Exquisite Corpse Moleskine Exchange is underway

I've finally finished my pages in my own Moleskine for the moly_x_48 - The Exquisite Corpse exchange.
Yes, I went with playing cards, and as I said over at the exchange blog, that happens to me a lot.
These pages will eventually be cut twice (dividing them into 3) and the book will become a mix-up book, where my images and words can be mixed with the other 12 artists work and create... well crazy mixed up pictures and sentences.
The Moleskine exchange group can be found over at Flickr. It is becoming a huge group now and there are new exchanges starting up all the time. Join one. You will love the experience. I'm in 3!

It's my deal...

I'm making a deck of cards. Here is another batch of completed cards. All cards are 3.5" x 2.75" and are drawn on both sides. (Each image shows both the front and the back.) My suits are a little different to the traditional ones. My 'Hearts' suit actually contains other body parts too. My 'Spades' suit used the basic shape of the spade, but turned it into a footprint. My 'Clubs' suit has a variety of objects that are all 'club' shaped. My 'Diamonds' suit is all food; many of the foods have an element of the diamond shape in them, some don't. It's all a bit of fun.

The King of tippy toes

The two of kidneys

The seven of staphylococci

If you missed seeing the other cards previously posted here, click on the 'playing cards' label below or visit my Flickr site and view the Playing Cards Set.

The game goes on...

The five of eyes

The Ace of cobblers

The ten of tangle

Indecisions, Indecisions, Indecisions.

The 8 of indecision

Walter from Thousand Sketches was kind enough to ask about the making of my cards. I have made a stack of blank cards out of my current favourite paper - Art Spectrum 'Draw & Wash' (210gsm acid free, fine tooth for dry media, specially sized for wet media). It comes in 230mm x 320mm pads of 30 sheets and it is reasonably priced. I have used this paper for printing (without a press) where I found it picked up the ink the best and didn't need soaking. And I've used it in bookbinding and various drawing projects. It comes in a rough finish too; I have a pad but haven't tried it yet.

Walter also asked if they were ACEO's. Well, I don't know. When I was deciding what dimensions to make the cards I did look at ATC and ACEO websites to see what dimensions they used. I decided it would be easier to use the standard format for these cards so I cut my paper into 3.5" x 2.5" cards. (How can thousands of artists worldwide be wrong?)

The 7 of Samba

I was instantly disappointed with the look of the cards. They NEED round corners. I NEED them to have round corners. It became just a touch of obsession really. In spite of being unwell, I had to go straight out and find a way to make those seductively perfectly rounded corners. I actually had to visit a couple of shops before I found my new favourite thing - my rounded corner punch. I must admit the obsession didn't end there. Over the next few days all the junk mail, catalogues, even a few bills - everything in my house really, ended up with rounded corners!

The time had come to make my first card. I still wasn't sure what it was going to look like. I got out my playing cards for a little inspiration. I decided to maintain the format of the original cards so with my little ruler I measured carefully across to locate my images in the same spots as the original... and guess what... my playing cards are 3.5" x 2.25"!!! Back to those ATC sites... it even says you can use playing cards as a foundation. (?) Does this mean playing cards in Australia are different to cards from other parts of the world? And no, I don't just have one strange pack of cards. I have many (we love games here) and they are all the same size. Oh well, I don't really mind. It gives me a little more space to draw which is good as I'm not really that adept at drawing very small.

The Jack of Judgement

Death of the Heart (and a couple of Spades)

In my uni course I'm reading Roland Barthes 'Death of the Author'.

The 2 of splits

Meaning is made in the seeing not in the drawing.

The 3 of hopping

It's all in the context of the seeing.

The 3 of thought bubbles

Truthfully, I can't tell you these aren't Hearts and Spades.

Go Fish

I'm really enjoying doing these cards. It is so nice to be drawing again after such a long break. Let me introduce you to The King of Lollypops, Ten of Brains, and The Four of Cauliflowers.
And these are the backs of them. Yes, I think I will see if I can do a whole deck. Not sure how much fun they would be to play with though. But they look good. (For some reason my scans are a little yucky.)

Not much of a hand

Inspired by these cards, I decided to make my own cards. On the left we have the Three of Apple Trees, in the centre there is the Nineteen of Spots and on the right is the Nine of Cha Cha Cha. And these are their backs.
I've had such a lovely time drawing these today. Finally having a 'good' day in my recovery process. My attention span was just long enough to scratch these out with pigment and pitt pens. It's raining outside and turned cool again, so it was the perfect day for this kind of linear meditation.