Artist Trading Cards

African Drums Artist Trading Cards prints with mixed media by Phillip Hoyle

I had fun printing and then finishing with collage and various pens a set of thirty Artist Trading Cards. I printed on pieces of cut up paintings--some finished, others just in process when I gave up on them. I started with a simple drum shape and printed several cards. Then I added a turtle design and printed more. Then I made the block into a mask and made another six cards. Finally I kept removing parts of the block until I had only the outline of a drum and its head. I printed these black on a several more cards. Some of them got ornamented with designs, the others simply with lines and a tiny bit of design near the bottom. 

Drum ATCs by Phillip Hoyle

I made these rather elaborate (though tiny, 3 1/2" x 2 1/2") pieces of art to please myself. Of course I'll trade most of them, but my purpose was to make drums that satisfied and entertained me. They were also part of my 68th birthday festivities, the part of those festivities I held in my studio.

Denver, 2015

Note Cards, Greeting Cards, Artist Trading Cards Galore

When I last worked at the Colorado Mountain Art Gallery in Georgetown, I looked and looked for my greeting and note cards display but couldn't find them anywhere. Okay, I said to myself, calm down and get logical. I looked more and still didn't see them. 

Later, when I was not looking for them and walked by the display for the umpteenth time, I spotted them, plain as day, right on a jewelry display case. It's sometimes difficult to see things when you know they are not there! Now they're in a great spot, and since locating them I've sold two boxes of note cards. And the rude thing about it is that I've got to get to work on some new ones! 

My plans: I've got these cards--probably a few more prints off older blocks, two big bunches of floral cards which I have begun, and of course, Christmas cards! I'm busy drawing, preparing grounds, purchasing supplies, and getting ready for at least three projects! I hope to take some new note cards to the Gallery in about two weeks when I next work there.

Nothing like a deadline to get this artist moving.

Hope you're having a wonderful summer of art and fun!

Denver, 2015

It's a Whale

Three whale-themed cards of mine that went to design.
Whale ATCs by Phillip Hoyle

Whales was the topic for the Artist Trading Cards swap last Saturday, a two hour event bringing together Denver artists for socializing and trading artwork. Cards were traded one for one by about a dozen artists, most of them showing their latest creations related to whales. 

I was pleased to trade about thirty cards. That means folk got more than my whales and I got more than theirs! The variety of work and the wonderful conversations made the time involved more than worthwhile. These trades are just plain fun! 

Think about joining a trading group near you. Go on line and type in Artist Trading Cards and the name of your town, city, or county. You'll be surprised. And if you join in the fun, you'll be surprised at the variety making cards will bring to your artwork. Working in miniature (cards are 2 1/2" x 3 1/2") can become a great medium for experimenting. And artists don't have to give up larger works in order to share their work with one another.

Denver, 2015

Photo Realism

White is not really a color I need to remember
but sometimes intricate shapes do need
clarifying.

I have little interest in photo realism as a painting approach, but I have learned in my projects related to flowers to use the camera to record the colors of my subjects. While in Missouri last month to draw flowers I also took photographs of many of them to help me recall with some semblance of reality the color of the blossoms and sometimes the shades of green in stems and leaves. 

I had a good time drawing and then photographing flowers in four different locations even though I looked at several others. I wonder now if I didn't have my camera with me then. 

Shades of green often escape my memory.
Now I have this guide.

In a couple of weeks I'll start making the pieces of mixed media art for my Wildflowers of Missouri project working from my drawings. I'm not interested in providing technical, scientific drawings but rather to move toward some kind of abstraction related to the flowers. I'll follow the advice of one of my teachers suggested about plants. "Draw them over and over again until they quit being flowers and become lines." That's my goal and I'll use the photos for color references as I move into this project. Probably you will see some of them in this blog and hopefully soon.

Just this closing note: below you can see photos of my consulting companions during my treks across meadows and into the woods.

Denver, 2015