A few questions and answers about the Index Card a Day challenge 2013

 1. Have you tried new techniques, themes, mediums, materials, palettes, pens?
Yes I have tried a lot of different ideas. I was inspired by the prompts and then that led me to try a variety of techniques, a different one each week.
2. Do you look forward to your creative time each day?
It is a big part of what makes me happy and I can't wait to start each morning.
3. Have you made a little time each day for the past two months for a bit of art?
Almost every day...
4. How did you feel when you skipped a day?
I tried not to skip by doing a lot of the sketching while watching tv with my hubby.
5. What was it like to make an extra card?
I made a couple of extra cards to demonstrate techniques on my blog. I will give those ones away.
6. Do you carry art materials in your backpack or purse for those little gaps in your day?
No. I don't have children at home anymore so I don't spend a lot of time waiting around.
7. Have your creative ideas bloomed or faded?
Definitely bloomed. I want to try a lot of the ideas that were posted by others.
8. Are there any techniques or cards that you would like to create in a larger format?
I have already used 1 card layout for a journal page and will do things with some of the others. I am even going to try a large zebra picture.
9. What did you learn about yourself?
I am able to come up with ideas and use techniques that I thought I had forgotten. I can draw almost anything.
10. Will you continue your theme or series?
Probably not right now because my head is spinning with ideas of new things to try out (see question 7).
11. Are you ready for something fresh and new?
I am completing a few other online classes so that will be fresh and new for me.
12. Do you love flipping through your cards?
Yes, I have put them in a mini photo album and they get me inspired.
13. Did you underestimate the impact of this simple challenge?
YES. I didn't expect to even finish or post cards online but it was such an interactive group I couldn't help myself.
14. Did this inexpensive, flimsy canvas surprise you?
Yes, yes, yes.  I was completely surprised by what they would handle without any bother at all. Even better than a lot of journal pages can take.
15. Do you adore that pile of blank cards, that stack of potential?
Yes, I have a pile of them on my desk now and will reach for them often.
16. Did you surprise yourself? Did you stick to the challenge?
I did stick to the challenge which was a big surprise to me. I thought I would do a few and give up because it was only a challenge but it was more inspiring than I expected.
17. Did you have fun posting to the Flickr group or the FB group? 
Yes. I have really enjoyed the interaction with other artists from across the globe. It was such a friendly, inspiring place to connect with others.
18. How many cards did you complete?
I have done 63 cards in total so far...

The final week of Index Card a Day

I am a little sad that the challenge is ending this week. I have found so much inspiration from the challenge and the other artists I have connected with on the facebook page.  I have not had a lot of time to look through the flickr group yet but I will be doing that soon. This is my first time doing ICAD and it is so amazing and wonderful I will not be missing it next year. I have to say a huge thank you to Tammy for creating such a lovely group to be part of.

This week I didn't use the theme or prompts. I have been doing a print making workshop at Joggles.com and I wanted to use some of the papers I made. It was taught by Sandra Duran Wilson who has several books available. I have gone with abstract designs and used some of my scrapbooking supplies. I also used mostly metallic acrylics like Lumieres and metallic Folk Art paints.

 

My final collection of cards. I have put them into little 4 x 6 photo brag books so they are like a mini art journal.

ICAD week 8 wrap up

The overall theme I used this week was doodling.  I have never been much of a doodler. It takes too long for me to doodle a whole page. I would rather just sketch and get on with the painting. I even tried zentangles for a little while (about 2 weeks) but they were too slow for me. I really admire people who do them so beautifully.

Prompt disco.  I had to google mirror ball to see what they looked like for the sketch. This was a fun challenge. I used pen and markers for colour.

Prompt pastels.  I doodled the flowers and coloured them with Pan pastels.  The background was coloured with a conte pastel and blended to make it smooth. 

 Prompt clouds.  I sketched some clouds and filled in the patterns, then used a little bit of markers for colour.   Some tips I have learned for drawing clouds are:  

- keep the bottom of the cloud flatish

- cloud shapes are taller on one side and trail away to nothing on the other end

- if you are adding colour they are usually grey on the bottom and white on top

- have a look at clouds in the distance and take note of their shape

Prompt Found poetry. I had to look up found poetry to find out what it was. I picked a page from a Dean Koontz book because he uses the most descriptive phrases and words. I had to scan the page and reduce it to get it to fit onto the card. I then picked out my poem and used acrylic paint to cover the words that I didn't want to be seen. I doodled in some butterflies to go with the poem. 

Prompt crossword.  I tried to only use words that related to ICAD but I had too many black spaces to fill so I added some random words as well. This one took much longer than I wanted. 

Prompt Jar.  A whimsical style that I have used a few times since starting this challenge.  I find it amusing that I have never used this style before. 

Prompt stapled collage. I found the sketch of the desk in a magazine and used it with a wallpaper photo. I doodled some of the flowers from the wallpaper across the card.  The words come from another magazine. 

I am going to miss this challenge when it finishes next week. I will not stop creating art though. 

ICAD wrap up week 7

Only a little over a week and a half until ICAD wraps up. I think I will miss working on the cards but it will give me a chance to catch up on some of the other classes I have been doing.  I have come to realise the challenge has inspired me in ways that no other classes have done. I didn't think I could draw very much before I started this but that has changed with each card I have completed. 

I also didn't think I had very many ideas for different types of art but that too has changed. The prompts really inspire me to try anything. If I can't draw something I just look it up on Google.  There are so many free drawing lessons on the net that I always find something that will suit me. It has also made me rethink the online lessons I have been paying for. More on that later.  

Here are the cards for this week. The overall theme I went with was Nature.

Prompt magenta.  My first card this week was inspired by the prompt. For some reason I always think of water lilies when magenta is mentioned.

 Prompt raindrops. I used watercolor and googled water splash to find out how to draw it. I drew two types here.

Prompt ocean.  I saw a drawing of an ocean on life book that inspired this card. The dolphin is something I have learned to draw recently. 

Prompt bicycle.  I didn't want to draw the whole bicycle so I stuck with the wheel.  The vine is simple. The leaves are just one brush stroke with another colour added when half dry.   The flowers are one drop of pink, then a dab of red into the center of the pink. When they were still wet I put one dot of white pen into the middle which ran into the red by accident. 

 Prompt faux quilt.  I used the foil paper from Lifebook earlier in the year to make this card. I stitched the card with pen.

Prompt snowman.  Another watercolour and pen sketch. I have never seen snow. 

Prompt zodiac.  The easiest Zodiac to paint I thought would be Libra.  

ICAD week 6 wrap up

I am surprised and pleased that I am still keeping up with the Index card a day challenge. I thought I would have run out of ideas by now but I am finding the prompts so inspiring. I think it is also the freedom to experiment with the little cards that has me thinking this is the most interesting and exciting art work I have done for years.

 Prompt ear ring and texture.  One of my favourite ear rings, done with dimensional paint and gelly roll pens. The background is textured gesso.  

 Prompt stamping and chess board. I sprayed the card with ink and then stamped on the squares. It didn't take long at all and would be a good background for a journal page. 

Prompt stamping and psychedelic.  This was a simple card, some spray inks, alphabet stamps and doodling with coloured markers.  Its not really psychedelic but that was just the prompt to get me creating. I don't adhere to them all the time. 

 

 Prompt weaving and washi tape.  I put baking paper onto the back of the washi tape so I could weave it, then peeled it off a little at a time. It was hard and I will not be doing it again, lol.

 Prompt texture and mosaic.  I finished off the card I started a few weeks ago when I was doing a post about stitching on cards. The butterfly was cut out of acetate for another project then lost.  I found it this week under the couch so it ended up on the card.

Prompt stamping and graffiti.  This took only a few minutes to do but is my favourite card so far. It is a stamp on a gessoed card with a little ink spray on one side.  The stamped image was spritzed with water and left to dry. The smaller figure just appeared.

 Prompt texture and stencil.  I had this green card that I sprayed a few weeks ago but didn't like at the time. I thought it would be good for the trees on this card. I used a stencil and white acrylic to make the trees, then outlined them with a white pen.   I used marker to darken the frame around the white squares. 

It is not too late the join the challenge.  Even if you decide not to officially join you can do it at home and still see a lot of the amazing work at flickr or on the Daisy Yellow blog. Links are on the side bar. 

ICAD week 5 cards

I have been forgetting to add my artwork to my blog lately. These are the grungy cards I made for week 5. The overall prompt this week was coffee/tea/neutral. I chose to go with neutral and made it grungy as well. I have enjoyed doing a different series each week.

 Prompt rainbow. I really had to think about how I could do a neutral rainbow for this card. The definition idea sprang into my head somehow.

 Prompt nail polish.  This is the card I did the tutorial for a few posts ago.

Prompt stripes. I was trying out the crackle on the cards.  I am still amazed at what they can withstand and still end up flat as long as I don't use a heat gun.

Prompt pattern. I used an old craft pattern for this one. 

Prompt monochrome. I used sepia ink on a lot of my cards this week. 

Prompt Harry Potter. I am not a fan of HP but I do know it is about witches so this was the easiest thing to draw.

Prompt portrait. I enjoy drawing faces, even grungy style.

Grungy technique

I have been doing a grungy style on my ICAD cards this week. This is how I do it.

  I used a palette knife to spread crackle paste over one half of my card. I didn't smooth it out and I left it over night to dry. The next day I was disappointed to see it hadn't cracked. I read the instructions on the side of the jar and saw that it is supposed to be used on a hard surface that has been primed. Oh well...at least it is still textured. You could use other mediums for texture like molding paste or thick gesso

For this card I first glued the book paper down and then put the crackle paste around the whole edge of the card, only keeping the rainbow definition uncovered.





 



 I gave the whole card one coat of acrylic paint. It helps to stop the next stage soaking into the paper as much.






I used a paint brush with a little water added to put sepia ink across the card.  I added extra ink around the edge of the card and a little more in the middle. I then used a paper towel to wipe of the excess ink. I didn't realize the ink I was using was permanent and not water based. I really should read the instructions first, lol. It looks patchy because the acrylic paint was patchy. I think it adds to the grungy effect.

This is how it looked after I wiped it.

I added some extra ink over the bottom of the card.

I painted some of the ink on an old container and stamped it on to the card. I put more ink on and stamped again overlapping the first circle. I lightly sprayed it with water in a couple of spots to make the color run a bit. You could put more water on and tilt the card to make drips if you wanted to.

 




















 Using permanent ink I stamped some swirls on. I didn't want to get a properly stamped image so I only pressed lightly in some areas. The bottom right has two images stamped on top of each other.








 I used a paint brush to paint simple flowers with the same acrylic paint that I used before. Each petal is just one stroke of the round paint brush.









 They are not perfect but that doesn't matter for the grungy look. I only did one coat of paint but if you want a more solid looking petal you can do two coats of paint.



 

 This card has two coats of paint on the flowers. You can also see the stamping in the lower left corner. I used an architectural stamp on this one, like an old fence.

 I also used the paint for the stems. I used the paint brush to apply some of the ink for the flower centers allowing it to bleed a little into the wet paint of the petals. I then let it dry completely.

 I used a pen to roughly outline the flowers. I just went around the petals 2 or 3 times. I outlined the stems as well.












 Time to add the grungy bit.  Using bubble wrap I stamped it into the ink and then stamped it onto the card. It doesn't need to be a thick amount of color on the bubble wrap to work.







 You can see some of the circles from the bubble wrap on the card. Vary the pressure, only stamp lightly in some areas. I only did the top left corner and the bottom right.

  I then picked up white acrylic paint on the bubble wrap. I used the same bit without cleaning off the ink because it doesn't matter if some of it gets mixed into the white. That is part of the grungy look. You can see the thicker paint I used is much more solid on the bubble wrap so I only need to barely touch the card for the paint to come off. I don't want too much white now but if I did I could just wipe it off.





 You can see I only added a small amount of white paint. At this stage the flowers were looking too clean so I decided to add one final step.















 Using this mica spray by Lindy's Stamp Gang (link is on the side bar) I sprayed the card and left it to dry.

The finished card.

I forgot to mention you can easily substitute watered down acrylic paint for the ink. I was only using the ink because I picked it up on special last week.  Experiment with what you have. That is the best part of ART.