My wife gave me a pack of Strathmore Artist Trading Card blanks.
These are about the size of a business card and their origin is as follows, according to Wikipedia:
"Artist Trading Cards (or ATCs) are miniature works of art about the same size as modern baseball cards,[1] or 2 ½ X 3 ½ inches (63 mm X 89 mm),[2] small enough to fit inside standard card-collector pockets, sleeves or sheets.[3] The ATC movement developed out of the mail art movement and has its origins in Switzerland.[4] Cards are produced in various media, including dry media (pencils, pens, markers, etc.), wet media (watercolor, acrylic paints, etc.), paper media (in the form of collage, papercuts, found objects, etc.) or even metals or cloth. The cards are usually traded or exchanged rather than sold."
My wife has been bugging me to make something with them. This past weekend I sat down with my daughter to do some drawing and thought that it would be the perfect time to try them out.
Natasha was drawing with crappy Crayola colored pencils and I couldn't help wanting to get her better media. I dug out some ancient Prismacolor sticks that I think that I purchased back in like 1988 for undergraduate school. I have always wanted an excuse to use them.
I felt absolutely no pressure to do anything and had fun just drawing what was sitting around me or visible out the window. The Prisma sticks have a very nice color depth and I like that they force you to be loose. Unlike pastels, they don't layer very well, especially on a smooth paper and require a little bit more upfront thought.
I love the color intensity of these little guys and could see them as larger paintings. I hope to do more with my daughter in the future.
