ATC Collection

When scrapbooking a page or doing an altered art piece of work, you may often be left with literally scraps. But instead of throwing these away, keep them, as they make good material for ATCs.

ATC stands for Artist Trading Cards. The general idea is that you make a whole lot of one card and then trade them with others. But for me, well I only make one card, a one off collection, and I keep them. Only on rare occasions do I trade my cards, this is because I tend to use my ATCs more as a focal point for inspiration. They are great for doing when you have lost your creative urge, and they are so simple to make and not very time consuming.



If I am using up scraps I work with the card as if it is an empty canvas ready for some form of artistic treatment. So usually I don't have enough scraps left over to being doing more than one card, and I find it quite ... should I say boring ... when repeatedly making the same ATC card; so my one off ATCs are just that.

Here I have uploaded what my album looks like, as well as a selection of some of the cards (I'll post more later). I hope some of them will inspire you to create your own, or feel free to copy mine.




You can order the ATC Albums from www.scrapbookersdelight.co.nz or call into our store (7 Triton Drive, Albany, Auckland). We also have a special selection in the shop where you can buy ATC papers to quickly create your own cards. Another item we sell are fashion playing cards which you can use as a base for your ATC card.

The Rooms

This is a saucy piece of large art work by Tatjana Stefanovic.

And here are the details:

The Gay Phantom

I've recently enjoyed watching the Phantom of the Opera, both as a live performance and on video. Both were exhilarating. But I didn't like the Phantom, to me he was the evil dude (it's certainly not the story of the Beauty and the Beast).

Anyway, I have been inspired and have done this artwork. Below are some steps I took to create the 'gay Phantom'. That is, this Phantom is a HAPPY chap (well it could be a woman behind that mask).

This is a triptycht work using gel mediums and modelling paste, as well as tissues decoupaged on a background of pastelled red and orange love hearts. Words such as happy, gay and joy were rubbed on. Then there was a spritzing of Glimmer Mist, giving it that subtle iridescent look.





The mask has both eyes cut out, with one in the shape of a love heart. The Phantom wears a headband across his/her forehead with a few orange beads subtlety dangling down.

The embroidered panel down the side, is made from homemade silk paper and then machine embroidered with bits of ribbon and trim attached. It also underwent some Glimmer Mist spritzing.

Below are sketches done using the pastels. These images were done in a visual diary. Visual diaries are good to jot down ideas in picture form. So when I was symbolizing words such as love, laughter, anger, etc I drew colours and symbols that represented those scenes for me.


Close up views.
Here you can notice how the pastel has been smudged and that same technique has been applied onto the canvas and then gel medium pasted over this, followed by modelling paste. It will smear and bleed, but that is all part of the look.


This image above is to show what colours reflected the word happiness for me.

Byzantine Shrine

For those who love religious iconography here is a shrine made by Tatjana using a range of Byzantine cards, marblelized rubons, mica flakes, gold and silver leaf, and several coatings of antique French varnish. I don't know why this is categorised under transformational art; I think because it's a folder as has become a shrine.



A closer look





Here is a look inside the shrine with plenty of angels, saints, and Mary and Jesus.




The back panel of the shrine.









And have a look at the finer detail, it includes painting of tiny red, blue and white spots.

Millais Paintings for Inspiration

A pre-Raphaelite artist.

Waterhouse Paintings for Inspiration

I adore pre-Raphaelite paintings and am often wondering off surfing the internet looking at these classic pictures.

We use some of this artist's paintings in our altered art.

He Feeds Upon Her Face

The poetess is Christina Rossetti -- writing about the feeling her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, had for his "muse and wife," Elizabeth (Lizzie) Siddal (1829-1862}.

"One face looks out from all his canvases,
One selfsame figure sits or walks or leans:
We found her hidden just behind those screens,
That mirror gave back all her loveliness.
A queen in opal or in ruby dress,
A nameless girl in freshest summer-greens,
A saint, an angel - every canvas means
The same one meaning, neither more nor less.
He feeds upon her face by day and night,
And she with true kind eyes looks back on him,
Fair as the moon and joyful as the light:
Not wan with waiting, not with sorrow dim;
Not as she is, but was when hope shone bright;
Not as she is, but as she fills his dream."
-------
Christina Rossetti, In an Artist's Studio (1856)

Dante Rossetti is one of my favourite artists and poets. Here is some of the classic pre-Raphaelite works he is well known for.



Mary's Girlhood

This is that blessed Mary, pre-elect
God's Virgin. Gone is a great while, and she
Dwelt young in Nazareth of Galilee.
Unto God's will she brought devout respect,
Profound simplicity of intellect,
And supreme patience. From her mother's knee
Faithful and hopeful; wise in charity;
Strong in grave peace; in pity circumspect.

So held she through her girlhood; as it were
An angel-water'd lily, that near God
Grows and is quiet. Till, one dawn at home,
She woke in her white bed, and had no fear
At all,--yet wept till sunshine, and felt aw'd:
Because the fulness of the time was come.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

In Your Eyes

Well some people know I'm fond of love poetry and have written some myself many, many years ago. But here is one I found from someone that too, must have that sensitive poet's heart, but an unlikely and surprising candidate.

In your Eyes

In your eyes lies ardor, refusal and ease
In your eyes I sensed reproach
I saw in them the shaft of death sinking Into my conscience as I lost my way
Blame me not for past events
But reward with forgiveness my misdeeds instead
In you I believed and in destiny's judgement each thing in this world has a reason for being
Oh my beloved, between us both intimacy and reserve
In our love we exchanged suffering
Who can heal when there is no doctor, no cure
Nor one who knows the healing power of plants?
How I tried and tried to meet you I tried to approach you
The echo of me came not from your direction
Who can respond to this voice when my presence is an absence?
Oh angel dearest, the eyelid fled sees sleeplessness in my eyes and stays well away.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Judge Gently

Pray don't find fault with the man who limps or stumbles along the road,
Unless you have worn the shoes he wears, or struggled beneath his load.

There may be tacks in his shoes that hurt, though hidden away from view,
Or the burden he bears, placed on your back, might cause you to stumble too.

Don't sneer at the man who's down today, unless you have felt the blow
That caused his fall or felt the shame that only the fallen know.

You may be strong; but still the blows that were his, if dealt to you
In the selfsame way, at the selfsame time, might cause you to stagger too.

Don't be too harsh with the man who sins, or pelt him with word or stone,
Unless you are sure, yea doubly sure, that you have no sins of your own;

For you know, perhaps if the tempter's voice should whisper as softly to you
As it did to him when he went astray, it might cause you to falter, too.

– Author Unknown.

I really love this poem.

Ephemera

These are photos that I took in the summer holidays (2008). Just a little slow in uploading them. So I know I can't do anything with them, as I don't own the ephemera, but they were taken up north in the Bay of Islands in one of the museums there.

I just loved the vintage postcards. So enjoy.

Glimpses of Hope

Hope for a peaceful future,
Hope for a better outcome,
Hope for a wrong to be righted.

These are glimpses of hope,
For everyone to share and know,
And of course to pass on.

Vintage Romance Story in Pictures

This is one of Tatjana's quirky Victoriana's star books she made. Remember when making these books we are confined to the resources and materials we have as supplies, so often we have to make up the stories with what we have, and then it can get really quirky.

The opening is entitled "Together Forever"

The next page is scattered with red love hearts, and is showing the story unfolding about the couple's correspondence with one another.

A tiny envelope of ephemera with "The Sweet calm days in golden haze, melt down the amber sky."

This page shows the lady and where she stores her love letters.

Next page is about sweet nothings: sugar pie, honey bunch and sweetheart. Alas, she is now winning him through food.

Here we have an elephant doing a balancing act on a globe. Love equals balance.

And for some kinectic stuff, yes part of the globe slides down revealing 'together forever'. Fly me to the moon.

And here we have a few stolen moments.

Then she unravels her fan and out explodes another letter with lyrics to a song "once in a love", with the violin ready to be played below. Rhapsody in love.

... further on She said .."isn't it romantic and they said it wouldn't last." (the gossips). And the 'tying the knot' – the cord with a heart on it .... He said ....

Embrace destiny my soul mate.


The end. A fine romance by Passion Seekers Anonymous.

The Cross

"We live by faith and not by sight"



I haven't blogged for ages, it is more to do with the assignments I have been working on (non-art projects) and having to cope with a massive flooding in my office (the bursting of an air con pipe) rather than having no material to upload. Anyway, life is almost back to normal.

This cross I made awhile ago and I was inspired by the work of Michal Negrin one of my favourite artists (she is listed under my favourite artists). I have used a collection of Victoriana stickers that have been scuffed (distressed) and then applied on to some beautiful paper by Walter Knabe (another favourite artist). On top of this I have added Dimensional Magic, a product that looks like ready made resin. It coats it beautifully with lots of lustre and shine.

This is the reverse side: