Yet another 365 update

It’s been a whole six weeks or something since my last post about my 365 Challenge for 2022. In case you’re new here, a 365 challenge (or the way I’m doing it) is to have 365 pieces of art by the end of the calendar year.

In my case, I’m using some of the eight million decks of playing cards I’ve collected and using the backs as a canvas. I’m on my third deck of cards and accumulating a nice little stack. I typically sit down at my art table and work in stages - first I cover the back of the card with a background paper pulled from my stacks of ephemera and scraps. Then once or twice a week I’ll do several cards at a time, working with a stack of focal points or just layering scraps until it looks finished.

To get focal points, this week I dug through some Smithsonian magazines, tearing out images I liked. I also went through my collection of greeting cards sent as a “thank you” from charities. “Fussy” cut the images out, try them out against the various backgrounds already glued to the playing cards, and glue them down. Finally I add in some shading, usually with a Stabilo All black pencil, which is water soluble. Or I use a Gelly pen or Posca marker for highlights.

Sometimes they wind up looking pretty similar. But that’s ok, because over time I’m building a tiny library of color schemes and images using different media and art supplies. Any that I like can be replicated or expanded or developed into larger pieces. Someday, when I actually do that, I’ll post it here. You’ll see it first!

In the meantime, here are some recent pieces I made.