Went to Hobby Lobby with the intention of buying some 8×10 canvas panels and supplies to work on some Artist Trading Cards. Naturally, I spent about two hours wandering aimlessly touching things and contemplating them … and walked out with neither canvas panels or paper supplies. I did get two wonderful synthetic paintbrushes, filberts … one large and one in the medium range. Hey, I can’t pass up some good brushes when they are only $1.99.

So why didn’t I get what I went for? Though they insist they carry Fredrix canvases, they didn’t have any, and I simply refuse to work on the same brand I last bought. They suck, even when they are bought when massively on sale. I’ll wait until I can get to the Artarama to get the brand I want, even if they cost more. It’s worth it in the lack of aggravation while working on a painting. And while the paper products were all 50% off, I wasn’t at all happy with the weight of the card stock they carry. Thanks to the meteoric rise of scrap booking, and the dumbing down of paper stocks due to most scrap bookers not knowing what real card stock should feel like, it’s impossible to find anything of the proper weight anymore. It wouldn’t be so bad if the stuff was cheap, but it’s not (even at half price). I’m just going to have to figure something else out for the ATCs.

Don’t know what an ATC is? Well, it’s a 2 1/2″x3 1/2″ piece of art generally done on card stock or other heavier paper stock/cardboard. That doesn’t really begin to explain them, so here are some links to information and galleries.

Art in your Pocket: ATCs
ATCs: Collaborative Cultural Performance
Ed’s Artist Trading Cards
Marlies’ Artist Trading Cards
Artists Trading Cards

That should give you a good idea of what it’s all about. I’d been interested in doing some for a while, and after seeing the fun one of my Livejournal friends was having with an ATC swap group over at LJ, I decided to join up and have some fun too.

Now Lin is home, the cat is sick, the chicken noodle soup needs stirring, so I supposed I should go deal with all of these things. Hopefully I will get a chance to do some painting today, because I really would like to just escape life for a while, and painting is my new form of escapism. I’m having an interesting idea about incorporating polymer clay with the canvas currently on the table (Sun, Sand, Sea). The work itself is taking an interesting turn, and I still don’t have a clue about where it’s going … but I’m having fun with it. I think that’s what really matters, at least when it comes to forms of escapism.