fun with ATCs

i've received some wonderful new ATCs in trade this past week. below are three from Dela Dejavoo. i'm always on the lookout for new, original, creative art in the form of those little cards. let me know if you're interested in a trade!


Room for 2 More?


The Way Things Turned Out


Small Men Make Green Bot

in like a lion

well, March is here and it's nearly spring. trees are in bloom and the crocuses are up. and, true to the saying, it has been very stormy here in the northwest with winds, rain, snow, ice, thunder, and hail. i can't say it hasn't been exciting! i've also done some spring cleaning in the process of downsizing my studio and that feels really good. i like my new space, though i haven't had much time to work in it yet. i look forward to some good "art time" in the next week. in the mean time, here are some new ATCs i've received in trade recently. remember, you can see my art and availble ATCs at the link on the left.


The Square Root of Pi_Marti Thomas Hamilton


carnival_vlad (vitamin joe)

beyond The Scream

i don't know about you, but i'm fascinated by the visionary art of tortured souls. Edvard Munch was one such artist. he lost his mother and favorite sister at a young age and was, himself, plagued by illness and insanity. you can read a fascinating article about him in this month's Smithsonian Magazine here.

international art

i'm back from a trip to warm and wet Hawaii and practically feeling like i never left. getting back into the stress of work and still hoping to make time for art. i'm in the process of moving into my new studio space and looking forward to getting settled in and hanging out there. i've made some recent trades with a cool artist from Manchester, UK who goes by Vitamin Joe. i especially like the "untitled" one that was inpired by the work of Viktor Vasarely.


Optigan 1

Lunar Polar

Untitled

incoming art

i'm off to hawai'i on friday for 12 days so this is just a quick update.

i've decided not to give up my studio altogether. i'm just gonna downsize to a smaller place and concentrate on mail art for a while. it's a compromise for now. the workload in my day job isn't getting any lighter.

i also wanted to share a couple of great (and very different) ATCs i've received recently:


Marti Thomas Hamilton


Matthew Moore

Aloha...

the new year

well, it is the beginning of another year and a time when many people evaluate the past year and make resolutions for the coming year. i usually begin this process around Samhain and continue it through the beginning of the Gregorian year. i just looked at my Solstice wishes and resolutions made last winter. i made a resolution to make art and work on integrating with an art community. i also wished for Peace through the end of divided communities through openness and acceptance. i'm happy to say that i do feel like i've made some progress and am contributing toward that lofty goal in my own life. i have enjoyed being part of a few on-line communities sharing art across the globe. it's both a connection with real people and the act of sending a little piece of myself out into the unknown. it's quite rewarding.

on the other hand, i have also come to a place in my (real) career where i have had to make a decision about whether to commit to the demands of my job for a time or leave it for something simpler and less stressful. i've decided on the career path for now. sadly, with that decision has come the realization that i must give up my studio. i've had a separate space to do art for many years and i've enjoyed this space for over 5 years now. i love it and will miss it but i am in the process of packing it up. i'll be keeping some things available for small mail-art projects but much of it will go into storage for later when i can have more time and energy to devote to it.

but, on a lighter note and in keeping with the goal of supporting Peace through art, here are three ATCs i've received recently from Leah Felicity in PA, Katie in MO, and Mindy in NV, respectively. Great work, don't you think?

the benefits of on-line trading

i'm a sometimes member of a few on-line forum communities who exchange art and other things through the mail. i had (have) some things to get rid of and offered them for free on one of the sites. i ended up sending a few tubes of acrylic paint to the artist, Amy Kollar Anderson. in return, she sent me these three ATCs, which are trimmed-to-size from other paintings. i love them! hope you enjoy them also. you can see more of her art here.

linda needs

here's an odd little 'google' game...

enter your name + "needs" (linda needs) and record the first 10 entries on the list:

1. linda needs to be a part of a loving, committed marriage
2. linda needs the following donated to the WorldHeart Foundation for future disaster relief
3. linda needs sleep
4. linda needs to rest her hands from all the orders she has had to make these past few months
5. linda needs to have one program for capturing customer data
6. linda needs a new best friend
7. linda needs some help with her appearance
8. linda needs to be bright, lighting on the LCD screen
9. linda needs to be gone after
10. linda needs to get Kerri the registration dates for Spring and Summer activities

now, it's odd enough, these random bits of internet advice coming from the ether, but what is odder still is the source material that produces them...

check it out, and have fun. i think i'll go get some sleep.

Winter Solstice

Shortest Day, Longest Night
From the Dark Into the Light...

it is nearly Winter Solstice, one of my top two favorite holidays of the year. here in seattle, the days get noticeably shorter in the winter. it's dark when i leave for work and dark when i come home. it's also been a very cold winter so far, at least by our standards. fortunately today and the rest of this weekend will be sunny and bright. and soon the sun will begin it's journey back to the north and our days will begin growing again. here are a couple of new cards to celebrate the season...

Outstanding Art!

i recently participated in a 3 for 3 swap on Secondary Nervousness on the theme of The Day of the Dead. here are the 3 absolutely fabulous cards i received in return. i must say, i think i got the better end of the deal. i love all three of these.

they are made by stellaluna, altermyworld, and Carol Dellinger, respectively.

More Gel Point ATCs

i'm still having a great time with this newly discovered technique. as with any attempt at artistic expression, one has successes and failures. some of these are obviously better, more interesting, or more beautiful than others but they're all fun to do. i just need to keep an open mind about the process and know that every attempt doesn't have to be perfect. since each one only takes about an hour to complete and is a relaxing process in itself there's nothing lost in working on it. and besides, they are all done on recycled card stock! you can see all of them at this link: Gel Point ATCs

Fun in ATC Land

i've just discovered this wonderful expressive technique for ATCs. each card takes about an hour to complete. the results are mixed, so far, but i like the "doing" of it so much it doesn't really matter. i feel like i could sit and do this for hours. it seems like it could become an obssession. if anyone ever looks at this blog i'm curious to know what you think.

more cutouts

here are a few more tissue paper cutouts inspired by Day of the Dead flags:

fall is in the air

the days are getting cooler and shorter. that means that my favorite holidays are on the way: Hallowe'en and Day of the Dead. i've been working on some ATCs for themed swaps for both of those holidays and started thinking about those tissue paper cut-out "flags" they hang for Day of the Dead in Mexico. i was inspired to make a bunch of folded paper cut-outs for the occasion. the problem is how to mount them on cardstock. they are only 2.5" X 3.5" and are very fragile so it's not easy but i'm still working on it. here are a couple of samples. i'll post some more later.

new (and old) works

i know it's been a while since i've posted. mark and i went on our annual geology "field trip". we had a great time. i found some cool rocks at the diatomaceous earth mine and we climbed Steamboat Rock for a fabulous view of Grand Coulee, carved by the Lake Missoula floods. you can see a few pictures here: Geo '05

i've also been engaged in some housekeeping activities; moving some of my art materials back to my studio and reclaiming my little apartment for winter nesting. now i'm ready to get back to some creative activities.

in the mean time, i finally got some old rolls of film developed (some nearly a year old.) i'm quite pleased with how a few of them turned out, especially the more abstract ones. here are my favorites: New Abstracts

the art garage

i live in seattle. it's a pretty artsy city... lots of galleries, from snooty to coop. monthly 'art walks' in various neighborhoods. (just went to the pioneer squart 'first thursday' art walk last night.) art in every coffee shop (and that's a lot of art!) but one of the coolest places is available for anyone to see at any time. in the alley between 14th and 15th aves, in the block between union and spring, there is an outdoor 'gallery'. i don't even know whose it is but there is an old garage that faces the alley with a little, empty space beside it. on the side of the garage is attached a wide variety of art. most of it appears to be original art, though a few are reproductions. i think it's collected or found art, not the work of the owner or one particular artist. i'm not sure if there are regularly new things (it all looks like it's been there forever) or i just see something new every time i go by, but it's always worth a look. it's on the route between my office and a coffee shop i like to frequent so, in the good weather, i make a point of going by on a regular basis. if any of you seattlites are interested in checking it out, here is the map: Art Garage maybe i'll even post a picture of it some time soon.

art not war

here's the card i made for the n'ness 'art not war' swap.


"O"
the destruction
and decay...







original photo

the next little thing

i'm pretty fascinated by this phenomenon of mail art that i've just recently discovered. i think it will be a great outlet for the hand cut stamps and small prints i like to do. i've had fun swapping atcs and am working on some more for a couple of upcoming group swaps. i'll post them here when i'm done. i'm also planning to do some day of the dead atcs and postcards. i'll keep ya 'posted' ;)

in the meantime, here are some of my older works - collages made made from magazine photos:

Mag Photo Collages

more ATCs

i love the idea of ATCs, though i'm not yet a fanatic about making them. i'm working on transferring some of my art into "mini art" suitable for ATCs. here are a couple of albums.

i've made a few collages from 1/2" inch squares of magazine photos - they come out sort of like mosaics. after they are made, i make color photocopies for sale or distribution. i make other magazine photo collages as well and do the same thing. i keep the original for myself and only make an edition of three for distribution. sometimes it takes a couple of copies to get the correct color scale. then i end up with rejects. i decided to cut up the rejects into ATC sizes and mount them. that's what you'll see here: Collage ATCs

i've also done some monoprints. it's a technique that creates one-of-a-kind prints. there are various ways to do this but these were done with oil-based etching ink on plexiglass with various additions and then printed on print paper on a heavy press. again, these cards are made from reject prints. some of them have been embellished with my own hand carved stamps or other additions. the leaf prints are made from actual leaf skeletons. you can see them here. i'll add more as they are finished: MonoPrint ATCs

available to trade

i like to take photos. i especially like to take odd photos... even abstractions. here are some photo atcs available to swap:

Photo ATCs