Saturday, August 30, 2014

August ATC Cards - Circus Theme

The theme for August for the ATC cards for Blue Twig Studio's ATC Swap is "the circus." I really don't remember going to a circus as a child, but I do remember taking my own kids to the circus several times when they were young. I think I enjoyed it as much as they did. So I have fond memories of the circus

In spite of this, I found the circus a tough subject for this small piece of art. It took me most of the month to decide what I wanted to do. I did several searches on circus images and quotes involving the circus to help inspire me.

I finally found a saying that I liked:

      "If you surround yourself with clowns, don't be surprised when life resembles a circus."
             - Steve Maraboli

This made me think of a picture of a bunch of clowns. This is the ATC card that resulted from this saying. I found an image of clowns and used that for inspiration for my collection of clown faces for this ATC card. I used watercolor pencils and Sharpie markers to paint the clown faces.

"Life Resembles a Circus" - 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" Derwent watercolor pencils, Sharpie
 Fine-Point Markers on 140lb watercolor paper. Saying by Steve Maraboli.

The other ATC card was inspired by an image called "Circus, Circus" by Marco Bombach. It reminded me of a 3-ring circus! It was full of color. All the shapes were created by simple geometric lines, curves, and shapes. It was very interesting how he created all the various elements. My version is simplified and doesn't connect all the lines, curves, and shapes like he did to create the various elements. I created the elements and then tried to connect the lines to make them look like they were meant to be created by flowing lines and curves. I also didn't use as much shading as Bombach does.

"Circus" - 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" Derwent watercolor pencils, Sharpie Fine-Point Markers
on 140 lb watercolor paper. Inspired by Marco Bombach's "Circus, Circus". 


I finished these late on Aug 29th and got in the mail on the 30th! Aargh!! I forgot about Monday being a holiday - Labor Day! I hope Deb waits to receive cards till Sept 2, instead of the 1st like normal! Oops! Need to get inspired sooner, next month!!!


Keep creating!!



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