ATC's anyone?

So I just recently started reading about these things called Artist Trading Cards, or ATC's, and I have to admit I dig the concept. I like being able to play around with different styles and techniques on such a small scale because a) if you mess up, it's only the size of a playing card so it won't break your heart to throw it away, and b) you can make a few here and there when the mood strikes. And I like the idea of getting little mini art from other people. 

Admittedly I don't know tons about it--it seems like it could be potentially really dorky and/or cheesy. I am a little afraid I'll get traded some lame stuff with puppies or butterflies (although I like some butterflies, like this one) but I guess that's just part of the element of surprise. After all, you can be unpleasantly surprised and it still counts as a surprise, right?

Anyway, the above two cards I'm sending off today to my partner, who says she likes robots and spaceships. I had fun making these. Hopefully she'll like them!

On a side note, my kids are now fixated on making these, too. I had about ten little cards with stick figure drawings and crayon scribbles littering my art table last night, ha ha. My husband came in, looked at us, and said, "You guys are obsessed."

Anybody else want to make these and trade with me??

reach

it's been a little while since i did any art. and i haven't wielded a pencil in a coon's age, so this was fun. plus it was a pleasant reprieve from the two days of a cranky baby with a fever. sweet release i tell you.

and now to bed with me.

labyrinthine

taking some time of from quilting after the wedding quilt madness, back to my old friends the ink pens. inspiration: brain coral. 

i think.

if you look closely you can find a whale.

apparatus, and the start of a new quilt

i have nothing to say about this drawing. every time i look at it all i can do is giggle nervously.

starting a new quilt this week. i'm excited and anxious about it, because it's something i'm being PAID to do, for someone i've never even met. kinda sketchy. i'm never quite sure if my idea of a cool thing is someone else's idea of a cool thing, and nervousness ensues.  hopefully it will work out.

chapeau

now all i can think about are all the ridiculous hats that have been popular over the centuries. and about how gross it would be to have a cephalapod on your head. my middle son asked, "you wike drawing girls wif octopusses on they heads, don't you?"

"yes," i answered. "yes, i do!"

what's on your mind

i was on a roll today. 

this is a new take on an old idea of mine--one i tried to paint years ago and the outcome was...atrocious. i decided to give it another go in a different media, and i enjoyed it so much more. this was also inspired by a picture i saw of my friend susan at sea world with a stuffed octopus on her head.

who can say when and how inspiration will strike? usually i get my best ideas at three in the morning.

this might sting a little

...so try not to think about it.

today was horribly boring. art had to work, and even though that's no different from any other weekday my brain refused to think of it as any other weekday, and instead went in circles all day long: "but it's the weekend! but it's the weekend!"

i don't know why it was so boring. i spent hours and all my physical strength this morning shoveling dirt and then moving said dirt from point A to point B in two hundred pound wheelbarrowsfull. i spent the rest of the day cooking, cleaning, and drawing this...thing...which is my biggest one to date. it took me, um, let's see...the space of two harry potter movies. yep. 

now it's 8:30 and the kids are all bathed and in bed, and yet...i'm still SO BORED. somebody come over and do a little dance for me or something before i go CRAZY!!

hmm...i notice my phone is not ringing off the hook with do-gooders willing to waste some time entertaining a friend. fine. be that way. see if i care.

draw and quarter

doodeedoo....

rootbound/unravel

i tried to think of something articulate to say about this, but i find it to be self-explanatory. if the meaning is murky to you, i don't know what to tell you.

string you along

yep. 

makes me think of creepy christmas decorations.

distend

art asked me last night--"what is it?"

"who knows," i replied. "i just like the way it looks."

is there anything wrong with that? it is, after all, my modus operandi.

ligature

more ink and watercolor weirdness. i did this while i was bent double trying not to throw up. i think that really comes through, don't you?

detonate

took a break from sewing today. decided i needed to do some art. since i'm still not sure what the next step is for my giant mostly finished painting, i opted for a quick fix--which for me involve paper, my micron pens, and occasionally some watercolor paint.

for years now (like eight) i've been fascinated by things that are divided up into cells or modules--whether that be slides of skin cells or the way pomegranate seeds are separated from each other by thin pulpy flesh or the way craters pockmark the moon. i just like it. i've been doodling things like this for years. i even sewed lots of little cells into that contour mini quilt below. it's the only semi-serial work i've ever been interested in producing, even if it is sort of piecemeal. anyway, it's fun. and a nice break from the ole sewing machine. not that the break will last--i just got TWO gift cards for my local fabric shop at my little birthday celebration yesterday. the only reason i haven't spent that money already and started sewing more things is because i don't have transportation, ha.

a few things

here are a few things i've made lately. just a few, cause some are still under wraps.

a watercolor i did for my niece, olivia. she probably won't care really but a girl's gotta have some original art. even if she's not even one yet.

a felt yoda i made for johnny. i still haven't given it to him yet, cause we were all sick on his birthday. :(

a quilt i made for my mom. pretty traditional for me, but still enjoyable. and FAST. man, i didn't realize how time consuming freehand piecing is compared to chain piecing. the only reason this became a christmas present (instead of the birthday present it was supposed to be back in OCTOBER--bad me) is because i tried a new method of quilting on my rack that didn't turn out so well. i spent about three days picking out all the stitches then had to start from scratch. ugh. i'd really love to move beyond stippling but apparently i still lack the fundamental skill. drat.

in other news, i've been baking up a storm, rolling truffles, making meringue mushrooms, all in preparation for a christmas party we're having. i hope it's fun. i get so nervous about this sorts of things.