https://youtu.be/7-Q5eQm_mog

A friend sent me this video that does a good job explaining my recent Art Study tracker. I thought I'd post it as an encouragement to join my swap but really as an inspiration to join future Art Study swaps too.

My recent theme is pretty simple. It'll take a little thought but for the most part the carved stamp will be a square, rectangle, or another shape that you would chose.

The general idea behind behind these swaps is to study the movement so you understand how best to create the LTC. But it isn't necessary to read about the movement. You can easily look at the artwork and recreate what you see. But I will tell you that I have really enjoyed taking a little time to read about the movements. So much of the art is an expression of the artist and it's been driving me to understand their mission.

As the swaps have been sorted it is fun to see what others have been learning. The private emailing has been encouraging. It's been fun to brainstorm together. Some recreate an original art piece while some design their own cards in the parameters of the movement - with their own artwork or with artwork that fits the movement.

If you are interested I can send photos of my cards to you. Maybe you are on the fence and would like to see what we have been up to?

Hopefully other participants will jump in here...? :)

I jumped in... thought it might be fun to try to update my skills!!

I'll put a plug in to say that I've really enjoyed being in these swaps. I am new to making LTCs, and I have enjoyed seeing mini-works from different styles of art. For a couple, I have found a particular piece from the movement that I wanted to try to recreate. For another, I tried something of my own that I felt fit the mood of that particular movement. But, in general, it is fun to learn about the different styles of art, what defined them, the prominent artists for each, and their styles.
My LTCs will never compare to Linden Leaf's (seriously - they are AMAZING!), but I like getting the inspiration all the same. Thanks for hosting them. : )

The art study trackers hosted by Linden Leaf and amazingadventurefrog have been some of my favorites. These trackers usually cause me to step outside my comfort zone and work with different supplies, try a different technique, or work with an image I might not otherwise have chosen. Participants tend to communicate, so the tracker experience is an evolving process of sharing thoughts and ideas.

Oh! Yes!! Working with images that you would not normally choose has been hard for me. I really didn't enjoy my precisionism image while I was carving it. But after it was colored it was very satisfying to me. There are something about straight lines and order that is to be appreciated.

I know I have enjoyed these. And art is art. It's always subjective, so it can be very forgiving when it comes to interpretation.

We're in.

I've been encouraged by these trackers (well, two of three) to do more art than craft. By this I mean that prior to these I got into an LTC sync: find an image to carve from the internet, carve, craft an interesting background, package and send. The art trackers encouraged me to make my own art, which is a stretch after I've felt so comfortable using the art of someone else as a pattern for my carving. My crafting partner and I have worked to fine tune our craft creating LTCs. Where we can grow is in the stamp. I feel comfortable carving anything someone else has drawn. I even feel comfortable carving from photos. Why do I fight carving from my original drawings?

Yeah, I hear ya. Even though I've done a lot of original art in the past it is kind of easy to fall into the shortcut of using an Internet image. We are enjoying the process of creating art of our own. I consider all LTCs "art", but I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes back from this tracker.