atc and danglies

Sat down to create an atc for a challenge/swap on PDA the theme was New Year Resolutions.

Well I don't usually do them myself - too lazy I guess. However, this year I decided to start trying to branch out with my atc work. I have used many, many techniques for challenges, etc; but always seem to slip back into the same old patterns. I thought, " now what I am I going to do to widen my use of techniques I know?" Let yourself go, the answer came back. So I did. Started with the clown image and added a few pearly pom-poms, added some strange thread ( some of you may know how to use it, I don't) and added charms dangling from threads. Well I did have fun but I am not convinced it has turned out a classic. But then perhaps I shouldn't worry about that. I haven't found a name for it yet either !!

I also did this pastel painting this week at my art group, it is about 12 x 9 inches. I don't know if it is a real location as I used an image off a birthday card, which I received from my son, as a reference. I liked the way this turned out, sometimes things just seem to go right.

Well off to do a little more atc'ing, but looking around for other projects to occupy myself with...

digital versus collaged atc's

Hi a very quick posting this time. Got to thinking about some of the issues I was thinking about when I wrote the last post, so I had them in my mind last night when I was creating my entries for the Artful Ideas swap on Flickr.

I had been playing around with the theme, Steampunk, using digital techniques to experiment and amuse myself. The outcome was very acceptable, I thought; Mona Punk.



Using digital teechniques I was able to resize, reselect and move elements around very easily. When I trie to reproduce this as a "cut 'n' paste" version I found a very different kettle of fish. Even tho' I had a clear idea of what I was going to do, It was no easy matter to carry it out. resizing was tedious, I introduced new elements because cutting out some of the originals would have been a chore so I decided in the end to simply stand back and start from very nearly square one.

In the end, I have probably got close to the digital version, except for the goggle yes but it was not easy.



Did it work? was it worth the extra effort? I think the eyes give an extra "rfun" element. My son actually bought me a selection of crafting items for christmas which included a whole pack of these eyes so expect more of the same. Have fun with your art/crafting.

something new - inchie row houses

Well I certainly seem to be very tardy in posting here these days. It is mostly because I seem to be having difficulty in finding time for art/craft even tho' the weather has been atrocious.

This post concerns a set of "inchie row houses" which I have made for a swap on PDA, Kim Newbergs Ning web site . I have posted these on my Flickr photostream, but as usual they are here as well so that I can say just a little more about them than is possible on Flickr. Many of my long-time friends from blogland will know that my background is the world of painting. Important because of the two-dimensional nature of the work involved. I adapted very easily to the ACEO format after I discovered it by accident because of my love of sketching. The originality and freshness of a sketch was what kept me involved with art. Somehow I never quite achieved this feeling in most of my larger works.

Of course you can't get involved with ACEO's on Ebay without coming across many different media and techniques, collage was one of the first non-painting media that I tried. Mostly because of the death of my mother and the subsequent discovery of a large cache of family photos stretching back to my grandparents youth. These photos were just right for collaging to recreate some family memories. Anyway, I tried out collaging and was hooked. I couldn't do enough and joined groups and sites on the web so that I could start to trade with other artists.

Since then I have tried other techniques, always ready to try something new, but I keep coming back to two-dimesional collage work. Of course I use 3-D embellishments, etc and often use stamps to create backgrounds but my first love is collaging. These "inchie row houses" are a result of that background. The small size is a bit of a challenge but I had already accepted that becoming interested in inchies and twinchies because of a recent article in Lisa vollrath's Monthly Muse magazine.

In any collage, I like the images to be connected in some way. I have used some very tenuous links and sometimes even had to resort to shoehorning ( is that a word?LOL) images to make a link. But at least in my own mind there is something that links the images. Let me give an example.




In this set, the second from the right I have called, " No Strings Attached". I used a marbled backing paper and the swirl called for a set of images to follow it. The girl and her "beau" die-cut from the printed images were easy, but I wanted another.... As this was one of the first I did, I was still unsure of wether I should have windows or doors on the little houses. I compromised and put a house number on! The wire was wrapped around the house to finish it off. The title then fell into place for me. Very tenuous links.

Of course one of the great things about collage is that you do not really need to create this way, and many artists will use an image because it is the right colour or size or..... it grabs them, whatever. And I sometimes do this myself in desperation. This is purely an explanation of what I think is becoming a style for me and in no way is meant to deprecate the serendipitous use of images in collages.

Anyway, I printed a specially small set of images and set down one cold night to create, I really enjoyed the process - lots of thinking time - and was pleased with the results. I had cut twice the number of blanks that I thought I would need, thinking there would be some discards but found myself doing another set, and still liking them:-


The two smaller ones will be posted as a pair, don't want to appear mean, LOL.

Having mentioned 2-D / 3-D art above, I have made one of my New Year's resolutions to be that I will try to branch out in 2010 to start producing assemblages. Been looking at this artform for some time and need to try my hand at it. One source of inspiration is Michael de Meng I will of course keep you up to date on this aspiration.

collage on canvas - ding dong merrily on high

Hi, hope you have had a great christmas, I have had a couyple of great family days and then a night at our favourite hotel in the Cotswolds. Just chilling out for an evening ( great live music) and then retiring to a comfortable bed with no worries about getting home.

Today I decided to do a little crafting. A challenge on PDA was to create a piece of art with the theme of your favourite carol. Here's mine;

It was made using a stretched canvas ( approx a4 size) as the backing. The top is actually a christmas wrapping paper and the lower portion uses teal tissue paper. All images are downloaded from the collage group on Flickr. The text is hand written. It is not completed yet and (horrors!!) the glue has stained the backing paper. I need to do something about this even if it is only to paint the whole surface with the same glue to even out this unwittingly created effect. I needed to post this in the challenge to meet a deadline, so decided to post here as well. I do always say that I will post the turkeys as well as the art I like. I am sure that I can do more with this and will post the piece again when I consider it improved ...... I do like the contrasting colours tho', need to work on this

BTW a happy new year to all my readers and friends

More hand-made christmas decorations

I have a few more photos to share. My son has made a christmas wreath for the front door, and a star for the christmas tree from bits and pieces he collected from a walk in the fields across the road from us.

For the star he collected a few straight twigs, de-barked them ( not strictly necessary) and useed rafia to create a five-pointed star. This was then wrapped in red and green ribbons.

For the wreath he made a basic shape by tieing willow twigs into a circle and then layering this with holly, ivy, laurel and some mistletoe ( which we had to buy); finishing off with a red ribbon bow.

I also thought that I would show you some gingerbread biscuits which I,me, myself baked. I was quite proud of this, my very first attempt. I am a dab hand at breads and things like stews and fry-ups but these were my first biscuits. Sandra is going to ice these today before they are hung on the tree, which will more or less complete the project. Next year we will probably do the same again but give ourselves a little more time.

Ok, that's it for today, may be back tomorrow with a few more pics.

BTW, we went out last night to see the 40th anniversary tour of Steeleye Span and they did not sing Gaudete - what a let down. However, we did enjoy ourselves. It was a very icy night, so I did not have a drink in the interval (I don't do soft drinks) but enjoyed a pint of my son's christmas ale. A recipe using cinnamon to give a festive flavour to a very enjoyable pint; he is becoming a very expert home brewer. Cheers!!!

Christmas comes but once a year...

thank goodness!

What a busy couple of weeks. My wife really gets into the spirit of Christmas but does it take some organising? She runs herself (et moi!) ragged with buying all the food and trimmings, presents, cards, organising this and that and generally getting quite stressed out. I'm a laid back sort of guy, but if I value my bits and pieces, I have to get involved. It's not that I am a scrooge, but I believe most things would take care of themselves... if allowed to.

Anyway, we visited Baddesly Clinton recently. It is a National Trust property, and for those of you from across the water; this being the UK organisation which looks after our national heritage. Grand ( and some not so grand) houses, mansions and castles, etc and huge swathes of our countryside. This year for the first time, they had opened this property at christmas as it had been decorated in a victorian style. It was really a spledid sight. The volunteers who man the property had done a wonderful job. We were so knocked out with it all that we decided to try something similar at home this year.

Depsite mountains of decorations in the loft, it was to be a hand-made theme throughout; apart from the lights and a few items like candy canes, etc. So, being seen as the crafty one, I was set down to creating decorations for the tree. A couple of paper chains ( I remember making something like this at school, I am sure) and vintage style tags. Well I was making a few of these things anyway, so what's a few more. Thought you might like to see the results of my labours.

Here are a few of the tags and a partially decorated tree; it still requires in this photo some gingerbread biscuits and a star which is to be made from holly and ivy from the garden. Will try to get another shot posted when completed.

Well got to go and dig the car out of the snow now, beginning to look like a real Christmas. Hopefully back very soon with more crafty creations for Christmas.

Still ATC'ing, just in case you wondered.

I looked back over the last few posts ( which seem to have taken me back a little while...) and noticed that I don't seem to have posted many atc's recently. I am still collaging, even tho I have taken to showing off and reporting on the progress with my watercolours. I thought I would just slip in a few atc's just to prove a point. If you know my Flickr photostream, this is not a point of contention but for those of my readers who know me via this blog it is a bit of a catch up.

Firstly, two cards created for a challenge swap on the group Artful Ideas , the theme was to involve an image (victorian ladies) transfer onto fabric. Transfer on to fabric seemed to be something new for many members, but some marvellous work came out of this challenge.

I used an acrylic medium as the transfer agent for my ink-jet prints. I brushed a thin layer onto the image and also onto the fabric, brayered well to achieve a close contact, waited until the medium was dry ( overnight!) and then wetted the ear of the image slightly and rubbed gently with a finger tip. A little water as the paper seemed to get too dry and continual rubbing soon cleared the paper and left two quite clear images for these atc's. I used flash on this photo so the B&W image seems a little washed out and the sequins have taken on a wonderful multi-coloured appearance. I was going to re-shoot the photo but haven't got around to it; maybe tomorrow?

The fabric with the images was loosely cut out around the said images and bonded to a backing. This comprised of another complementary fabric wrapped around a card to provide the backing for the atc. I found some little used bits and pieces for adding detail, including the dragonfly for the second card. Don't ask how this fits the theme, it just seemed to look good. A devil to pack for posting out though! However, I was very pleased to receive this award from Nancy for this particular atc - thanks Nancy!

Secondly, a couple of cards created for a challenge swap on PDA. The theme this time was a vintage christmas. This is a newish site and only the second atc swap, so not too many entries but hoping for great things. I used images of Father Christmas from Suzie Que on Flickr and made a couple of straightforward collaged cards.

Well there you have it - atc's are definitely still on the menu. I don't think I could give them up if I wanted to ... I have found so many friends in the process of swapping cards, I know I will carry on making these cards for as long as I am able.

You may be interested in the FREE images offered by Lisa Vollrath in her christmas countdown, why not check it out. You will not be disappointed.