ATC's on a theme of Illusion

There has definitely been a change in my output these days, I am painting and writing far more than I ever have since starting this blog. In the early days, I posted about many things her, including all aspects of pictorial art.

These days I write in separate blogs which cover: crafting, painting, photography, poetry and now writing my first novel. All of these are acccessible from the tabs at the top of this page.

I also maintain a blog about music and one of my Zazzle stores.

In a way they are all very closely linked, and often a story will appear in more than one blog slanted to reflect the subject of that blog. For example, A painting mentioned in my painting blog may well appear in my Zazzle store. Or a poem may be included in my novel, giving me ideas about the plot, etc. One thing is certain it all takes time out of my week.

The entry this week, however, is about more ATC's which I created for a challenge with a theme of "ILLUSION".

This first was a little tongue in the cheek but the other entrants seemed to like it. BTW, I have done something aabout that terrible question mark but not had time for a second photo. I did not notice it before posting.

The second alludes to the dreams we all have when young, many turn out to be illusions.

So there you have it, I do wish I had more time for all my arty interests but I have to ration time if I am to keep them all going. See you next time.

Steampunk ATC

OK so it is back to atc's again, but I do find them to be so relaxing. You cannot go wrong with them. It is always possible to see what they will look like before you appply the glue and finalise the composition. I explain how I go about creating ATC's in an article I wrote on Squidoo; select the background and the elements for the collage, move things around on the base until the composition loooks right and then use the glue. Easy as falling off a log.

In fact, I have a page highlighting all the ACEO/ATC based articles which I have written on Squiddoo, I called it Everything I have learnt about Artist Trading Cards. Why not take a peek and you might even learn something, even if it is only how little I really know about ATC's :)

This steampunk card was actually for a challenge in a new group on PDA (Paper Digital Art) which is all about Steampunk and related stuff. Although I am so busy with so many things at the moment, I couldn't refuse to learn a little more about this fascinating genre. You can read more about the steampunk movement on Wikipedia 

I should be making two but since I am not sure of completing the challenge here is the first anyway.

I called it, The key to my heart. As it is supposed to be about valentine's day.

In a few words, steampunk is probably best deined as a mixture of Sci-Fi using victorian technology. Lots of steam-driven stuff, cogs and gears and clocks. Oh yes and headwear which seems to have been inspired by diving helmets. A very strange genre, but one that is great to play with. 

Hope to have the second card available soon.

Time To Submerge Myself In New Waters

Since christmas I have been very busy and my blogs have slipped but coming back I realise that I have fallen into a sort of rut. I have been creating art cards and painting but the subjects and techniques seem to have become very samey, almost stale. I feel that I have to open up a little and try some new things to "get my mojo" back again. I need the change to recover creativity. To some extent writing on-line and writing poetry has kept me going but I am an artist first and foremost so I need to induce a little variation in my work to keep it exciting.

I will be tackling this issue on all my blogs (have you noticed the tabs below the banner, above) but the different subjects require different approaches and I am thinking hard about all seven blogs and the subject matter.

This is really just a very quick note to say that I will be developing the blogs to accomodate these changes. BUT I can say that I have at least made some small changes, for instance, I have joined a number of groups on PDA, here I am concerned with one which is aimed at Doodling or Zentangles. I have just posted the first drawing in this style which I have done for a very long time.

Maybe not a brilliant example of the genre, but at least it is not a mixed media collage. Oh, I will still be doing these and many of them but at least the die is set to make those changes.

Two older attempts at this art form are:-

These next three sketches are examples of doodles where I was trying to sketch an "idea". The first is to illustrate a "story that tells itself".

 A "story without an end"

 The idea of "structures"

More examples of different genres,  etc, to follow in the near future - I hope!

ATC's to end 2013

Yes I know it's only the beginning of December but already my time is being eaten up with preparations for christmas as well as the 1001 things which have kept me almost to busy to do anything (I exagerate a little) for the past couple of years.

I know that I will not be creating any more of this art genre (or should that be format) for the next few weeks. I do enjoy it but without feedback from friends and colleagues I do find this to be a solitary pastime. I have dropped out of almost all the groups and trading sites which I used to belong to and which kept me busily creating and stretching myself in this field (now that sounds better). Look back over the past couple of years and all my art/craft work has been simple collage. And even that term is decried by a number of professional artists who have been to give demonstrations at my art group.

A montage, they insist on calling it. To me this smacks of simply sticking photos down to form a story board and perhaps even a scrap book. I have written about the use of collage in fine art but still can't find it in my heart to lump painting and collage/crafting together. I enjoy both but still see painting as "real" art. I don't mean to knock any friends who create art by any means but I cannot get over this difference deep down, especially when the art depends upon following specific instruction on how to use materials/etc bought from a specific retailer. I see the latter as simply construction. I don't mean to be derogatory but as a definition I struggle to think of it as art.

But my ATC's this month were for an open theme challenge. I asked contributors to try something new this month and here I am stuck in the past. I do feel a fraud but ...

Still I musn't be maudlin, here are the ATC's

Madame Butterfly  - a reprise

Sisters

Behind The Locked Door

I have even titled the first, the oriental lady and butterfly, with a title I must have used many time before; hence the aditional wording.

I am determined to start being original next year in the techniques which I employ in my art cards. This will be my number 1 new year's resolution; hopefully stating it here will make it easier for me to break. Oohh, that was a freudian slip. Of course I should have said easier for me to keep. Nnow I will have to make sure I stick to it.

Creating A Photo-montage To Use As A Subject For Painting

I guess this could have gone on my art blog, it would seem to be a logical place but then this blog is all about collage and for me both these terms can be used in a similar manner.

It seems to depend upon where you are coming from, artists (that is painters) seem to call the sort of thing I am posting on this site a montage. But crafters (is that a real term?) seem to call a constructed image a collage. In the end does it really matter - I don't think so, but there does seem to be an element of exclusivity about collage versus montage from some artists.

The post is really about using photographs to create a new image from several original images anad then to use this as a subject for a painting. We all know and have been told time and time again that when painting a scene, we do not need to include every single element. And we can add things for interest and also move trees, lamposts and even buildings. All in the name of good composition. But what if we cut out some interesting images and moved them around to create a great compostion. Seeing it done at a recent demonstration at my art group  bought this very simple and straightforward idea home to me. It seemed obvious once we had seen the artist do it. And of course crafters do it all the time.

Here are three images collaged (montaged?) into one. I did this very quickly so the resulting new image could have been better scaled, i.e I think the fort should have been larger compared to the boat but it serves as an example.

 the boat

 the distant hills

the foreground

and the resulting montage

I will be taking a little time to find a few usable images and crating my own landscapes for future painting projects. BTW all photos are my own from a reecent holiday in Lanzarote.

Note I used Photoshhop for this (enables things like altering colour/tone and scaling) but with suitable images it can obviously be done by cutting and gluing paper images. Which is what I do of course for most of my craft projects.

ATC challenge with the theme, "Seeing Red"

I have had problems with timing of my ATC challenge on PDA, making up for some lost time I had to arrange to cram a couple of challenges to end in October. This is the second of those challenges.

In the first card, I built up a background using craft papers using small pieces in varying shades of red, from pink to dark red. After this I stamped a looped line in a terra cotta colour in several areas and then a few areas of silver. I added a main image, which was a portrait of a model in a red hat. Lastly, I added two pieces of holographic wrapping paper with heart shapes.

A very simple card. The background was a red wrapping paper with silver stars and the main image of a robin was layered over the background. A roughly torn entry from a dictionary for the word RED was added at an angle to the branch at the bottom of the card to create balance.

I should be doing more with collage and mixed media but I am spreading my artistic endeavours very thinly at the moment, my own fault but I can't seem to stop taking up more challenges : music, art, poetry and photography. I want to do it all. Something will probably give sooner or later.

ATC Challenge; with a theme of Solitude

I am finding it difficult to create art by crafting at the moment, as opposed to painting. The major reason is that my stuff (stash) is packed away and I have to select materials before I start to work. And of course pack them away again afterwards. I do make a point of creating a couple of cards for an atc challenge/trade on PDA however. This current challenge has a theme of Solitude, I created two collaged art cards.

In this case I selected the main images/elements and then decided to work up a background by layering; four/five layers of coloured paper. craft papers, metallic candy wrappers and other bits and pieces.

I hope you like them:-

There is no rocket science involved, just basic techniques buut I still feel that it can work. I am not a fan of buying special materials to obtain new effects. I have been known to indulge but KISS has always been my motto as far as art is concerned. I even wrote an article based on quotes from artists of many persuasions. Take a look if you are interested, I would love to hear any comments you may have.