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

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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