Artist Trading Cards

Life gets busy, and sometimes a big project is daunting.  That's when I discovered Artist Trading Cards.  I had never heard of ATC's before I stumbled onto them on craftster (home of all swappy goodness and source of crafty addictions).  They are always 2.5 x 3.5 inches, and relatively flat.  The idea is you make an original piece of art on one side, sign with your artist details on back, and trade for little samples of other peoples art.  Seems like multi media and collage are favoured approaches, but some are simple drawings, paintings, or even mini cross stitches.

I'm still finding my feet with these ATC's and I like some I make and others not as much.  I am enjoying playing with stamp pads, letters, and collage.  Stencils, stamps and linocuts are good toys in these little projects.

As with all craft swaps there's a mix of what you give and receive, it's like xmas with cousins you don't know, some gifts will fall flat and others will be unexpected wonders.  The ATC swap I participate in is a chain swap where you list your desired themes for the month, and claim other swappers and a theme from their list.  I've received a lot of great cards, and almost have enough awesome robot cards to frame a set.

So why talk about art when you can show it?  Here's a few favourites that I have made.

Felt Frankenstein

A cross stitch experiment

A dinosaur card for the swap, Orangosaurus, led to a whole set; Blusaurus, Yellowsaurus, Greensaurus.

I made a linocut of a leaf and then played with collage.  I did a few varieties and loved how they turned out.  Decided they had to be a set so I framed them and gave them to a dear friend.