I am off work this week, trying to recover from the last few months of work deadlines and four weeks of upper respiratory crud. I am being incredibly lazy. Mostly, I am just taking Asha out for rambles and piddling around the house doing a little bit, but not much. I finally sat down today in the studio and made this card for the surrealism swap I am hosting at iATCs.  It feels good to draw a little.

Am I weird, or what?

This is a larger piece measuring at 7.5 inches by 10.5 inches. My intention was to cut it into nine ATCs, but I am undecided about whether to cut it or not.  It was done with water-based art markers, colored pencils and ink on 140 lb. Canson watercolor paper.  Also, for the first time, I scanned the piece at several different stages during the process. If you are interested in seeing the stages of this piece, just click on this link.

Here is another portrait done on black drawing paper using colored pencils and a little bit of acrylic paint.  This was done for an "art on black" swap at iATCs . 

I did another ATC/ACEO of my friend Matt using the same photo reference as in the last piece of him I did. This time I went in a little closer and, although I used colored pencils again, this time I worked on a white background of watercolor paper rather than the black drawing paper.  I am still getting familiar with the colored pencils. I read about using odorless mineral spirits with the colored pencils to create some washes so I have been trying to incorporate that a little. It is causing me to lean more into my painting technique, which always feels different to me than drawing, but is equally pleasurable.

There is an ATC exhibition coming up in April in New Jersey, for which I may submit this card as one of my entries. I am not sure yet, but I am trying to get a few pieces done before the mid March mail date and then see if I have anything that I feel like submitting.

Here are a couple of ATCs/ACEOs done on black drawing paper.   The first one is a portrait of my good friend Matt.  He hates to have his picture taken, but he was kind enough to allow me to take some photos of him last weekend for art fodder. Thanks Matt!  I think there will be more to come out of that modeling session.

This next one is not of Matt. I used a photo reference of some other old fogey who lives around here.

One more day of work until the weekend.  I feel lucky when I manage to get some time in the studio during the work week, even if it is just to get one small card completed.

One of the more difficult things I have tried to learn in my life is to submit to, and accept, that there are some things I will never know, especially when it comes to other people.

ACEO/ATC titled "Submission" done in watercolors and ink on watercolor paper.

Here is an ATC done in ink and colored pencil on heavy watercolor paper. I did it for a swap at iATCs.  Other cards I have done for this swap are located here.  I just have a couple more to finish, yay! I have been struggling with back problems this past week, so sitting for any length of time is difficult.  I am surprised I managed to get this piece done this weekend but glad.

The Bridge

I have not been able to do any drawing or painting for the past few weeks due to my holiday preparations, but now that they are over I was able to work on this postcard-sized landscape that I owe to someone as a Pay it Forward type trade. It amazes me how rusty I get after only a few short weeks.  At least this piece got me started again.

Inner Dialog

It is a cold and rainy day here in Topeka and when Asha and I went out for our pre-dawn ramble, we stayed mostly in our block while Asha rousted about in bushes looking for rabbits. After returning home and toweling off Asha and also the delivery of the requisite post walk treats, I decided to sit down in the studio for a bit. I really like a lot of art I see that is done with black ink on paper, so I decided to play around a little bit with it.  I have always considered pen and ink so unforgiving because you cannot erase and redo and it takes very little for it to end up looking pretty sloppy.  It was fun to experiment with this piece, but it showed me that I will have to learn a lot about pen and ink before I can feel good about the results.  Hopefully, with time and practice, I will improve.

Fish Bulb

I really enjoyed it when I did my first "bright idea" card for a swap at iATCS, so I decided to do something else along the same lines. This time, istead of a bug, I inserted a gold fish into my bulb.  I have put it up for sale on eBay.  I may do some more of these over time because they allow me to amuse myself and also tackle the challenges posed by drawing glass.

Pet

Pets are wonderful. I hear so many people say that they can relate better to their pets than to other humans. I can understand this statement completely.  Up for sale on ebay is "Pet."

This offering marks the beginning of a week of vacation time, interrupted only by a dash to a neighboring town next Thursday for  a meal at a restaurant with a couple of family members. This will suit my needs well and I look forward to a week of freedom.

Om

Here is another, somewhat surreal nude I have just put up for sale on eBay.  I drew the close up of the hand based on my hand.  Anyone know how to read palms?

The Offering

Here is another ACEO that I have for sale on eBay.  I have today and tomorrow off of work. I should be cleaning, but I am having too much fun in the studio.

Traffic	Ouster

I have two more ACEOs up for sale on eBay.  It seems I am in a somewhat surreal, fantasy mode these days.

Worry

I am not actually worried today (yay Obama!), but after I finished this ACEO, it made me think about how I feel when I am worried (hence, the title).  I have this ACEO up for sale on eBay.

Here’s to everyone having a great week!

Confusion	Silence

I have done a couple more art cards.  I am putting the one on the right up for sale on eBay.  I think I feel a mask series coming on.  Gosh, do you think I am feeling repressed these days?

Party Mask	Tuscan Sun

So, shown above are two ACEOs that I have up for auction on my eBay site.  I am trying to learn about how it all works and the best ways to market my work. I have determined that I will try to consistently put up new work for auction either at eBay or Etsy and not worry if things do not sell right away.  I also registered at  EBSQ as a self-representing artist.

Shown below is an ACEO I have for sale at Etsy.

Hairless Wonder

Here is an abstract triptych I did for a private trade.

Tattooed Cat	Hairless Wonder	Skull & Ribbons

Here are three new ATCs I have drawn over the past week. “Tattooed Cat” and “Skull & Ribbons” are for a swap and “Hairless Wonder” was just for fun.  In doing research for the cat cards I was startled to discover that some people who own hairless cats actually have them tattooed. I suspect the cats did not have a vote in that decision.

Here is another ATC for the swap where we pick two items from the list of things that players suggest. The items I picked were "fat girls" and "popsicle."

Here is my first card for a new swap at iATCs. Each participant names two things or places. The items are placed into two lists, column A and column B. The participants then choose one item from column A and one item from column B and draw or paint an ATC combining those two items. For this card, I chose to combine a light bulb and an insect. Fun stuff.

One final piece for the pick a theme swap.

Here is another card for the "pick a theme" swap at iATCs. As you can probably guess, the person’s theme choice was "owl."

Here is another card for the Pick a Theme swap at iATCs. I feel good about getting a bunch of cards drawn this weekend, but the house is a wreck.

I went ahead and joined the Fall Pick a Theme swap at iATCs. One of the participants in my group chose the theme "Cows." Okay, so I only did one cow.

Here is another mask ATC done for a private trade.

This is an ATC I drew for a private trade. The person said she was interested in a mask, so I hope she will like this one. I may do another one, just so she will have a choice.

This is an oddball ATC I drew. It looks like the mouth that ate Detroit.