I've seen some lovely work made from dried paint scraped from the artist's palette. THIS isn't one of those lovely works. But it is a START.

I did not photograph the first version of this ATC, but it was dismal. It just needed.... MORE. So I used thinning shears to distress two of the edges, cropped it down a bit, and mounted it on a piece of Stonehenge Black watercolor paper. (One of my favorite papers from Legion.)

This idea needs further exploration.

I have a large stack of partially-finished ATCs. 

• Sometimes, I'm just using up the remaining paint on the palette, so I make a background.

• Sometimes I just run out of time.

• Sometimes... the piece just needs something more but I can't decide what to do at that point in time, so I set it aside to reconsider, later.

My goal this month is to rescue as many of those pieces as possible. We shall see how that works out!

TRADED

While I a no longer actively trading online, I do still check the Facebook group ATC Artist Trading Cards often.

The group that I lovingly refer to as "Emily's Group" had a very special post on February 12., 2026. Emily has created a group that rivals the original ATC group, and in just one year she has reached 20K members!

Congratualtions Emily!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1512886282607990/

Today I filled eighteen little bottles of liquid watercolor,  in preparation for the "Second Grade Initiative" at the Mulvane Art Lab.

There will only be forty kids this upcoming Friday (sixty on March 6) so it will be an easier session.

I decided to make an ATC using the materials the second graders use each time I am able to join the fun.

I also plan to volunteer this summer at two different Art Camps. For the older students, I plan to extend the "Drip Paint" concept.  Once the drip paintings are dry, we will put double-stick tape on the back, cut out shapes, and make these mixed-media colláges.

I really enjoy experimenting with materials and techniques. Director Stacy allows me to bring in just about anything, and that makes volunteering SO MUCH FUN!!!

Using the drip-painted papers, double-stick tape, and a mulberry paper backing, I made another colláge.

I will use these three cards as samples this summer, and I hope the older students will get excited about making and trading ATCs!

Even though the DESIGN of the "Doodle Snakes" is imperfect, I printed out two pages of those tangled snakes, so I decided not to waste them.

I learned a lesson when I tried to color "Doodle Snakes" on an image printed on photo paper. Alcohol marker will dissolve the printed lines!

The beauty of alcohol marker on photo paper is that the glossy surface allows the marker to be blended and moved around on the surface to create textures.  I used a light gray marker to get all these different shades and textures.

Prismacolor Pencil. Plus a dark background that was just... needed....

Should have used a smaller paintbrush....

Inktense watercolor pencils have vibrant colors and they are SO easy to use.

I haven't done any alcohol marker on Yupo lately, so when I got a request for a card that I am proud of, I decided to make this custom card.

TRADED

NFT...

For two reasons:
The pencil shavings would crack when mailed, and
I love her....

The acrylic paint is too heavy. The skirt made from pencil shavings would crack if mailed. But some day, some trader that I meet in person will  want this crazy card.

I bought a cheap set of flourescent tempera paint for a workshop, and the background color for this card was made as an experiment. Good watercolor paper can rescue cheap paint!

I had added a little bit of "overdrawing," but many months later I aded a lot more. I also tried a bit of white marker.... but my Posca pen was dry and my Signo pen was also too dry.  I also forgot to take a "before" picture. But I will need some cards to trade with kids, and the bright colors may make this card tradable.

"Simple Scene" started out with less detail. 

I remembered to take a before picture (scroll down a bit. Google Sites does not let me create anchor tags.)

Alcohol marker on Yupo is a bit tricky, but it is one of my favorite combinations for making ATCs. I have never seen another trader who uses this combo!

This card has the most unusual combination of materials so far:

• The base of the card was printd on the special "sticker paper" that comes with a Poli Printer. It has a glossy surface.

• I photographed a little sketch, printed it, and used alcohol marker to color the sticker.

• Then I mounted it on colored cardstock and added LOTS more dots....

See the before and after.

Inspired by the work of Mandalay Arts, (I have a couple of Amy's cute postcards) I tried my hand with dots. And failed. 

What can I say?

Precision ain't my thing.

The first time around Icouldn't figure out what to do next. So it was months before I finished this one. But I DID take before and after pictures!

It was quick.

It was fun.

It started out as some loose strokes of leftover paint on a bit of canvas.

I decided to make it chunky.

Very. Chunky.

This one started out as one of my standard "Six Minute Six Step Scenes," but I had so many purple ones that I decided to put some Payne's Gray over the top. That looked odd, so I added wht white lines and decided I liked it enough to make a second one...

Here is the second "altered" SmSsS.

I still enjoy making these little scenes, but just now, there are too many of them in my collection!

This one is digital, not for trade, and special. My husband joined my on March 28 for the third "No Kings" march.

We took pictures of each other, with his camera. Then I joined them with Procreate, then I used Waterlogue to turn it into this digital watercolor!