Postcard a day 1

This is a thing I’ve decided to do. Not really every day, but rather on the days when I’m too busy, too tired, too distracted or too something else to haul out the serious painting gear and have a go at that. Or any other creative thing for that matter. Such as this week which seems to insist on being slept away mostly, I’m a complete zombie. Lovely weather and all, I’d much rather break in my bicycle! But there’s no forcing it, I’d not be safe in traffic.

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I have no idea how many people are running a something-like-this-along, most likely 100’s. But I just set the challenge for myself to feel like I wasn’t missing out on picture creation while I do other things, as well as taking the pressure off making a “real” big painting in case any of that nonsense happens. I may do a search on the topic one of these days, but I’ll be more likely to just sit and browse pretty pictures for hours or days instead of making stuff, so for now I won’t.

I’m also not going to post every day or even regularly, just when I feel like it. This is meant to be a treat for myself, not a competition or an exercise. And sometimes other matters are more pressing or I’m simply having so much fun doing other stuff that I forget. 😉

If you want to -along you’re more than welcome to, and we can do the linky thing and all that, but I refuse to make any rules or schedules, just so you know! Just post your cards and comments – or we can swap!

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I started out with a piece of watercolour paper that I dipped in my woad vat while testing if it was exhausted or what. It was indeed a wee bit tired (not that I know if a fresh vat would have made more of the paper, I’ll have to test that later), so the next day I dribbled some of the plant watercolours on it, tore it into 4 pieces and had a go with a glue stick because I hated what I’d done with the dribbles. I’m sooo rusty at this collage thing. And I know I should probably stick to one topic rather than trying on all the things I’m rusty at, but it seems I can’t help it. Ok, I haven’t really tried very hard not to, so I don’t know if I could.

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I also considered to just copy cat a lot of stuff to keep the flow until I get into it properly, I don’t like to but I hear it’s great for cranking your skills. At the moment, the exercise is primarily about accepting that I make poor choices and that my cards are sometimes useless in the decorative sense. Maybe I’ll have an “ugliest card” competition at the end of the year where you can vote for all the monsters. 😉

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This tiny format is a HUGE challenge for me as well. I want to cram all sorts of things on there, which is impossible. And why postcard and not just “a tiny image a day”? Well, I like to pretend I’m making something useful I think. And I know I’ve framed pretty postcards and put them on the wall, so really, it’s just a name.

Maybe I’ll put old stamps on the back and write pretend messages to and from imaginary people….

Then there’s an entirely different matter. I appear to have developed a slight hand tremor. I can feel it if I try to draw or knit with small needles for instance. Why I have no idea, it doesn’t run in the family that I’m aware. So I guess I should not count on any type of precision work in drawing etc. but have to develop a style where it doesn’t matter. I hope this is it, though, I’d hate to give up making things with my hands. I’ll have to pay attention to how tired I am when it happens. It’s certainly not very good for calligraphy or fine scissor work either! 🙁

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Some old pieces of tissue paper with ink. I thought they might be more interesting with some doodles on all that white space, but can I?

Et postkort om dagendanish

…har jeg tænkt mig at lave som projekt.

Jeg har overhovedet ikke kigget ret meget eller for nylig på de 100-vis af lignende websider man kan finde derude, for så får jeg aldrig løsrevet mig fra at bare sidde og kigge og beundre. Men jeg tænkte jeg kunne bruge det som en slags livline, så jeg føler at jeg trods alt laver noget billedagtigt i de perioder hvor der ikke rigtig er plads til det. Som denne uge der insisterer på at være zombie-sæson, i det gode vejr, hvor jeg hellere ville ud at lufte min cykel lidt. Men jeg ville ikke være trafiksikker, der er ikke noget at gøre…

Ikke noget med at vise dem hver dag eller regelmæssigt, bare når jeg gider. Hvis nogen har lyst til at dele lignende projekter er det super, men der er ingen regler!

Jeg begyndte med et stykke papir som jeg havde dyppet i vaidgryden da den var ved at løbe tør for farve. Så driblede jeg lidt andre farver på, det blev grimt, så limstiften kom frem…

Det er meget meget længe siden jeg har lavet collager kan jeg godt mærke, og jeg tror aldrig jeg har arbejdet så småt, så det er udfordring på mange planer. Måske jeg går i gang med at kopiere nogen yndlingskunstnere, det siges at være en god måde at forbedre sig på, og så sker der da lidt når min egen fantasi ikke ruller som jeg vil det. Nu må vi se.

Jeg farvede også lidt papir i cochenillegryden, og jeg tror jeg hiver mine bladtryk fra sidste år frem også og klipper lidt i dem – eller laver nye.

Måske sætter jeg gamle frimærker bagpå og skriver fiktive beskeder til og fra ukendte og indbildte personer…

Til gengæld har jeg på det seneste opdaget, at jeg ryster en smule på hænderne. Det er ikke noget der ligger til familien, så jeg kender ikke årsagen, men jeg kan ikke tegne særlig nøjagtigt, og jeg kan mærke det hvis jeg strikker på tynde pinde. Ret irriterende, jeg håber ikke det udvikler sig yderligere, og så må jeg jo bare finde en tegnestil hvor det ikke ses.

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20 thoughts on “Postcard a day 1

    1. 🙂 Og det var det kort jeg var i tvivl om, hvorvidt det var færdigt, men jeg kunne heller ikke få mig selv til at skrible hen over det.

      Blå og grøn er også det jeg har en stor overvægt af i min garderobe, jeg har et skab fuld at blå glas og flasker, som desværre er gemt væk nu da jeg har katte og ikke noget skylight hvor de kan stå sikkert på rad og række med morgensolens stråler igennem. Hm, det må jeg se at få lavet om på.

      Nu hvor du har fået mere energi og markedssæsonen går på hæld, burde du så ikke tilbringe lidt mere tid i selskab med dine dråber?

      1. Herlig kommentar! Det ville afgjort være synd at skrible på det kort, eneste undtagelse ville være en alfehistorie i smuk engelsk kalligrafi.
        Jeg har en hel kasse blå flasker og glas gemt bort til børnene ikke længere vælter dem 😉 Jeg drømmer om glashylder højt oppe i vindueskarmen, i flere højder, så de blå glasting kan bruges som gardin.
        Dråber? Jo der er et eller andet ved kastaniesæsonen, der får mig til at tegne dråber. Mindstemanden er ved at læse sig gennem mine samlede dråbehistorier, når han når vejs ende, må jeg nok tegne et nyt “bind”. Men nu får vi se. I år skal vi nemlig også ud at rejse 😀

        1. Hmm, ord der bugter sig rundt mellem blomsterne, ikke nogen dum ide. Måske ikke på dette kort, men som ide generelt, den putter jeg lige på lager.

  1. I love the idea of making postcards. Your work is lovely. I especially like the tissue paper piece. Such beautiful, bold colors.

    1. Thanks. I do enjoy bold colours myself, when I found these in my storage box I immediately wanted to run out and buy new inks in ALL the colours.

      In fact, the random way you can work with them would suit shaky hands very well!

  2. Rigtig fin ide ! Ofte kan et s¨ådan projekt kick starte kreativiteten og det at skabe plads i dagligdagen til den.
    Sikke noget med den rysten…

    1. Ja, jeg har masser af kreative ideer, men det med at skabe pladsen, så man ikke farer rundt og bare får ordnet sine pligter indtil man er helt kvæstet, den er sværere.

    1. When I first noticed it, it was temporary and I thought it was stress related. Now is seems to be less obvious, but I feel it every time I use my hands, “driving” the computer mouse, knitting, handwriting, drawing, holding camera steady. It’s not like I’m sloshing my tea around, just an inability to make an accurate pin prick.

      I guess it could be related to my fatigue, which I also don’t know the exact cause of. I mean, I have lots of ideas, but doctors here aren’t interested in investigating unless you’re actually lame…. I did have a neurologist tell me quite a few years ago that I had hardly any muscle tonus, but still nobody seemed to think it was important. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

      1. My mum and I are at the moment discussing whether we might have congenital hypothyroidism. But we’d probably have to pay for testing to find out.

  3. I’m sorry about the tremor, I do hope you find out what is causing it, not knowing is always hard. If you suffer from fatigue and haven’t been tested for hypothyroidism then you should definitely have it done – does the health service over there not do a simple blood test for free? I’m amazed, I always thought Denmark was such a progressive and advanced country that I would have expected it to have an excellent health service too. My husband had hypothyroidism, he was absolutely exhausted all the time (but no hand tremor), and with the right medication he is absolutely fine now. You’re not taking too much vitamin B by any chance? I took extra vitamin B for my fatigue and after a while I noticed a tremor on my hands which went away when I stopped taking it (it’s a known side effect).

    Anyway, about the main topic, the cards – what a great idea, I like the idea of art in a small and non-intimidating scale and yours look just fantastic. The first one with the flowers is just beautiful and I love the ink on tissue paper too. Immediately I am also thinking this would be great in a textile format too, for example, mini-embroideries or fabric collages.

    1. It would be great in textiles, or felting!

      I have been tested with a simple bloodtest, but not one that separates the T3 and T4 and whatever it’s called. The doctors then have a scale of “normal” going from not dead to really high, and if you’re within that area “you’re fine”. Some of them don’t even believe in hypothyroidism apparently (unless you’re at the near dead stage) I’m sure it’s not always from ill intention, they are constantly being bullied by the authorities into making fewer test and fewer referrals to specialists to save money. Socialized healthfare is a blessing in some ways and very inefficient in others.

        1. Jeg æder D-vitamin i rå mængder, men måske jeg skulle få det checket jævnligt. På et tidspunkt tog jeg en monsterkur en hel sommer, og efterfølgende måling vist blot middelmådige tal. Jeg tager i øvrigt også magnesium efter behov. Der kan være så meget som kan være ubalanceret, kalium og hvad ved jeg, det er en jungle! Men lægerne er jo tilfredse hvis bare tallene er nogenlunde, de søger ikke sammenhænge. Så man skal finde ud af det hele selv.

  4. I love this idea, and as soon as my craft supplies are out of boxes, I will join in. I keep looking at the first one–with the purple flowers–trying to figure out how you did that. Tell?

    1. They are pressed flowers from my garden simply glued onto the paper with mat medium.

      Did you move? Where, how, why? Curious minds want to know, I have an email form here if you’d like to share. 😉

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