Fancy this!

Here's a little ATC project I did on a day when I was seriously needing sunshine. I love ATCs because the small canvas makes you focus. It keeps you from letting your project mushroom out of control (yes, I struggle with KISS!).

I drew this by hand (an ATC is 2.5 x 3.5 inches), and colored it with prismacolor pencils. I 'melted' the wax in the pencil to blend the color using the Gamsol method. I used Viva modeling cream in gold for the edges. I really love how this turned out. It's much more vibrant in person.

Ta for now,

~ky

Swap and Trade

Hey there folks! I've been very busy and spent a lot of time contemplating whether or not I should resurrect my blog. I've decided I should give it a try, despite the lack of comments and traffic. If you have any suggestions about my blog, please kindly leave me a message. I would greatly appreciate constructive ideas!

I am a proud member of the Splitcoaststampers' newest challenge site. It's all about mixed-media! I do hope you'll check it out, and play along. Share your work here on my blog - just add a link in the comments - because I want to give you some love! Here's an art journal page I did a few weeks ago. Our challenge by Tiffany (IHeartArt is her blog) was to use multiple surfaces in the creation of our project.

I pulled together a lot of surfaces because I love collages. I started with gesso over a layer of distress inks, then built more layers with tape, gesso and bits of papers. My surfaces include: cardstock, medical tape, corrugated cardboard, Styrofoam  twine, vellum, metallic paint, acrylic paint, tissue paper, gesso, wooden stir stick, and machine stitching. The text on the embossed vellum says: 

"As a son, a man receives love. As a husband, a man shares his love. And as a father, a man gives his love." 

This will have a good bit of journaling about my life with my Dad. He's an amazing man whom I am getting a chance to be with day in and day out.

These pieces are Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). I participated in an ATC swap on Tamara's Willowing website. My partner was Sherri Mash, and she sent me the ATCs on the right.

Our theme was summer travel, and I created the ATCs on the right. I used Tim Holtz's and BoBunny papers, Distress ink, miscellaneous brads, ribbon, spinner. The gold edging is Viva Modeling Cream (Love this stuff!). I used Prismacolor pencils on the truck, and the stamps are by Tim Holtz and Gina K Designs.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit here. Feel free to follow me, or 'like' my Facebook studio: the ArtLab. Head out into the land of art, inspired!

~ky