Tuesday 30 June 2020

Index Card a Day (ICAD) - Week Four

Here we are at week four.  We are not quite half way through the ICAD challenge, but things are still going well and I have used all the word prompts so far.
The words were: Anchor; Terrarium; Emerald.
I was originally going down the ship anchor route, but then decided roots are anchors too, so went in a completely different direction.
Here are Cappuccino; Bougainvillea; Souvenir and Wind Chimes.  Again, a couple of these were going to be one thing and then I was hit by a different inspiration.  Originally, 'wind chimes' was going to be strips of different papers in a wind chime sort of pattern, but then, having looked at the definition of chime, I was reminded about clocks.  'Souvenir' started as a collection of different ephemera, but soon became all about Paris.  I have visited Paris twice and loved the museums and galleries, so this seemed very appropriate.  Paints, papers, stamps, stencils and texture paste have all featured in making these images this week.

Tuesday 23 June 2020

Index Card a Day 2020 (ICAD) Week Three

The ICAD challenge is still going strong and I am managing to complete one a day.  Above are Dandelion; Robot and Mustard Yellow.  Stamps, stencils, paint and embossing folders have been used for these.
Here are Six Word Story (The sky brightened and she smiled); Pause (I cut the stamp from an eraser and it is based on the pause symbol in music - thanks to Chris for that idea); Birdhouse and Geode.  These are mainly paint and stamps, with a bit of glitter on the geode. 
I have had to buy some more index cards this morning as the second set I used had a blue line at the top and it was affected by water/paint (as you can see in the geode card).
On to week four...

Tuesday 16 June 2020

Index Card a Day 2020 (ICAD) - Week Two

Here are the cards from the second week of ICAD.
The prompts were: Suzani patterns (I had to look this up - traditional embroidery from Uzbeckistan and Tajikistan); Bookshelf; David Bowie.
Tiramisu (featuring a photo of my Granny and her sisters when they were girls);  Brocade; Kite or Rhombus; Chamomile.  Just in case the Chamomile one doesn't make any sense, I used camomile tea leaves, which I added to texture paste and applied through a stencil and the tea bags were glued in strips.  I then added drips of acrylic paint and watercolour pencils for the colours, finishing with gold speckles and a bit of glitter. (I had this brainwave having watched a Youtube video where teabags were made into a mini journal.)
On to week three...

Sunday 14 June 2020

Roses, roses, roses

 The roses have enjoyed the recent rain we had (and so have the rest of the plants too).  Here's a snapshot of some of the different plants I have.
Top row, left to right: Charles de Mills, Rosa Mundi, Blush Noisette
Middle row, left to right: Cottage Rose, The Pilgrim, Olivia Rose Austin
Bottom row, left to right: Winchester Cathedral, Eyes for You, Ferdinand Pichard
Here are a few more, top left going clockwise: For Your Eyes Only, Gertrude Jekyll,  Mary Rose, Geoff Hamilton.
Since I took these photos, we have had some rain which has battered the blooms a bit.  I went out and deadheaded yesterday and am looking forward to seeing the next flush of flowers.

Tuesday 9 June 2020

Index Card a Day (ICAD) 2020

I have enjoyed the doodle book and the 14 day journal projects, so when I saw the Index Card A Day challenge over at Daisy Yellow, I decided to join in. 
I like the idea of daily art prompts, which may push me to do something different.  However, there is no pressure - you can use the prompts or not, or use the themes or not, it is up to you.  Creating a piece of art a day on a small scale - 6 x 4 ins, sounded doable and enjoyable, so off I went.
Here are the results of the first week:
Just in case you'd like to know what the prompts were:  Hopscotch, Marigold, Album, Sequins, 1980s, Dreamcatcher, Highway.
I have really enjoyed it and found I could manage a piece per day as they are small and relatively quick to produce. I can also use all my different art and craft materials, which is a good thing.  So far, I have used paints, crayons, magazine collage, die cuts, stencils, stamps, sequins and inks. The most time consuming bit is the thinking!
There is a facebook group to join, should you wish to share your work and see what others are doing.  I'm not a facebooker, so haven't done that.  I am happy with my progress so far and have started the second week's prompts.
I will do a round-up each week in the hope that you find it interesting to see what I come up with...

Monday 1 June 2020

June Artists' Trading Card (ATC)

 Here's the latest of my ATCs - for June.  I knew the focus had to be roses, not just due to the verse for June, but also because my garden is full of roses in June.  I used a sort of leaf stencil and green paint for the background and stencilled the roses using texture paste.  I needed to infill the roses with paint as the green showing through was just too distracting.  I coloured the texture paste, but ended up painting the roses as well.
 They needed a little something extra, so glitter was added as highlights.
The gemstones I used this month were all pinks and purples and I tried to get an ombre look.  I used rose quartz, lavender amethyst, kunzite, peach moonstone, pink opal and pink shell. The gemstone for June is pearl, so I added a pearl charm.
The back of the card features the verse and some die cut roses.  The new rose dies arrived the morning I was working on this ATC which was serendipitous, so I made good use of them.  I am pleased with the end result - June is all about the roses!