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