Inspiration

So here's the first of my lists on the art I love...
shismo mama, collage a day series, especially this one:

I like it because of it's simplicity and bold colours (especially the combination of pink and green).
The whole set of collages can be seen on flickr
There are many other colour combinations I like from this set:
turquoise and green
hot pink and blue

Now on to Claudine Hellmuth. Her collages are wonderful but these are the elements I particularly like:
hand drawn black lines
combination of fabric and paper
vintage, black and white photographs
whimsical elements like hats, bags and shoes

I love the use of fabric in this piece by Emily (the black apple). So much so in fact, that I bought a print of it.

A photograph of mine was featured in an exhibition in Switzerland

Well to be honest, I think everyone who uploads a photo to "We're all photographers now" gets their work shown. But I can legitimately say that I am an exhibited photographer now. :)

Here's a picture of my picture as it was shown in the installation.

Finding my style...

As I mentioned in an earlier post I'm now the owner of Claudine Hellmuth's second book, Collage discovery workshop: Beyond the unexpected. I love this book! Not only is it full of beautiful art, great techniques and inspiring ideas, Claudine also gives some advice on how to develop your own personal style. This is something I think many artists (am I really an artist? Hmmm, not so sure!) struggle with. And I am no exception. Looking back at my ATCs, they're so varied I can't really see a common thread that I can define as "my style". So here are a few ideas that I'm planning to try out so I can decide what I like, dislike, what suits me and what doesn't.

• Make lists of art that you enjoy- magazines, galleries, photos.
  
• Use the lists to define some essential concepts- texture, line, colours, themes.
• Experiment- make lots of art! Try making one piece of art a day.
  
• Keep a journal

So I'm going to start by making lots of lists, and will probably share them here as well.

I'd love to hear how you all found your personal styles as well, please leave a comment!

My Zetti ATCs

Well most of them have been received now so hopefully this won't spoil the surprise for anyone. Here are all 8 zettiology style cards I made for a swap on Craftster.
They're made with watercolour, black ink, crayons, colouring pencils and collage images. I'm really pleased with them :)

Counting...

3 lovely craft books from Amazon, 8 hours in the office today, 1 ATC posted today, 3 ATCs ready to post, 12 ATCs left to make, 2 3000 word assignments to write, 1 day of work left this week, 6 pancakes eaten this week, 6 days left in February, 2 songs downloaded, 3 Mother's day cards to make.

I'm sure there are lots more things to count but I'm tired. Rhi did it much better in her post...

Fabric mache

You wait ages for a post from me and then two come along at once! Well I just finished this ATC and wanted share it with you lot first...



I cut up lots of tiny squares of fabric and glued them down (mod podge again) in a random pattern. The picture is one of the vintage ones I picked up from my Mum's house. I'm not sure about the writing but other than that I love it!

I can't claim to be original with the idea though. Have a look at Emily's amazing artwork to see my inspiration and this post at mollychicken.

Postage stamp people

I finished these cards off earlier today for the "Postage stamp people" swap on atcards.com.



I hand drew the Geisha in black pen. Then I added a blue watercolour background and coloured them in with coloured pencils. I stuck on the stamps and added some Geisha hair details to them in black ink. I decided I wanted a little more texture on the backgrounds so I used mod podge and torn up bits of white tissue paper to cover some of the background and overlapping the drawing and stamp in some places. Then I used a sponge and brown stamping ink to add the brown ink to the tissue paper (once the mod podge was dry of course!).

Going through memories...

I went round my Mum's house the other night with my brother and we spent the whole time going through Granddad's photo box. We used to spend many an hour at his house looking through the photos even though even Granddad didn't know who a lot of the people were. So I came home from Mum's remembering old memories of my own, with some lovely photos of people I knew and some of people I'd never met and died long before I was even born. I'm planning to use some of them (scanned copies of course) for collages and the like. But here's a sneak preview of a couple of my favourites:

Me aged between two and three:



My Grandma and Great-grandma:



I love photos! Even photos of people I don't know just make me imagine what they're thinking and talking about, who they love and hate and where they live and work.

A fun meme

Pinky posted this meme on her blog so I thought I'd give it a go too!

Here's the deal, all the things in BOLD are what I have done. Feel free to have a go yourselves but I might just tag someone at the end as well...

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said “I love you” and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39.Had two hard drives for your computer.
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
42. Had an amazing friend
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them.
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an expert
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Eaten fugu (pufferfish)
89. Had a one-night stand
90. Gone to Thailand
91. Bought a house
92. Been in a combat zone
93. Buried one/both of your parents
94. Been on a cruise ship
95. Spoken more than one language fluently
96. Performed in Rocky Horror Picture Show
97. Raised children
98. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking.
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Ridden a bike
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states But then I don't live in the US so not hard for me that one!
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the paper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey
135. Selected one important author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Ok, I tag Rhi!

Busy busy

This week has flown by. My other half has been in South Africa all week on business and of course I miss him but I've been so busy that I was almost glad to have a week to myself if that makes sense? I love you my dear, if you're reading, but I think we work so well because we have our own spaces as well as a joint life. Hmmm I'm babbling, might be the two glasses of red wine I've had this evening in quick succession.

I started back on my part-time degree programme this week so that's Monday & Wednesday taken care of. Tuesday night was a leaving party for a guy from work- he's retrained to become a teacher. After 34 years with the same company he's decided to help "Silver Surfers" learn how to use computers and get on the Internet. And this evening my friend Ray came round and we chatted for three hours solid over hot chocolates about her upcoming wedding, families, relationships, jobs and everything in-between. We haven't met up for ages so it was lovely to see her.

Well it's late so I should take myself off to bed and look forward to seeing my gorgeous man tomorrow.

Some new artwork (ATCs of course!)

I've been making quite a few ATCs since my holiday (and before but I couldn't show them as they were for swaps).

Here are a set I made for a "Pick a theme" swap. Everyone chose a theme and each person in the group made each person a card for their theme.



Top row: Midwife, Charlie Brown & Mona Lisa quirky quips.
Middle row: Zetti animals & Dark circus
Bottom row: Medical

The next two "pairs" were for an Artists Choice swap. I chose Fairies & Women.





This one was for an ATC & Ephemera swap, we had to make a card out of the ephemera we were sending our partner:



I'm taking part in a Zetti swap (see Teesha Moore's website for more on Zettiology) on Craftster so I did a couple of "practice" cards last night in preparation!:



Here's the final card in my "love" collection ready for Valentine's day:



And finally in today's ATC dump is a set for a Vintage Fashions swap on atcards.com: