Christmas Spirit Artist Trading Cards

Holly and Ivy Design for Christmas Cards
Phillip Hoyle 2017

As soon as Halloween was done I started to work on--the thinking part of artwork--a Christmas design I could use on a card. I decided I'd again do a Holly and Ivy design after the old song but one that would contrast with another one I'd done years ago and contrast with the kind of printing I have done the past two years. I returned to relief printing and looked at leaves I have collected and pressed and consulted Google. Eventually drew and decided to cut it on a soft tile.

I needed at least forty cards and decided also to make a few other prints. So around the preparations for Thanksgiving I cut and began to print. I also made quite a few Artist Trading Cards from the design, able to get two cards from each printing. 

Christmas Cards 2017

I'm looking through assorted frames for me other prints on contrasting backgrounds. 

Print on previously prepared bubble print
Phillip Hoyle, 2017

Merry art making for a merry Christmas.

Moon Artist Trading Cards

Moons behind classic Roman figures, ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2017

The trade and workshop last week was a delight. One artist prepared a CD of “Moon” music that played as we worked, and of course all of the recordings had the word Moon in the titles. We heard music from pop, rock, folk, and jazz genres. There were even some songs that asked for a sing-along.

A more graphic spproach. ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2017

Of course the conversations were a delight. It’s so good for artist to get together to work on their projects. The opening trade of “Moon” theme cards provided varieties of interpretations. Watching one another work stimulated conversation on techniques, products, ideas, and a lot of silliness. 

With ten people present the challenge was to create ten cards. The tenth one leaves one for the artist.

This week I began another project and last night cut a plate for printing. It’s not yet anything to see, but by next week I’ll give you a peek. I’m making Holiday greeting cards and feel like I’m a week ahead. Of course, that all depends on how the printing goes. That is always a bit unpredictable. I’m looking forward to several evenings printing and printing.

Artist Trading Cards of More Predators

Two ATCs of those owl night predators. The designs are a tribute
to Native American artists of times past. Phillip Hoyle 2017

The ATC swap at CORE New Art Space Saturday was a delight. Three new participants brought cards to trade. Their work was nice: one photographic, one strong design work, one beautiful and surprising technically. And there were the regular characters with their humor and wonderful tiny pieces of art. In all the group’s work was related to the topic but none of the trading seemed to take advantage of another.

Eagle in the style of a Wyoming petroglyph site
Phillip Hoyle 2017

For me, one of the nicest things about Artist Trading Cards is that they are traded one card for one card. One does not have to trade but we all do because in our group each artist has a distinctive style or approach to the suggested topic. And there is the freedom that no one has to make their pieces to the topic.

Mountain Lion and Weasel petroglyphs
American southwest  Phillip Hoyle 2017

Now I’m started on my next set of ATCs. The topic is Moon. You can imagine what all we’ll see on Thursday night. I can hardly wait.

Predator Artist Trading Cards

Birds of Prey after a Wyoming group of Petroglyphs
Prints by Phillip Hoyle 2017

Just as I was feeling relief at ending the creepy images of Halloween, I saw our next theme was Predators. The images continue! I knew I needed to get away from aggressive spiders so made a list of animals that are categorized as predators. I narrowed the list to North American animals and decided to cut blocks and print more Native American inspired petroglyphs. Somehow the petroglyph seems more friendly to me than the tooth and claw images of grizzlies catching salmon or lions running down and breaking the necks of their prey.

More Predator ATCs for the trade. Phillip Hoyle, 2017

I printed on commercial papers that I then mounted on card stock. Many Thai papers take the prints easily. I used soft, easy-to-carve blocks available at art and craft supply outlets. The emphasis is on design, its easy transfer, the careful cutting, and the colors of the ground that will be the color of the carved figure. I like that the paint (I used Golden OPEN) application is like the weathering of the rocks like most of the petroglyphs on sandstone in Western American deserts. 

Enjoy these benign predator images that probably symbolized personal power or valor in hunting societies. Maybe there is a bear in you. 

Halloween Artist Trading Cards

ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2017

The past five years I have been hanging out with artists who have a visual interest in the dark side that I don’t share. Of course, I’ve been around long enough to have my own dark times: the taste of depression, grief over deaths of relatives and loved ones, the end of a fine marriage, leaving a rewarding career, and continuing concerns over the wellbeing of ex-wife, kids, and grandkids. I’ve been with many other people through their losses.

But I don’t like the horrors of Halloween, haunted houses, scare stories, and things that go BOO in dark places. Something in my body says NO to these images that thrill others. I am rather Pollyanna-ish but still I know life is more than the bright side of things.

Eclipse Spider ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2017

My Artist Trading Cards for this October did involve a lot of dark images—the lunar eclipse, many black widow spiders, even white spiders on black backgrounds. I combined these spiders with some Day of the Dead skulls but avoided the walking dead, bloody fangs, and other such dark images.

Ghosts in my library ATC by Phillip Hoyle 2017

Oh, I do realize the power of the dark but choose to walk on the sunny side of the street in full knowledge that the sun is present only one half of the time. I accept the balance but still I would rather laugh and play within the full sun of loving relationships. In my teenage associations with Native Americans I learned to dance in full daylight to celebrate the eternal mysteries and the beauty of costumed movement. I’ve learned also to dance in the dark to seek a certain kind of mystical intimacy with a partner, to hide certain aspects of communication that seem too precious for open view. But even then I want a candle shining in the dark like a beacon of love, life and, of course, laughter. I like to giggle in the dark.

Laughter—light or manic or simply jolly—leads me to worship Luna as well as Helios, but the cult I most pursue is that of Apollo. Welcome to my sun on this dark eve.

©30 October 2017

ATCs Ones I'm not going to trade

White Spider ATC by Phillip Hoyle 2017

When I go to the Artist Trading Card workshop this week, I am not taking this card. I'll call it my no-trade card. I've made lots of spiders to trade this October. In fact, most of the 45 cards I'm taking this week are spiders. But when I finished this card, I decided to keep it.

Most of my spiders are black, their bodies treated with a craft product, Glossy Accents (available in craft stores near you). The clear acrylic creates a 3-D look. The spiders look like they're ready to crawl off the page onto your hand. That's kind of Halloween creepy to me. they are fun to drw on a variety of backgrounds.

Last month I tore out a bunch of ads from magazines to treat variously for making ATC college grounds for cards I was approaching without a real plan. Among them ws a man's black pinstripe suit. Last week while looking at it I decided to cut it into triangles to fit together. It was fun to create and looked nice to me. With spiders on my brain I decided to imagine it as a web of sorts and draw a white spider on it. My research has discovered spiders in an amazing array of colors. I liked this one so much I decided to keep it for myself.

Halloween ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2017

Among other cards I made in the past week, ghosts came back into the picture and other new spiders. So I will trade "Giant Ghost House" and "The Three Creeps." 

And I look forward to the costumed neighbors who next week will be begging at our door for treats. Perhaps their costumes will inspire new Halloween art for next fall. Have fun. I'm planning to do so. Oh, take time to make an ATC or two and find someone to trade with.

I save a few cards, at least one a month, to enter into the Artist Trading Cards display at the Denver County Fair Art Show.

Creepy Artist Trading Cards

Ghost in my Bed ATCs, Phillip Hoyle 2017

Although my ATCs tend not to be very creepy, a lot of other artists made very creepy cards. I like humor over gore wuss that I am. I was a childhood fan of Casper the Friendly Ghost although I also liked the designs of the bad boy ghosts who caused him trouble. I'm sure it's a quirk of personality. But I was happy to trade about 30 cards on Saturday at CORE New Art Space. The artists really love October for its Halloween and Day of the Dead themes using the same themes each year.

Eclipse Spider ATCs, Phillip Hoyle 2017

Walking up 17th Avenue on the solar eclipse day I noticed strange and beautiful shadows on the sidewalks. Luckily I had my camera and so took shots up to Clarkson then down the alley and on up 16th Avenue. I realized the designs were the shape of the sun as the eclipse continued to make it smaller and smaller. I was thrilled to see the eclipse a hundred times at a glance while never threatening my already weak eyes. I began taking the photos to make backgrounds for spiders. Here are a few of them that I traded on Saturday. Oh, Happy Halloween. It's just over two weeks away!

Ghosts in my Library, Phillip Hoyle 2017

Halloween Artist Trading Cards

Artist Trading Cards mixing Halloween and Day of the Dead images
mixed media Phillip Hoyle, 2017

Here we go again, making preparations for two Halloween and Day of the Dead ATC swap meets. I'm trying to stay ahead of the game since both have the same theme. That demands more cards, but I anticipate the high level of participation and excitement. In these two Denver groups these themes seem to be the most enthusiastically awaited. I know some people have been working for weeks!

ATCs in mixed media. Phillip Hoyle, 2017

I too have been working. I copied the lining to some old shorts I was giving away, ones with Day of the Dead lining, then made generations of copies on printing paper. Then I made a sheet of spider web drawings and copied it over the first copies. After mounting and cutting them into ATC size (2.5x3.5") I used ink to draw an assortment of spiders from the Halloween eerie tradition. 
I even drew several spiders from the backyard. Enjoy.

Artist Trading Card Collages

This Gorgon ATC is kind of creepy, a foretaste
of Halloween that is coming up pretty fast!
ATC collage, 2017

At last week's ATC workshop I traded all my fetish cards and then set out to make enough new cards to trade with each person there. I completed just enough to bring one home, this lovely figure that incorporates part of an ancient Roman carving with a photo of a plastic woven screen. Well juxtaposition is one of the values of many approaches to collage. The figure seems truly odd to me.

I made a dozen new ones at the workshop and enjoyed the good feelings of being together with friends I've known for several years as well as ones I haven't got to know so well. Working together with other artists stimulates one to do their best work even when the pressure is on, or especially because the time is slipping by and you still have five more cards to complete. 

The cards I made last Thursday
ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2017

More Fetish Artist Trading Cards

ATCs of Badger and Bison, Phillip Hoyle 2017

Last week I went to the ATC workshop ready to trade only to find I had gone one week too early! I chalk it up to old age and too compressed a schedule. You'd think a retired person would do better meeting a schedule. I say that because I don't have nearly the schedule I sustained for many years. Still I write, do my artwork, and socialize. I attend both writing and art workshops and classes. Life is full. I like it that way. 

Bird ATC, Phillip Hoyle 2017

I like animals in general although I am less excited these days by squirrels that are making it necessary for me to keep cleaning off the patio as they harvest sweet locust pods. They're as messy as my grandkids, dropping all the leftovers on the patio. I'd put out a trash bin but it wouldn't solve a thing. They don't look where they drop and sometimes they drop them right on me as I sweep. See, life in retirement still has its challenges. Hope you have an art filled week and meet some interesting people.

Fetish Artist Trading Cards

Artist Trading Cards, Buffalo and Bear, Phillip Hoyle 2017

I'm getting ready for an ATC swap and workshop coming up next week. The theme ought to provide some beauties and, perhaps, some laughs. That will be up to the imaginations of the artists. There is a lot of imagination in the groups I trade with. 

I've long admired the cultures and artwork of Native Americans. I get to look at the work, both traditional and modern, of such artists at the Denver Art Museum, the first American art museum to show these works as art. My work with such designs is a mark of my appreciation. 

Rabbit Fetish, Phillip Hoyle 2017

All three of these ATCs are inspired by fetishes by Native Americans. They are done here on water color paper grounds, collage, handmade papers, ink, feathers, and rafia.

Tobacco Artist Trading Cards

Tobacco Juice Artist Trading Cards, Phillip Hoyle 2017

The swap meet at CORE New Art Space on Saturday was especially fine. One artist who we used to see often returned, a new artist came with a handful of cards, and another artist stopped by to look over just what happens. The overall work seemed especially creative. I took some rather silly looking grasshoppers having recalled that when as boys we’d catch them, they’d leave a brown stain on our hands that we called tobacco juice. That’s what I named my cards.

Tobacco Juice ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2017

They went quickly and were replaced by beauties from other artists. It’s a social with art not refreshments, but to an artist what could be finer? These tiny pieces of art inspire new pieces, techniques, and endless cards to trade. The trade takes place on the second Saturday of the month. Come with 3.5 x 2.5” cards. Check out the website on Facebook. 

Tobacco Juice ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2017
Grounds for these cards were old acrylic washes and collages.
Drawings in graphite, black ink, and gell pens.

Artist Trading Cards

ATCs made in workshop August 2016

Thursday night I participated in a workshop at make ATCs and was happy to complete a dozen in a couple of hours. They went black and white, abstractions from details of contrasting magazine cutouts. The trades were fun and the conversation engaging. 

ATCs from Workshop, Phillip Hoyle 2017
Sorry about the focus!

Part of the evening is to share food as well as conversation and the trade. Like usual the pickin's were fine. The tastes of the eleven people there were even more interesting. 

Planets Artist Trading Cards

Planets ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2017

I considered what I wanted to do with the topic planets and was sure of only one thing. I would use a stack of black mat boards (2.5 x 3.5 “) and begin by splatter painting them with water-thinned Titanium White acrylic paints. That step took little time and, of course, I had diluted too much paint. (I looked for more cards and used the left-over paint to wash them and then with a cloth wipe much of the paint away.) I waited until the next day to look at the results. It’s good to wait a day. The color changes. I was pleased with the star-studded results.

ATCs by Phillip Hoyle, 2017

I now had cards prepared and had decided I’d use a circles template. Just how, I didn’t yet know. I considered using a sponge roller to apply a rough surface with craters but was pretty sure I didn’t want to deal with the mess. So I got out my Gel pens, regular ones, Suffle ones, and more. With a Suffle white pen I drew a circle. Then? I was still unsure. I made marks slightly arced to suggest an orb. Then I did more with other colors, more lines, dots, and scrawls. Some I tinted with a different kind of gel.

ATCs Phillip Hoyle, 2017

I worked late in my studio listening to KUVO, a public radio jazz station, and realized how much the music affected what I was doing. When I finished 22 of these cards I decided to sign them. Each one is called 'Jazz Planet'. I don’t know what solar system they revolve in, but I was pleased to have them ready for the next workshop. I look forward to the trades and the new cards I'll make there. 

Buildings Artist Trading Cards

Buildings ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2017

The topics of buildings and architecture and sculpture left some of us card makers seriously challenged. I went my own way by beginning with letters and numbers, some of which I have saved for years and years and had never used in collages. So for this trade I prepared nine "downtown" high rise buildings piecing together, drawing lines, and the like. They must have worked for I traded eight of them plus quite a few of the Aboriginal inspired designs shown in my past two posts. 

Of course I make no apology for the impracticality of the buildings. I only wanted to use letters, numbers, a few cut outs, and a large dose of imagination. 

ATCs Phillip Hoyle, 2017

ATCs Phillip Hoyle 2017

ATC Phillip Hoyle 2017

  I’m still playing around with the mixed media cards I wrote about and showed last week. I was so into the project I kept making more. Finally I have stopped on those and am turning my focus to our next topic. But I’m posting a few more of the Australian inspired theme. I hope you enjoy them.

ATC Phillip Hoyle 2017

A favorite ATC Phillilp Hoyle 2017

ATC Phillip Hoyle 2017

ATC Phillip Hoyle 2017

I'm not quite sure what happened with the spacing of these cards. At least you can see the designs. Why not try your own cards? Find another artist or crafter to trade them with. 

Australian Artist Trading Cards

ATCs evocative of Aboriginal artwork
Phillip Hoyle, 2017

Last week’s ATC workshop opened with a trade of cards on the theme Australia or New Zealand. I missed the opening trade but joined the group for the workshop. There I finished a few cards reflective of Australian Aboriginal designs and joined in the final trade of the night. So much fun.

Since then I’ve made more, some of which I’m showing here. I began by cutting four printing blocks with designs to use as a base for elaboration. Then I printed onto cards that I’d already bubble printed. From there I responded to lines of both printing approaches and some techniques of Aboriginal artists I found on line, some ancient petroglyph designs and some current aboriginal paintings. What a world they discovered in dream time.

I still have a dozen more to finish. I’m ready to trade them and others at our next trade at CORE New Art Space on the second Saturday of August (10 am to noon). Join the fun.

ATCs Phillip Hoyle, 201u

Artist Trading Cards at the Fair

Blue Ribbon and sheet of ATCs awarded
Phillip Hoyle 2017 Denver County Fair

I had a good time at the Denver County Fair after I found my way there by bus. I got lost downtown when I was taking my cards out to enter. I got lost when I tried to return there yesterday to see the art show and recover my trading cards. The bus I rode Thursday doesn’t run on weekends so I caught another one that would require I get off and walk for about ten minutes. I got off at the right place but none of the street names matched the descriptions from the notes I took from the computer. I followed my sense of things but took a turn on a street that used to lead to the Coliseum parking lot. Not anymore. That cost me about a mile of walking. What saved me knew that when I got there I’d see a ribbon on my work.

On the bus I had a voice message from my art friend Sue that I got a blue ribbon for the category and a purple, Judge’s choice ribbon as well. The only time I’d ever got a first was in high school when I was the only boy in my category in a vocal competition. This time the blue ribbon was hanging there. The purple ribbon too! Sadly I had forgotten to take my camera! Oh well.

One of my sheets of cards got lost. I was showered with many apologies by the staff. Somehow I was not bothered since I had gotten lost in so many ways already! 

I had a good time with several artist friends, saw a super art show, received a written critique of my work, and ate some rather fine food. I watched kids and their parents, usually to my delight. It seems my work in Artist Trading Cards the past four years is bearing fruit or at least recognition. I’m pleased.

I got a ride home so I didn’t get lost.

The sheet of ATCs, County Fair 2017

Bubbles Artist Trading Cards

Artist Trading Cards by Phillip Hoyle July 2017

Artist Trading Cards using Bubble and Ink Printing method
by Phillip Hoyle, July 2017

In an old book on nature prints I read about printing from bubbles and have begun my own experiments. I’ve been at it for a few days and all of a sudden have almost 100 prints (3.5 x 2.5”). Some are finished pieces, others grounds for further development. The idea was to use these prints as backgrounds for printing leaves and flowers. The process calls for 1” of clear mild liquid soap in a container. Add 1 tbsp of pen ink and mix with a straw. Blow bubbles (reminded me of blowing bubbles in milk back in my childhood) until they reach above the rim of the container and put paper on them to pick up the ink raised on the bubbles.

For grounds I’ve precut several kinds of paper (and unsuccessful paintings). I’ll not explain. You can look. In my experiments I’m most intrigued with the contrasts of the organic bubbles and mechanically drawn lines. The colors that appear also excite me. You know blue ink on yellow paper turns green. And like with clouds in a summer sky all the designs and figures that appear in these tiny pieces of art.

The fun of the project should keep me busy in my studio as I make larger and larger pieces and find new ways to pick up the paint. I’ve only just begun.

Mixed Bag of Artist Trading Cards

ATCs made at last week's workshop. Phillip Hoyle, 2017

At the last ATC workshop at Jerry Simpson's studio we traded cards of either Smiles or Chicken and Egg (like which one came first). I took a bunch of them but they all traded and I had been making them late in the day! I'll make some more for another post.

In this workshop we first trade cards made to a theme (or not) and then work for a couple of hours to prepare cards for trade with all participants present. I found a couple of maps in one magazine and several illustrations from old (really old) issues of Popular Mechanics. Collages were my focus but I also drew and painted into them. 

I never tire of this kind of work and of the socializing with other visual artists. So much fun, stimulation, and warmth. 

A couple of the ATCs in closeup. Phillip Hoyle, 2017