Valentine Art

Valentines by Phillip Hoyle, 2016

I suspect my strong Reformed traditional upbringing has made me suspicious of Saint Days. More than that my rocky relationship with romance has made me shy away from Valentines. Also I never liked those hard candy hearts with the stamped messages like BE MINE or I LUV U. They didn't taste good! I got closer to Valentines Day when I got adult rich chocolate candies. 

ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2016

Looking from an artistic point of view, making Valentines was okay. I'm sure it was my introduction to collage art although my approach has never been Victorian, trimmed in lace and sentiment. 

This year I made Artist Trading Cards using hearts and zebra stripes. What? Safari Love? Who knows. Shiny hearts in almost holographic paper. Printed craft papers. I moved away form the sentimental towards design and had fun. I used some of the ATCs to make greeting cards for Jim and Ruth. 

I didn't get to the ATC swap at CORE on Saturday to see what others were doing. I'm sure most of the cards traded probably were related to the theme of Star Wars. Still I hope my designs will be seen as strong enough to get traded sometime next week.

ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2016

I do hope you had a happy Valentines Day.

Denver, 2016