Today's effort

Enso painted on silk (Artist Trading Cards series)

Poppy gift from a neighbor friend - best year ever. A possible motif for an ATC series.

Sumi trading cards

The Enso. The circle of life. Neverending. Hope springs eternal.

The club suit shows through - Shamrock & bamboo - Irish meets Japanese...think about it...

Feathers. Flight. Freedom.

Forget-me-nots.

ATC flower series

I decided to leave the playing card faces showing through on two of these series as an experiment to add more interest, though I will not allow the cards to show through again on the next series - it appears to be more of a distraction than an interest. Good to experiment...

Trading card diptychs

Artist trading cards

This is a popular new trend which I have been resisting, but now find myself interested in playing around with. Different artist groups have different rules about trading. Some have particular size requirements, some say you must only trade in person (for the experience). Some people mail them to each other. Here is my first attempt at making my own trading cards. They are small sumi paintings on layers of rice papers glued on with acrylic medium. The cards are bridge-sized cards 2 3/8 inches by 3 1/2 inches. I wonder what my friends' cards will look like, and where this hobby will lead to. It reminds me of the altered-books projects I have participated in in the past (one of the groups work was good enough to be displayed in a local library and the newspaper did an article about the exhibit). A local art store has swap meets where you can actually make the cards and trade them all in one day. I might try that sometime for the company while creating the cards. Could be fun...

Two attempts at capturing morning light

Poor photography, but you get the idea...This painting is sold.