Gloria J Zucaro's "ATC's Theme Glasses"

I had a lot of fun with this month's theme.  I used catalogs, old story books and magazine ads for the basic background pictures.  Then I added gesso, paint, glitter, line drawings, and of course the glasses!   Here are a few of the 21 cards I made.  There were fewer than usual artists present, so I only traded 5.  That means more for you to trade with me if you would like! :>)

Gloria J Zucaro's "Culmination"

Today I am linking to Jennifer Mclean's theme of the week which is "Woman".  The idea of the theme came from the International Woman's Day Celebration on March 8th.  I decided to do a journal page using the word "Culmination" as my main focus.  I feel that my attitudes as a woman are a culmination of the environment in my original home with my parents and my life experiences.   I used some of my gelli plate paper to write my journaling upon.  Then pieces of torn paper printed with various "roles" I have played in life.  A couple of attitudes like "Go with the Flow" and "I am Woman" were also added.   I don't know if other woman are the same, especially if they are younger, but I never had a bucket list, and was brought up to always be "nice".  I moved a lot as a child/young adult because my father was in the military.  There was no choice about that, but my mother always had a good attitude about moving, so as children we didn't feel like it was a bad thing, but a new adventure.  The most valuable thing to me is freedom of choice.  I am fortunate to be able to make choices for myself, as I now live alone.  I realize that many women are not able to make some choices because of great financial limitations.  
I definitely do  believe in equal rights of all types for all women.  If a woman has the same education and devotes the same amount of work-day time to a job, she should be paid the same amount of money as a man in the same work position. 
I used pen, markers, Silks Acrylic Glaze, stickers and rubber cement.  I found out that matte medium will remove your ink printing, but rubber cement will not.
Please visit "The Artist's Playroom" to see how everyone interpreted this theme.

Click on image to enlarge

9"H x 12"W Sketchbook.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Seuss Backs and New"

Today after meeting my accountant to talk about taxes, I spent the afternoon working on finishing up my Inspirational Card Deck Swap hosted by Jennifer Brogan over at "In Search of Dessert".   I will be shipping the cards out next weekend or sooner if they are dry.  I had already added quotes and paint and stickers and stamps to the fronts.  Today I worked on the backs to adhere my personal information(name,blog,etc.) that I had printed onto mailing labels, outlined around those stickers with crayons, and hand-printed my on-earth location with permanent marker.  Then I edged each card in gold or silver leaf pen.  I am thinking I want to spray them with a sealer, but am a little nervous about lettering smearing  or their not drying quickly for mailing.  Does anyone have suggestions for what sealer would be best?  They are not due until the 29th, but I was allowing plenty of time for delivery.  Plus it doesn't seem quite right to drop them on her on the very last day.  This picture shows the backs before I finished hand lettering and edging.  When I complete the set I will post a picture of the fronts.

I also sprayed the back of my Seuss inspired ATC's from my post earlier this week with various inks through my Julie Fei-Fan Balzer stencils.  Then adhered my info on those.  These are some of the designs on the backs.

Next I created three more ATC's.  I had cut old Christmas cards to 2 1/2 x 3 1/2" rectangles.  I then lightly brushed on gesso to mostly but not entirely obscure the designs and colors.  I did both sides at once, so when I laid them down on the table, they got squashy designs on them that are so pretty.  I decided to tangle some of them and add Silks Acrylic Glaze and glitter. I left some of the card peaking through on each one.  I also finished the backs of those cards with the ink spray as on the cards above.

"Red Heart"

"Winter"

"Cactus Flower"

That's all folks!  Have a nice Sunday

Gloria J Zucaro's "Distorted Faces ATC's"

 I missed my Artist Trading Card meeting in February.  It was themed "Distorted Faces".  I wasn't quite sure what to do with that... but drew some this morning in case people still have some of theirs to trade next Saturday.  These are 3.5"H x 2.5"W on watercolor paper.  All Original Designs in Ink and Watercolor.  Stamps, Sticker, Glitter Glue, and cut-out from candy wrapper.
Email me with questions

Distorted face #1

Distorted Face #2

Distorted Face #3

Gloria J Zucaro's "I Don't Know Where To Start!"

Lately I have gotten into Journaling, Artist Trading Cards, and what I call whimsy drawing.  By that I mean that I don't really have a reference to go by when drawing, so things are a little wacky.  But hey!  that's me...a little wacky!  Today I decided to try the journal everyday idea.  I was at a loss as to what to do, so I joined Julie Fei-Fan Balzers'  called "30 Days in Your Journal" on-line class.  It is go-at-your-own-pace with videos and supplies and encouragement.  When I went to my studio, I opened my journal to a page that had some really bad stamping attempts and a little Gelli Plate paint from off the brayer.  The dark blue and red were too stark for me on the white, so I used my Derwent Inktense Watercolor Pencils to draw on a rainbow of colors.  I grabbed an old brush and wet the surface of the page, over the pencil marks.  Ah!  now I like it, lots of color.  Next I knew I needed the journal part, which is hard for me, because I usually just apply paint to a surface and am done.  I am doing this because it is a challenge and really out of my comfort zone. So I stamped some words from different stamps that have a whole phrase.  I just used the words I needed.  I applied the ink with that old paintbrush.  Then I just stamped around with some little stamps that appealed to me.  A pencil, a pair of scissors, a Tiki mask with a frowning face.  Then I went through my box of newly acquired ephemera and found some foam stickers that I liked. I put on a sticker that said "Play" and outlined it with gold pearl dimensional paint. Next I cut a cardboard tag with ribbon smaller and used Elmer's Glue-all to sick it down.  Since it is lumpy and the glue oozed out around it, I shook some gold glitter on it and now have a bottle of paint sitting on it to hold it in place until it dries.  I am going out to dinner now, will take a picture and post this later!  I am linking to Julie's site and Daily Paintworks.  ......

I am back from a delicious dinner at Emilios Tapas Restaurant in Hillside, IL.  I will have to leave a glowing review at Yumbly.  And here is my finished journal page for today.

6"H x 8"L

Click on image to enlarge.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Merry Christmas ATC's"

Tonight I am sharing my first set of Christmas ATC's for a trade party on Saturday.  I had a lot of fun making these cards.  I used advice from Mary C Nasser's blog post on Oct. 09 when she gave her steps for making her deck of cards for the Inspiration Card Swap hosted by Jessica Brogan.  Starting out with a deck of cards, I glued them to a map.  Then sanded the front of the cards & gessoed & painted the fronts red with Silks Acrylic Glaze and the backs green with the same paint.  I then stenciled the green backs with a second green and outlined the stencils with either red or gold pen.  On the front red side I placed vintage looking stickers or some stocking stickers.  I added torn tissue paper that I had mixed up with gloss medium.  Then coating the tissue with a dark rose Silk paint.  The entire surface was covered with medium and sprinkled with gold beads onto the raised tissue areas.  I stamped on the Doves & Merry Christmas  and added the dimensional snow flakes or Christmas Trees.  The only thing left to do is to add my name and blog information to the back.  I only made a dozen Christmas ATCs, so will use the other cards that are glued to the map and already gessoed for next months trade.   I plan on sending a couple of the cards to blog friends who have been so helpful and generous to me and am looking forward to finding out what our prompt will be for January.  

Our group is hosted by Kimberly Butts who is an avid follower of ATCS FOR ALL and helps organize & attends their convention.  Kimberley's special cards are made of sheet metal in which she presses a design, or her wonderful felted birds.

This is my Paint Party Friday entry for this week.  Please go to the party and visit some of the many artist's sites to see what they have been creating this week.