ATCs for AJC

Welcome to Acronyms R Us.

Tangie of the Art Journal Caravan (2014 signups available now) (it will be the last year) announced an ATC swap open to AJC members. Since I've only ever seen digital work from most of the caravanners, I thought it sounded like fun, plus I like making ATCs, so I signed up.

You had to make 12 of them, alike or different so I got out my ATC box full of backgrounds, partially completed ATCs, ATC stamps, ATC sleeves, etc, and dug around. I found enough partial ones to swap with just an afternoon's work in finishing them off. Some were pretty much done but I added doodling or stamps to perk them up a little.

I'll get 10 in return in a couple weeks and it'll be fun to see them.

Looking at the pictures I just uploaded, they're quite a mixed bag of techniques, materials, and time periods. Everything from vintage ledger paper to last week's magazines.

mmsa white swap

I love these monochromatic swaps. We've pretty much run thru the color wheel and are finishing up the year with white, which I loved working in. Karen announced this swap well advance and I've been tearing out pages of white stuff for weeks and fussy cutting them out on the couch in the evenings.

So when I sat down to make the cards, I had a file folder full of things all ready to go. I *really* enjoyed working like that, instead of having to stop creating in order to find and cut more stuff out.

These are very random collages in that there's no story, just a pleasing arrangement of white-ish objects. I did not shadow any of them, which means there's very little depth but preserves the white.

Anyway, here are my white cards. I had another but got turquoise paint on the damn thing somewhere along the way and will have to repair it and use it for a private swap.

in my previous life

I'm a published fiction writer. I no longer write (much), but when I did, I sold a short story to a national magazine and had another accepted and published in an anthology of stories written about an artist's paintings. All this by way of saying that when I saw this on Tumblr, I identified immediately. If you've ever been a writer, know a writer, wish you were a writer, you might think it's funny. 

I thought it was hysterical.

I found it here, on NaNoWriMo's blog.
NaNoWriMo is the acronym for
National Novel Writing Month
which is going on now, in November.
Good luck to all you crazy authors. 

My reality was a lot of the chimp, a fair amount of the plaid jacket guy, and just enough of the hunk with the quill pen to end up with a story that someone liked enough to pay me for. (full disclosure: I don't drink so never did that, and I know I'm not brilliant, but I do play a *ton* of solitaire, altho not back while I was writing heavily.)

When I was writing, I felt driven to do it. My hands itched to get to the keyboard and the story tumbled from my fingers as fast as I could type. It was like that for a handful of years. I typed and untyped and retyped like crazy, and then... one September, I just lost the urge. Gradually my days filled up with other things and pretty soon it was 6 months since I'd written a word. Now it's been 3 or 4 years, and I guess it's gone for good. 

I miss it.

oddball

This postcard began life as a punched out part of a corrugated cardboard marketing display that arrived at work a few weeks ago. I liked the shape, so it sat on my desk for at least a week. Every time I started to throw it away, I hesitated, then put it back on my desk. After a week or two of that, I put it in my back-and-forth-to-work bag and hauled it home where it sat on my art table for another week or so.

The other day I was casting about for something to work on, not too involved, not themed - just something I could throw some art at for a while until the washer finished the load of whites. I spied the cardboard piece and decided to collage it with... with... <lots of thinking at this point> with gelli printed deli papers! I have a huge box of them, so I rummaged thru and began to paste down random strips across the card.

I liked it when I was done but it needed something else so I added some vertical strips, then more little bits here and there. I loved the colors but it sat on the table for a few more days cause it just didn't feel 'done'. Then I came across the text in a magazine - glued it down, scribbled a border around it and was satisfied.

It's fairly large, almost 8" across, and it's going off to an occasional mail art friend who has sent me a few really neat cards. I'll do a post about them one of these days.

incoming MMSA swaps

MMSA brown swap - a great vintage card from Julie in GA. Love the variety of papers, shapes and lines going on here, and the old feel to it. Very nice. Vintage is truly my first love and wedding pictures knock me out. I always wanna know the rest of the story.

MMSA brown swap - from Judith in VA. She painted, stamped and doodled on kraft paper or possibly a paper bag. Abstract and lively. I like this one a lot cause it's a style that never crosses my mind to work in. Love all the circles too.

MMSA brown swap - from Terrie in CA, one of my regular mail art buds. This card is so cool in person. The background is cork! Like a bulletin board, but very thin. She said it's scrapbook paper that she's had for a while. And the woven thing is a chunk of place mat she sewed on. It's bronze metallic and works perfectly with the cork and stamp. Lots of texture and great browns on this very creative card. 

A late arrival from the MMSA Day of the Dead swap - from Lynn in CT. Love the turquoise skull since I'm still jonesing on all things turq. The flowers and the striped paper make a cool background. Good job, Lynn.

MMSA security envelope swap - from MaryLou in FL. The entire thing is collaged from the huge variety of patterns you can find inside security envelopes. She tinted them with paint(?) and made a cute kitty. Love the caption. Very creative.  

'brown' MMSA cards

Another recent swap was themed 'brown'.

You can sure tell where my head was at - every last one of them is chocolate! I think I'd gotten a candy catalog in the mail. Coulda sent these in for the 'food' swap too, I guess, but I have some other images for that one.

good incoming mail

Very cool Day of the Dead card from the MMSA swap, made by Rose in OK.
Love the colors and the little dancing skeleton. 

My art friend Rhonda came over a while back and we worked on DOD cards for the swap.
She only got one done and wouldn't you know, it was one of the 3 I received!
Obviously I was meant to have this card.
I actually never saw it completely finished so it was fun to get it.

The third DOD card, this one made by Ellen in VA.
Neat colors and I like that the skull is so subtle.
And the quote is nice.

A fun card from Linda in MA, not for any swap, just for fun.
I'll send her back something good this week.