Index Card Challenge - Week 1

I made 6 cards for the 1st week of ICAD Challenge, held by Daisy Yellow. It was lots of fun to follow prompts of this week: wallpaper, zebra, crown, candy-land, calligraphy, recycle or re-purpose, faux stitching. I had concern working on such cheap thin surface, but it actually worked out better than I expected, it does buckle a bit, but after putting it under weight - it straighten up again. It does lifts pressure off you when working on cheap paper, you just don't worry whether it will work or not - my main fear when I start an artwork on fancy surface. Initially I thought this challenge will just force me to practice art more, but it added additional benefit: I arrived at her compositions for larger paintings, and I didn't expect that. I highly recommend participating in the challenge - it does a lot for creativity. Calligraphy & Recycled Envelopes:

Faux Stitching & Wallpaper mixed with Zebra:

Candyland & Crown (I'd love to move these into larger artworks):

Upcoming Index Card challenge on Daisy Yellow blog

I am excited to participate on this upcoming Index Card art challenge on Daisy Yellow Blog.  It starts this Friday – 1^st of June, but you can dive in any time later. You need to buy a pack of lined Index Cards, 3”X5” or 4”X6”, and create art on one card for 2 months (61 days – 61 cards). There will be optional themes given for each day. The idea is to keep making art, every day, in a simple, affordable, stress free way. Just doodling or complex art – no rules.

Here are my cards, already waiting to be explored and altered into endless possibilities. Such fun!

ATCs – my new artistic endeavour

I’ve heard about ATCs, but never really knew what it is, until Irene Raphael contacted me in February 2013 with an offer to join international group of 7 people and swap them every second month. I am always excited like a child about every new artistic opportunity, so I dived in, although working on such small scale (2.5”X3.5”!) was kind of scary thing to do. But I must say I really am in love with ATCs after making few of them. Our admin  - talented artist John Arbuckle, gives us a theme as a starting point. April theme was History, on which I did a series of Frida Kahlo ATCs, and June theme was Idioms – boy did I have fun with this one. My April History Theme. These were done as transfers on canvas, that was glued to the paper to make it sturdy. On top of the trasfers I collaged paper napkins with acrylic gel medium:

My June ATCs on theme "Idioms":

Left to right top to bottom: Get yourself in her shoes, It's a small world, Off the record, Get yourself in her shoes, Greening the mind, It takes two to tango.

Left to right top to bottom: Once in a blue moon, Feeling blue, There is something fishy about her, Out of the blue, Once in a blue moon, There is something fishy about her.

Left to right top to bottom: Start from scratch, In the heart of the moment, Start from scratch, On cloud nine, A bird in a hand better than two in the bush, In the heart of the moment, It takes two to tango, Walk the extra mile, Rise and shine.

Left to right top to bottom: 5 of them are "She is a flower-child", last one is "Once in a blue moon".

Additional ATCs that I made for swap on Trodden Path, with theme "Winged Children":

Collaborative with Jeanne-Marie Webb

I loved Jeanne-Marie Webb style of painting, so asked her if she would be interested in doing collaborative painting with me. So glad that she agreed! The idea was to create two identical pieces, one for me and one for her, then I sent her one, and began working on second one. I was curious how far would we go in our on directions starting with original piece? Here is the result we’ve got so far. I must say I really love her version and find it interesting that at this stage she chose night and I chose day. My progression is on the left and hers – on the right from the starting point in the middle.

Misty Mawn -- artist I admire

I rarely become anyone’s fan, and have no favourite actor or singer, but I can honestly say (and I even blush admitting it), that I am a big fan of Misty Mawn. I adore her artwork, and probably saved all images I could find online into my folder “Misty Mawn”. I just checked, it’s 192 paintings in that folder. Cheez, it’s almost stalking on my part. There are several things that amaze me about her art: 1. Subject matter: these otherworldly, angel-like girls, pure and innocent looking, right down into your soul. 2. Technique: layer after layer after layer, tremendous build-up of texture and absence of lines, only forms, and if you have seen videos on her workshop – you’ll know what I mean. 3. Light: her addiction to white… well… addictive. That amount of light in her artworks, that touches you with its innate purity, always makes me wonder if it’s reflection of her beautiful soul. There you go, I made a confession. Please do share yours. Some of artworks by Misty Mawn. You can check out her blog here.