me.

I have been a bit stumped for an idea for the ATC exchange for January. The theme is Weather.

When I was looking at these two guys together I thought it looked like the smooth bear was dry and the fuzzy one was wet. That gave me an idea.




This afternoon I have been playing with the image in my photo program (I wish I really knew how to WORK that program) -- trying to resize it (the guys on the tracing paper are about the size of my hand), photocopying the image and changing the size that way, scanning the newly re-sized image, and then trying effects on it to see if I could make a negative (like I used to be able to do with my old photo program on my old PC). (It's not that the stuff on my Mac can't do what I want it to do -- it's that I don't know how to make it do it. Sometimes I accidentally stumble on a workaround but I never remember how I did it...LOL...and I just do not care enough about computers to take classes.)


So I finally got an image I could use and I transferred it (very messily) with a soft pastel to the carving block.












This is the cleaned up block after I went over the transferred lines with an oil colored pencil (that just happened to be in my desk drawer) -- I couldn't find a wet enough thin line Sharpie...LOL.













This is a group shot of the various stages of what I did today.

On the bottom left is the carved (so far) linocut block...I'm taking it slowly.

In the middle is the test print.

On the bottom right is a photo program doctored version of a scan of the test print...to see what I might be able to do with it.


It has been an enjoyable process (when I let go of the frustration with my lack of computer skills). I like the idea of the bear up to his shoulders in a nighttime snowstorm.

But then again...I might come up with something else now that I am partly on a roll with the Weather theme.

365 Day 256

Artist Trading Cards for September

Well that took all day -- whew! Today I have been assembling my ATCs for the group trade tomorrow.

Just to recap: This month's theme is characters from children's literature. I chose The Mad Hatter and The Cheshire Cat. I love Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, but I also chose these images because they were ones I had once originally drawn for use on ceramic tiles and I thought I could re-size black and white versions, print them on watercolor paper and then paint them individually with watercolors.

I finished painting the cards last night and today I used little scrapbooking rivets to affix them to the cards that I wrapped with handmade paper.

I use Magic: the Gathering cards that I am not playing with as the base for my ATCs because they are the right size and they have rounded corners. I have been doing this since I first started making ATCs in the 90's. It is a great way to repurpose cards that would just be languishing in a box.




I also covered the backs of the cards with decorative papers, but I messed up and ended up covered them with a few sentences about the characters from the book that I printed out on decorative paper.







A few weeks ago when I first thought of doing this for the trade I printed out a bunch of the original images from that ceramic tile series and made little one inch stickers to give away with the ATCs...so people getting my cards could see the way the images looked before they were sized for the cards.







And now they are all ready to go!













Now all I need to do is gather up a whole bunch of Art-o-mat art to show as examples when I do my presentation to the group. I am going to do an overview of Art-o-mat and walk them through the submission process, including making a prototype.

This is only my second meeting of the ATC trading group, but I am having a blast making Artist Trading Cards again -- and trading in person with people! And hey -- I have a captive audience that wants to hear about Art-o-mat -- how cool is that?

365 Day 254

two deadlines on Wednesday

...so that really means I need to be done with these two projects on Tuesday night.

Today I have been working on cleaning up and doing more to this background linocut for my landscape entries.



How it looked when I started out today.









I added these lines last night.











I also added these marks last night.













Today I am making the marks deeper/bigger with the next size blade...I am also cleaning up the lines on the bottom part.









I added another row of marks.












And then I added skinny lines in between the marks.


I also cleaned up the sky and defined the trees.









Test print on newsprint to see where I am.
















close up of ground





I don't know what else I am going to do to the background...I need to look at it and think about it some more. I am pretty sure I am going to lighten up the sun/moon. This really strained my back today...I didn't realize how long I was sitting and doing the carving and then the test printing. Man -- I am ready for physical therapy tomorrow, that's for sure!

The other project that has a Wednesday deadline is the artist trading cards with the children's literature characters theme.

I printed them out on nice watercolor paper and I will paint them individually. I want to choose my favorite quote from the characters (The Mad Hatter and The Cheshire Cat) to put on the back of the ATC.

I also will be the person doing the presentation to the group...I will be talking about Art-o-mat and what goes into making a prototype and the submission process. I just need to gather up some samples and supplies for that. Oh, and print out the paperwork for folks who want it.

I figured I would post this blog entry now because immediately afterewards I am going to cold pack my back and sit in my chair with my purr therapist for a while. Later on I will begin painting the ATCs. The carving is done for today...I can only do more planning on that project tonight. I know basically what I want it all to look like, it is mainly a matter of finishing the background and then doing all the printing. Assembly of the three landscapes will be F*U*N.