Prompt Game Postcards - 01 and 02

 In October and November the NW Collage Society played the prompt game.  If you have never played this game before it is where an artistic prompt is given out and each player adds that to their substrate.  For instance, a prompt could be add something that has line quality.  You continue until you feel you should stop.  You can add middle ground and foreground if you like.  Here are two examples I did in this game.

Another ATC Book - 07

This is the last collage in this ATC book.  I will share the covers when I bind the books.  I really like the vertical lines and the interruption by the photograph.

 

Another ATC Book - 06

It looks so relaxing to be sitting on a porch just watching your world go by.  I love that photographs captured a moment in time.  It never can be exactly the same again but one has it captured on film.

 

Another ATC Book - 05

There is something about vintage photographs.  It is fun to are up a narrative about others that one never met and perhaps have passed on.

 

Another ATC Book - 04

 The paper on the right was made by sanding a piece of magazine paper over a stencil.

Another ATC Book - 03

I seem to remember a sweater like that when I was his age.  I just love black and white photos added to the other collaged ephemera.

 

Another ATC Book Collage - 02

 I love it when something is repurposed from the original intention.  In this case I am referring to the text and that it becomes a graphic item for the collage.  The specific writing does not necessarily have meaning like it did in the story it came from.  Adding the little dot paper over part of the text changed that particular line totally. 

Another ATC Book Collage - 01

 

I stabbed my left index finger creating the holes for this collage.  Luckily no blood got on the piece.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! :-)

ATC - November 2022

 The text paper is fairly old and brittle.  I sewed and folded it and some of it started to pull apart giving it a deconstructed look in a way.  It looks very 3D when it is out of the plastic sleeve that houses it.  I like how the red mesh and the bottle cap image draw the eye from top to bottom.

ATC— November 2022

 I have had this ATC around for awhile waiting for the final touch.  I needed one more thing but I was not sure of what that one thing would be.  Today sitting in my chair I noticed some 3M sticky post-its which  I auditioned and that was it.  Done!

ATC Book - 07

This is the final collage of this ATC book.  Now I am on my way to filling yet another one.  Some of the ones that I have finished will be gifts and ten of them will be housed in a sculptural box for my entry in the summer show for the Puget Sound Book Arts Guild.

ATC Book - 06

When I started working on the collages for this ATC book I had not planned on have red as an accent color.  It just happened and I followed through with each of the seven collages in the book.

 

ATC Book - 05

I am close to finishing another of my portrait books....one more collage to do and then I can bind it.  The cover is complete so it will be an easy process.

 

ATC Book - 04

 

My favorite part of this collage is using the cursive from the name Campbell’s from the soup label.

ATC Book - 03

Patterns vaccinate me.   Combining a black and white photo with black and white patterns is a win win as far as I am concerned.

 

ATC Book - 02

Two - fer Wednesday......

 I used teabag mesh on this one, too.  It is not as effective because the photograph is darker.  You can see how it looks on part of the white portion versus the photo.

ATC Book - 01

 I started doing collages for another ATC book.  This one is the first of seven for the book.  I tried something that I like.  I added some teabag mesh over part of the photograph turning it a bit sepia.

November 2022 - ATC

  

For one of the ATC  groups to which I belong our theme for the last quarter of 2022 was fashion.  I sweated this one.  I had all sorts of ideas which I tried out but none were satisfactory.  As you know I let a piece lead me and I almost got lead down a dead end.  I felt that each ATC was rather flat in appearance. I consulted with my husband but he thought they were fine.  Fine.  Hmm!  Somewhere in the depths of my brain I thought about crumpled paper for texture.  I cut circles out of the textured paper that I created and then an idea popped into my head.  Cut circles and adhere the “circles” to the plastic sleeve.  I have never seen this done before and I think it works.

Then I had to photograph the ATCs but of course when they are in their plastic sleeves the light reflects.  I just have to go with it.

Lawrence of Arabia

 Lawrence of Arabia was one of my favorite films growing up.  I do not know if I would feel the same about the film now but my memory of it is huge.  It seemed exotic and, of course, it did not hurt having great actors like Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif.

Eso Si Que Es!

I am going through things that I brought back from the cabin last July.  All has been in piles waiting.  Time to get the job done and to put things where they belong.  Plus I am hunting for some things I need.  This postcard had been started several years ago and I never finished it.  Eso si que es is Spanish for It is what it is.
 

Ready For Anything

 

Today is a day of forced art.  You might say why force it?  Well, because I ran out of my stash of completed art.  I want to be reading or watching a video right now but I told myself, “No!”  I have to work.  It is not that I do not want to work it is that I just have not felt well for quite some time and so reading and video take me away from my thoughts.   I got my stash of started but not complete postcards and in about 30 minutes I had completed the postcard.  I might add one more thing…..my chop mark.

ATC Storage

Over the years I have collected a lot of ATCs and APCs and I have been asked how do I store them.  They all go into clear plastic sleeves and then into the wooden boxes that you can see below.  I can easily take them out to look at them from time to time.  I now have four boxes of them….hundreds and hundreds.

 

Yet Another ATC Book.....

I have made about 14 of these ATC sized books, not sure exactly.  I have a plan for them and I am working out the details on that.

Front cover

Back cover

 

An ATC

 I made this ATC months ago.  It got lost under some papers.  I am glad I found it.  I am not sure it is complete.  I may write something using a graphite pencil in the upper left portion.

ATC Book - Number Who Knows?

Another ATC sized book cover.  Interior collages soon.

 

ATC Silhouette 07

 This is the last ATC of this series.  I especially like the color choices, mostly monochromatic with the black.

ATC Silhouette - 06

 

How do you know that this man is old?  The obvious is the cane.  But look at his stoop.  The bend of the leg and the arch of the back.  Lots of clues……

ATC Silhouette - 05

 It is funny how when creating this ATC that I did not see that the silhouette head on the left and the Japanese writing were joining together like they did.  I also did not notice that the choice of embroidery thread might not show up well against the sari ribbon.  It is a done deal now.

Silhouette ATC - 04

Put your finger over the cane.  Doesn’t he still look like an old man.  Is it the body language.  He looks like he is moving slowly. 

ATC Silhouette - 03

 

It works for me.

Silhouette ATC 01 and 02

For the international ATC group to which I belong the last quarter of 2022 the task was to use silhouettes.  I decided to also use different languages as the background.

         

 

OK, This It!

The last of this series of APCs.

 

I Am Exhausted, Still More APCs

Winding down.  They sure are fun to make.

 

I Can't Stand It, There's More APCs

It is funny how one days creative ideas just do not pop up and one is stuck.  Then there are days like today when ideas flourish,  What is with that?

 

APCs Keep on Keepin' On

I like the unexpected.  Finding something that many people would just toss out and using it in art is satisfying.  In the first one, the teabag seam stops me and makes the viewer stop and look again.  What is that?  Nice to have the task of figuring it out.

 

Yikes! Do APCs Multiply Quickly?

Want to have an afternoon of fun?  Just take a pile of ephemera and a deck of cards.  Tear or cut the papers and make collages.  It is a blast of a time!

 

APCs, More is More

 The curved lines of the spades images with the curved lines of the abstraction of a mushroom compliment each other.  It is totally unintentional that the two playing cards are the 3 of spades.  I like it when that happens.

What, More APCs?

 I think I am caught in the vortex of making APCs.