Copic markers, sharpies, white pen, hand drawn flower:
Doodled flower with sharpies and copic markers for colors:
Collage of used postage stamps:
Magazine picture, quote, raised sticker:
Meanwhile today I am working on school stuff for my new ELL Science support class and converting yoga videos into .AVI so I can play them also on the TV, which is in the bedroom and has a rug in front of it which is more comfy than my cramped art studio. But there is also more cat hair (not to mention cats who seem to like to walk on my chest and laugh at me when I lay on the floor) so I may have to just make space in my art studio and use my computer.
Of course I could get my butt out the door and actually GO to more classes but I always think of it when no classes are happening.
Still thinking about INTENTIONS...
So this was an ATC from a Swap-bot swap of making an ATC with sheet music and a butterfly on it:
And this was from the Dia de los Muertos post card swap on MMSA. I had started a few others when I was at my friend Leslie's a couple of week's ago but never had time to make them. I will just send in this one.
Both started with a gelli-print background, then I added stamps, collage, washi tape and postage stamp on the ATC. The DOTD card top skull image is from online and I wish I had saved the page so I could credit it. I will look for it when I have a moment, sorry. The La Calavera is one of the Loteria cards in B&W.
Linked to:
Mandarin Orange Monday
Colorful Gelli Party
Creative Every Day
So I got some postage stamp swaps finished (again Swap-bot) and sat down for an afternoon of ATC making.
The bottom two orange ones are for the Swap-bot Orange ATC with a Punched element. Added some postage stamps, then punched hearts, suns and swirls from some gelli-printed paper to contrast the orange-ness of the rest of the ATCs. A little doodling finishes them off and ready to go a few days early!
The other four are for a swap that needs an ATC with a postage stamp and maybe also for a washi-tape ATC swap. I haven't signed up for that one yet but the ATCs are made just in case.
I decided for me the best way to work the swapping is to check out the swaps, make the items then sign up, just to be sure I would get the items done in time. A lot of the ATC swaps are quick turn-around, meaning there is only a week between signing up and sending your swap, so many are for cards that can be made ahead of time. Those seem to be the kind I can keep up with while I am in school.
What excited me was how varied the colors were in the negative (second photo). The blues all looked blue to me but there was enough difference in their hues to make their negatives show a wider spectrum of colors.
Linked to:
Mandarin Orange Monday
Blue Monday
WHATEVER you want to call it, I like this style of doodling and recently decided to try it a little. I thought what a nice thing to have quietly on my table during boring meetings or in a few moments here and there at school... so I decided to make some ATCs and try out some of the designs. Mine are totally rank amateur and not following any one style in particular other, just mixing it up Rhonda style!
Here is the ATC I made yesterday...
Looking at it this close up I can see where my black pen didn't hit the paper... not obvious at all when you look at it real size (2.5" x 3.5").
The most fun of all of this is scouring the Internet for all the fuss (and legal hassles) about calling an age-old doodle idea/form a "Zentangle" or a "Zendoodle" or whatever people are trying to tradedmark and patent now. And people even pay to get "certified" and then tell you what you must call this line or another line or dot and it is all pretty crazy (stupid-crazy) to me! I mean, give me a break!
I think I will just call mine Rhondoodles and do what I want! So there!
Linked to:
Show and Tell Saturday
Creative Every Day
Inspiration Avenue
And then I made some more ATCs for a swap from Swap-bot.
Not sure why these didn't scan so well... guess I need to check my scanner settings again. Oh well, they are already packaged up and ready to send so I will just have to be satisfied with this quality of picture of them this time.
Linked to:
Glue It Tuesday
I need to come up with a good system of cataloging and storing my ATCs now that I am back to doing them. When I used to trade these before (late 1990s into the early 2000s) I didn't have much of any system and it drove me nuts! This time I plan to start out with at least a spreadsheet and addresses in a file. I could probably Google it and someone may have already made one available out there.
Then I had a request for some of the postal ATCs I had already sent out to the MMSA swap so I made some more to swap. I am not sure why I keep making five, which is an awkward number to scan!
And then I made some handmade envelopes to send the swaps in. I used some of the old topo maps I have that I have used to clean off my brayer from gelli printing. Big swatches of colors with the topo map showing through here and there. One of the fronts:
And one of the backs, glued closed then decorative washi tape on top.
Linked to:
August Gelli Party
Show and Tell Saturday
As she explains in her blog we chatted and goofed off a lot, then finally buckled down and made some ATCs. I have not made Artist Trading Cards for oh maybe 18 or 20 years so it was fun getting back to doing some! Leslie told me about the MMSA (Mail Me Some Art) swaps and that has totally captured my attention now! The theme is Postal Art. Here are the five I made:
Then today Andy and I did some fruit picking. Here is the last of the apricot harvest (so few pieces of fruit this year but they have spectacular flavor to make up for it!):
And the first of the figs. Remember that fake owl we put out HERE? Well... apparently the birds are too smart for it! They had already started chowing down on the ripe figs so we brought in a huge batch. Probably have one or two more hauls to bring in this next few days and next week. I have NO idea what to do with so many figs! This is the first year we have managed to get any from the birds!
Linked to: