Altered Art Playing Card Challenge - Weeks 11 & 12

I'm not behind. Really. I'm actually still ahead, but I got distracted by a week off from work and didn't post anything. So catch up... here's my week 11 & 12 cards. And here are links to Claudine's Week 11 and Week 12 posts. Obviously I didn't really go with the theme at all... although my week 11 cards do involve snow.

The first one is simple - just acrylic paint and a quote from Tolkien. Notice the snow on the mountains and the trees... :-)

The second one is just silly and I love it. It speaks for itself.

Now on to week 12... These are two that I had made a few weeks ago so they have nothing to do with the week 12 theme. They are both acrylic paint... and the second one is another on the mesh background. 

Altered Art Playing Card Challenge - Week 10

Week 10 of the challenge is here. I have to admit that taking part in this has bumped up my creativity for a lot of things. I started working on a quilt a few weeks ago (it's been in progress for over 10 years - horrible, I know), I have multiple Christmas decoration projects underway, I've been doing random paintings on canvas, and I turned a book into a box a couple nights ago (it's not totally done, but it'll be awesome when it is). I am having so much fun and it feels good to be covered in glue and paint.

On to the cards. Claudine's cards for this week were totally whimsical and fun - see them here. Not remotely my style, but I figured I'd give it a shot and came up with this card. The background is watercolor with some doodles. The face is bits from a couple magazines and I drew the eyes/nose piece.

This second one the picture is from the book I destroyed the other day - it's got lots of fun little illustrations and this one fit my quote in a weird way. Background is watercolor pencil, watercolored.

Random Mixed Media

The other night I felt like doing something artsy. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do so I figured I'd experiment a little with some unfamiliar mediums. In October, I went to a painting thing at my Mom's church (like Cocktails and Canvas, but Cupcakes and Canvas instead). It was fun, but the painting just didn't turn out right. I thought about tweaking it but then I just went in a totally different direction.

And it was FUN!

Since I'm working on this altered playing card project, I've been wanting to find a way to put a quote on a card without stamping it directly, but also without all the extra white - I wanted it to be clear. I saw somewhere that you can stamp on tissue paper then use Mod Podge and the tissue paper kind of disappeared. So that's how this started. I stamped something and slapped it onto the canvas. And it worked! And then I got totally carried away and my original experiment is buried under everything just like the original painting.

I grabbed colored tissue paper out of my wrapping paper stash, cut it into squares and started gluing. Or Podging, as it were. I added some washi tape then sprayed a couple different colors of spray ink around. I've never used that tape before so I didn't realize that it wouldn't take color (possibly the brand I used? Or maybe all of them are like that?) So I took the tape off, then I glued on some lace from my fabric stash. I used some stencils and some gesso to add the squares, flowers, and swirlys. So here's what it looked like at that point.

The next day, I painted the gesso'd areas, added random acrylic paint, and added the words. Then I painted on the words too. It was fun... so I did a couple more, but I'll write about them later.

This is my finished result. If I stare at it just right I can see my original painting buried under there, but if you don't know, you might not see it. In person, it's a bit sparkly because some of the acrylics are metallic but it just doesn't show up right in pictures.

Altered Art Playing Card Challenge - Week 9

For my week 9 cards from Claudine's challenge, I back tracked a little for technique and theme. Also, during the week off instead of playing catch up I got a bit ahead so I've got four more cards done already. I also had the chance to work on some quilting and other art projects so it was a good week. I should post some of that other stuff too...

Anyway, week 9 cards. This first one I used metallic acrylics for the background and left a spot of white space. White space is not something I normally do. I have the same problem doing Zentangle type stuff - I always try to fill every space but I'm learning that white space can have a purpose. The butterfly I drew and cut out then scored a bit between the wings and body so the wings could be raised off the card.

This second card I love. The background is all acrylic paint. The trees are too - I painted the trunks and leaves on card stock then cut them out. I had a blast doing the leaves - I cut around my paint as close as possible then did little snips to make them more palm tree like. Between the snips and the paint, the texture turned out great and I love the result.

Altered Art Playing Card Challenge - Week 8

Week 8 of the Altered Art Playing Card Challenge and I'm still actively participating! That's a good sign, I think. Perhaps this is actually a project that I will finish. I'm horrible at finishing things... or I pick up a new hobby and go at it non-stop for a while and completely stop. I like doing these cards though because they're small and relatively easy to finish in one sitting.

Anyway, this first card is another I finished a couple weeks ago, but it fits pretty well with the theme of the week. Also, it's one of my favorites so far. The background is acrylic paint, the heart I cut out of cardstock and then painted with metallic acrylic. The road is lined with white gel pen.

On the second one I used a Recollections marker for the sky. Nothing fancy. The buildings I cut out of cardstock, added windows with a silver gel pen, and windows/doors on the houses with a black micron.

Altered Art Playing Card Challenge - Week 7

This last week was a wee bit crazy so I'll be honest... I completed these cards a couple weeks ago. I got a little ahead of myself and figured I'd save them for a week without time or inspiration. Since they were done early I didn't use any of the cool techniques that Claudia used for week 7 - these are much more simple and not sea themed at all.

Both cards have the mesh in the background and both cards used alcohol inks for the main colors. I added detail in acrylic paint, micron pen, and white gel pen. Nothing too complicated but I think they turned out alright.

Altered Art Playing Card Challenge - Week 6

This week Claudine did some really cute Halloween cards - here. But... I'm still sticking with my travel theme and I'm really bad at doing holidays. So... here are my cards for week 6.

This first one has the mesh background, I used alcohol inks for the main colors, then touches of acrylic, a sharpie, and a silver gel pen.

I LOVE this second one. I am generally a perfectionist when it comes to art and I had to let go of a lot over the last couple years to move on artistically. Once I accepted that I am just not the type to paint something that looks exactly real, it made things a lot easier and I'm enjoying the results. The background is acrylic paint and I just kind of smudged the darker green trees with a brush, the car was a stamp from Michaels with touch-up from a white gel pen and a black micron pen. The driver is a random sticker that I had in my collection.

Altered Art Playing Card Challenge - Week 5

On to week 5 of the Altered Art Playing Card Challenge from Claudine's Art Corner. Since a lot of these materials are new to me I've had a few backgrounds not quite work out how I'd like. When that happens I set the cards off to the side and do another... then I just leave them in my workspace to stare at them until something pops into my head.

When doing the first step with gesso, I added some mesh-tulle-like stuff onto about 10 of my cards. The week where alcohol inks were used for the background I added some to one of those cards and it turned out really cool, but it wasn't what I wanted for that week. So this is mesh, alcohol inks, acrylic paint, an old world map stamp, sharpie, and white gel pen.

This second card just started out with a blue acrylic background because I accidentally pushed too much paint out when I was working on something else. Then I added some fluffy cloud-ish swirls. The words are torn out of a dictionary and I dyed the paper blue with alcohol ink - it was a total experiment and to be honest I was surprised at how well it worked. I really like the alcohol inks because they don't warp paper like water based products.

Altered Art Playing Card Challenge - Week 4

Back again for week 4 of the challenge. I got some of my ducks in a row last week so I already had one of these almost done. The other was inspired by one of Claudine's cards for this week - check them out here.

This first one has so many layers I'm not sure I even remember. It started out with spray inks and passport stamps... then I decided I didn't like the color so I added something else and made it worse. So I sanded it down a little, added some more color (acrylic paint) and re-stamped the passport stamps.

This second one was fun. I liked Claudine's houses on her week 4 example and it fit perfectly with one the quotes I wanted to use. This one is pretty basic - acrylic background, hand drawn house and tree both painted with acrylics... and a quote. But it turned out pretty cute.

Altered Art Playing Card Challenge - Week 3

I realized after I posted last week that I totally forgot to give credit to Claudine, the talented lady who has given this challenge. Check out her blog here - http://claudinesartcorner.blogspot.com/ and there is a link to the playing card challenge on the right.

I'm having a lot of fun doing these so far. I have more ideas in my head than I know what to do with. But since I'm a bit new at this, they don't always translate to the cards as well as I'd hoped. I have a few with weird backgrounds and I've just been staring at them hoping that inspiration will pop into my head. I know it will.

Onwards!

Here are my two cards for this week. This first one started with a weirder background using alcohol inks. I'd never used them before and they're pretty funky to work with. This was red and yellow swirls and the longer I stared at it the more I saw a brick wall. So I added a mix of brown and red acrylic paint and added the grout lines with a white gel pen.

This second one is a little bit milky way. I used metallic and regular acrylics for the background and a white gel pen for the stars. Due to the metallic it didn't really photograph well, the stars are more visible. To be totally honest, I'm not sure it's done, I kind of feel like it's missing something.

Altered Art Playing Card Challenge - Week 1 and 2

So I've been gone for way too long once again. I have some tangles that I may post later, but for now... new project... new source of inspiration. My hubby's aunt posted a link to an Altered Art Playing Card Challenge and I thought that it looked like a good way to get into altered art... because, hey... I need one more hobby, right?  In any case, so far I love it! We're doing two cards a week, but all these ideas popped into my head so I've kind of sketched out a bunch already. Plus, two cards a week should be easy to get done, so away we go.

First step was to prep all the cards. Most of them I just used gesso with various textures, but some of them I put some mesh (kind of like tulle, but not really) onto the cards for an extra bit of I-wonder-how-this-will-turn-out punch.

My mind has been on travel quite a bit lately and when I saw this challenge, that's the theme that popped into my head. All my cards will be travel and here are my first two. The one on the left I used metallic acrylic paints for the background. The cityscape I found online, cropped it, printed it, then cut it out by hand - yikes! The one on the right I used Dylusions Ink Spray for the background and stamps for the feet.

I am really enjoying the project so far. I will be doing a couple things differently for future cards though. To be honest, I'm not sure what I was thinking... I used regular printer paper for the words, the cityscape, and the heart. I used Modge Podge Matte to glue everything down. And let's just say... the ink on the right really doesn't work well with the Modge Podge - I think it's just too wet. Plus my words got a bit warped - again, too wet. So my card stock is now sitting by the printer so I don't forget.

On to the next two!

Seriously?

I had no idea it had been so long since my last post. I got completely distracted over the holidays and just never got back to doing anything. I have done some drawing but not nearly enough. I'll have to get some stuff posted one of these days.

In the meantime, here is one in progress.  It needs some shading and I haven't been able to get to it yet.

A few doodles...

This week seemed super long. I'm not sure why, it wasn't particularly bad or anything, just seemed to drag. When I sat down to draw this week, I drew a curvy line to start a string and it turned into this...

Anxiety - by Angie Wallace

So I'm guessing that's how I felt this week since that's what came out of my head for a random doodle.

This one is for the diva challenge this week. Possibly due to the feelings illustrated above, or maybe for some other reason, I wasn't particularly inspired by the designs, but I did it anyway because that's the whole point of a challenge.

Flaming flowers - by Angie Wallace

I figured I would try a second one to see if I could come up with something else, but when I started to draw again my mind was completely blank and this is what came out of that session.

Trickle - by Angie Wallace

Drawing tiny circles is relaxing. Is that weird?

Pointillism

This week has been awesome. The weather is finally starting to chill out and it's starting to feel a bit like fall... at least in the mornings. I've actually been able to drive to and from work without turning on the air conditioning so that's a good thing. It still doesn't feel like mid-October though - I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the non-seasons of living in Arizona.

This week the diva's challenge was to use pointillism. I have tried this in the past but never really stuck with it because it seems to bother my wrist after too long. I ended up doing three smaller tiles this week, although the last one isn't finished.

This was the first one I completed... geometric with shading.

Geo - by Angie Wallace

For this second one I just started doing random shapes and I really like the way it turned out.

Swirly - by Angie Wallace

My last one isn't finished yet - I think I should add some plants and flowers or something but I'm not sure yet, so it will get finished later. It's actually on a 6x6 tile but I cropped the photo since there's nothing else on the page yet.

This last picture isn't mine, but I figured this would be a good place to show it off. The quality of my picture isn't great, but it's one of my favorite pieces. My friend Sarah, who I've been friends with for almost 30 years, made this in high school and gave it to me for my frog collection. She used pointillism with micron pens and prisma color for the eyes.

Frogs by Sarah Babcock Dudley

Challenge Accepted

This week we've been catching up on How I Met Your Mother season 8, so I wrote the title in the voice of Barney Stinson.

Moving on...

Today I learned that even though tangling/doodling/whatevering is supposed to be relaxing... it isn't if your husband is super frustrated at a video game and keeps snapping at the TV. "What??!!" "Oh, come ON!"  Yea... just doesn't work for me. In spite of that fun, I did manage to finish yet another Diva Challenge on time! Whoohoo!

This weeks challenge was to use the 8s Parte Dos pattern. I tend to stay away from patterns this complex because at some point it becomes work instead of play. The perfectionist in my wants everything to be in exactly the right spot. So I admit to cheating a little with this one - I drew a grid on my paper before putting the dots down in ink. I couldn't help myself. Once the dots were down, I erased my pencil lines and drew in the curves so it looked like this...

The beginning...

I finished that part on Thursday. Then I just stared at it for a day with no idea where to go next. Again, the perfectionist in me didn't want to mess it up... yes, even though in this type of thing there is no such thing as mistakes. Ongoing battle. Anywho... this is what I ended up with and I really like the results.

Complex Ain't So Bad - by Angie Wallace

Maybe complex patterns aren't that bad after all...

Diva Challenge #138

Two weeks in a row! It's probably a record. It's been a nice relaxing week. My folks came for a visit and we did some sightseeing and hung out. They took off on Thursday morning and hubby and me had appointments to go to. Yesterday though... nothing on the schedule, no plans whatsoever... and I finally had a whole day where I could stay in my pajamas. Yes, all day. It was lovely. We caught up on some shows and I finished a couple doodles.

So here are the two I completed for the Diva Challenge this week. This first one is the second one I finished - 3x3 tile using micron pens and watercolor pencils.

Borders 2 - by Angie Wallace

This one is my favorite of the two. Used micron pens and an HB pencil for shading. Before the shading I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I really like the results.

Borders 1 - by Angie Wallace

Diva Challenge #137

I finally did one! On time! I had drawn a partial string on a page and decided to use it for this one. So here is my entry for the diva challenge #137. I don't ever use Knightsbridge because it IS a checkerboard and I'm just not sure why they had to name it something else. And it takes a lot of ink to fill in all those squares.

#137 - by Angie Wallace

And here's another one that I did throughout the week a couple sections at a time.

Wonky Fingerprint - by Angie Wallace

Another month...

Another month has gone by already? Man, I am horrible at this. I could say that I'll get better, but I'm making no promises. Years ago, I used to write every day, sometimes multiple times a day. Lately, I tend to write in my head and never get it down on paper.

It's been a long week. But it's Friday! And I'm on vacation for the next week. And my folks are coming to visit! Should be a nice, awesome, and relaxing time away from work. I doubt that I'll have a very productive day today, but that's alright.

As far as art goes, I've been working on a few things. I still have more butterfly photos to post, but haven't had time to finish editing them. No, that's a lie. I've had time, but some days (lately, most days) I just don't want to look at a computer after work. So the good news there, is that I've been doodling a little more. I'm working on a full page doodle, just because I wanted to. Also working up a world map for the stories that me and the hubby are slowly starting write. That has been a challenge because I really want it to be perfect... but it's my first time trying to create something like this, so it's taking FOREVER. Me and my perfection... grrr.

These are the last two doodles that I finished. The first one contains one of my favorite sentences - the alternative to the quick brown fox.

A to Z - by Angie Wallace

The second one I started as yet another not turned in diva challenge. I really ought to get some of them done on time. Or posted on time. Or completed. I'm such a procrastinator. Used a pink pen - mainly because it had the most ink left. The color doesn't translate well when scanned or photographed, so this is super edited, but the pattern is more important than the actual color.

Pink Tipple - by Angie Wallace

Anywho... back to the grind.

Butterflies

One of my other hobbies is photography, but I haven't been doing much of it the last few years. A couple weeks ago I visited the new butterfly pavilion in Scottsdale - Butterfly Wonderland - and it was awesome! I'm still sorting through my pictures - I took over 500 shots and most of them are out of focus or only have part of a butterfly or were taken a second after the dang thing flew away. As my Dad would say, good thing film is cheap!

Anyway, here are a few that I've sorted and processed. I don't do a lot of post-processing so what I saw is what you get!

Butterfly 2 by Angie Wallace

Butterfly 8 by Angie Wallace

Butterfly 13 by Angie Wallace

Butterfly 26 by Angie Wallace

Butterfly 45 by Angie Wallace

Catching up...

Actually I wonder if I'll ever catch up... I have been working on stuff and even finishing stuff, just not very quickly... and then I never seem to take the time to sit down and scan stuff in... So here's a glob of things I've finished over the last month. I have two larger projects started, but I'm not ready to post them yet.

This first one was is just random barber polls. Messing around with color.

Barber by Angie Wallace

This one was going to be a diva challenge submission... Used random pens that I had in my art drawer. Turned out ok I think.

Primary by Angie Wallace

This one I did during a conference call at work. Just used a ballpoint pen, so it's officially just a doodle.

Squiggles by Angie Wallace

This one I really like. I haven't done a lot where I didn't try to fill the whole page so my aim was to just stick to one side of my string.

Borderline by Angie Wallace

That's all for now... and hopefully someday I'll get my act together and start posting stuff when it's actually done.