All-Types-Of-Art-A-Thon

ATCsforAll.com is having an All-Types-Of-Art-A-Thon this weekend, which is basically just an excuse to get everyone creating whatever kind of art they like and going crazy with the trading. Normally when an "A-Thon" is hosted there is a theme, either a medium or a product type, like a Collage-A-Thon where everything you make that weekend is collaged or a Chunky-A-Thon when you can use any medium you like to make 4x4 chunky pages.

I like to participate in these when I have time because it's good to have a thread with lots of activity and you can do a LOT of trading in the weekend. I didn't find out about this A-Thon until Saturday night though, so have only had Sunday to create art. Was really productive this morning and got 5 cards done but then went shopping and have been fighting with the internet to get these loaded since then. I still have ironing to do tonight so not sure if I'll get any more done or not.

Card 51/365: Marsh Sunset Acrylics

I received a very positive response to the Marsh Sunset piece I did in watercolours so decided to try it in acrylics. I'm not sure which one I like best. Ben thinks the watercolours looks like a sunrise and the acrylics like a sunset. I think they just reflect how badly I paint from reference pictures. LOL

Card 52/365: Oranges

I had a 6x6 page drawn up with the theme of 'Orange', basically a lot of images that were orange. Drew it in 2007 but then the other person didn't want to trade so I never actually coloured it. Decided I was sick of it sitting around so picked out the oranges above and the flower and butterfly below and turned them into ATCs.

Card 53/365: Orange Butterfly and Flower

Since I was doing the A-Thon I thought this would be the perfect chance to catch up on the 5 missing cards for Project 365. I'll be very happy if I go into month three only a couple of cards off target! This folk-house card is based on a lovely notepaper design someone sent to me, I think it's adorable.

Card 54/365: Folk House

Last card from this morning is a cute little flowerpot. I'm not sure what kind of flower they are exactly. :)

Card 55/365: Flowerpot

Project 365 - Random Themes

I've been creating some random one-off pieces with no real linking theme for Project 365 the past few days. Stayed in the slightly stylistic vein as the last three.

Card 48/365: Butterfly and Flower

I'd made the background for this one at a stamping samples class. Found it while cleaning my desk and thought I'd trim it down and turn it into an ATC.

Card 49/ 365: Love Quote

And just for something that is a total change of pace I decided to try to do a landscape in watercolours. I think I'm still better using acrylics at the moment, I just can't get watercolours to blend like I want them too. Still, pretty happy with how this one turned out.

Card 50/365: Marsh Sunset Watercolours.

All of the cards posted today are available to trade at this stage.

Watercolour Whimsy ATCs

So I cleaned my desk today and discovered that I had purchased a set of 12 watercolour paints at some stage in the past. I think it might have been just before I decided that acylics were the paints for me. LOL Anyway, thought I'd try my hand at a few quick whimsical style cards. There were some problems before I got the technique right.

Card 45/365: Whimsical Heart

The design for this first one is based on a lovely hand-made card I received from Debby. It was originally all watercolour, but I didn't realise that when you paint a new layer over an old colour with watercolours they actually blend. So rather than a lovely blue colour for the bars I ended up with a murky green. Had to turn to acrylics to fix that mess up.

Card 46/365: Whimsical Sun

The second card went quite a bit better. Ran into a bit of trouble when I mixed the blue with the white in the pack which actually thickens the paint and I wasn't expecting that. The problem was then trying to get the black outline over the top of the paint, I think I've ruined a couple of pens with this piece. Still, I really like the finished effect.

Card 47/365: Whimsical Flower

For this last one I finally had the revelation that when working with watercolours you can do the inking FIRST and just lay the paint down over the top. I'm too used to acrylics where that technique doesn't work. This had the added benefit of letting me erase the pencil lines before painting over them.

Anyway, I figure that's not a bad effort for one day. We're getting closer to the 100th post and the blog giveaway so keep your eyes pealed. Also, don't forget the stop by ATCsforAll.com and see what I have available to trade, I'm getting too many available cards doing Project 365.

Grover from Sesame Street

I went to Seaworld today and got to have my photo taken hugging Grover! (I told Elmo I didn't want him in the photo LOL) It's hard to explain how happy this made me but I think my smile conveys the message. To understand why I'm this happy you would have to know about my slight Grover obsession:

Above you can see some of the Grover toys I have in Melbourne (there are more in QLD) and some of the different books I have which star Grover. Of course, now that I have a picture of me and Grover I can finally create a scrapbook LO dedicated to this obsession. Because that's what normal people do, right? :)

Project 365 - More ATCs

Two more ATC's for Project 365 (clink the button on the sidebar if you want more info). First one is mixed media - acrylic paint, cut out image, paper flowers. Second one is a Zentangle which I've had half-done for ages. Good to finally get that one finished.

Card 43/ 365: Mixed Media Vase

Card 44/365: Love Zentangle

More Figure Study Cards

Turns our I had a couple of reference images already printed out for these figure studies so I finished another two cards last night. Looks like I'll be signing up for the swap. :)

Card 41/365: Figure Study 3

Card 42/365: Figure Study 2

Figure Study 1 ATC

There is a swap going on at ATCsForAll.com which is for hand drawn or painted figure studies. I've always thought human figure studies had a certain beauty to them but wasn't game to try any myself. I had so much fun painting the different skin tones on my passion/love/soulmate cards that I thought I'd give a figure study a try. I must say that the shading was a lot easier since I purchased an extra skin coloured paint that's a shade in between the two I previously had. :) If I can russle up another two I like I'll join the swap.

Card 40/365: Figure Study 1

An another topic, this is post number 90 to my blog. I'm planning on celebrating with a giveaway when I reach 100 so keep your eyes peeled. I also noticed that I'm now up to 13 watchers so hello to the couple of new people. Also wanted to point out that quite a few of these Project 365 cards are available to trade. If you see something you like, check to see if it's in my available gallery and ask for a trade. :)

Project 365 - Catch Up Cards

Just a few non-specific cards I created on Sunday to try and catch up with Project 365. I'm still a bit behind, but not as far as I was in danger of becoming.

Card 37/365: Orc Maiden

Card 38/ 365: Flying Monkey

Card 39/ 365: Japanese Mountain

Mixed Media Mermaids

I had these mermaid images cut out from a napkin ages ago and just hadn't gotten around the creating cards with them. After all the hand-drawn and painted ATCs I've been making recently I just felt like it was time to do some mixed media work again.

Card 34/ 365: Mixed Media Mermaid 1

Card 35/ 365: Mised Media Mermaid 2

Card 36/365: Mixed Media Mermaid 3

Funky Mermaid ATCs

I'm taking part in a swap for funky mermaid ATCs and these are what I came up with. The first one is based losely on a tigerfish, the second is a gothic Orca mermaid and the third is an asian koi mermaid.

Cards 31, 32, 33/365: Funky Mermaids.

Project 365 - Koi

Here are my cards for the Koi and Pond swap over at AtcsForAll.com. This sees me at only 7 cards behind target again. :)

Card 27/365: Koi 4

Card 28/365: Koi 3

Card 29/365: Koi 2

Card 30/365: Koi 1

Project 365 - Crimson Rosella in Acrylics

I have no idea how this occured, but I think I may be happier with my acrylic work than with my pencil work. This is quite strange considering that I've been working in pencils for 4-5 years now and only started doing acrylic paint work in the past few months. Maybe it's still just the newness factor that makes me like them more? Anyway, here is another Crimson Rosella in acrlic paints. I really do love these birds.

Card 26/365: Crimson Rosella in Acrylics II

Wanna win a scene?

How adorable is the chipboard collection above?! I want to win in, so I'm posting a blog post here to be entered into the comp. Want your own chance to win this or a beach scene? Check out The Paintbrush goes Spotty. Leanne has a great range of chipboard available and creates some stunning scrapbooking LO's.