Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Some New Swaps and Techniques to Me!!

The ATC-ArtDolls group hasn't been too active the past few months.  We managed to get the May swap going with the "Forest Fantasty" theme, the requirement was human heads with animal bodies!  Not a normal theme I would go for, but it was a mini-challenge.  I did my doll-ATCs with elephants and monkeys.  A rather fun theme to do actually.  One set went to Vanessa Soto in USA, and another set was traded at the ATC session in Bishan Library last Thu.

We met a week earlier this month as Moses will be busy with his preparation for his new job in Indonesia.  We'll miss him and all his coordination effort for these ATC sessions.  We decided that we will carry on with help from all the regulars.  Cheers to everyone!  Back to what we did on 6 Jun.  Based on Barbara Reid's illustration using plasticine, we came up with all these colourful, creative and picturesque ATCs within the hour.  Amazing, isn't it?

These are what Kristine and I did.  I wasn't in the mood to really create something, so I spent just a few minutes to shape a new merlion, at least everyone could tell with just a glance :)        
Sor Huan was so sweet to do this card for me after I commented in the last session on how pretty her set was.  Using the some girl, she used natural plant materials and fabric to create different look on each and every ATCs.   The origami bee was done by who else, but Rita, our origami guru.     
Remember the upcycle altered book project which I participated earlier this year? I took 6 photos with 6 soft toys to complete a double page of "Home is where the heart is". The collaborative books which we created are now exhibiting in Bishan Library for the month of June!        






I joined a new group, Paper_Traders, and learned a few new things in my first few swaps.  Have you heard of intuitive watercolour technique?  There are a number of  posts on various blogs: Zorana's, Beckie's, Carol's.  This is the first time I tried, and it was so rewarding and satisifying an experience.  I felt playful splashing watercolours around and at the same time, I was filled with anxiety. Curiosity crept in once the colours dried.  What do I visualise?  Can you see?  Can you not see?      

The first few pieces of ATCs I drew with this technique made me realised I'm not too bad an artist, LOL!   I sent in [from top left going clockwise] (1) My Toys, (2) Dinosaur, (3) Sewing by the Lamp, (4) Dance is the Hidden Language of the Soul, (5) Take a Moment to Admire.  


More done: (6) I Spotted a Fairy, (7) In The Pond, (8) Dancing, the child of Music and of Love. (9) A Walk in the Wood.  I'm doing more for our next ATC session in July :)    

Next was the Gypsy Deco Book swap.  I used a combination of stamping, die-cut and the same watercolour technique to create these "Gypsy Fortune Telling" pages on 3.5" square scrapbooking papers.  Fortunately, they are at least presentable as I was quite clueless on the gypsy theme.  I'm now trying another new technique (to me) for a third swap, still working on them, so more about it in my next post.

Before that, here's the tatted bookmark for Moses!  All the best to his new job!

3 comments:

Maureen said...

I will miss hearing about Moses in your posts - he seems to be such a creative person!
Remind me again what a "merlion "is? - because even after a LONG glance, I have no idea what it is!

Singtatter said...

Hi Maureen, yes, Moses is quite a creative person. He draws regularly too. He has introduced a lot of drawing and crafting techniques to us during those ATC sessions. The Merlion is a creature with a lion head and a fish body, a symbol for Singapore. You can read more about it http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlion

Christine said...

Wow, you have been busy! I loved seeing all your ACEOs.

That's so cool that you linked to Barbara Reid. I used to get a Canadian children's magazine that her clay pictures and I wanted to do something like that too...maybe some day.