ATCs

The other day I was inspired to draw some more ATCs (artist trading cards).

This one is called "The Last Burst of Light."

Watercolor paint & black ink.

This one is not my usual style, but it needed to be drawn.

It is called "Clinging Chameleon."

Watercolor paint & black ink.

I recently did an ATC trade with knityoga (ravelry name) who lives in England.  This is the ATC that I received from her.  Isn't is cool?  I love that she did embroidery / string art on an ATC.

She also sent me 2 fabric postcard that she had made.  I sent her 3 ATC's, 2 originals and 1 photo copy of one.  Some of mine are hard to give up/trade, so I made copies of them on card stock.

More Artist Trading Cards

Here are the 5 artist trading cards that I made today.  I had watercolor painted them a few weeks ago.  Today I drew on them with a black pen.  My favorites from this set are "Rocky Mountain High" and "Pondering."

Rocky Mountain High

Wilting in the Heat

Pondering

Radiating Heat

Growing Towards the Sun

ATC, Hoodie, & Sackbot

I made this artist trading card the other day using watercolors and a black pen.

It was so easy to make that I made 8 more to trade.

I've been working on my iPhone hoodie / cosy today.  Its my current on-the-go project.  The picture on the left is where I left off yesterday, and the picture on the right is where I am currently at with this project.  My concern right now is that it might be to small for my iPhone.  I might need to use thicker yarn for the next one.

Its a little late, but I finally finished the sackbot sackboy for my oldest son.  I used cardboard from some CapriSun boxes for the inside instead of my usual plushie stuffing, that way he would be more blocky.   My son thinks that it is to dark and that he doesn't really look like a sackbot, so now he wants me to add eyes to it.  Not a problem.  I'll just add some wooden buttons to it. 

I found this little guy in the sandbox today.

Artist Trading Cards - 2nd Set

Floral Snow

I drew all of these artist trading cards yesterday on the paper that I watercolor painted on.  To achieve a certain look on some of them, I sprinkled salt on the paper while it was still wet with paint.  When dry, then I scraped the salt off.  Its been fun to experiment on these 2.5" x 3.5" pieces of paper.  My husband wants me to keep it up.  Maybe I can get him to make a few to.  I love his character doodles.  You can see some of his characters here.  Its also been fun naming them.  Some I won't trade.  Thoughts of how to display them (framed) are dancing through my mind.

Releasing Steam 

And the Darkness Comes

Solar Flares

Eclipse

Do Snails Dream of...?

Artist Trading Cards - First 5

Katniss & the Hanging Tree

This week I received 2 envelopes full of precut ATCs  in the mail from a friend.  ATC stands for artist trading card.  They are around 3.5" x 2.5" which is about the size of a baseball trading card.  There are various groups of people who make them and trade them with each other.  The one pictured above was my first one.  I had just finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy and needed to release some of what I was feeling.  This little piece of paper helped me to do just that.  I just started doodling with a size 005 black pen, and this is what it turned into.

Wisps of Summer

Then I moved onto this card.  This is a slight variation of an image that I drew ages ago, one that I want to make a tattoo out of.  I've been tweaking the image in my head for several years.

Wings of Fire

Then I broke out the watercolor paper and paints and did some experimenting.  I haven't done any watercolor painting for 5 years, so it was nice to do a mini refresher.  I let my 4 year old sprinkle salt on the wet paint.  He loved watching what it did to the painting.  While painting, he told me that I am a good artist because I am a good painter.  So sweet (especially since I was just painting a plain background).  Then when I was drawing the picture below he said that I am a good artist because I'm a good drawer.  Melts my heart.

Starfish Glory

After the paint had dried, I cut 2 of the 3 pages that I painted into 3.5" x 2.5" cards and drew on them with a size 01 pen.  I really like the gradation of color from the watercolor paints.  It really adds to the image.

Sending Messages to Space

I started doing a certain type of doodling with black ink in high school (maybe even earlier than that).  It has slowly evolved from just swirls to having more of a nature feel to it.  Its all very organic and not planned out.  Sometimes I'll have something in mind and see if I can keep with that theme, but I still let the image develop and grow the way that it wants to.

It feels good to be doodling again.  It reminds me that I am more than just a crafter.  It reminds me that, like my son said, I am an artist.