ATCs and ACEOs

Artist Trading Cards and Art Card Editions and Originals can be a quick and easy project.  You can use them to try out a technique before doing a larger work, as something small and compact you can share with friends, etc.  There are very few restrictions to keep in mind.

Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) should be given or traded, not sold.  ACEOs can be sold.

Both should be reasonably flat, and are always 2.5 inches wide and 3.5 inches tall, so that they fit into standard trading card sleeves. They are often traded by mail, and the flatness also helps keep this easy.

They can be made in any media that fit these rules: paper, paint, metal, fabric, etc.  The back of the card usually includes the artist's name, email, year the card was made, the number (if the card is part of a series), and possibly a title or theme. 

June 22 already

Happy Summer!

I've noticed that there are days it's hard to think of something to write about without dismissing it as boring (note to self: post it anyway!), and other days when there are so many ideas for posts in my head it's hard to pick one. 

Just now I was looking at another blog belonging to classmates' of mine, Milk And Bread, and their post today features a picture of an artist's work which thanks to its somewhat postal theme in turn reminded me of another artist - Harriet Russell. Harriet Russell is an illustrator in the UK, who I became aware of doing an assignment about mail art.  She tested the postal system by creating puzzles with addresses which had to be solved if they were to be successfully delivered.