Saturday, August 2, 2008

Black and white atcs




Here are the 3 atcs that I finished for Susan K. for our swap. I really hope she likes them. They will be going out in the mail tomorrow. As you can see they are a totally different style than her's. These are pretty simple in composition, but that is the way mine usually are. The top 2 were both done from beginning with an image out of a magazine picture that is gessoed. This is a technique from Bernie Berlin's book on ATC's. With the middle one, I didn't do much more than add the central image, the heart, and some ink lettering and drawing. On the top one, I did use more gesso to blur the image a good bit, pencil and ink to re-emphasize the parts I wanted to and then watercolor pencil to add a light touch of color here and there. For the bottom one, "2", it was kind of the same technique, except the beginning was a black and white map image which was gessoed, the the central image added, and then swirls around the outside are some of those "tattoo-look" decals, not sure what the technical term is for those, flocked sticker swirlies, and again a little more ink drawing to fill in details. On all 3 atcs, the edges are finished with a black ink stamp pad. For the butterfly atc, the entire wording is "in her mind's eye...she was a butterfly". It's completed on the back side.

When I finish a swap up and get ready to mail, there are always those moments of self-doubt about whether what I've done is really just crap and I suspect sometimes it is, but then you just have to take a big breath and just send it on its way and hope for the best.

BTW, I linked to Bernie's blog and if you have not visited it before check it out. I visit it frequently to see the remarkable animals she saves. If you are at all tender-hearted, prepare to cry, because she shares amazing stories and pictures of her animal rescue work. She has a side bar where the book I'm talking about is mentioned.

4 comments:

Kim's Treasures said...

I love your black and white ATC's. I really love that combination. I usually keep things really simple too. I'm sure she will love them too!
Have a great day!
Kim

Beth said...

The ATCs are beautiful Jill!!! I Love your art. I treasure all the books that you have worked in of mine and all the ATCs that you have made. They are great!
Sorry I have made it by here before. I sent a picture to Bernie for a auction she was doing on E-bay last year but don't know if she ever tried to auction it off. It was a vintage picture of girls and dogs. I never heard anything if she used it or not. But I do Love all the work she does for the animals and I also love that book I have it and I bought it for Mom too. I have done several of the techniques too. I hope your not working too hard and hope your getting use to it.
xoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Holly said...

Moms,
I think they are really beautiful! You should never doubt yourself...you are very talented!

Love you,
Holly

Jeanie said...

These are beautiful -- I really like the black and white -- I seldom think of that. Thanks for sharing info on the technique. Isn't it fun to gesso over something? I had a vintage element that was just too bright -- a splash of gesso and wow -- perfect!

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