Sunday 14 June 2015

ICAD 2015 Week Two

Gentle Reader ~~~

Well, here we are with Week Two of the ICAD 2015 challenge.

I'm not sure how much I will stick to the prompts this week as they are all juxtapositions of fruits and vegetables. Could be interesting, but, frankly I find seven pairings of fruit and vegetables rather unimaginative.

Anyway, the paring prompt for Day 8 is Cherries and Grapefruit.  It was a bit of a hectic day, lots of phone calls and distractions so I was looking to do something quick, under 20 minutes if I could manage, so I reverted, once again, to bad practice and drew a threesome of cherries from memory. Still, when you have eaten as many fresh cherries as I have, drawing from memory isn't that hard {this is the bit where we all laugh over our tea and cakes}

So, here is my ICAD Day 8, "Cherries" a quick study in oil pastel on an acrylic background ~~~



Day 9 the prompt is Carrot & Lemon ~~~ ugh! Sorry, I am just not enjoying, dare I say relishing, the fruity vegetable themes that we are set, and after this I think I'm just going to do my own thang ~~~

So, we have a lemon ~~~ which looks more like a daisy than a fruit but in the spirit of the game, I published it anyway. Oh, it was my umpteenth attempt. I am struggling with too large brushes on the smaller sized 'canvas' ~~~ brushes


Now, I could point out to you everything that is wrong with this, but I promised myself at the start I'd do my very best to stop pointing out my flaws so I am going to keep quiet.   What happened here was I decided to load my brush and paint, and keep loading without rinsing the brush, only adding more paint as needed, so it is quite thick and textural.  Now, I think I need that G&T I mentioned in the writing ~~~

Day 10  I went with the prompt of Aubergine and Ginger. I went with the colours as Aubergine is my favourite colour and I wanted the challenge of mixing the colour fairly accurately out of my boxes of tricks. I'm not unhappy with the colour, although the photo has altered it slightly.

Lots of things happening behind this, yet the image itself is simple and very quickly done.

First, this morning I took this photograph of a dandelion that was sparkling in the morning sunlight and this has influenced my card today as I responded to the morning's photograph ~~~


I base coated the card with silver acrylic and painted my mixed aubergine over then lifted it using small bubble wrap and a brayer to make a pattern.

I stamped some dandelion clocks on gold tissue and highlighted the clocks with a little gold Nuvo Crystal Drops which is my interpretation of the photo I took this morning.  I loosely tore the paper not being precious ~~~


It is probably the most immediate response of all my cards, to something that happened today, and although simple has much purpose and meaning, so I stamped the little text saying to drive home that I MUST *stop* my over thinking.

So, here we are on Day 11 and I did stop over thinking! Yay me!!!  The prompt is Melon and Lime so again I went with the colours rather than shape or textures.  I made a base card with acrylic and a bubble wrap print, then painted two more cards in gouache {making it's first appearance on my ICADs} using the prompt colours and ripped the paper while still wet. I let it do its own thing and ended up with lots of edgy bits. I wove them together, and then I used fineliner to write the words Melon, Lemon, Limes, and Smile to make another layer in to the pattern. Simples!



{***note to self ~~~ fineliner does not like gouache}

The prompt for Day 12 is Parsnip and Kiwi ~~~ being a huge fan of kiwi fruit I decided to do a close up, Mr Demille!  Here is my kiwi fruit ~~~ painted in acrylics ~~~


I put both views in, as the lighting is slightly different ~~~


Day 13 almost brings Week Two to a close ~~~ the prompt was Blueberries and Plums, so I decided to use the colour {after yesterday, it would be hard to top the kiwi, so I kept things simpler}

I am a member of the Claritystamp Gold Club, and once a month {amongst other great membership benefits} I receive a Clarity stencil and stamp in the post.  Two months ago, I received 'Alice' stamp and a tree stencil and I used these for today's card.  I did not mask off or pre~coat the card, and simply let the Distress Ink soak in as I rubbed it over the stencil. I stamped Alice, and the little freebie bluebird, on watercolour card and coloured them in using Spectrum Noir alcohol pens, and Spectrum Noir pencils for highlight. I carefully cut them out, glued them on the card, and used fineliner for the wording. Simple, and didn't take up too much time either.


I love Alice, don't you? And, it is appropriate that she is called Alice ~ Alice in Wonderland, Alice Blue ~~~ I wonder what she is thinking, pondering, is she really feeling blue?

Finally, Day 14 the prompt was the less than inspiring Salt and Pepper. Hmmm all this did was make me hungry for a bag of chips plastered in salt and vinegar.

I did a quick 15 minute response, painting in some jars and just sticking some peppercorns and rock salt as the contents.  Very quick, but being Sunday I was also short on time today ~~~


I have decided I am going to have to work on text, as it is no good using scrawly handwriting on these ~~~
Here are close ups of the pepper and salt which have got really lovely textures and colours, begging to be reconsidered later on ~~~
















So, this concludes Week Two!  See you all next Saturday when I wrap up Week Three! Gosh, this is fun and I'm really enjoying it ~~~


9 comments:

  1. All of these are just lovely, Deborah!! Especially for such a small scale. Thanks for taking us along on your ICAD journey! Hugs from across the sea ~ Donna E.

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    1. Thank you Donna! Yes, the small scale is a challenge, especially for the painted ones.

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  2. You obviously know what you're doing! I have so much to learn about supplies and technique. I've subscribed to a YouTube tutorial channel that I like and have already learned something new. I especially like your melon and lime interpretation--very creative. You are a true artist, not just a someone who paints pictures--which can be more like a craft (which is not a bad thing) and requires skill and talent, but not particularly creative.

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    1. Cathy, thank you for your kind words, but oh! how I do wish I had your talent for drawing! ICAD, for me, is a great way to discover how to use a stash in different ways, and I've decided not to limit myself to the obvious solutions of drawing and painting the prompts but to explore and develop ideas and techniques. It might not result in grand masterpieces, but even things such as the torn and woven papers develop on and lead into other things. It is fun experimenting and making a mess!

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  3. Such lovely work on a small scale, Deb. So nice of you to share your talent. The kiwi is my favorite as is the photo of the dandelion! ♥

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    1. Hello Martha Ellen ~ thank you ~ yes, the kiwi seems to be everyone's favourite as it has received more Facebook likes than I can count! Well over 200! I'm thrilled.

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  4. What colorful days you have had this week, Deb! I really enjoy reading your thought processes about each piece of artwork. I'm really drawn to your dandelion piece. I love the texture in the aubergine background and the tissue dandelions.The sentiment is really perfect! I'm already looking forward to next week's ICAD artwork. Have a good week, dear Deb! ♡

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    1. Good Morning Dawn ~ yes, experimentation is the key word for me as I work through ICAD. I'm really enjoying exploring some of the many media in my extensive stash. I'm already under way with Week 3!

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  5. Love your week two cards! :) That Kiwi is just stunning! I love the Alice stamp as well, sounds like a fun craft supply club. The woven paper turned out really neat too! All of your cards are inspiring, looking forward to seeing your week 3's. :)

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