Pages

Monday, January 23, 2012

Parrots

These ATCs are for a swap on ATCsForAll. I used ink pen, marker and colored pencils:



  Red-Winged Parrot
Rose-Breasted Cockatoo or Galah 
 Hyacinth-Macaws

Yellow-Colored Lovebirds

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Doodles

Yesterday and today I´ve been doodling with ink pen and gel pens on papers that I first colored with Glimmer Mist (first one) and watersoluble crayons (second one). These will make nice backgrounds for journal pages or ATCs, or borders for whatever (if I have the nerve to cut them;))


Blog Hop

It´s weekend - YAY! Time for another blog hop. Check it out and join:D





And remember - there´s still time to win an ATC!!!


Friday, January 20, 2012

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Interview with myself

How did you become interested in art? Have you had any formal art training?

The only art training I ever had was in elementary and in high school. In high school I had an awesome art teacher who somehow knew how to bring out the best in someone when it came to arting. He was very encouraging. During this time - my teens - I joined the art school club. Mostly we made the stage designs for the school´s drama club. These definetely were the largest works of art I ever did.

I also started drawing and painting in my teens, but somehow lost interest in it when I left school and started my first job in 1988. In the mid 1990´s I started again with drawing and painting with watercolors. I´m not sure how I got started. And I made my first quilts then. About ten years later I discovered mail art, especially ATCs.

Where do you live? Do you have family or pets? Tell us a little about yourself.

I´m 41 and live in Remscheid, a town in Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany. My husband and I share our house with two cats, Barrsik and Connor. My parents-in-law live in the same house, together with their cat Quintus. I have my own studio, but I barely work there. My supplies are usually scattered everywhere - not always to my husband´s delight ;) I must admit that I am a totally chaotic and disorganized person. I always was and will be. And I think I´m the world´s worst housewife.

How did you discover ATCs and Mail Art? Why does Mail Art appeal to you?

I discovered ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) and APCs (Artist Postcards - now it´s also used for Altered Playing Cards) via internet. I´ve been member in several patchwork and quilting forums, where we did lots of patchwork block swaps. One day someone came up with a fabric ATC swap. I joined such a swap in 2006, I think, and was hooked. It was about that time that I had a maior depressive episode (I´m bipolar). After a very long stay in hospital and day-time clinic I retired from my job. One of the outgrowth of my disease is the lack of concentration. I´m not able to concentrate or focus on larger projects. So ATCs and other "small" projects like chunkies, skinny pages or whatever are perfect for me.

In 2008 I became a member of ATCsforAll, a wonderful global community for Mail Art artists of all skill levels. Mail Art is a way to easily get connected with other artists. I met so many wonderful people via the internet during the last few years - and last summer I was happy enough to meet a small group of them "In Real Life". We had a little Art Meet-Up in England. That was really great!

What formats do you like and make?

I like expecially ATCs and chunkies (4"x4"). And recently I joined a circle journal trade where we make 8"x8" handdrawn or handpainted journal pages for the other players in their chosen theme. That´s really fun - although it was a real challenge for me in the beginning because of the size.

And I love art journaling. I have several journals for different themes.

Which art themes do you like?

I love nature inspired art, especially trees and bees. Fantasy is great, too. Vintage style cards, especially women and/or tasteful nudes, are wonderful. I also love Steampunk. And - I don´t know why - I also like dark, mysterious, scary, creepy and gothic art.

Do you have any favorite techniques?

Hmmm... - good question! I like drawing with pencils, colored pencils, ink pen, marker. I also work with watercolors, gouache and acylic paints. I love collage and mixed-media art. I´m open to anything - and love to try new things.

Art Journal Backgrounds

For the last few days I have been working on Art Journal Backgrounds. Here are some pics:

















Thursday, January 12, 2012

Here are pictures of some other journal covers:


A Journal for Black and White collages, drawings, paintings only



A journal to capture my childhood memories


For some reason I like dark, gothic arts. This journal is dedicated to these themes


A journal to explore goddesses of all kind


A "Healing Journal"