Three more days....

...until Daisy Yellow's annual Index-Card-A-Day challenge begins!

This will be my fourth year participating in ICAD, and I absolutely love it.

The challenge, as the name implies, is to make a piece of art on an index card every day from June 1st - July 31st.

Tammy (our hostess) has written a fabulous and comprehensive FAQ about the challenge. 

If you enjoy the social aspect of art groups, there's an ICAD flickr group and an ICAD facebook page, as well as a weekly Mr. Linky from Tammy's ICAD blog.

Doing this challenge in 2011 changed my life.  I kid you not.  I'm not overstating this.  Getting into the habit of making something every day was transforming.  It taught me that it IS possible for me to find time to create every day, no matter how busy I think I am.  It taught me that even 5 minutes of creative effort each day makes me a happier, healthier person.  It taught me that on days I think I don't want to create, if I just do a teeny little something I will probably get so energized that I will end up creating for hours.  Finally, and perhaps most importantly, by posting my cards in the flickr group, and browsing everyone else's submissions, I met some wonderful artists who have now become my friends.

The beauty of this challenge is the ephemeral nature of index cards.  As Tammy says...

"The challenge is about the DOING and not the KEEPING or PRESERVING or ARCHIVING. It is the process of creating each day that matters."

 
Index cards aren't precious.  They are cheap and plentiful.  I can paint, draw or collage on them and if I don't like what I made I can toss it in the recycle bin and grab another.  and another.

This morning, as a warm-up, I sat down and made these five quick cards, using nothing but the scraps on my desk.  It has me incredibly excited for this year's challenge.  I hope you'll consider playing along!

Two things I always forget about summer

 

 

(we won't even talk about mosquitoes)

Nothing like vermin to bring out my true colors.

Understatement

Late Night ICAD

Tuesday night:

Home at midnight after seeing Belle and Sebastian play in Boston.

Spent the drive home wracking my brain for index card inspiration.

Settled on the opening line of one of their songs.

Wednesday night:

Tired from a long day at work and a short night of sleep after last night's outing.  No index card ideas whatsoever.  Idly snipping up more of last year's unfinished index cards, trying to keep car hair out of the matte medium.  Finally using this great bit of a text from a postcard from Mary

Thursday night:

Dinner guest.  Lots of food and wine.  Ready for bed, but first an index card.

I just so happen to have a pre-painted card, received in the mail from Sandra.

And some cheap spotted packing tape, newly acquired.

And some text from Terrie in today's mail.

and for the life of me I can't remember who recently sent me that image, but I'm so grateful to all my swapping friends for showering me with collage fodder!

(I crack myself up)

Friday Night:
Even though I went to bed last night vowing to make my index card in the morning before work, I find myself at 10PM without one.  I spent the evening sorting and swapping the 106 monochromatic orange postcards for my most recent MMSA swap.  Once everything was stamped and labeled and appropriately documented, I sifted through all the empty envelopes, decided which could be reused, and cutting off all the interesting bits of the others before recycling them.
Here is my index card using bits of envelope from Lynn, Carroll, Mandy, Noel, Jan and Ria.

I am so thankful for this challenge.  Without it, there is no way I would have made any art this week.
My daily card habit, coupled with my year-long collage challenge, gets me in such a creative groove that even when I'm falling-down-tired-and-almost-incoherent, I can still make something I like.
Thank you Tammy and Hanna for these inspiring and motivating challenges.

Three hours of sleep.

Foggy.

Muddled.

Stumbling.

A gift in the mail from dear Gina

The index card void is filled for another day.

some cards are better than others

I'm feeling quite pleased with myself that I've made an index card collage every single day since June 1st.  I haven't skipped a single day of the challenge so far, and I've made 74 index cards in those 36 days!

Of course some days are better than others. Some days there is a seemingly endless supply of time, energy and inspiration. On those days we get multiple intricate layers, and perhaps a series of cards exploring a common element.  Some days it feels like nothing short of a miracle that I brushed my teeth, let alone that I made art.  On those days we get...well you can judge for yourself.

But that's the beauty of ICAD.

It's not about creating a masterpiece every day.   It's about showing up. Just grab a card and make something.  Keep the creative momentum going.  Don't over think it.  Make a mark.  Stick something down.  Play every day.

This card from July 3rd uses images sent to me in recent swaps, and a gelatin print on deli paper.

ICAD 7-3-13

Last year, I made an index card every day during June, then I started having some health issues and I slowed way down and eventually stopped.  I've had a stack of partially painted and unused index cards in a box on my desk for the last year.  On July 4th, when I nearly forgot to do my index card, I started cutting up those background cards from last year.  I had a dictionary page on my desk and the word "continuation" popped out at me.  It seemed fitting.  It was a super quick collage and I kind of felt like I was phoning it in.

ICAD 7-4-13

Then came July 5th.   It seemed as though I was the only person in the state of Massachusetts who had to work.  It was a long, hot day.  I'd been home long enough to change my clothes and have some dinner when the phone rang.  It was my son, calling from a campground where he was supposed to be spending 4 days with a friend.  He'd been there 24 hours, barely slept, had a terrible sunburn and wanted to come home.  His trembling 12 year old voice, trying not to cry in front of his friend, was more than this mama could bear.  I hopped in the car and drove 90 minutes to collect my tired lobster and take him home.  It was 11PM by the time we were back in the house, and it was only after he was in bed that I remembered I hadn't done my index card.  I realize the world wouldn't have ended if I'd just gone to bed.  I wouldn't have failed. The goal was 61 index cards and I've already passed that mark.

But because I'd already had this thought the night before, I was able to create the card below in about 2 minutes.  Glue down a strip from the yellow pages, use my phone rubber stamp, stamp the words on a separate index card and cut them out, then head to bed (giggling).

ICAD 7-5-13

Today was a long leisurely day of blogging, making art, carving new stamps, and sending mail.  And 11PM rolls around and I realize I still haven't made my index card!  Luckily I rarely clean my desk and have some wonderful scraps strewn about.  I grab a background card from last year, add some tissue paper and scraps leftover from another project, and I'm done for the day.

ICAD 7-6-13

 Now I'm off to bed.

Maybe tomorrow I'll make my card as soon as I wake up....

ICAD flashback (and collage flash forward)

ICAD 7-1-13 (first day of camp)

 

My summer camp program started this week, and as usual it is kicking my butt.

Day one was 11 hours of my name being called nonstop.

No matter how well prepared we think we are, there are still loose ends and countless questions from young and old.

I come home exhausted. 

(but honestly?  I love it.)

Half way through the day today I caught myself thinking "Is it really only the second day of camp?"

and then started to laugh at the familiarity of that refrain.

I came home and found the ICAD evidence from Tuesday June 26, 2012:

I'm nothing if not predictable.

It makes me realize I'm actually faring much better this year.

On this date last year I was coming home after a night in the ER.  I'd had mysterious chest pain and was afraid I was having a heart attack.  (It turned out to be reflux exacerbated by stress)

This year, the reflux is under control, and I may be tired, but I've managed to keep up with the ICAD challenge, and make additional postcards/index cards each night.

ICAD 6-29-13

ICAD 6-30-13

ICAD 7-2-13

 This next batch of collages are part of a larger project I'm working on.

They also count toward my goal of 365 collages in 2013.

I am officially 15 collages ahead of the game.

I'm building a stock pile knowing I've got some vacations coming up and will probably not be collaging every day.

#193/365

#194/365

#195/365

#196/365

 

#197/365

#198/365

I'm taking these weary bones to bed for a good night's sleep, because as I say every afternoon before I leave camp,

"More fun tomorrow!"

Forcing the funny

I joined a postcard swap called "wicked funny captions."

Create a postcard with a person on a patterned background with a snarky, humorous caption.

It seemed a no-brainer.

I love postcards.

I love captions.

I love funny.

The deadline approached, I had no card, I wasn't worried.

I'm the queen of funny captions.  I can procrastinate.

Finally, I sat down to do it, and my funny was gone.

Completely dried up.

Apparently, I can't be funny under pressure.

Pressure made worse by the fact my swap recipient is Steph - coordinator of the swap group, and my funny-caption idol.

I had a stack of potential pictures, and a stack of potential captions, and none of them were even close to good enough.

The night before the deadline I had to email her and confess that my funny was MIA.

I filed for an extension.

I made these index cards:

 

 

Some of these are marginally funny, but they don't seem to qualify as "wicked funny captions."

Besides, they are 3 x 5 index cards - too small to mail as postcards.

Tonight I started to get my groove back.

Four postcards, three with found text.

Can't decide which like best.

Will I send one of these to Steph?

Will I send all of these to Steph?

Will I wake up in the morning and decide they are all crap and start again?

 

 

What happens to these remains to be seen.

I'm going to ask Steph to host one of these swaps again, only next time she should name it "crappy postcards with stupid sayings" and I'll knock it out of the park.

I'm funnier when I'm not trying.

framed

As I've been working on my index card collages this month, I've come to rely on an extremely valuable, high-tech tool:  a piece of paper with a hole in it.

Let me 'splain

(no, no, there is too much. let me sum up.)

When I'm trying to decide on a composition, I do a lot of paper shuffling to see what works.  I don't want to tear or cut a paper until I'm sure where it will go.

The problem is, the index card is now completely invisible and it's hard to see what the composition will looked like once it's trimmed, but I don't want to trim it because maybe it will look horrible and I'll want to use one of the pieces somewhere else, but now the piece is too small.

The simple solution?

Cut an index-card sized hole in the middle of a piece of copy paper and use it as a view finder or frame.

Now I can tweak the background layers, and start playing around with a focal image.

How about this moving van from a 1950's magazine ad?

or maybe this piece cut from a beautiful note card Gina S. sent me (it's from a picture of one of her art quilts)

Maybe I should combine the two images?

No, no, no, no, no!

Ditch the van, stick with the quilt.

Glue it down, trim away the overlapping bits, and add a word from the leftover scrap of dictionary page - circumsolar.

#177

Love it.

On this one (from a few days ago), I knew I wanted to use the donkey and the orange.  I was even pretty sure I wanted to use the trees, but I had no idea what to do for the background.

This?

Or this?

Or this?

Or this?

The last one was the winner, but it would have been hard to figure out without my frame.

Here are a few other recent index cards:

#172

#173

#174 (gelatin printed deli paper from Leslie)

#175 (gelatin printed background from Corrine)

#176 (bane of my existence)