Markers

Ok, this one was a bit of a challenge, for this swap over at iATCs I could only use markers. I hadn't joined but I was doodling on some blank pieces of card while waiting for some webpages to upload -my internet has been ssssslllllooooooowwwwww lately- and I came up with a couple of ladies.

I decided to try my hand at markers and started coloring the details, the hair, the backgrounds....and then I realized that in my big box of El Cheapo markers there weren't any markers suitable enough for coloring the skin, I wasn't going to let this stop me for joining this swap so I used a trick I picked up from another fabulous blogger (who I have lost in cyber space...cannot find her anywhere), I colored over an empty plastic bag trying to get a nice puddle of ink and then I used a brush and some water to pick up the color like watercolors and applied it to the card.

A couple of things to think about:

* Make sure that your previous colored areas don't get wet because the water might leave a mark on it.

* My paper was not fit for watercolors...so I had a hard time telling the right amount of water to use -the paper soaked too much water and looked darker before it dried completely. I highly suggest using watercolor paper.

* This will obviously not work with permanent markers -so put those Sharpies away! they need to be water based for the technique to work.

Sparkling Butterflies

Here are a couple of ATCs I made during the weekend for two artists. The top one is for a trade over at Atcs for All and the bottom one is for Anita over at iATCs -who by the way does extremely lovely jewelry, go drool over some of her beauties in her blog.
I'm getting some awesome heart ATCs in exchange for these :)

I used watercolors on both of these and added some sparkle using my metallic acrylic paints. The top one was outlined with silver metallic paint and the bottom one was outlined with black ink.
I just love butterflies and how easy it is to make them look whimsical and fanciful.

13 Minutes

There is this very cool swap over at iATCs called the 13 minute swap. You need to create your cards in 13 minutes or less, that 13 minute part is the one that really freaked me out...but I still decided to give it a shot.
All my cards were done with watercolors and finished with black ink for the details and I quite like the results. It was difficult to stop fidgeting with the cards, I wanted to keep adding more and more details! The really positive of this swap is the fact that I did not stress over it; I decided to give it a try, work on my cards and sign up when they were done.
I chose landscapes because it's an easy enough theme to put in paper, I just drew some very basic reference lines and did the rest with the watercolors. Try it out, you might surprise yourself with the results you get!

Love Hate

I realized last week that I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed with stuff lately and that this has been draining my energy to create art. I decided I needed to change that, so now I try to have positive thoughts and just focus on having fun with my art.

I worked on these CDs during the weekend, they are old CDs where I added canvas paper on top and used my acrylics there...

Acrylics and I have a love/hate relationship, whenever I start painting with acrylics I start doubting myself and feeling like throwing everything away because I don't like how things are looking; it's always difficult to switch from media to media and change the techniques I need to use to apply with each project...that's the hate part. The love part comes when I finally remember how to work and things start shaping the way I want them to :)

To finish these ones I added a couple of magnets in the back and they'll be around my fridge until I'm ready to send them.

Boxes

One of my best friends has this obsession with boxes; she owns a lot of them in different colors, styles, and materials and has a very hard time saying no to a box when she sees one. I worked on 2 boxes last weekend with different techniques and materials and they will be hard to let go when I post them on their way.

This one is a wooden box measuring 8"x6" and done with acrylics and inks. There is a very nice blue metallic shine in the sky, but of course the camera couldn't pick that up. The inside has 3 compartments and the bottom of them were covered with some oriental fabric I got in a trade.
This box is metal and I worked on pastel paper and soft pastels to create this scene of the entrance of Antigua Guatemala. I sealed it with spray, but since I know the lid will be constantly manipulated I added 2 layers of clear varnish on top...I was SCARED to death while doing this, because I thought the colors would smudge, but luckily they held up and the lid has a lovely shine to it.

I spent all day yesterday working with old CDs to create fridge magnets. I managed to finish 3, I'll have to complete the last one later today and then I'll post the pics.

Graphite Kick

It seems I got stuck in a graphite loop the last couple of days. Here are 4 ATCs I made for a Pick-a-Theme swap over at iATCs. I absolutely love PAT swaps because I get to do different cards and I get my choice of cards in return; this time I ended up with a group that had requested animal theme cards and I'm getting butterflies in return. It was a nice change to go back to graphite for a while, but at the end I was pretty tired of the grayscale... I did work in 3 different projects yesterday afternoon, but they are part of a trade and I cannot post them until my partners get them so the surprise isn't spoiled :)

Strong Women, Strong Ideas

I got hit by a ton of stuff the last couple of days which drained my energy a big way...

It all started a week ago when I COULD NOT get any sleep because of the toothache from hell...really, I took 3 different pills and they did not do a darn thing, I managed to fall asleep at 4 am and I had to get up and go to work just 2 hours later.

The next night I was obviously dead tired and went to sleep pretty early just to be awaken by my bed shaking at 2 am; at first I thought it was my dog jumping into my bed, but then I realized that this wasn't that simple...it turned out to be the effects of the Honduras earthquake which made the earth shake for more than 40 seconds. Try to get some sleep after that...

I got a return visit from the toothache on Friday morning and as much as I dislike visiting the dentist I finally accepted that this was not going away and spent my Friday afternoon, Saturday afternoon, and Tuesday afternoon going through a root canal procedure...on top of that, there's the added bonust that I had no extra cash lying around for this...

Ok, I'll stop the complaints now... Here are 2 cards I made when I felt the need of some relaxing. They have some text in the background, different acrylics textures and a magazine transparency done with some clear tape, and ink.