ATC (artist trading cards)

A Journey of Creation - getting started...

ATC's have become popular and seem to cross all artistic mediums. In early December I'll be on my way from NH to AZ for the winter and will stop off in Gilmer, Texas to do a bit of creative beading with a group of friends who have dubbed themselves the "beadtrekers". We all manage to get together to bead at least twice a year, if not more - and we all live in diverse parts of the country.

One of our projects for this "Gilmer Getaway" will be beaded ATC's and some of us have begun to think on computer and paper about what we want to use as a base card, which will then be embellished with beads and other sundries.

I've been playing with a series of 9 signature cards that somehow embodies my artistic life. I used a photo of me at 18 months, a current photo and my signature colors of lime and pink. Well, it almost does what I had in mind.... so back to the drawing board....

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Keep the baby photo, get another current photo, play with photoshop a bit and I think I like this one better. In the 60 years between the two photos there has been constant change, personally as well as artistically. The change has been even more evident in the last few years and is accelerating. I like the play on words with "60 and Change", so I think I'll keep that on the card. After I print these out on heavy card stock, I'll put them away to finish when I get to Texas next month.

A couple of years ago I bought some laminated Saint cards in Mexico. The colors in the cards are beautiful. I was thinking that if I made a 2.5" by 3.5" open frame, in heavy card stock, I could stitch the laminated cards in the opening so you could see both sides.

I can see adding beads to the interior stitching, but as of yet have no clue as to how I'll finish the outer frame. I guess that will have to wait for the creative muse to come along and poke at me with an idea(s).

Sometime in December, I'll post what I finally did with these ideas as well as show you the cards I traded for from the other artists that I'll be beading with in Texas.

I'm counting the days (36) till I leave for Arizona and can enjoy several days with some of the most fun and creative women I know. This group always gives me more laughter as well as more creative impulses than I could ever use in several lifetimes.

more Fall Color notes

I was out all day yesterday and it was dark when I got home. When I got up this morning and looked out my bedroom door this is what met my astonished eyes! The kids had painted the new chicken coop. I wonder if it will influence what color eggs the hens lay? I bet they didn't even see the color combination they created as it looks totally different from the second story.

I've known the Chaunceys forever and they grow the best organic & heirloom produce around this area. I don't have a photo of it, but the other day I saw her little red pickup going down the road with the bed filled to overflowing with sunflowers. Van Gogh would have loved to paint that. Over the weekend the farm was one stop on the Wool Arts Tour. Even though the pumpkin crop was not the best this year, I enjoyed the sight of some them piled around one of New Hampshire's largest crops .... big & even bigger ROCKS! It was fun to see all of the flowers, vegetables, wool products and animals. I was almost tempted to buy yarn and knit again. Instead I petted and patted all of the beautiful yarn and roving .... then just bought already knitted alpaca socks. They will make great slippers on my AZ cement floors this winter.

This Fall, it seems as if the color keeps getting better as it changes. Mother Nature still has some of the most amazing color palates - never mind the odd touches we add in here and there.

NH Fall Foliage

I've driven the 18 miles on Rte 31 between Antrim NH and Wilton NH for 28 years. Yesterday I stopped to look at the Fall Foliage for the first time. It took a friend from New Orleans to make me realize that I lived in the midst of all of this beautiful color and just took it for granted.
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My orange Honda fit right in with Mother Nature's colors.

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Times like this I wish I still had a "top down" sports car - MG in particular.. The sun was warm, the air crisp and the winding road smooth.
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If Powder Mill Pond had been still with no wind, the trees would have reflected beautifully in the water.

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Along the way there is this Medieval setting with a Trebuchet that they use to chuck pumpkins on weekends. You round a corner and think you've gone back in history.

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One roadside farm stand had planted a border of mums and decorative cabbages. What beautiful color combinations. If you know me at all, you know I'd use any of these color combinations in my beadwork.

I wish I could find this sage-gray, blue/green cabbage color in beads. It would make such a beautiful foil for the brighter colors.

"Life is too short to wear tight shoes "

so, stop and take the time to look around you....

I'm sure glad I did yesterday.

Music Tag

Tagged by Medieval Needle....
Here are the rules:
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

1.- Adoro te Devote - Georgian Sense
2.- A Vous Douce - Cantus Firmus
3.- Angus Dei - Virtural Byrd Choir
4.- Illimani - Andean Flutes
5.- Manos Abiertas - Chilean Folk Music
6.- Viridissima Virga - Hildegard Von Bingen
7.- In Evangelium - Hildegard Von Bingen

And I'm not sure I know 7 bloggers who would participate, so I may tag someone who does not blog and post their list here. And, BTW, I'm terribly tone deaf - ask my kids.... they told me NOT to sing when they were small.

Tagged are: Jen K., Bea K., The Bad Liz, John G, the naked Machinist, Jessica G, and Unknown.....
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10/2/06 - Jessica G said:
a band called Madredeus, an album called Ainda
1. Guitarra
2. Milagre
3. Ceu da Mouraria
4. Miradouro de Santa Catarina
5. A Cidade e os Campos
6. O Tejo
7. Viagens Interditas
I think you would like this album it's Portugese melodic woman vocalist with guitar, violoncello, accordian and keyboards
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10/3/06 John said "I know, it's jumpy music!":
being what I called it when John was a kid!
1, it's not enough-stones new one
2, crazy bitch- buckcherry
3, forever-stone sour
4, one - metallica
5, seventh son- iron maiden
6, origanal fire-audioslave
7, land of confusion-disturbed (cover)
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