A few atc's that I've done recently....
all are 2.5"x3.5"

Theory

atc/aceo
2.5"x3.5"
colored pencils and sharpie pen

IllustrationFriday

Valentine's

Inspire Me Thursday~ATC

I'm a bit late on posting this week...but thought I'd share these anyway. The first one I did a week or so ago when the theme for Illustration Friday (I think?) was ABC's. I constructed a poem using the letter's in the alphabet in order, as the first letter in the word. I don't think the poem is all that good...but it was fun to try. I suppose it has a name, doing that, but it escapes me if it does.

The second one I just did today. I've been working on a 12"x12" painting where I'm using an old pillowcase wrapped around a canvas board that I'm not done with yet. For this ATC I took another scrap of that pillow case and wrapped it around a piece of watercolor paper and glued it to it with some molding gel glaze stuff. Then I painted it with acrylics.

"abc's"

"whistling in the wind"

Check out more ATC's here.

Artwords~Cupcake (and IMT~Fun&Games)

The prompt this week at Artwords is "cupcake". I must say there's nothing depressing about a cupcake! Another ATC from me....

eta: Upon further reflection I decided that this also fit the bill for this week's Inspire Me Thursday prompt of fun and games. I think it fits because it is a pun of sorts... I love taking things literally and thinking outside of the box and I think this works for that. When I first saw the word cupcake all I could think was that there was only one interpretation for that word really...and so I set up trying to think of another, of course! So this is silly, and it's meant to be, and it makes me laugh, and it's fun...and it's all a bit of a game to me. I think "fun and games" can be interpreted quite loosely, actually, and can forsee adding more to this prompt as the rest of the week unfolds. That is if I get any time to have fun with art. I had to force myself today to sit down and draw this. It only took about half an hour, but sometimes carving out that thirty minutes when your house is a disaster area and your three year old is yelling "MOOOOOM!" and your dog is at your heels....well, you get the idea. But I'm glad I did because it was a moment of relaxation. And that is so key to making the hectic parts of life FUN. Know what I mean?

IMT~watercolor

"storm rolling"
ATC~watercolor and watercolor pencil

Another ATC for you...I actually started another watercolor on a larger piece of paper that I just haven't finished. If I finish it today I'll add it to this post. I have a big pile of watercolors in tubes that I collected from taking that class w/ my dad. (See previous post) As well as I inherited all of his. I rarely use them. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's got something to do w/ that previous post. Anyway, it was fun to do....watercolors intrinsically make you fast and free and able to carve out life w/ abandon. At least for me. If I try to control the watercolor, it only controls me, and nothing good happens in either direction. I still love these little ATC's....they break through barriers for me. It's okay to just be "done".

Illustration Friday~Missing

"missing" ATC~2.5x3.5"

More IF's here!

Inspire Me Thursday ~ Dear Diary

"Dear Diary"~ATC~2.5x3.5"





Check out more IMT's here!

More fooling around w/ my ATC's....

The thing I'm really getting out of these right now is the way they are making me look at things differently. I'm a lover of painting big whenever I am able. But truthfully, lately, visualizing something "big" has been beyond my scope. I've never been much of a sketcher, though I know that would be enormously helpful. Well, at least it's helpful to most. These little ATC's are like sketches for me, for paintings. I'm so driven by color, that being able to "sketch" in color is such a kick. It's also opening my eyes up more to the possibilities of painting abstracts. I'm usually given to wanting to put some sort of recognizable object in my painting, and it doesn't always have to be so. What I mean is, I start out just painting with no "object" in mind, half the time, and then I create something out of it. Sometimes I stop and look at what is completely abstract, truly based on how I'm feeling or what I'm listening to in the moment (expressionist)...and then I think "OMG I HAVE to put some OBJECT in it!". Which is then when I tend to turn to the figurative. Or cities. I like buildings too. Soooo....with these little thumbnails, if you will, there is only so much one can do before one HAS to stop. And then I load them up to my computer and look at them a bit bigger, and then it hit me...I could replicate some of these ideas onto a larger canvas! Object within, or not. I think it would be an interesting experiment for me, if nothing else. Here's three I did yesterday....(also good for doing in the time frame that my three year old allows me to work in!) You can see that one is more "abstract" than the other two. All were fun. I can also tell I'm going down a road that involves doors as a subject.

click on the photo's to get a better look!

Inspire Me Thursday~open topic~ATC's

Having fun, fooling around!

My first ATC! So to speak....

....and I flubbed the signature on the back! I started to write July and....oh well! It adds to the charm, no?

I'm fascinated with the idea of ATC's or ACEO's and am trying my hand at them. I'm really getting a kick out of them, and the immediacy of the whole thing, as they are so damn tiny. I cut them wrong the first time out, because I'm a dork, and you can see some of them in the first picture as compared to the "regular" size one's.

Check out more IMT's here!