This must be the 6th or 7th bad throat I’ve had this year. 
Not sure why I’m getting hit so hard this year as I only had 2 lots of antibiotics last Winter.

Anyway, I haven’t been online an awful lot in the last few weeks, but between sleeping I have actually managed to keep up my drawing and painting!

- you only have to look at my flickr photostream to see I’ve still managed to be productive

Which is a real change for me, as I usually bury myself in a series of books once I get run down.

And that usually puts the kibosch on any interests I have at the time.

I’m finding that making ATC’s is different (so far), as I can doodle or colour a little between naps and when I’m getting better I then finish them off neatly.

- I even managed to read a couple of books in there somewhere.

Plus, because I have an interest that’s not taxing me, I stayed awake more, and the creative outlet seemed to be almost healing.

My mother (who is a godsend to us, especially when I get run down) encouraged me to try selling some of my cards online, so I listed some on ebay and almost forgot them.

And would you know it? They sold!

So you’re now looking at a paid artist – and I don’t even have to worry about giving up my day job

Congrats to me!

On Wednesday, I shared with you my artist trading cards for A Rose for Norway swap.

Today I thought I should show what really floats my boat when I don’t have a theme to work to.

What do you think?

Am I an artiste or what?!

I made these cards by overcoming my childhood training and tearing pages out of an old book, then drawing on said pages with a zig pen.

Next, filled in with watercolour pencils, carefully wet-brushed the separate areas, and reapplied colour where necessary.

Then I glued the pages onto blank ATC cards and, after they dried, sprayed them with acrylic sealer a couple of times.

I’ve also decorated the back with a border as well as adding the usual information – ATC title, my signature, date, etc.

For me, the best thing about making ATC’s is the amount of time it takes to complete one.

I can work on one or two in the morning, eat lunch and still have time for my afternoon nap before the kids come home from school!

Are you interested in trying your hand at an Artist Trading Card?

Tags: artist trading cards, ATC's, birds

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve updated things here, but I haven’t forgotten you!

WonderHubby had his 40th birthday on the 17th, and I saved up and paid for a night away for us all at Ettalong, on the Central Coast.

It rained on the first day and the kids were disappointed, but on the Saturday we had 3 hours for sandcastles at Ocean Beach and they were very happy with that.

While we sat in the car watching it rain on the Friday, I doodled up this zentangle and I’m very happy with how it turned out.

I also grabbed a great old 1960′s dictionary at the local Vinnies’ for $6 (they were right there, honestly). One of those with super-thin pages and absolutely every word you can think of inside – it’s about 3 inches thick.

And no, it’s not for my art/craft stash… we really needed a good dictionary!

Last week, the kids returned to school and I had a lot of grocery shopping to catch up on – they come, but it’s so much easier without.

Without the kids around, I was also able to visit a few op shops (thrift shops for US readers), and nabbed heaps of great sheets which I’m planning to turn into a huge rag rug for the garage (my one-day-studio).

WonderHubby nabbed my little practice rug to stand on at the sink while washing up. It’s about an inch thick, so it really soothes the feet while you’re just standing there.

I was going to show you a pic of it, but I still can’t work out how to upload photos from our new camera.
I keep asking WH and he keeps telling me and I keep forgetting!

So instead, here’s the two ATC’s I’ve been working on for the swap A Rose for Norway, on swap-bot.
The yellow isn’t part of the cards, it’s just the background I used when I scanned them.

The one on the left will be for my swap partner.

The other I will be sending directly to the lovely lady running the swap in Norway, who plans to pass them on to a government group who will disseminate them among the victims and families of victims.

I think it’s a lovely idea, and I hope I’ll have the energy to make one or two more before the mailing date (22nd August) to send to her.

If you’d like to get involved – even if you’ve never made an ATC – here’s the link.

Tags: artist trading cards, ATC's, bargains, crochet, doodles, drawing, holidays, rag rugs, zentangle

 

Oops, forgot to put in a link to
Trish at My Little Drummerboys,
who’s only hosting this whole WW linkup!

sorry trish…my bad…

This week, I’ve just discovered artist’s trading cards (ATC’s), and on Thursday made my first one.

I began with a cutout of a ceramic jug for inspiration (from a mag), which I could just “see” holding some doodley painted flowers.

Using acrylics, I painted a deep blue background, then used rich gold to cover the bottom 1/3 or so of the card to give the jug / vase something to sit on.

Next, I used spray adhesive to stick the cutout in place, and then dabbed some dusty pink “flowers” around the place.

After that, I outlined everything with a micron felt tip pen and added curly stems to the swirly flowers.

The last step was mixing a slightly duller gold to give the vase a shadow.

Oh, and I used my new corner punch to shape the card.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with my first effort.

There are a couple of things I’ve learnt and will do differently next time:

Ensuring the spray adhesive is even, because part of the vase didn’t stick properly and is bugging me.

And using the corner punch more sparingly, as I think it looked better with just the top two corners punched.

What do you think?  Have you ever made an ATC?

Tags: artist trading cards, ATC's, collage