If you’re dealing with artist’s block and are wondering how to exercise your creativity, you might want to try decorating or painting art cards. Making small art cards is a fun,satisfying, stress-free way to be creative. It’s also a way to use up small pieces of fabric, ribbon and materials left over from other art projects.
Art cards don’t take long to create so you can work on them when you only have a few minutes such as when you are waiting for a phone call or an e-mail from someone or for the cake to finish baking etc.
Art cards can help you learn how to exercise your creativity by allowing you to practice new techniques before using them in a bigger projects. For example, if I want to learn how to make a faux rust background with acrylic paint, I can practice on an art card till I get the look I want.
The flip side of this process is also true. When you are working on your art cards you may discover a technique you want to use in your other art. For example, I was using a variety of paints on one of my art cards and “accidentally” created a background I really liked. I took note of of how I made it and used that same paint technique on a bigger piece of art.
Creating art cards can help you discover what you like and don’t like; what works and what doesn’t work for you. It can save you time and keep you from wasting your expensive art supplies.
So now that you know how to exercise your creativity with art cards, how do you get started?
First, prepare your card or base. (I personally don’t use a specific size.) You could use a small piece of wood or a piece of Styrofoam cut out of a meat tray (and washed thoroughly) or a children’s flash card etc. Many people simply use a piece of cardboard or cardstock.
Next decide what you want to be the theme or focal point of your art card. Since this is just for fun, you could use a word or picture from a magazine or a pretty leaf or perhaps a silk flower.
Next prepare your background to coordinate with your focal point. If you like, you can use gesso to create texture and dimension or you can paint, use stamps or add collage bits. I like to use bits of tissue paper and when I’m feeling more energetic, I may use sand, gravel or grass I’ve collected from the backyard.
Then you can attach your focal point and add some additional elements- things that may or may not directly tie in with your theme but they look like they belong.
You can choose how to exercise your creativity from a myriad of options but creating art cards is one of my favorites because if I can create a small piece of art that I like, it builds my confidence to go on to bigger, more challenging piece.
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