Gratuitous Web Presence

It dawned on me last week that I forgot to join this year’s Index-Card-A-Day art challenge.

I had enjoyed last year’s challenge so much that forgetting it this year startled me. I thought about just starting it late, catching up on the first few days I missed. But it dawned on me that no, I really don’t feel like doing it this year. Too much other stuff in my orbit, mainly – but not exclusively – steering F into high school and all the things associated with that. Throw in excessive work demands and basic self-care needs and I don’t think I can fit in much more.

This piece took a bit more than 5 minutes.

Work and other concerns have kept me from the daily art habit I’ve been trying to cultivate. I’m stepping away from any art challenges for a while because I find myself feeling like a failure for not keeping up with it. (I never felt that way with ICAD, because its creator always made it a point to kept things low-pressure throughout, and I was grateful for that.) So, I’m simply trying to #makearteveryday — any kind of art, whatever I can do, as best I can. That’s as much as I can handle for a while.

As much as art has become a self-care instrument for me, the pressure I’ve put on myself to create despite the demands of daily life is sucking all the fun out of it. I’m just going to have to do what I can and not obsess about whether I’m diligent about making this a daily thing.

Anyway, when I find time, I’m trying to get back to the online doodling class I started a while back. Made this cityscape thing. I enjoyed it fine, but I think I have a lot more fun with flowing lines and spirals.

Today’s self-care doodle. I thought about doing another challenge; I admit I’m missing the Instagram attention that the ICAD hash tags provided.

But I’m happy right now drifting through artist tiles or whatever strikes my fancy. A piece of art a day is usually as much as I can do during the work week.

Now that ICAD is over, I’ve really been diving deep into the #inchie pool — like, seven of these little guys at a time. (I know, I’m only holding four here.)

Just slathered a bunch with some molding paste I found deep in my stash; not sure what else I’ll do with all that. Going to experiment with Mod Podge Dimensional Magic next.

ICADs 60 (top) and 61; no prompt. Blackboard paint background, acrylic paints.

Tried to somewhat capture the view at the kitchen table in our AirBnB cabin in an attempt to brighten up one of my black mood backgrounds. Didn’t do well, but it was worth a try. Had better luck with watercolors on cut 2-inch square watercolor paper pieces, which I’ll share later.

And with that, I’m done with this year’s ICAD challenge. I’m tired, mainly because we just got home from a meh long weekend that ended with news of another pet loss in our extended family (my sister’s 13-year-old dog—this on top of my mother’s passing in May) and a general sense of frustration that I didn’t get a lot of art done.

But I’m glad I did these 61 days. The challenge has me trying watercolors and doodling and acrylics, in addition to jump-starting my little mixed-media inchie hobby. And I’ve really appreciated the encouragement of the ICAD group on Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Instagram followers. Grateful all around.

ICADs 58 (top) and 59; no prompt. Illustrator pen, metallic Sharpie.

Been on vacation. This is the best I could do. Had hoped to set aside more time for art. Didn’t do real well with that.

ICAD 57/61; no prompt. Illustration pen and Liquid Flair pen.

More swirly lines, this time with a red splash (and I could use better coloring pens) and a little different doodling within the doodling.

It’s amazing what one can do during a staff meeting.

ICAD 56/61; no prompt. Illustration pen.

Started a doodling course by Alisa Burke and did something with the first doodle instruction here. I had created another one on a larger card (4x6) using a Pilot G2 bold pen, but since I’ve been using 3x5s throughout ICAD, I made another one here for consistency, except I used an Artist’s Loft illustration pen.

I think I like using the G2 for these better. That said, I enjoyed this as much as I’ve enjoyed the neurographic art—except that staring at these makes me dizzy.

ICAD 55/61; Community newspaper scrap and metallic Sharpie.

I actually made this a while ago and had intended to do something more with it, but I’m behind again and starting to hit the wall on this whole project. And I looked at this and decided it was fine. So, here it is.

(Incidentally, Two Brothers in Elmhurst, Illinois, does make a fine pizza and has decent Italian food.)

ICAD 54; no prompt. Acrylic paint, Tim Holtz stencils, newspaper scrap, sticker.

Looking forward to a long weekend starting Friday. We’ll be at a remote cabin for a few days, which will put us out of cellphone range for much of the time. This means I’m unlikely to post the last of my ICAD cards till we get back. But I’ll still be bringing my art supplies with me — so with no work distractions, I should have time to relax with some art.

ICAD 53; no prompt. Acrylic paint; Tim Holtz stencils; collage cluster using tag punched from repurposed food packaging, scrapbook paper scraps, and a used postage stamp.

Found some stencils my sister sent me years ago and decided to play with them a little. I need practice with them.

ICAD 52/61; no prompt. Acrylic paint background, newspaper scrap, flowers doodled with Pilot G2 bold pens and fussy cut from blue sticky notes.

Fell behind on the cards this past week. I’m liking the streaky yellow backgrounds. I think I needed the brighter colors after going dark for so long on many of these cards.

ICAD 51/61; no prompt. Gesso, followed by Crayola Slick Stix (watered and brushed), illustration pen.

I probably should have limited the doodling to the “flowers” and left the bottom of this card alone. This is my first attempt at some kind of watercolor/doodle abstract work. It’s not great, but I want to play with this a little more.

ICAD 50/61; no prompt. Acrylic paint and illustration pen.

Late with this post, I know. Felt kind of off all day yesterday.

Finally getting away from my beloved G2 bolds and realizing that a proper illustration pen (this one from the inexpensive Artist’s Loft brand from Michael’s) is the way to go with the doodling. Far less smudging and blobbing for my left-handed self.

ICAD 49/61; Sharpie, glitter pen; collage cluster made with acrylic paint, scrapbook and newspaper scrap, bling stickers, and a Japanese postage stamp.

I’ve been hitting the wall on the index cards lately. But I’m enjoying working in an even smaller format with tags and collage clusters. I made this cluster and planted it on a random doodled card from earlier in the challenge.

ICAD 48/61; no prompt. Acrylic paint background, sloppy mandala made with Pilot G2 bold pen and metallic Sharpies, scrap from a past Sunday paper.

Actually created the messy mandala on a separate card, then cut it out and glued it onto this one.

ICAD 47/61; no prompt. Junk mail scrap, circles punched from an index card brushed with acrylic paint, PaperMate Liquid Flair pen.

We somehow ended up on a mailing list for some fireworks seller in a neighboring state, even though my husband hasn’t bought fireworks in ages. The one mailing we got this summer has yielded some decent art material.

ICAD 46/61; no prompt. Pilot G2 bold pen, Crayola Slick Stix, metallic paint pen.

Back to the neurographic doodling. Not thrilled with my coloring job, and clearly I need to reserve the Slick Stix for larger, less finely detailed stuff. But it’s something.

ICAD 45/61; no prompt. Blackboard paint, Crayola Slick Stix.

A little late with posting yesterday’s card. Decided to check out Crayola Slick Stix gel crayons. Love the feel of these, as well as the price point compared to other such crayons. I still want to try Neocolors and Gelatos when the budget allows.

Not that thrilled with this card—and I think I’m done with the blackboard paint series for a while—but I enjoyed the test drive on it.

ICAD 44/61; no prompt. Chalkboard paint; newspaper and junk mail scrap; and a chipboard tag covered in paint and metallic Sharpie, then collaged with scrapbook paper, snippet from an old Tom Clancy paperback, washi tape, and a Dollar Tree sticker.

Been playing with college clusters lately, especially after I realized that I have a TON of tags that I’ve punched over the years out of chipboard harvested from various food boxes. Decided to work one of these tag cluster things onto a background I created a few weeks ago. It seems to work.

ICAD 43/61; no prompt. Chalkboard paint background, Sunday newspaper photo.

It’s MLB All-Star Game Day. The player here, Brian Goodwin, isn’t in the ASG this year, but I love the joy in this image. I made several “baseball cards,” but I liked this one the most.

ICAD 42/61; no prompt. Black matte acrylic paint, extra-wide washi tape, daughter’s doodle on a sticky note.

No exciting back story here; just slapped this together, honestly. I do love being able to integrate my kid’s doodles into the art.

Playing with collage clusters using scraps, found words, old inchies, and postage stamps on tags punched ages ago from food box cardboard. Took a break from work to do one and recalibrate my still-tired brain.

When I feel like I’m spinning my wheels and overwhelmed even by index cards and inchies, I can crank out a couple of these and feel like I’ve completed something. Will repurpose these for ICAD index cards, the art/junk journal currently in development, or maybe mail art.

ICAD 41/61; no prompt. Matte acrylic paint; old Sunday newspaper clippings.

A large wire photo of a roomful of factory workers eating while socially distanced, which I clipped weeks ago, has yielded material for several cards, including this one.

Working on these. May add found words or box scores or something. Not yet officially part of the ICAD challenge till I finish at least one of them.