If Last Week Was Three Then This Must Be Four?

Gentle Reader ~~~ how time flies when you are having fun, and it cannot be denied that I am having fun doing these ICAD pieces. Already Week Four and where is the time flying to?

I just need to say Thank You to every one for your kind and encouraging comments. I know some of the things I'm sharing are a bit weird, but this is what ICAD is all about for me personally ~ exploring and playing with different mediums and not being precious about anything, or over thinking things.  I will say this though ~ I have produced two or three pieces so far that I definitely want to revisit after ICAD is over. The kiwi of a couple weeks ago is one, and there are two on this week's challenge ~~~ so, here we go again ~~~

Day 22 the theme was psychedelic and I really could not get in to this one at all, but ended up with this ~~~
~~~ which is lots of pearlescent ink swirled around and scratched into the card  with yet more layers of ink on top. I cut out a template for the Peace sign and then layered it with gazillions of tiny scraps of inked paper that had been hanging around, and frankly annoying me, for ages ~~~ yes, I suffer from obsessive compulsive hoarding disorder, of this I am certain. Anyway, this is what we got ~~~

~~~ Groovy Man ~~~

Day 23 and the prompt was Romantic ~~~ challenging, as I am probably the least romantic person I know ~~~ so, I took a card that was already prepared with gold acrylic paint bubble wrap pattern and I inked over with some pale pink pearlescent ink. I layered a scrap of green~shot~with~gold silk, some cream lace, a home made peel~off from my palette {ink, paint, and PVA} and added two hearts from a Martha Stewart punch that I inked and intertwined. The final topper of a rose bud is from my own photography and many of you will recognise it from my images, elsewhere, of my Elizabeth rose ~~~

Day 24 the prompt was Geometric so I divided the card into inches and just filled each one in differently using a fine liner. I put a constraint on myself not to use anything but straight lines. Not my favourite ~~~

Day 25's prompt was Botanic and Organic. Now, I could have played with these two for hours and hours but I had company so it ended up being a tad rushed. Still, the background is an organic mixed media, built up over several days using left over bits of this and that rather than discarding them. The sketch is in oil pastels which I find rather bulky and clumsy for working on this size of canvas, but it is good to persevere.

I am including several images so you can see what a difference the background and light can make to how the image reproduces photographically ~~~

For Day 26 the prompt was Exotic. I am getting rather fond of cleaning  my palette which is now providing me with a selection of PVA shapes on a regular basis, so the one that I lifted a few days ago I used today because it reminded me greatly of one of those exotic, fan~tailed goldfish you often see in ornamental ponds ~~~ so, a few bits of added fabric, metallic net, some extra dots of ink to echo the bubble wrap print and give some continuity ~~~ and a glorious, orange chiffon tail ~~~

Day 27 the theme was Academic ~~~ quite a lot going on here, despite the simplicity of the image ~~~ as a permanent student I decided to cut this back to a minimum. Gold tissue paper {symbolic of Honours on my degrees and certificates} embossed with a beautiful Austen~esque script {symbolic of classical literature}. The tape is dyed with alcohol ink {no, that is not symbolic of a glass of red wine} to blend, and the two images {symbols of study and mathematics} are stamped, hand coloured in, then cut out {fiddly or fiddly?} and pasted on with a snippet from an old dictionary that defines Academy.  Thinking about it, the symbolism is a good representation of my love of art, and the analysis of symbolism therein ~~~ am I getting too deep now?

and to round off the week, the theme was Dramatic. As many of you have seen, both on my other blog and on Facebook, I am treated to some incredibly spectacular sunsets as I live near the ocean and face west, so I decided to do a homage to a spectacular, sky on fire, sunset.  I used wet paper and gouache, keeping the paint thin and loose so it blended well. It's a bit messy, but I like it ~~~

Same one with a black frame {the computer!} to see a different effect ~~~

I actually think the lines of the card showing through add something different and adds to it, what do you think?

So, onward to Week Five! We've already had the prompts and they are getting more interesting so we shall see what happens next!