Mermaid ATC

I love doing the swaps at Swap-Bot.  They give me incentive to create small pieces of artwork.  Sometimes it just feels good to get a piece done.  This Artist Trading Card (ATC) is a break from the collage oriented pieces in the past.  The swap theme is mermaid and I decided to just draw what I had in mind.  This mermaid was drawn in pencil and then I outlined the above water area in Pigma pen on teal linen cardstock.  Oil pastels to give the watery, immpressionistic feel and then I have painted the 'wet' areas of the card with high gloss varnish. 

Wonder: A UFO swap

My friend Laura and I decided to do a UFO experiement and this is the result. Am I talking about aliens? No, I am talking about unfinished objects. Every artist has them somewhere in the back of their closet. In the past I have participated in an art doll UFO and thought it would be a neat idea when Laura showed me her unfinished painting.

When I took this canvas home it was white with the black swirls and had the pink rectangles. Laura had explained that the pink rectangles were seeping into anything that she tried to add and she just didn't know what to do with the painting. I asked if I could give it a try. The pink rectangles reminded me of comic book panels and the black swirls reminded me of, well, bird poop. I thought it would be fun to work with that theme. I have to admit, I did not 'paint' much on this painting. I added most of the details with archival pens.

Laura has a painting of mine too. I will post it when it comes home.