Artist Trading Cards versus Pastel Paintings

Having returned from a short holiday, I realised how long it has been since my last post on here. But the plain truth is that I have not been doing much "crafting" recently. Lots of things happening at home and my crafting activities have been interupted. One reason is that I have not been able to use my "studio area" and I have had to get out boxes of stuff and put them away after me - not conducive to artistic endeavour. In fact, I have satisfied a need to be creative by getting out my pastels and painting, see some of the results on my other blog, Painting With John. Only one box! so much easier to set things up and put them away after me. By the way have I ever showed you my pastel box?

Just an old cheap plastic, multi-compartmented storage box. Full of chalks and pastels, I have collected over the years. I have done the colour charts that you can see so that I have some idea of what I have within each hue / colour range. I use this box for general purpose pastels and have a swoosh wooden box with a few more expensive chalks that need to be kept in foam to avoid powdering / breakage / etc.

But the real reason that I started this post was to put on a few ATC's that I have did before my hols, I seem to be getting into a rut with these at times but looking back I do use a number of techniques and of course the painting also puts some variation into my weekly art output. On the other hand simple collaged cards are something I enjoy and since I started art as a relaxation from the daily grind, it still works for me. I keep buying new toys and materials but usually end up with the original and for me the best. I did write an article on Understanding Simplicity In Art a little while back. It works for me! Anyway here finally are the ATC's:-

All were done for various challenges on PDA, the themes from the top were tickets, chocolates, feathers (title: Anton tickled her fancy), fish, mirror and school. Larger versions can be seen on my Flickr photostream. 
The top three cards have been used to design greeting cards, available on Zazzle. I am still adding to my Zazzle stores with my art and photography, which is the subject of another blog. In fact I am also blogging about new products on Zazzle. Just one more reason why the posts here are not as regular as I would like.