Friday, March 13, 2009

Artist Trading Cards (ATCs), 12th March 2009

I thought I'd just put on the photos of my Artist Trading Cards to date. Marianne from the Netherlands, has sent me 2 of hers and they are just gorgeous. They are painted and feature the Mandalas that she blogs about. Go and have a look. http://mandarianne.blogspot.com/

Here is an explanation of ATCs from Wikipedia:

Artist Trading Cards (or ATCs) are miniature works of art about the same size as baseball cards and thin enough to fit inside standard card-collector pockets, sleeves or sheets. The ATC movement developed out of the mail art movement and has its origin in Switzerland. The cards are usually traded or exchanged and not sold.

I have already exchanged quite of few of mine, so these are the ones I have left. This is a relatively new venture for me, so I hope you enjoy them.





Cat in a Cage. Material, buttons, orange twine found on a beach, stitching
















Gold Butterfly

Various felt tip pens and marker pens

















Labels

Material, stitching, old clothes labels, beads, peg
















Lady behind a net curtain

Magazine image, ribbon, builders' scree, bits of cotton, felt pens.

















Letters

collage, magazine pieces and words, glitter glue, beads, a peg.













New Shoes


Altered magazine image, Beads, paint.
















Roxanne


Altered Magazine image, ribbons, felt tip














Shoes

Wool, altered magazine and yellow pages images, cut out letters, felt tips.




















Swirls and Twirls


Various felt tipped pens, gel pens and gold pen.











Below are the two lovely ATCs I received from Marianne. They are both Mandalas.


































Below is an explanation about Mandalas


An
integrated
structure
organized
around
a unifying
center

Longchenpa

The pattern of creation
The word "mandala" is from the classical Indian language of Sanskrit. Loosely translated to mean "circle," a mandala is far more than a simple shape. It represents wholeness, and can be seen as a model for the organizational structure of life itself--a cosmic diagram that reminds us of our relation to the infinite, the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds.

Describing both material and non-material realities, the mandala appears in all aspects of life: the celestial circles we call earth, sun, and moon, as well as conceptual circles of friends, family, and community.

"The integrated view of the world represented by the mandala, while long embraced by some Eastern religions, has now begun to emerge in Western religious and secular cultures. Awareness of the mandala may have the potential of changing how we see ourselves, our planet, and perhaps even our own life purpose."
(From Mandala: Journey to the Center, by Bailey Cunningham)




I hope you have enjoyed this little journey. Today I took loads of photos including some superb ones of BlackJack and some garden ones of course. So watch out for photo heaven for tomorrow.
I have been working on Jim's vegetable plot today, after my 'David Bailey' session.

10 comments:

DJ Kirkby said...

Oooh these are all so beautiful. I would love to have talent like this. I like mandelas too and all the history behind the art.

marianne said...

What a wonderful post!
How quick the postman found your address! I only send them on Monday!
Your ATC's are fabulous! It is that I know how small they are......otherwise you can't imagine this on a small card like that.
I love them, can't wait to see mine!
Love the info you gave on ATC cards and mandalas. Will be back for your pictures later on!
I am in Rotterdam today, spent the night at my brother's. We went to eat pizza yesterday with his friend. Oh oh not exactly a low carb meal........but certainly one of my favorites.
I will buy things for my Mom's apartment today and start furnishing it. That's a fun job.
See U!!!!

Stampmaiden said...

Great ATCs! I enjoy making these as well. I have a collection from swaps I've been in and hosted stored in a photo album. I take it out now and then to look at my trades.
Can't wait to see your photos of your garden tomorrow!
Oh, I noticed a rag bag and am going back to check out the details! The colors and textures look very very cool!
Linda

Rachel Green said...

Lovely pieces, Gina.

Jinksy said...

What an intriguing set of images! x

BT said...

DJK, thank you, I'm glad you like them. I hadn't heard of Mandalas until I came across Marianne's blog. They're beautiful.

Marianne, thank you so much. I can't believe how quickly your ATCs got to me. Our post is usually very slow. So glad you like the ATCs, yours were posted yesterday, we don't have a post office nearby so Jim posted them in Ennis, quite a large town. We'll see how long they take!
I hope you have fun buying things for your Mum's apartment.

Stampmaiden, I'm thrilled with the reaction to my ATCs as I'm still a beginner! We can do swaps if you would like. I will put the bags on etsy in the next few days, so you will have to be patient.

Thanks Rachel.

They're a bit different, aren't they Jinksy!

The Weaver of Grass said...

I really like the idea of ATC's - have never heard of them before but I could get quite interested in exchanging them.

BT said...

Oh good, Weaver, go on, have a go, you'll love it. They have to be sized two and a half inches x three and a half inches (6cm x 9cm). Other than that, the world is your oyster. Any material, paint, paper, string, anything at all.

soulbrush said...

these are amazing bt, love them, too small for me to do though. and marianne's are always wonderful. enjoy.

BT said...

soulbrush, you could do big, sweeping strokes! I'm sure you could do it. Thanks for visiting and I'm happy that you like my ATCs.