ICAD 2015 Week One Update

Gentle Reader ~~~

ICAD 2015 is under Starter's Orders and these are the results of my efforts for the first week, commenced June 1st.

It has suddenly dawned on me the HUGE step I'm taking by taking part in this challenge, because I have to put myself out THERE in the great big and wide world with MY artworks ~~~ what if people don't like them? What if I am the one who doesn't get any comments or likes on the Facebook Group Page? What if someone is mean and nasty? Would I rather ride naked down the road on a horse than expose myself to criticism? This is one hurdle that I really didn't think about before signing up and now it is really too late to change my mind because that simply isn't how I work ~ once I commit, I'm committed ~~~ or maybe, in this case, I should be committed? Moving swiftly on and trying to put this behind me ~~~

For those of us who want to use them, there are daily prompts. As June 1st was a bit of a day for me {my index cards did not arrive until later on during the day and I had a leaking window to patch up in 60 mph winds and torrential rain} Day 1 nearly didn't happen, but not one to be easily deterred once I've committed to something I squeezed in a few stolen moments late in the day and this is what I achieved following the daily prompt of Chevron ~~~

I am not a fan of straight lines, so I zhuzhed the chevron up a bit with some curvy lines.  I used the lines on the card for my guide, and using Staedtler Fineliners drew over those lines with a dark green pen, edged with a pale green pen.  It has given it quite a 3~d effect, and for a first attempt I'm not unhappy with it at all ~~~

There was a mistake, distracted by a phone call I accidentally put my lines in the wrong way, so I Tippexed them away and re~drew.  It has given a different effect I'm happy with ~~~ and for me this project is all about NOT being precious over your work, working with immediacy and making mistakes ~~~ mistakes in art are so very often the beginnings of a new path, something fresh to explore and add to your repertoire of inspiration and techniques.

Okay, now I'm rabbiting on, so here is the same image the other way on ~~~

Day 2 the prompt is Carnival so I just went with this ~~~ it didn't turn out how I planned, there was supposed to be a beautiful Venetian style masque but this is what I got instead ~~~

I made a few mistakes to begin with but one thing with this type of art is that you can easily paint over and start again ~~~ and if the bits that displeased to begin show through a little, well that can all add into the charm ~~~ working in, and more, and more again is one of the parts of the process of development that I particularly like ~~~

This ICAD has several layers of several colours of Daler Rowney Liquid Acrylic ink as the base which I swirled around and let mingle with with each other ~~~ I then used a Tim Holtz diamond stamp with Archival Ink in Fern to create the all over diamond pattern before stamping on the dress, crown, wand, and chains from a Steampunk collection of stamps I've had for some time.  I then worked over the dress in particular using Spectrum Noir alcohol pens to invest a richer, deeper colour so often associated with Venetian carnival. The project was finished off with some placed dots of Tonic Studios Nuvo Crystal Drops.

I particularly like that you can see some of the background showing from behind the dress.

Day 3 the given prompt was Draw a Map. Hmmmm ~~~ should I go with the flow and use the prompt, which I must confess I didn't find inspiring, or should I break free and do my own thing?  Sticking with the prompt would push me outside my comfort zone to quite an extent, so ~~~~~

~~~~~ have I kept you in suspenders long enough?

Not being one to shirk a challenge I decided to go with map, but in a very loose sense of the word ~~~ this is, after all, nothing more than a prompt and open to interpretation ~~~ so, here is my effort for Day 3 ~~~

As I said, a very loose interpretation, but there is land and everyone knows you need a compass with which to read a map ~~~

I painted the card with acrylic System 3 paint, in white, blue, and leaf green which I mixed directly on the card. Sadly, you can't really see the colour, or the subtleties therein.  All drawing and colouring in on top is done using solely Spectrum Noir alcohol ink pens.

Well, here we are on Day 4!  Half way through the first week.  Today was a very trying day and I had little or no energy to focus on doing anything, so I simply dug out a freebie stamp that arrived on a magazine, stamped it out on scrap paper and made a mask then randomly stamped on my index card using the mask to allow the shapes to overlap. I coloured in using the {now} omnipresent Spectrum Noir, Staedtler fineliner pens, and added a few glittery highlights {which don't really show up} using glitter gel pens {a favourite of mine}

As I am documenting my methods and media on the back of each card for future reference, I found that some of the inks {Spectrum Noir} have soaked through making a new image on the reverse!

This is what I love about this challenge, is finding out new things that can happen. Although, very often, this would be undesirable, it is worth noting because it could be a very desirable thing to make use of ~~~

Coming up ~~~ Owls ~~~

~~~ erm, well, there is no way on earth I am going to be able to draw an owl of any way, shape, or form so I took the easy way out and did a Sunflower! One of my favourite flowers {along with lavender and poppies, and a fair few others, for I never met a flower I didn't love}

Now, this wasn't exactly easy on a few levels. First, everything is scaled down, an index card isn't very big, and a sunflower is, well, huge by comparison. Second, I don't own any small paintbrushes. That in itself is a bit of a challenge. Third, I don't draw from memory, I like to do my own sketches of the subject matter and either paint directly, or later from my own observations and sketches and this means I really had to do this sunflower pretty much from memory.

Oh, well, it is all about making art, not about being perfect and precious, so in I went ~~~

So, there you have my sunflower! Not too shabby, and now I want to do it again as this has really triggered some ideas {not that the others haven't, but this one has gone a bit wild amongst the little grey cells} and that is what this is all about ~ triggering creativity.

Now, Days 6 and 7 should be interesting ~~~ Taxi and The Periodic Table. Thinking Cap on ~~~

Well, we had a zero~ish sleep night last night, so Day 6 is rushed and a bit disappointing for me.  Not able to think in a straight line, I opted to follow the prompt and cobbled together a bright yellow acrylic background with some ribbon that looks a bit like a street, and a Tim Holtz stamp that was to hand. This is my rather sad interpretation of Taxi!

Still, I took part.  That's the main thing. I have decided that, if I don't like the daily prompt I am not going to use it as it does impact, I think, on what I produce.

So, on to Day 7 ~~~ Periodic Table ~~~ I don't think so or wait and see?

Well, that wasn't so long to wait now, was it?

I made my decision to work with the colour palette of the Periodic Table to recreate a favourite tree that I drew some time ago, some of you may have seen it on Instagram or Facebook where I shared the Autumn version of this ~~~ so, here it is ~~~

Again, this is another one that soaked through as I did not coat the card, so this is the softer focus version on the reverse ~~~

So, there we have it ~ the first week of ICAD 2015 done! Stay tuned for more originial works of 'art' next week ~~~