The Next Generation - And the ABC's of ATC's

A few friends of mine from an online artist community have endeavored to keep the thrill of the trade alive. We want to start a new trade exchange going, and since I am the self-elected coordinator (by default, since no one wanted the job ) I am posting this information here for future reference and leave the door open for future trades, for anyone else that would like to participate.

We are currently finishing up an exchange right now. And as you can see, it is a small grouping, which I wouldn't mind growing into a much larger community. All are welcome.

If all goes well, the next exchange I am planning will go off on December 21st of this year. This will give all new comers the chance to get those creative juices flowing and get some mini masterpieces ready for the event.

Things to know.....

The cards as I mentioned should be 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches. ( No more, no less.) The artwork should be original, meaning not photo copied reproductions. They do not have to be exclusively drawings or paintings, you can do collages, if you so choose, of different pictures. So long as the finished product is a unique work of art.

Be creative as you want to , just be careful not to build a 3-D sculpture as it may present problems when it comes time to mail your art.

The card should be of a business card consistency and thickness, though you can use water color paper, bristol, or even thin metals. Obviously you don't want to put your art on anything too brittle or flimsy! So use your own judgement.

You can work with any materials you like, pencils, paint, wax, glue, glitter, string, etc. So long as it fits in the sleeve.

Now if you are interested feel free to e- mail me at renaissancebull@aol.com, and I will give you my address so you know where to send your cards. And I can answer any other questions you may have. And I can give you some further mailing instructions to make this easy and fun for all!

ATC's Continued.

These are the cards I received in the two exchanges I participated in. Needless to say I was quite thrilled to have taken part in the trades but even more delighted to have this small collection of portable art for my very own.

The appeal is to get as much of your art out there travelling around the world, and to get as much of others work into your own private collection. It is fun and inspiring. And it is fairly inexpensive to do. The only real cost is the card sleeves which you can purchase at any toy store, art shop, or comic book store. And of course the postage.

But I think it is worth the expense and effort, to have such mini masterpieces to keep and cherish. And these exchanges , like these blogs, brings us closer together as an artistic community.

Artist Trading Cards - ATC's

Some of you may be familiar with this concept of ATC's ( Artist Trading Cards). If you are not then let me ellaborate. Basically you take a small card 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches. And you can paint, draw, or make little collages. But the basic idea is to produce a little mini masterpiece of your own work.

This has been going on world wide for many years. It has recently increased in popularity. Artists are trading these with other artists, and building rather unique collections of portable art. Very much the same idea as sports trading cards, only contoured to the art enthusiast.

I got interested in this when I was a member of an online artist community. One person volunteered to coordinate the exchange, and set a dead line for each. Then the participants would make there cards and mail them off to the coordinator. They would in turn arrange them fairly into sets, so that each participant got one set with a card from each artist.

The cards at the top were the sets I contributed to the two exchanges I participated in. It was a great deal of fun.

Natural Beauty from Niagra Falls.

Just a little slide show I thought would share, maybe some inspiration for future paintings! Enjoy!

The Mighty Niagra- Water, Fire and Lights!

I was feeling a little restless and decided to take a wee spin on the bike up to Niagra Falls. It is a place I remember from my childhood, and yet somehow as an adult, I almost didn't recognize it.

It has been almost 40 years since I was there last, and as I recall, I almost died. And no it was not from going over the falls in a barrel. I had gotten very ill and had a 107 degree fever. My family frantically cleaned out all the ice machines in the hotel we were staying at to give me a much needed deep freeze in the bathtub. So maybe that is the reason why my memory is a little foggy. But I doubt it.

I think what happens is that things seem more impressive and grandiose when you are young. As for the falls themselves, they are still cool to look at, but I can't say all that much for the surrounding area. It looks like it has seen better days. And as impressive as the falls are from either side, there really is not a whole lot to see there other than the various tourist traps, and they hardly measure up to the awe inspiring appeal of Mother Nature anyway or anyhow.

I decided to check out the falls at night, as I had often heard that they shine big colored lights on them. As an added bonus they were also planning a fireworks show for that night. So I was feeling most fortunate for being in the right place at the right time.

It was a fun trip over all, took lots of pictures and some video here and there. And decided to throw a little clip together so you can see some of what I was priviledged to experience first hand! Hope you enjoy!!!

Week 39 -40 DSFDF Challenge "Rower in Lake Michigan"

This weeks DSFDF Challenge hosted by Karin Jurick involves a woman rowing out on Lake Michigan. The challenge was to focus on rendering water, and hazy atmospheric conditions. But immediately I saw the expression on the woman's face and she seemed so forlorn. Like it was a pointless burden for her to be rowing in her boat.

This quickly led to me imagining her trapped in a snow globe, rowing in circles! Hopeless trapped in a pointless existence. Granted I took some artistic license with the globe, seeing as you wouldn't necessarily have ripples in the water below her if she was in an airtight, fully filled globe. But that is what I love about illustration, you can play around with the facts and reality. And if you know enough about me by now, I usually try and shoot for the visual gag, rather that adhere to the laws of physics.

An Illuminating Slide Show

This gives you a rough idea of the power involved in one of these strikes, pretty darn impressive! And such pretty colors too!