Gratuitous Web Presence

ICAD 17/61; no prompt. Pilot G2 bold pen; cheap Target glitter pen; parking receipt from a few hours at the beach.

Wasn’t thrilled with my doodle background, so I plastered our parking receipt onto it. It’s something, I guess. Wandering around the beach where I spent some time in my childhood was a highlight of our time away.

And with this, I’m caught up on my ICAD cards. Still in a post-travel fog, though I’m still happily able to relax with artwork and yesterday’s White Sox game streaming from MLB.tv. Just plain physically weary, and my right big toe is oddly swollen and numb, though it seems to be improving.

My head hurts. The emotional and physical exhaustion of the past several days is catching up with me.

I could use more sleep.

ICAD 16/61; accidental use of “Chartreuse” prompt. Acrylic paint, punched card stock, metallic marker.

Another card to make up for two days of not creating. We flew home yesterday, the three of us. I had created this background well before I knew of the “Chartreuse” prompt; I’m not sure this is pure chartreuse, but whatever. It seems to work.

The slightly squiggled butterfly is punched from black card stock that my daughter scribbled in metallic marker when she was 5 or 6.

(Also, I just realized that the “Chartreuse” prompt was a day or two before. Oh well.)

ICAD 15/61; no prompt. Acrylic paints, washi tape, previously punched thesaurus page on card stock.

I’m behind on posting cards — and in fact was off on my card routine the past few days. Tuesday was Mom’s funeral, and yesterday was our long travel day back home. I had some supplies with me, and some ideas for cards, but now that we’re home, I’m catching up through a cloud of jet lag and the exhaustion that is finally catching up to me.

Here, we’re seeing off Mom.

ICAD 14/61; no prompt. Acrylic paint on inchies; printer paper; washi tape.

I didn’t realize I hadn’t posted this here after I made it Monday. Love this Simone Weil quote.

ICAD 13/61; no prompt. Smushed acrylics, gold metallic Sharpie, Pilot G2 bold pen.

After a long day of travel yesterday, I pulled out a prepped card and doodled. Sigh. It’s something.

ICAD 12/61; no prompt. Pilot G2 bold pen, cheap Target glitter pens.

Not a great pic of not a great doodle card. Colored this at O’Hare airport as our flight was canceled and we were rebooked on another direct flight to our destination, landing about 90 minutes after our originally scheduled arrival.

Bonus ICAD card for today. Let’s call this 11a/61; no prompt. Pilot G2 bold pen, cheap glitter markers, bronze metallic Sharpie pen that was low on ink.

Today is the feast of the Sacred Heart. Wanted to do something for it.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us.

ICAD 11/61; “Library” prompt. Pilot G2 bold pen. Simple and to the point this time.

ICAD 10/61; no prompt. Acrylic paints, washi tape, cutout of my daughter’s index card scribble.

Late posting of yesterday’s index card. Last (for now) in my accidental series.

In the Before (COVID) Times, I’d give my kid pens and 4 x 6 index cards to busy herself during church. I was hoping she’d maybe take notes or draw something about the readings or homily; instead, she’d produce idle doodles of Pokémon or dragons or whatever else she’d be fascinated with at the time. I have a pile of these drawings now, and I’ll be incorporating some of them into these cards.

ICAD 9/61; no prompt. Craft acrylic paint; washi tape; inchies made of repurposed cereal box cardboard, Eastern European newspaper, and Sharpie.

Took the look of the Day 7 card and switched things up slightly. I think I may have the makings of an accidental series here.

ICAD 8; “Umbrella” prompt. Black, pink, and blue Pilot G-2 bold pens; cheap glitter markers from Target; gold metallic Sharpie.

I was ready to post a different card, but the “Umbrella” prompt was especially compelling to me for some reason. I was stress doodling and ended up with this.

ICAD 7/61; no prompt. Metallic, pearlescent, and matte craft acrylic paints; metallic Sharpie; washi tape; old postage stamp.

Late getting this done after rifling through more supplies I didn’t realize I had. May be divine intervention involved, because I was close to giving up on this one. Actually happy about this card.

ICAD 6/61; no prompt. Gel pens, metallic Sharpies, printer paper, and repurposed cardboard.

Spending much of my weekend scanning family photos for an online tribute and slideshow for Mom’s visitation. This seemed kind of appropriate.

(I’m also finding she really rocked the hipster spectacle frames back in the day.)

ICAD 5/61; no prompt. Acrylic paint, metallic Sharpie, printer paper, and an artist trading card topped with inchies made with a metallic Sharpie and acrylic paint on repurposed cardboard.

My Saturday got kind of crowded, so I’m late in posting this one. “Productivity” has been on my mind a lot lately.

ICAD 4/61; no prompt. Acrylic paint, newspaper scrap, and inchies made with a metallic Sharpie and washi tape on repurposed cardboard.

This is one of likely many “I’m-overwhelmed-by-life-and-I-don’t-know-what-the-hell-I’m-doing” ICAD pieces.

I’ve been poking through a large stash of inchies I’ve created over the years and am trying to integrate them (and likely make new ones) into this project. It’s been a long week, and my brain cells are largely spent. So, I slapped this one together on a previously made paint background with inchies and newspaper scrap.

At the very least, this gives me somewhat of a template to play with for future cards.

ICAD 3/61; “Lyrics” prompt. Acrylic paint; Sharpies; collage atop painted inchies with punched cardstock and printer paper.

When I was pregnant with my daughter, I would sing “Blackbird” by the Beatles to her in my womb. She’s 13 now.

ICAD 2/61; no prompt. Paint markers, acrylic paint.

Inspired by a lousy first day of work after several days of bereavement leave.

I wanted to work with darkness and light in the midst of it. I might play with this kind of color scheme later in this ICAD stretch. Going from darkness to light is on my mind a lot lately.

ICAD 1/61; no prompt. (Most will be no prompt.) Paint markers, Sharpies, acrylic paint, gel pen, laser printer, and repurposed cardboard.

Produced a makeshift title card this afternoon. I was testing some old markers on a card to see if they were still usable, and opted to do something with that card.

I’ve made Mom my patron saint, as it were, for this maiden voyage into the ICAD world. So, here she is (with me behind her, age 5), joining me in this venture.

(Also, I’ve created a second Instagram account for my art experiments: @gratuitous.art. Unlike my personal account, @gratuitous.art is public.)

Taking the plunge at last in the annual 61-day Index-Card-A-Day Challenge. You just create a piece of art on a simple index card each day. Sounds simple, but it strikes me as daunting if I think about it enough. So I’m trying to not think (much) and just do.

Aiming to post what I do each day here (and at least some of the time on the ICAD group page on Facebook, if I’m brave enough).

I sense that I’m going to need this kind of outlet for the next few months to help keep myself sane. Grateful for it.