Artist Trading Cards

Some of my "Orange" cards.
ATCs by Phillip Hoyle

Orange was the theme for Thursday night's Swap, Make, and Swap Some More session. I wondered what I would do and opted for the color orange. Eventually I decided to do some florals. (I know the illustrations here may look red, but in reality they are orange and red orange.) I took two pages of orange flowers (18 ATCs) and another of mixed colors (blues and purples). The trade was great fun as always.

Cards with "Words and Letters"
ATCs by Phillip Hoyle

In a couple of week there will be another trade at CORE New Art Space in the Santa Fe Arts District (always the second Saturday of the month, 10-12 noon). The topic for that session is Words and Letters. I've completed three pages of cards, one of which is shown here. Messing with such graphics is one of my big buzzes in the ATC world. I had fun but I won't be able to trade since I will be out of town. I'm sure I'll find someone to trade with later.

I keep discovering new ideas through making these trading cards. They serve me as a low cost, slight use of materials and supplies way to experiment. Give them a try; make baseball size cards 3 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches. Check on line for artist trading cards to see what's happening around Denver and all over the world. You'll be amazed. Make some and come and trade with other artists. 

Denver, 2015

The Printer's Edition

If you squint you can make out the
signature and numbering.
Prints by Phillip Hoyle

I finally did it, completed a goal I didn’t even know I entertained. Sometimes I am modest to a fault. Now I have printed a numbered edition of 12 prints of the trees I showed about three weeks ago. I have gone so far as to sign and number them.

Now it’s on to Artist Trading Cards. Two topics are coming up fast: ‘Orange’ and ‘Words and Letters’. The first reminds me of the orange paint a grandson picked for a group of paintings we were doing together. I thought I hated the color until I started working with it and watching him do likewise. I still don’t often grab for the orange but guess I had better do so soon.

On the other hand, Words and Letters seems perfectly suited to my work. I’m making some tiny weavings with pages from books and newspapers in different languages. I will also make several figures using letters as the structure for the designs. I haven’t quite decided whether to do people, animals, plants, or abstracts. Guess we’ll have to wait until next week to see if I have come up with anything.

In the meantime I am sure to play around with many ideas.

Of course, the greatest accomplishment of my week was to file my income taxes on time. I’m pleased.

April 2015

Circus Big Top

The theme for the Artist Trading Cards swap at CORE New Art Space last Saturday was Circus. I had thought and thought about the theme recalling circuses of my childhood, especially one that set up west of town with a big top and side shows and of course lots of animals. I made some ATCs of the theme that required a three-panel as they are called among swappers. They got snapped up right away at the trade. I treated the image in three different ways.

Making these tents was great fun and reminded me of many details both seen at the circus and in movies about circuses. But the circus isn't just tents or just the three rings inside the very large big top. It's much more and I had to work more to capture some if the fun.

After the tent is set up, the performers begin practicing to make sure everything is safe for them and the crowd. That's when the color increases and the anticipation grows. Of course there are clowns, but I had made clown cards galore in the past year. I thought and thought and got the idea to do a tribute to the NY artist Keith Haring. So with apologies to his memory, I presented some of the circus people and animals a la Haring with cards I titled Keith Haring Meets Barnum and Bailey.

I mostly hope you, dear reader, have a good art week!

Denver, 2015

My Favorite Color

RED is my favorite color. It has been so since as far back as I can remember. Perhaps we were asked to tell what was our favorite color in some elementary school class. I don't recall, but I do remember a red sports coat I wore in seventh grade and recall telling people all my life that red was my favorite color.

The hue shows up in a lot of my artwork. One perceptive artist in the Artist Trading Cards groups I attend knows that about my work. So he was pleased when he saw a group of nine cards--white backgrounds with red printing and black drawing on them. He took two of those cards. I replaced them so I still have nine cards to show trade. 

I'll be taking them to a trade at CORE New Art Space in the Santa Fe Street arts district on Saturday.

Denver, 2015

Stilll Printing

Block print by Phillip Hoyle

For quite a few years I've been printing some artwork. i began by making Christmas cards with simple relief prints of words and designs. Then the designs got more complicated with several punk rock angels. Last season I made a print of pine branches and needles in Craftsman style. The other day I finished my most complicated piece yet, one with aspen trees in winter in Chiaroscuro style.

The piece required two block cuts--one for brown, the other for black. I can't say I'm completely satisfied. About half way through the designing and cutting I realized I'd made a very intricate design, too ambitious for a first try! But I stayed with it. And I did learn a lot in the process. I hope to learn even more from the ideas that came from this project.

Long live art and the making of art!

Denver, 2015

Storytellers and Story Telling

On the vernal equinox Utes performed the Bear dance.
Bears came out of hibernation and Utes moved to their
spring camps where they danced.
The bear climbing up a tree is still used in that dance.
Surely the bear stories are told during that time.
The story was told in another art on a cliff in Shavano
Valley where petroglyphs capture the traditional lore.
One Ute shaman interprets the image above as the
bear coming from its lair.
Acrylic washes on paper by Phillp Hoyle

There were stories in my childhood told me by my parents. Mom told many of family, neighbors, marriages, births, and the places she lived. To these Dad added bible stories and some his dad’s colorful stories and sayings. Grandma Pink told of tales family and neighbors, Grandpa, of neighbors, snakes, and the farm—its history and its requirements.

I also heard stories from preachers. These stories served a different kind of function from my parents’ stories. Wilford F. Lown, Charles Cook, and some others used their stories to illustrate their meanings hoping thereby to actually communicate the values they held important to all members of our congregation. Jack McInnis years later told stories in his sermons as the content itself. Those I liked even more because they weren’t moralizing.

I heard stories from professors, most notably from James VanBuren who made the world of literature come alive like no other storyteller I had ever met. He dramatized texts in his reading of poetry or the Bible and brought life in so doing. Eventually I came to realize that telling stories was a skill! Of course, given who I am, I started reading about storytelling and finally also understood the use of "storyteller" as applied in criticism to writers of novels. (I’m a slow if thorough learner.) I practiced my approach mostly on children knowing that in such sessions what I said was also being heard by adults. I memorized stories, recalled old stories and retold them, and quite often made up new ones on the spot. Eventually I realized that all my answers to questions were turning into stories! Watch out if you ever engage me in conversation.

Five years ago this month I began attending a storytelling group. Now I lead that group, a gathering of elder storytellers who tell their own stories. The program is SAGE Telling Your Story at The GLBT Center of Colorado. AND you can read many of the stories told there by checking out our blog at sageoftherockies.blogspot.com

Denver, 2015

Writers Group

A shaman ran by     Mixed media on paper by Phillip Hoyle

The writers group I attend often seems like a gathering of shamans
for each one seems to have a private connection with an unseen world
from which arise the fascinating stories and poems. We all know also
that sometimes the price for writing them seems very costly.

For fourteen years I’ve been going to the same writers group. At this point I am the oldest surviving member both in my age and in my membership in the group. A friend kept at me to join; I put him off until I was out of school. The final session of massage school the class sat in a circle. Our teacher asked us each to say what we were planning to do with our massage therapy education. When it was my time I announced, “I don’t know if I’ll make a therapist, but I sure do have a book to write about my experiences of trying to become one. And you’re all implicated.” We laughed together. A couple of weeks later I began to attend the writers group and began reading them my start on the book.

I finished that manuscript and began working on some memoirs and eventually some short stories. The group must have been made of steel for they kept coming every two weeks to read and to hear one another. For awhile we met twice a month. Then we changed to once a month, the schedule we now adhere to all these years later. At each meeting we eat together and then read something we’ve written. Each person present can read at each meeting. Longer pieces are read over two sessions so we all have a chance to share something. We hear poems, memoirs, journal entries, short stories, and blogs. For me, the sessions are a highlight of my month. I want to hear Freddy’s poems of sparkling images and always with no wasted words, Sue’s frank poems that celebrate common life, courage, and constancy. I look forward to memoirs from Jan and Tim, journal entries from Claire, blog entries from Frank. I look forward to reading one of my latest memoirs or stories.

We listen attentively. Often we want poems reread so we can really hear the images that want to pass by too quickly. We comment on our favorite expressions, sentences, or sentiments. Sometimes we laugh or cry or simply are amazed. For the past year every session has been remarkable with everyone writing very well.

There have been other fine writers over the years. Some had changes in schedules, residence, or interest. We miss them but enjoy the occasions when we meet socially or they stop by to visit. I’m so pleased to be a part of this group that has contributed so much to my ear, ability, and freedom of expression, that has become such an essential part of my artistic development.

Denver 2015