Hand-painted Artist Trading Cards

I'm loving using big, 16" x 20" canvas paper for painting. I splash colors, wait a bit to dry, and splash some more. I'm using acrylic paints with my brushes, my hand, fingers. It's a fun way to paint. I've discovered that a sheet of paper that size can then be cut into 30 Artist Trading Cards (2 1/2" x 3 1/2").


After the initial painting, I cut the paper into the cards. Then I add more paint. I use Sharpie paint pens (these are water-based) to write words and add extra lines and dots to the cards. These pens are great for adding a quick border to the card. On the back, I use a rubber stamp for my name, or just sign it with a pen.


I gave out most of these ATCs back in October when I was in Portland at Art & Soul. I have a few extra -- email me if you'd like to trade.

Handmade Zine

I recently completed my first issue of a zine. A zine is a handmade, self-published magazine. I've been admiring others' zines and really wanted to challenge myself to make my own, and here it is.


My little magazine is 9" x 5 1/2", and is 100% made by me. I call it Paint/Paste, because I focus on my favorite painting and collage techniques. I created the cover using heavy weight paper that I painted with watered-down acrylics. Each cover is painted differently, and I included the paint color names in the inside back cover in case you're curious of what I used.


Inside is 20 pages of mixed media techniques. I have a how-to article on creating your own painted papers that you can use in your art. I even included examples of the papers, and an Artist Trading Card made using the papers.


The theme of this issue is Words, and I give techniques for finding your own words to use in your art, and what to do with them once you've found them.
I talk about how to leave your mark on your art, and which tools are my favorite for making those marks.


I made 20 copies of this zine, 10 of which were included in a swap. I'm selling the other 10 in my Etsy shop. I'll post one copy at a time, and when that one sells, I'll post another one. You can see my Etsy shop here.

Happy Halloween -- and Giveaway Winner

Thanks to everyone who stopped by my blog to celebrate my 100th post. I pulled a name from the comments, and the winner of my giveaway necklace is ... Kristin! You can check out Kristen's great blog here. For all others who commented, I'll be emailing you something special as well.

I made two groups of artist trading cards (ATCs) with a Halloween theme recently. One is for a trade group at the store Everything Scrapbook and Stamps in Lake Worth and the other was for the Portland Art & Soul Retreat I went to at the beginning of October. ATCs are mini works of art that you make with the sole purpose of trading them with other artists. I enjoy the challenge of making something small and of making art with a theme. And I really like the growing collection I have of others' ATCs.

The first group are the ATCs I made for the swap group in Lake Worth (just down the road from where I live). I used color copies of a vintage postcard. Here's the original postcard.

I love the saying "What the (devil) is the matter with the lampposts?" Now this postcard is from around 1910 and was mailed to my great-uncle in Oregon. I really don't know what that statement means. Is he drunk? Has he tilted all the lampposts? I love that he's smoking a cigarette. At the time, it probably didn't mean that he was decadent or anything, they probably just added that in the picture out of habit. I think that's funny. Anyway, I cut out the devil picture and glued it to some Halloween-themed scrapbook paper. I used an embossing pen to draw vertical lines, then heat-embossed silver powder. I wrote down the side "Beware the devil inside -- he likes to play!" I think they turned out quite nice.


The next group of ATCs were for Portland. For these, I painted on a 16" x 20" piece of canvas paper. After it dried, I was able to cut it into 30 ATCs. I added the words and some embellishment later with Sharpie poster paint pens. I have some extra ATCs, so if you'd like to do a trade with me (for an ATC or any other small art item), please drop me a line.