Index-Card-A-Day 2013: Week 5

It's week 5 of Index-Card-A-Day 2013 (at least in my little world). No, it's really two days until the end of nine weeks of Index-Card-A-Day fun. Can it be over so soon? 

Well, not for me. I'm still catching myself up on cards and catching you up on my work. I want to keep all these posts and cards in order, but there may be a post later with cards I went back and made up for. Of course, for too lengthy blog posts, I'm not sharing every single index card. Some of mine came out awful (and that could be a post in itself). 

"Oh, My Deer!" ICAD : 6-30-13

Gelli™ printed tissue paper, acrylic paint, colored pencil, gel pen, text on 3" x 5" index card.

This scrap of Gelli™ printed tissue paper had the exact shape of a deer on it! I just added a few details like the eye, ear definition, shading, and the text.

"Layered Gelli™ Printed Petals" ICAD : 7-1-13

Molding paste, acrylic paint, Gelli™ printed paper collage, marker on 3" x 5" index card. 

My Gelli™ printing sprees produce a ton of yummy papers for collage. These are mainly junk mail scraps and book pages I printed. All the petals were hand-cut and are layered in this collage. I used the end of my finger to curl the ends of all the petals, but the scan I have here doesn't show the real dimension of the piece. 

"My Favorite Washi Tape" ICAD : 7-2-13

Washi tape and DYMO lettering on 3" x 5" index card. 

I needed a really quick make-up card for this day so I just grabbed my five favorite washi tapes and my DYMO. Is it possible to just have five favorite washi tapes?! NO! 

"Summer Fun" ICAD : 7-3-13

Gelli™ printed background, handmade stamps, gel pen, calligraphy pen, archival ink on 3" x 5" index card. 

There were parts of this Gelli™ printed background that I really didn't like. So I stamped my pie chart and asterisk hand-cut stamps over it. The pie charts looked like beach balls to me on the colorful background. I colored them in with opaque gel pens and added some white gel pen accents. My calligraphy could use some help. I tried to disguise my mistakes with a hot pink opaque gel pen, but the calligraphy ink bled right through.

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I did a card for the 4th of July and it can be seen in my post here. 

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"Heart Garland" ICAD : 7-5-13

Gelli™ printed background with hand-cut paper hearts stitched to 3" x 5" index card. 

The Gelli™ printed background for this one sat on my desk since the start of Index-Card-A-Day. It was too pretty to cover up with a lot of collage. Each heart is Gelli™ printed book page and was hand-cut by me. I lightly glued them to the card before sending the lot through the sewing machine. I really like how this one turned out and may turn the design into something bigger.

"Imagination Is More Important Than Knowledge" ICAD : 7-6-13

Spray ink, acrylic paint, stamp, ink, gel pen, paper collage on 3" x 5" index card. 

I masked and sprayed the background with spray inks. Then I stamped with paint and ink and doodled on it. The quote is stamped on a scrap of painty phonebook page and was given dimension with foam tape behind it. The paper backing the quote is part of the mask I used with the spray ink - it matched the colors! How handy!

- Vickie

Index-Card-A-Day 2013: Week 2 & 3 Catch Up

June was a whirlwind month. It was filled with sunny days, warm nights, and healing from gallbladder surgery. Yuck. I think I'm finally turning the corner on healing from that. No longer does every move or breath make me wince in pain. A dinner of steak and tater tots didn't have me wailing for death. Good times! I'll take 'em!

Without further ado, I present my week 2 and 3 Index-Card-A-Day work (even though we are already in week 7 of the whole thing).

The purple and pink card above (6-12-13) was started with fiber paste. I don't really know what this stuff is, but I like it a lot. It's weird... pasty yet sort of smooth, really sticky, and really fun. The texture it imparts is to-die-for. After that dried, I added some paint, handmade stamps, and flicked white paint on it. I used another handmade stamp on some Gelli™ prints - the flowers - and cut those out. The leaves and stems are also Gelli™ prints. 

  

These three pretty ladies are drawn with ink. I decided it was toooooo fussy to color in. 6-9-13

Insert the gallbladder surgery derailment that sent my summer plans spilling all over the tracks. 

These flowers (6-15-13) were given to me by the nurses on my floor who felt bad I was so very sick after surgery and had migraines on top of it. I didn't get any index cards done in the hospital so the rest of the cards in this post (except the last one) were done as I convalesced at my mother's house with limited art supplies.   

Red Haired Woman: 6-16-13: Marker, watercolor, colored pencil, gel pen on 3" x 5" index card. (I need to work on my proportions!)

Patio Table Texture Zentangle: 6-17-13: gel pen on 3 x 5" index card. This is the pattern on my mother's metal patio table. I took a rubbing of it with the side of a pencil then drew over that in blue. I erased the pencil and added more lines.

Feather Mandala: 6-20-13: Marker and gel pen on 3" x 5" index card. All I have at my mom's to work with are my nieces' art supplies - markers, watercolors, and colored pencils. Oh, and a lot of time on my hands to get fussy.

Dreamcatcher: 6-21-13: pen, marker, gel pen. This continues the healing theme I'm drawn to right now. Plus I wanted to better learn how to draw a dreamcatcher.

Find Your Bliss: 6-22-13: Gelli™ print, acrylic paint, markers, gel pens, paint pen on 3" x 5" index card. Oh, my sweet art supplies! At last, I am home from my mother's house. This card started as a Gelli™ print that I did a few weeks ago to have backgrounds ready. I doodled and stamped all over it. I went back over the black stamping with gel pens to add details. This one is a little too busy for my taste. I think I was glad to have my supplies at the ready and threw everything within reach at it. 

Index-Card-A-Day 2013 is soon drawing to a close. I will keep posting my cards until I am caught up, which actually may take a couple weeks after ICAD is officially over as I kind of lost a few weeks to surgery. Employing some radical self-love and artsy boundary loosening is very forgiving! Try it!

- Vickie

Happy 4th of July!

ICAD3 :: JULY 4, 2013
Marker, ink, gel pen on 3" x 5" index card
©2013 Victoria Porter/In My Head Studios
All Rights Reserved

My Index-Card-A-Day for today is all about celebrating our country's Independence Day! Stars, stripes, and good old red, white, and blue!

I have been diligently working away at my index cards and {be creative everyday}. They are not up here on my blog or at flickr yet because I had slightly-emergency surgery last month. I apparently rock so hard I can grow my own stones! Gallstones, that is. 

It was horribly painful. I am still recovering. My surgeon said the biggest of the stones was a whopping 1.8 cm. That's almost an inch wide! Yowza!

So today I am also celebrating independence from my gallbladder and the associated pain. Unfortunately, that means my picnicking food for the fair today won't be anything fried or fatty. Gee, what's left then? Snow cones. The beer tent. Grilled chicken. Cotton candy. Yay. 

I hope you have a SAFE and HAPPY 4th of July! Go enjoy your hamburgers and hot dogs, clam bakes, and gooey desserts while you still have a gallbladder (if you still happen to have one)!

- Vickie

ICAD 2013 First Week Catch-Up

Presenting a round-up of my first 6 days of Index-Card-A-Day (and my {be creative everyday} practice, too!)

ICAD3 : JUNE 2 : Queen
Prompt: crown.  Theme: rainbow colors.

Created with a background of painty phonebook pages from cleaning off my brayer when Gelli™ printing. The rest is acrylic paint, ink, gel pen, & colored pencil.

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ICAD3 : JUNE 3 : Fearless
Prompt: zebra

Woman cut from magazine. I added her stripes with a Sharpie™. The background is acrylic paint and my own handmade stamp designs.

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ICAD3 : JUNE 4 : Klimt

Gustav Klimt has been on my mind lately. Created with thick handmade paper collage,  watercolor crayons, a brown Sharpie™, white gel pen, gold gel pen, and graphite.

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ICAD3 : JUNE 5 : Love

This one doesn't fit any prompts. She has been hanging around in my head for some time and I had to let her out. I plan on doing something with her for a painting.

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ICAD3 : JUNE 6 : {Grow Beauty}

This started with a scrapbook paper background I chose because I liked the colors. I used acrylic paint to stamp the flower designs that are my own handmade stamps. I added detailing with my white gel pen. The letters are stickers I embellished a little. Black ink added to the edges makes the contrast pop. 

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For June 7th, I had an all day painting class and totally forgot to paint my index card there! So that one will be a "make-up" card related to my class. I might add a little photo of my painting!

I have TONS of ideas for cards this year. Running out of inspiration won't be a problem. Over the weekend I Gelli™ printed a bunch of cards to have handy backgrounds already started. I cannot recommend doing this enough for those days when you have little to no time to do a card. Just add a doodle or some text. Voilà!!

- Vickie

It's Time for Index-Card-A-Day 2013!

Hello, June! You are my favorite month. The flowers and trees are finally blooming all over. My raspberry bushes are bending under the strain of so many hopeful buds. Warm nights smell of lilacs, roses, and neighborhood fire pits. In other words, summer finally makes it's late entrance here in the "frozen tundra" of Rochester, NY.

June means the beginning of the 2013 Index-Card-A-Day Challenge (ICAD3)! One index card a day for June and July = 61 cards! Everyone is welcome to join. If you're late starting, that's ok. Just start! 

Tammy at Daisy Yellow has (completely optional) prompts and weekly themes. If you're kind of stuck and don't know what to do, these can be a helpful push.

Join the flickr group and share your cards! Join the Facebook group, too! 

Hashtags & such: On twitter + instagram + tumblr + facebook use #icad. On flickr tag your artwork icad.

Link your blog posts here: http://daisyyellowart.com/icad/icad-faq.html. 

ICAD3 - JUNE 1, 2013
Painty phone book page collage background, acrylic paint, gel pens, Pitt pens, stamps, soft gel medium (semi-gloss). 

So here is my first card! The background is a collage of painty phone book pages that I use to clean off my brayer when printing. Ooohh, all the juicy colors left behind! It seemed a waste to, well, waste them. Details were added with gel pens and Pitt pens. 

I got lucky with my estimate of how long I needed to paint the white stripes to allow for the stamping of the words. Thanks, Muse!

I truly hope you decide to join in the fun. No pressure on all 61 cards. I had a blast doing this last year and I didn't make all 61. The world did not end. :)

Now shut off the computer and make some index cards!

- Vickie

{be creative everyday} 2013

Last year, although many, many wonderful things happened, I didn't feel I was doing my best work or giving my creative life the room it needed to bloom. I was left feeling empty and aimless when I thought I was doing the right things. I kept asking myself what I was missing. I finally figured it out. I was missing a plan. I didn't have a specific enough quest. 

My creative life needs challenges. It needs attention or it withers. It needs planning and brainstorming. We all know that nothing comes from nothing. And I'm sick of all this nothing. 

What does my uncontainable need to create cry out for? 

TIME. ROUTINE. FREEDOM TO PLAY. COMMUNITY. 

Above all: PRACTICE. PRACTICE. PRACTICE. 

I need art more than I need oxygen. I want to fill my days with awareness and find the creativity in the world around me. My creativity needs to be a part of my daily routine. I've been taking my creativity for granted, which prevents me from seeing it as infinite potential. 

I am on a mission. A [wide-open] secret mission. Since I like you very much, I will let you in on the [wide-open] secret mission. I am going to {be creative everyday} in 2013. Yup. Every. Single. Day. For 365 days. As of today (01/12/13) I am on track for all 12 days of January. Woot! This blog post counts! 

I am embarking on learning something new and creating new habits. Right now the novelty of {be creative everyday} hasn't worn off and I've attacked my projects like wildfire these past 12 days. Some mornings I can't wait to get up and get creative. (Remember, creativity come in many forms: doodles, music, painting, writing, cooking, brainstorming, doing puzzles, teaching, blogging, etc.) 

I know at some point that novelty will wear off a bit. That's ok. In learning a new habit, at the start it's ok to kind of stink at it. That's how this learning and practice thing works. So my plan is simply to show up. Be there in my studio and bridge the gap from crap to "I MADE THAT?!?!" with sheer volume. Maybe it will bring my muse tiptoeing around to see what all the fuss is about. 

I won't be sharing every single creative endeavor here. Some things are a little too mundane to post. My plan is to post weekly wrap-ups and highlight specific projects as they come up. Some months will be dedicated to other specific everyday projects like Index-Card-A-Day 2013 (ICAD3) at Daisy Yellow's blog in June and July. I'll be making cards for Operation Write Home throughout the year. Some art will be abandoned. I'll be entering shows like 6x6x2013 at Rochester Contemporary, and taking advantage of my Honorable Mention award at last year's Artists Row with free booth space in 2013. 


I am keeping track of my daily creativity with photos using an app on my phone called Photo365. It lets me post pictures for specific days to tell the story of {be creative everyday} 2013 in a calendar of images. 

Tons of everyday projects are starting up and it's never too late to join some. Hanna is doing 365 somethings in 2013. Tammy at Daisy Yellow is also joining in for 2013. If you want to join in on 365 Somethings go join the flickr group for #365in2013 

I'm looking forward to keeping you up to date on {be creative everyday} 2013. Please let me know in the comments if you have a project going on! 

- Vickie