Christmas Cards Galore

Christmas Cards printed on Gel plate with stincils. Golden Open paint.
Monoprints by Phillip Hoyle 2016

I am so pleased to tell you I got fifty cards done. Then I counted how many I needed and found I could have stopped at thirty or forty! Oh well, I went at it with enthusiasm and kept experimenting with my techniques. 

Each of the cards is different from the others. And they come in two basic ideas. Those above are prints made directly onto the card stock. They have a very modern look. I hope the folk who get them will appreciate what they get!

The other basic design was to print on pages from an old German Lutheran Hymnbook. I used the same gel plate and stincils. I glued the prints onto the card stock. 

Cards with hymn page prints made on gel plates and glued on cards.
Monoprints by Phillip Hoyle, 2016

Then the other jobs: writing the greeting for inside, printing it, gluing the pages into the cards, signing each card, updating the address list, writing the return address on each envelope, and then going through the list hoping to get each address correct and legible. I am so happy to be almost done with the process. 

I made more Artist Trading Cards using the same stincils and suspect you will find some here next Monday. 

Happy Holidays.

Denver, 2016

Christmas Art

Prints made on gel plate on Advent pages from old hymnal
Phillip  Hoyle 2016

Every year I wonder just what artistic things will happen to welcome Christmas. I start imagining, sketching, and gathering possible materials for cards, larger pieces of art, Artist Trading Cards, and other pieces on related themes. So far this year I've made prints on card stock, old pages from a 19th Century German hymnal, monoprints, stincils, collages, and the like for a Christmas card. I've printed on many kinds of paper to see just what will work. I'm already gluing pieces together and writing down some ideas for a general greeting. And, of course, I feel like I am running out of time. 

Monoprint using stincil on gel plate.
Print on envelope.
Phillip Hoyle 2016

But I'm having fun and will begin a new Art Journal featuring holy people. I haven't limited my idea yet and so have no sure aim at ancient or contemporary, a single religious tradition or something eucmenical, people or symbols. But I remind myself that journals do not need to be overly planned. they need to respond to the turns of a day or a week. Journals reflect a journey. They log progress and regress. They express just what is happening at the time. 

Print on freezer paper
Phillip Hoyle 2016

I hope to present you with great variety in the coming weeks. Again, thanks for your responses. The old year flees, the new year approaches. Celebrate both with art and love.

Denver, 2016

Printing Frenzy

Print by Phillip Hoyle 2016

Finally I'm back to printing and mixed media with a fall theme. I picked up and pressed elm leaves, cotton wood leaves, grape leaves, and several kinds of maple leaves. I've been printing them and enhancing the prints with Prisma color pencils. I'm exploiting the over abundance of leaves and the use of a couple of Gelli plates using Golden OPEN acyrlics.

Following the instruction from my art friend Sue, I'm working like a mad man, printing, layering, printing on top of prints, having a ball of it in celebration of the methods and the season of falling leaves. I have picked up large and small leaves, sticks, grasses, and hope to keep up myenergy until I use up too much paint and paper. Of course that will only send me to the shelves to find more paper, old envelopes, stray scraps, on and on. 

Leaf Prints by Phillip Hoyle 2016

I do wish I had a better camera and scanner but you get the idea. This week I also started printing on maps and other paintings and prints. Who knows where this will lead me. I'm having fun. That always seems the best motivation for doing art, at least for me. 

Hope you are engaged with some process and finding enjoyment with the multi-colored autumn. Sadly, it looks like the season is about to end even though the calendar promises another month! By then we'll be decorated and I may be influenced by holiday designs and colors! 

December 2016

WHEELS Artist Trading Cards

Wheels ATCs Phillip Hoyle, 2016

For years I enjoyed having a car. Now for years I’ve enjoyed NOT having a car. Last weekend’s ATC trade featured the theme wheels. That’s just right for me, a change from upkeep and expense to a simple celebration of designs. I tore and cut varied wheel figures out of 1950s and 60s LIFE Magazines and created eighteen tiny ATCs—a mix of color (black, white, and red), of techniques (monoprints, collage, and drawing), of materials (printed images, acrylic paint, ink, rice paper, mat board grounds, and glue), and of artistic ideas (contrast, layering, abstraction, design, etc.).

I felt quite pleased with my cards and gleefully traded them with a dozen other folk. The conversations sparkled, a surprisingly intense sun warmed the scene, and artistic discussions made for an especially creative time together on a Saturday morning.

Denver, 2016

Wheels ATC 2016

Writing, Writing, Writing

12-year old Phillip in photo for BSA month celebrating
the American Indian subtext of Scout life. It was the
front page spread in February, scouting month and
shows my Indian costumes recalling all the fun we had
camping out there on the creek while working at home
in the city dreaming. 

I'm writing a lot these days, so much as to bite seriously into my art studio time. Still, I consider writing one of my arts so I am taking advantage of a Writers Workshop being held just two blocks from the house. My topic relates to my childhood and its fantasies and values related to my Grandparents' farm out on Clarks Creek south east of Junction City, KS where I grew up.

The place fostered plenty of images for my boyhood, ones that related to place, family stories, Boy Scout outings, and hours of reading books from the public library. I was a youngster serious about his fantasies. Now I'm an old man still serious about them but now as topics and stories to be written. And I admit, I still sometimes work with feathers and glue as I do mixed media pieces of art.

Denver 2016

Quoth the Raven

Raven ATCs, Phillip Hoyle 2016

Finally Halloween has arrived! I've been stuck on those images for weeks and will enjoy moving on. But I wanted you to see a few raven cards. I think they actually look more interesting and even a bit ominous in hand than in these scans, but that's the way things go. 

I took 29 Halloween cards to last Thursday's trade. As usual the Halloween theme prompts artists to create many bizarre things. Mine usually look a bit tame. Guess it's all in the imagination, but I took plenty of creepy spiders and several of these large black birds. And I came home with funny and frightening images for which I traded. 

Halloween ATC's, Phillip Hoyle 2016

Tonight I am preparing to hand out lots of candy. Last year we had over ninety begging 'Trick or Treaters' come to the door. We're expecting a big group this year since the weather is so mild. 

Denver, 2016

More Halloween Artist Trading Cards

ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2016

My ATC fever for Halloween has led me down creepy ways. Here I say “boo” or simply scream loudly to unsettle my artistic reluctance. But I did make more cards. I suspect you will see even more next week. I stuck with spiders and hope to make something of ravens. Check out this latter idea on Halloween.

The black and orange backgrounds were made from crepe paper that I wadded up and glued onto matboard scraps. I used glue stick and then a wooden roller to make sure the thin paper adhered. Then I drew with jell inks and glued a few other things on them. And I enjoyed the work.

Hope your Halloween plans are leading you into both fright and frolic. Make both artistic.

Denver, 2016

Out of Focus ATC
Phillip Hoyle 2016

Halloween Arts and Crafts

Halloween ATC by Phillip Hoyle 2016

I'm sorry to be so late and to have such a craftsy ATC to show. I'm hard at the work but am making backgrounds for some spiders that are more complex and more artsy! Also I will be making some ravens that I hope will be more omnious than this little spider fellow.

But what do you expect with googly eyes. Sometimes children come to the trades. Perhaps one of them will want this googly eyed spider with an eye for a body. I showed it last night to a friend who said she loved it! Art. Does anyone really know how it works for us? As soon as I finish the eighteen or more pieces I've begun, I'll have to do the front porch. I have a couple of boxes of goodies to choose from. Probably I'll work in all of them. Hope you are making your plans for receiving the neighborhood hobgoblins.

Oh what an October.

Denver, 2016

Halloween Artist Trading Cards

Artist Trading Cards by Phillip Hoyle 2016

The people I trade cards with seem to be crazy about Halloween, so much so that both groups I trade with have the same October theme: Halloween or Day of the Dead. Every year!

I knew what to expect but always wonder what I will care to do. I'm not particularly interested in scary things. Perhaps I'm just too nervous for that. Like a couple of other years I decided to make spiders. Looking online for images I thought, among other selections, to click on orange--orange spiders, that is. So I could have Halloween spiders. 

The trade went well. I returned home with only one of my own spiders plus quite a few cards made by others in the group. Ghouls, goblins, jack-o-lanterns, skeletons, and much more. I'm happy for it will help get me in the mood to decorate the front porch and room in preparation for all the little ghouls and goblins that will ring the doorbell on October 31. And when they ring the bell, a hairy grey spider will drop from its perch to startle them.

More spiders by Phillip Hoyle 2016

Happy Halloween. You have only three weeks to get ready for tricks or treats.

Denver, 2016

The Art of Ageing

I Used to be Young. Phillip Hoyle way back then.

I don’t know why people freak out over getting old. I suspect they may be worshipping at the Shrine of Madison Avenue, a power so great that in the span of a couple of hours of TV watching promises the worshipper a plan to get over the fear of running out of money in retirement, others for long life, clear skin, non-wrinkly skin, beauty, medicines to counter every ill, all for dedication to the eternal worship of youthfulness. This menu doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t believe a bit of it! Deceitful is the god that promises eternal youth. The TV shrine can never deliver its promise since Chronos keeps ticking away at the same rate for everyone: for young, middle aged, and elders, even those of great old age. Crisis over old age seems most likely if one doesn’t look into the promises and judge the reality of eternal youth. Talk about a religious scam. We hear, “Just buy our product.” That’s like, “Send us your money and we’ll pray for you,” the line of too many TV evangelists. Or was that “…and we’ll prey on you”?

I’m old. When I was turning 25 I realized I would be old someday. I also knew that 30 would not be the end of the world and my life, and so I decided then that at 50 would be old, the time I would enter the final third of my expected survival to age 75. I announced that on my 25th birthday to my surprised co-workers. We laughed together, but I was serious.

So when I get old… Oh, Chronos just reminded me; that happened 17 ½ years ago according to my standard.

And I wonder: what have I learned since that time? Here’s a partial list:

I can live well on very little money.
I can thrive in a very small space.
I can feed myself—meaning shop for, cook, and still lift the spoon to my mouth.
I learned I can retire, to cut back on my productivity (even though that productivity in my adulthood occurred in the service arena).
I learned I can still lead a group, still write a story, still paint a picture, still love my friends, still support my family, still help out folk I don’t even know by contributing to their welfare, and still maintain my own vital life.

I’m going to have to say something here about “when I get old, old.” That will take imagination because if I last beyond 75, I’ll be getting closer that that categorization and will have to think out a plan!

I’ll do the things I’ve discussed above. Plus I’ll hope to find someone to listen to my stories of the good ol’ days. I’ll hope someone will accompany me to my favorite museums—you know push the wheelchair. I’ll hope not to become a terrible burden on my family or society. If I can’t walk, I’ll still hope to be able to think!

Of course, I don’t know. So right now I’m saying through my writing and painting what I want to say. I do it with a sense of purpose and hope for the world my kids, grand kids, and great grand kids will live in. I express my ideas in ways I hope others will find helpful—at least pleasing or entertaining. I think that’s enough; I sure do hope so. Life goes on even if it is not my life. Eventually may I be caught up in the great mystical one however it may be described or may actually occur.

Denver 2016

Rivers and Bridges Artist Trading Cards

Artist Trading Cards, Phillip Hoyle, 2016

Bridges was the topic for last week's Artist Trading Cards workshop and swap. The pieces were clever, artistic, and varied. Conversations sparkled, snacks satisfied, but most of all the artists had fun working together and trading the results. Everyone got to go home with at least one of their new pieces. 

I went with no new pieces but traded some others and then got to work on something related to Bridges. When I got home I was inspired to do more and finished nine more cards three days later. You can see the kind of things I did here. Under the influence of some other artists who mess with maps cutting them apart and then glued them back together in an amazing number of ways, I messed with maps (acrylic washes rubbed on with paper towel) and cut out rivers that I collaged and emphasized with black lines. Think of these cards as abstracts. They were great fun to make. 

Artist Trading Cards, Phillip Hoyle, 2016

I continue to celebrate Artist Trading Cards as a novel size for doing fine artwork. They don't require much space and come in at very low cost. Just don't throw away any scraps and make them into tiny art. Have fun. Join us. Look up Artist Trading Cards, Make them and trade them, Denver. Something like that! 

Second Saturdays at 10:00 - noon. Fourth Thursdays 7-10 pm or so. Both up-coming events celebrate Halloween and Day of the Day. You won't believe the variety. Add yours.

Art Intentions

Getting Ready! 

For several weeks I've felt like I am caught in an artistic slump. At such times I think about old arguments contrasting artistic process with artistic output. I believe the origins of the discussion is really educational theory, and it is a good way to look at my situation. 

For me, artistic process includes any number of activities. The only thing that has slowed down is my work in the visual arts. When this happens I recall years ago when I was making collages from magazine pieces and was always suspicious of my color selections, I'd lay out the pieces I was planning to use and look at them for several days or even weeks. I wanted to give my eye time to really see the interactions of the colors before I committed myself to glue. I'm sure I just couldn't get the gumption gathered to engage in the sometimes tedious act of gluing. BUT I'm not making excuses, simply describing.

My current stalled project includes lino block printing on a variety of prepared papers. I've messed with it over several months and finally selected some colors, maps, brushes, inks, on and on. I'm not quite sure my block cut is finished. Hopefully I'll have some finished piece to show next week. I remain hopeful and while my mind keeps at solving visual projects, I keep writing stories. And telling them.

Denver, 2016

International Artist Trading Cards

ATCs international theme Phillip Hoyle 2016

Last week I didn't make beautiful Artist Trading Cards although some had beautiful colors, others had good design, I liked some, but there were no flowers or peaceful images. "International" took me to maps and a look at the world in terms of borders and the transgression of borders. I traded most of the cards on Thursday so am showing the one no one thought to take plus one more I made since. 

I'm afraid my take on "International" is worried over conflict and fear, feelings probably related to it being an election year. At least I am showing emotion! Art needs that.

I enjoyed the ATC swap/make/and swap at the One Man Band Art Studios of Jerry Simpson. As usual the group of fourteen traders and card makers provided great entertainment, food, socializing, and inspiration. Hope you found some interesting art to brighten your life.

Denver, 2016

Storyteller

My favorite childhood storyteller: Grandpa
surrounded by his favorite listeners

Sometimes following Sunday dinner, Grandpa would go to the pie safe on the back porch and remove an old cigar box. He would dig through its treasures to find an item for a story. His cache included flint arrowheads, knives, and tomahawks he had picked up in the fields below the house. The box also contained rattles from several rattlesnakes he had killed over the years. That day Grandpa asked me to make a choice for the story. Of course I chose the largest set of rattles.

My sisters and I gathered around eager to hear Grandpa’s story. He told of a large timber rattler he encountered one summer day near a spring. Using a sharpshooter spade, he dug open the spring to fill a jug with its cold water to share with fellow harvesters. As he started walking from the spring, the snake struck but hit the shovel rather than Grandpa’s leg. Surprised and scared, he dropped his jug and tried to retreat, but there was neither space nor time.

Grandpa paused. We watched as he rolled up his sleeves and flexed the muscles of his arms. He said, “That old thing was as big around as my forearm and six feet long, and it was recoiling to strike again.” Grandpa’s arm moved quickly as if to strike us. Of course, we jumped; one sister screamed. He killed that huge serpent with the spade. “I threw the shovel like a spear,” he said, “and then cut off its head, and these.” He held up the rattles. I thrilled at the story and shivered when he shook the rattles, but I always felt safe walking around the fields and pastures with him. I knew Grandpa’s strong arms would keep me from harm.

© 2016 Denver An excerpt from "Milagro" prepared for reading at The Write Age Writers Workshop

Artist Trading Cards on Wood

Wood related ATC collages, 2016
Monoprints with collage

Although I used no actual wood in the ATCs I prepared for a swap meet last weekend at CORE Gallery, I did use a variety of wood images from a number of magazines, working them into designs that seemed to honor the given topic. I felt pleased with the results--at least most of them. 

On Friday evening I was reminded of the change of hours for the meeting at the gallery and sadly was unable to accommodate the time. I'll save these cards until the next swap and workshop and enjoy whatever "wood" items others have ready to trade. 

I read last week that the first display of ATCs was in an art gallery in Zurich, Switzerland. Three artists made the cards. An invitation went out to other artists to bring their own cards and trade. Thus the display kept changing due to the swaps and a world-wide movement began. The trade at CORE gallery was the first such event in the United States. 

"Wood" theme collages ATCs 2016

Denver, 2016

Jazz Festival

The Pavilion at Denver's City Park last weekend

Last weekend’s concert of City Park Jazz Festival ended the 2016 season of ten free to-the-public Sunday night concerts. I was pleased to have attended all ten performances. The weather has run from hot to chilly, from so dry as to parch one’s lips to dripping rain ( although we never did get an all-out rainfall this year as I recall it.)

The variety of bands met the usual high standard and this music was several times supplemented by short concerts from local high school jazz groups before the scheduled concert began.

Beautiful cloud formations add to the park's atmosphere.

I have again been reminded that music has permeated my family life. Dad was a church musician and played jazz standards with great style. He had played in a band that performed at a local hotel almost every Saturday night. On their off nights they would drive to other towns in Kansas to perform. Of course he would be at church early the next morning to play for Sunday school or a service. I grew up knowing hymns, anthems, service music, and jazz. Although I gave up my own work in music some years ago, I have replaced that with listening to lots of live music—mostly jazz—here in Denver. What a life in retirement! And sometimes I still hear a choral concert or symphony orchestra.

Long live music, and may I never lose my hearing!

Denver, 2016

Artist Trading Cards Some Gems

Artist Trading Cards by Phillip Hoyle 2016

I got an Honorable Mention for some of my ATCs at The Denver County Fair last weekend. Getting a ribbon was a first for me in a visual arts competition. I suspect it will keep me focused on the tiny art approach in the year to come. But my interest goes far beyond winning any kind of award. For me the rewards of ATCs has mostly to do with the good friendship I have been enjoying among artists I trade with and make cards alongside. 

I especially liked the judge's comments on the panel of nine ATCs that won the prize. According the the evaluation my sheet included several "little gems." The judge didn't indicate which ones, so in this post I'm showing the cards I judge to be my little gems. 

Maybe you could make your own gems and come trade the with me at CORE Gallery (2nd Saturdays at 10:00). Check online for listings of this and several other Denver ATC swaps and workshops. Join in the fun. You could even save your cards--some of the ones you make--and enter them into next year's county fair.

Artist Trading Cards by Phillip Hoyle 2016

Oh, sorry to be so late posting this. Thanks for looking and reading.

Denver, 2016

Denver County Fair Art

Three ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2016
The theme is arrows. The backgrounds I used were cut from the paper
that covered the tables at our ATC booth at the county fair 2015.

This week I will go to the Denver County Fair. It runs from Friday through Sunday at the National Western Stock Show Education building. I've entered several things into the very affordable art show--two sheets of Artist Trading Cards (a total of 18 ATCs) and a small mixed media piece, the one of the Wild Flowers I posted in this blog several weeks ago. My main motive to go to the fair, though, is to help with the interactive display related to ATCs, a booth with tables, supplies, and the free entertainment of getting folks--adults, teens, and children--to learn about and to make cards. We also tell them about a number of swaps they might be interested to join. They can stay as long as they want and make as many cards as pleases them. It's all free and fun.

I also like hanging out with artist friends. One day I go to the fair just to see all the sights and activities with a friend, an annual event of ours. 

ATC "Arrows" by Phillip Hoyle 2016

If you go to the fair, join us. 

Long live art and friendship.





Denver 2016

Mixed Media ATCs

"Feather" ATCs by Phillip Hoyle, 2016

The theme for an upcoming ATC swap took me back to my childhood fascination with feathers. Back then I was making American Indian costumes with feather roaches and bustles. I rather lusted after eagle feathers although, of course, I could not have real ones since I am not Native. I did order some fake ones but they never really satisfied. 

I am rather satisfied with some of my eagle feather ATCs, a group of a dozen mixed media cards I made. The grounds are acrylic washes on heavy water color paper. The feathers are medium heavy mixed media paper cutouts with details in Prismacolor (shades of brown and black). I had seen an old photo in a brochure from the Denver Public Library that seemed to call me back into the past, a rather tough looking warrior of the plains printed in sepia. So I studied his feathers and you can see what I learned!

Eagle feather mixed media ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2106

Denver 2016

The Thrill of Collage

A set of collage ATCs made at one 2-hour workshop
by Phillip Hoyle.

When I was thirty years old I began doing artwork for myself, something much more than simply planning activities for children in the various programs I was running related to our church. I wanted to hang on our apartment a rubbing of a petroglyph, a rubbing I had made with crayon on newsprint, but when I got them out they seemed ugly. I knew I would have to do something artistic with my rubbings in order to hang them for display. So I bought boards and markers and paint and glue and carefully began to construct collages with these materials. I was rather pleased, even surprised at the things I thought up to do. 

When I ran out of rubbings I still wanted to make collages and so turned to magazine pieces. I worked in many different ways and eventually even looked in books for more ideas. That went on for quite a few years. And then I began painting. Oh the works often involved collage as well as paint. I learned from teachers and improved my ability to do this work.

When I began making Artist Trading Cards about four years ago, I found my favorite approach is to make tiny collages. I use scraps of paper, cuttings from magazines, ephemera, paint, markers, pencils, pens, on and on. And these 2.5 x 3.5 pieces of art work inspire more freedom of design. They often become design work for larger pieces using different materials. And people like to collect them from like I enjoy collecting theirs as well. 

Give it a try and then find someone to trade cards with.

Denver 2016 

The Write Age

Young boy at the farm with cows

A couple of weeks ago I started attending a writers’ workshop. Why? Well for years I’ve been writing—creative writing. I gave up on the academic writing at age 33 and began writing curriculum resources, first my own resources for programs I planned and then for a publisher. Eventually I decided I wanted to write a memoir about a kid whose grandparents lived on a farm that he grew to love. He didn’t want to live on it or to farm it. He just loved it for how it inspired his imagination—that and for the stories his mom, grandma, and grandpa told him about the place. 

“The Write Age” eight-week workshop is the first actual course I have taken since Written Communications 101 and 102. It is the first creative writing course I have ever signed up for. In it I hope to learn from our leaders and other participants the things that will enable me to write what I have wanted to write for nearly thirty years.

Kids watching swallows swoop over the barnyard

“The Write Age” is a cooperative program of the Denver Parks and Recreation Division, The Light House (a Denver writing school), and the Denver Council on Ageing. I’m pleased to be a part of this new workshop.


Denver, 2016

Zodiacal Musings and Art

Upside/Downsies ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2016
Sorry about them being shown at a further angle.

According to the Zodiac, I’m a Cancerian. That’s more interesting to other people than it is to me. Still, as an artist and writer, I am always looking for metaphors with which to express myself.

When Upside/Downsies was drawn as the topic for Artist Trading Cards I pondered just what I might make. I made nine cards in which the view from a window revealed a lake reflecting a landscape or cityscape. The support across the middle of the window divided the scene at the shoreline, but the pieces were placed in upside/down order. The reflection appeared in the upper portion of the window, and the image being reflected in the lower. I thought some of the cards were interesting.

My Zodiac 69 ATCs. Phillip Hoyle 2016

But I didn’t quit there. I made more cards of the numbers 6 and 9. It seemed significant to me because besides being upside/down in relationship with each other, together they make 69, my birthday. I chose to emulate Art Deco numeral fonts. Hope you like both kinds of cards. Hopefully they won’t all get traded. I’d like to keep one each for my memories of upside down aspects of reality and of my own life!

Denver, 2016

Art Prints of Old Figures

Small prints, Phillip Hoyle 2016

You may remember these figures from past posts on this blog. I’ve used them several times. The other day I had printing fever and started grabbing more and more partly used or long rejected papers to print on. They worked! In one afternoon I made over twenty successful prints. I don’t always have enough presence of mind or stamina to do so, but I had set things up ahead of time and had set out papers for a set of Artist Trading Cards. 

Small prints, Phillip Hoyle 2016

I printed the small prints shown here while I was in my frenzy. These old designs of Native North American petroglyphs and the ancient Chinese yin and yang magical symbol brought me the deepest joy. The figures are small but the impact seemed large to me. Hope you enjoy them too.

Denver, 2016

Artist Trading Cards 'The Orient'

Monthly I attend two ATC swap groups and was pleased when the second group got a topic similar to one the first group had about three months ago. The Orient would allow me to use up some collage items I had collected for Asian Inspired. Such good luck! Glad I didn’t blithely throw away my unused pieces. (Confession: I have before.) 

This time, though, I did make different approaches to the cards although I used Japanese, Chinese, and south-east Asian images. Plus, a couple of weeks ago I collected papers from chop sticks at a Chinese restaurant where we ate.
Most important, I recalled a technique my sisters learned from a Japanese neighbor when we were children, a simple way to make bamboo images. I got out some inks and began trying with varying results and success. I was pleased to dig back into my memory for something I had not done for decades, around six or more decades

Lotus ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2016

As usual the trade was fun, the other artists there engaging, the sense of community satisfying. What more good side effects can one wish from a simple activity of making and trading tiny pieces of art. (The cards are 2.5 x 3.5 inches.) Hope you are having fun too!

Denver, 2016

Wildflower Art

Wild Beauties by Phillip Hoyle 2016
Mixed media with acrylic monoprint, ink,
color pencil, and acrylic painting. 

My fascination with wildflowers continues alongside my interest in art printing, drawing, color explorations, and mixed media. This week I completed a painting, even to the point of cutting mats and framing it in an old frame. (Somehow framing seems like the final act for me.) The piece portrays some California wildflowers, Colomia Grandiflora, the latest of my interests! I haven’t seen them in person, but I may need to take a trip to California to see their grand variety of wildflowers. No plans have been set. I’m pretty sure I’ll need to do more drawings in Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri before I make that trek.

Anyway I decided to put these beauties on a monoprint I made from my late tape-prints passion. I’m pleased especially with my endurance. My transfer of the design was difficult to see given the texture of the paint of the monoprint, but I persisted until I could see it and filled in the stems and some of the leaves to lead the way. Hope you enjoy this picture that measures 10.5 x 7.25”. I mounted it on a medium blue mat, cut a second mat of bright white, and put it in a simple modern looking dark oak frame.

Denver 2016

Artist Trading Cards of Tape

Add caption

Last Thursday I enjoyed a wonderful evening in the studio of Jerry Simpson at an Artist Trading Card "Trade 'em; Make 'em and Trade 'em." Well something like that. The evening began with trades of cards made with tape. I used tape to make print plates which I then printed onto printing paper. Then I collaged various other things into the result. Pictured are three cards that I called "Taped Music" that used cutouts from an old German hymnbook. 

Other people showed once again the vast world of ideas and applications. I traded my cards for others make from tape. Some used commercial tapes simply but artistically taped to the cards. Others were more adventuresome in ways I cannot adequately describe. One artist made monoprints, another collages, another mixed media with wrapped tape around tiny frames with dolls inside. You'd have to see them. As always the ideas seemed endless and the company even more than fine. 

Denver, 2016

Printing from Tapes

Tape and acrylic paint by Phillip Hoyle 2016

An experiment with making prints off of tape left me with an interesting piece of art. I adhered masking tape, artists tape, electrician tape, Scotch tape and a few other tapes to a couple of pieces of board in order to make some Artist Trading Cards. I put the paint directly from the tubes onto the tape-covered board and rolled away with my brayer. By the time I cleaned it all up, I had printed quite a few cards--some to make ATCs, others to serve as backgrounds for more ATCs, some I don't quite know what to do with. AND I have from one of my tape plates this nice horizontal piece of art measuring 4" x 11". The rolled-on acrylic paints made interesting fluid designs to contrast with the rigid marks of the tapes themselves. 

Sometimes an artist just lucks out. I guess I'll keep this one for myself. May you have good luck in your artistic efforts.

Denver, 2016 

Birch Bark Art Cards

I got the idea from my grandson Matthew. He found birch bark pieces on the grass where we were staying in Kansas City a few weeks ago and cut out a card on which he wrote a thank you note to his grandma who was hosting us at a beautiful hotel.

I saw more bark scraps on the grass and, following his initiative, collected some for several experiments of my own.

The birch bark in these cards was printed on my little copy machine. Then I found an unusual petroglyph from Ojibwe country where native folk used to make birch bark canoes. (Some still make them.) I cut a block and printed an approximation of the petroglyph onto the prints.

I’m sure I’ll trade them soon if I haven’t already done so when you read this! (Most of them traded on Saturday at CORE New Art Space monthly swap.)

The source of my idea!

I love art and even more than that I love doing artwork. And I love my many artistic grandchildren! 

Denver 2016

Back to Art Work: New Artist Trading Cards

Colorado Flora Artist Trading Cards
Phillip Hoyle 2016

Due to a terrible combination of a cold, seasonal allergies, and who knows what all, I did not make my trip to Missouri last week. I haven’t been walking around prairies and forests of Mid-MO to draw plants. Since I promised something, though, I did make four ATC cards of Colorado wildflowers. Actually they represent the only artwork I have accomplished in the past four weeks—the longest stretch of not doing the work (the work of art) I have had in years and years.

I went to work and made some rather interesting cards with rather interesting results. At least I think so!

I am quite a bit better and am making a modest comeback into the world of flora art working on mono-print backgrounds with an assortment of pens and Prismacolor pencils. I have many other plans for projects and hope I continue my recovery. Who knows what will happen.

Then, before long, I’ll have to take up family responsibilities and see what’s happening in Missouri.

I hope you have a good week. Do something artful or at least artsy.

Colorado wildflowers
Artist Trading Cards Phillip Hoyle 2016

Denver 2016