latest atcs

These are a few of my latest artist trading cards traded in Dunvegan, Ontario on Saturday. Made with beeswax and jute strands with oil pastels rubbed in.

the draw

Happy Canada Day! As I write this I am hearing fireworks in the distance...or is it thunder? We've had a bit of a rainy day here.

As promised, I have done my Nevr-Dull draw and the lucky winner (picked out of the hat by Jerzy's neutral hand) is Ronna!

I couldn't be more pleased that Ronna is the winner...for several reasons. She is the person who encouraged me to do a blog, so winning my one-year anniversary draw is very fitting. The draw took place around the topic of artist trading cards and she is the person who organizes our ATC meetings and publishes ATC Quarterly. In fact she traded for - and now owns - one of the artist trading cards that were featured in my last post (the Buster Keaton one). And, last Fall, I attended a home art show and sale of her ceramic work and won her draw, so this is truly fate at work. Congratulations Ronna!

As promised I will take my wad of Canadian Tire money (the wad you see below totals exactly $17.20) and go buy a nice shiny can of Nevr-Dull for you...and I expect to see some Nevr-Dull ATCs somewhere down the line!

Thanks to all who kindly left comments for me. I will do my best to keep the posts coming and look forward to future comments!

one year

Today is my one year blog anniversary. ***small fistfuls of glittery confetti joyfully thrown into the air*** Granted, I haven't had much (if any) of a blog presence for awhile. But here I am. Again. I thought since my very first post started with a photo of some of my artist trading cards, I would again honour my latest batch, which was traded a few weeks ago.

The technique I used is probably quite well-known amongst mixed-media junkies:

1. Find a magazine image that appeals to you.
2. Using shelf paper or sticky labels or glue, block off the parts that you wish to remain intact.
3. Once the labels are adhered or the glue is dry, rub the rest of the image, including text, with a wad of Nevr-Dull® Magic Wadding Polish until you achieve the effect you desire.
4. Peel off the shelf paper or sticky labels (if you are using glue just leave it as is) to reveal your masterpiece.

• Nevr-Dull is a metal polish that gives your page a painterly, ethereal quality as it smooshes around the ink on your magazine page
• The best place to find it is in the automotive washing and cleaning section of your local hardware store...in my case - Canadian Tire - my favourite store!
• If you are sensitive to chemicals and strong smells, avoid this activity altogether or make sure you have good ventilation - the stuff is strong!
  
  

I enjoyed using this technique on my cards because I love that ethereal effect and it's satisfying to have an image that says more than it did when you first spied it in the magazine. To do this you can remove an image entirely, fade out an image so it appears as a ghostly presence, obliterate text or leave a faint trace of it, play with colour as you move it around with your Nevr-Dull wadding, or purposely (or accidently) rip the paper for another interesting effect. You never know what your final effect will be until it's finished. There are always surprises.

I sometimes make the mistake of thinking that the artist trading cards I make are just "fun" and have nothing to do with my "real work". But everything creative feeds everything creative. And as I'm describing my Nevr-Dull technique to you I realize that I am doing exactly what I do when I make other "real work": focusing on form and composition, subtracting elements to create a feeling or a narrative, manipulating my materials to achieve various effects that strengthen the work.

So in honour of my first blog anniversary and in honour of trying new techniques, I will enter the names of all those who leave comments on this post in a draw. THE PRIZE: a can of Nevr-Dull® Magic Wadding Polish! Woohoo! This can will be purchased at Canadian Tire using the "wad" of Canadian Tire money (a Canadian institution) that I have been collecting for years and have never cashed in. In keeping with this Canadian connection, the draw will take place on Canada Day...July 1st. So roll those comments in for your very own can of magic wadding polish!

And speaking of artist trading cards, my parents were visiting at the end of May to help me celebrate my 50th (gasp) birthday and while they were here my Mom created her first-ever artist trading cards and accompanied me to her first-ever trade, which she thoroughly enjoyed. I also helped her get started on her own blog so take a peek at her artist trading cards and her birthday surprise for me, both documented on her blog, upbeat meanderings.

vellum and celluloid

I'm a bit overwhelmed. There have been a lot of things going on - mostly good - and there are so many of those things that I want to share with you, but I'm absolutely running and haven't had the time. I have just returned from my monthly ATC meeting in Dunvegan and had a delightful time there. I am sharing more of my vellum works as these are the cards I traded today. I made most of these in the car while returning from our trip (which I will tell you about on another post). I had a great little set-up: small plastic container with vellum pieces soaking in water; lapboard with large plastic container lid as a work surface; kit with scissors and my stylus tucked nearby. I just worked away as the highway unfolded. I did get a little nauseated as time went by so had to stop at one point. How we suffer for our art!

I am now heading into Montreal to the World Film Festival. I absolutely live for this festival every year and as I was away, I missed the beginning of it so now I'm playing catch-up. Over the last few days I've seen 4 feature films (Finland, Poland x2, Germany) and 2 shorts (Belgium, Canada) and now I'm heading out with a friend who wants to practice her Spanish so we will probably see some South American films. I bought two "carnets" of 10 tickets each so will be doing some film marathons on Sunday and Monday, the last two days of the festival. Will tell you more later! Gotta go!

art day

Most weekends, my friend Carole drives to art vein studio and we have an "art day" together. The table above usually seats 6-8 people when I give workshops, but when Carole and I get together, we spread out and take the entire surface (actually, when I'm working on my own I take the entire space plus every available work surface I can find). Sometimes we try out new techniques together and sometimes we each do our own thing. Sometimes we do both. Here's what we did yesterday:

Inspired by Jo Horswill's wonderful collagraphs, Carole suggested we try some ourselves. We have very little experience doing this but buoyed with Jo's instructions, we started our plates. We used mat board, gluing on our collage elements with gel and matte medium. The heart-shaped design is Carole's and the other two are mine. As this is a multi-step process, we are allowing them to dry before we seal them with gesso and varnish (or would just varnish be sufficient?). We don't have a press so plan to go the rolling pin/brayer route. Or failing that, the drive-over-them-with-a-car method. We will post our experiments when we have printed them....we're keeping our fingers crossed that they won't be complete disasters! Jo, if you have any advice for us, we would welcome it. Thanks!

While our plates were drying, we each worked on some artist trading cards. I printed off some of my glass photos to mount on cards and Carole used a technique found in the book, Artist Trading Card Workshop, by Bernie Berlin. She cut out magazine face photos, applied a thin layer of gesso, and then re-drew the faces, adding funky hair and other details with a marker, Pebeo Touch 3-D paints, and acrylics. Gives a surreal effect and is a great way to get the hang of drawing faces.

It seems that most mixed-media artists know all about Cloth Paper Scissors, and although I had heard of it, I had never actually peeked inside a copy. Carole brought it in and it looks quite interesting. I've borrowed it and plan to peruse it more carefully this week. Of interest to me were the article on creating mini-assemblages with old rusty lightswitch covers and a peek into the creative spaces of other artists...always fascinating!

Another gift! Carole had just returned from a visit with her sister-in-law on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. When her sister-in-law saw my blog and my reliquaries, she gave Carole this wonderful barnacle to give to me. It is one of her beach finds. I absolutely adore it and am so touched that she was inspired to pass this very precious object on to me. I will make it a beautiful home. Thanks Judy!

happy 75th!

My Mom turns 75 today! Happy Birthday Mom!

This is a blind contour drawing of my Mom that I did for an artist trading card series. I covered the cards with black gesso and then used gel pens to do the drawings. I love the spontaneity of blind contour drawings. Sometimes you really capture the essence of your subject in all those muddled lines. And it's great therapy for someone like me who is drawing-challenged and often obstructed by perfectionism.

More ATCs. These are blind contour drawings of my two sisters, Jerzy, and my Dad.

vellum pieces

Commonly, the most interesting work comes from a "mistake" made. My mistake was accidently dropping a sheet of vellum into a sink of water. It kind of drooped and I wondered if I could mould it over a bowl shape. It worked, so I thought I would try something that might work with ATCs. I did an afternoon shift at Mouche Studio Gallery on Friday and it was a slow day so it was a good time to experiment with the vellum. I brought along some tools that I thought might be helpful and the best tool seemed to be a stylus. I created small creases with my fingers and then accentuated these with the stylus by working it against one side of the crease and using my fingers to exert pressure on the other side of the crease. In some instances I placed an object under the vellum and formed the vellum around it. Sometimes the vellum would rip but I just incorporated the tear into the design. As they dried, I had to place a book over them so they wouldn't curl. I like the results. Great texture. Organic looking. I love the way the tool marks are evident on the vellum. I intended for these to be next month's artist trading cards but as they dried, they shrank, and now they are not regulation size! So I will do some more today. Maybe I'll find some new ways to work the surface...

the trade!

Today was ATC (artist trading card) trade day in Dunvegan. I brought fellow Mouche Studio Gallery artist Joanna. She is a painter and jewellery designer here in Hudson. It was her first time at an atc trade so that made it even more fun. For us, it was a 50 minute drive from Quebec into Ontario and through the lovely rolling terrain of Glengarry County. The trade is held at the local community hall. Despite the rain today, there was a good turnout - 15 to 18 people. This is our process. We each lay our page(s) of ATCs on the table and spend time perusing one another's cards, admiring, and asking questions about technique or inspiration. Then the trading begins. Ronna usually announces the start of trading and then there is a flurry of frenetic trading which is over in about 10 minutes. A short period of refreshments and socializing follows and then we all leave, happy and content, returning to our regular lives. This whole process rarely exceeds an hour. And then we come back the following month and do it all over again! Actually, I left out one important step of the process. At least it is part of my process. Sitting down with a cup of tea and inspecting and sorting all your new cards when you get home.

My cards this month were watercolour experiments. I have never used watercolours before and this was a fun way to try them out and mess around a bit. These are the cards I traded today.

This is the second sheet of cards I made to trade.

And these are some of the cards I got in the trade!

tool tuesday: awl right!

Happy St-Jean-Baptiste Day (only celebrated here in Quebec)! I was reading a post on ro bruhn's blog where she mentions (and proudly shows off) a wonderful array of screwdrivers and a dremel bit kit that her husband bought her. We artists love our tools! The boyfriend of an artist friend of mine gave her a dremel tool on their first Christmas together and she was positively overcome with emotion (and that could be one of the reasons she ended up marrying him). As a wedding gift, I gave them a gift certificate to Canadian Tire [hardware store known to all Canadians!] and a roll of duct tape and they were thrilled! Another artist friend of mine practically salivates when she describes in detail the newest metalsmith tool she has acquired. I am regularly seduced by all kinds of tools I see in the hardware store or metalsmith journals or artist books, and half the time I don't even know what they are meant for. We are attached to our tools. We have relationships with our tools. We have favourite tools. Sometimes we use our tools in weird and unexpected ways. I thought it would be fun to keep Tuesdays aside to highlight tools. I could certainly wax poetic about my own favourite tools but it would be interesting to hear from others. Please email me a photo of your favourite tool and tell its history, why you love it, how you use it, what you make with it, and anything else you'd like to share. I will try to post one tool every Tuesday...in all its glory. Spread the word! Below are my collection of awls to start things off (and may I apologize for my terrible awl pun in the title...I couldn't resist).

"Awl: A pointed tool for making holes, as in wood or leather."

I hadn't realized that there were so many different types of awls. The one on the far left is a carpenter's awl. The two with the silver handles are craft awls, often used in scrapbooking, although I use them for preparing paper for sewing or wire insertion. The cheapo awl with the red handle is a tailor's awl and purchased in a fabric store. The other two are made of sturdier stock and are possibly bookbinding awls. I bought the one on the far right for that purpose.

This is my favourite awl. I found it abandoned on the side of the road so I took it back to the studio and gave it a home. It's a perfect size for my hand, has a sharp point, and is rusty. I love it for these reasons and for its mysterious history. I use it mostly for piercing paper but it's always on hand for any poking, prodding, prying, scraping, jamming and all-around puncturing needs I may have.

These are two artist trading cards that I made using washi paper, thread, and...you guessed it... an awl!

first post

This morning I met with Ronna, the editor of ATC Quarterly, and was photographed (at least my hands were photographed) doing my favourite oil pastel/ink scratch technique for the next issue. Here are some examples of that technique - part of my wonky chair series. You'll have to wait for the issue to find out about the technique! While she was at my studio, we talked about her blog and it inspired me to do one of my own, so here it is!