O' Gentle Night

Love Me Tender

I created 3 different Elvis stamps & images within a couple of days of each other. This one is not part of the Elvis swap....
but this one is a 2 layer handcarved stamp depicting Elvis...
during his 1968 Comeback Show singing Love Me Tender

7 Deadly Sins: LUST

This card is so much better in person... as always...
but that is an understatement this time.
This is handpainted, pearlized and glazed... all over a hand carved stamp image. Layers of paper & glaze makes this card this card thick & unique on both sides.

House of Night: Raven Descent

Little Nothing Woman (art of Arthur Rackham)

There was an old woman called Nothing -At-All,
who rejoiced in a dwelling exceedingly small:
a man stretched his mouth to the fullest extent,

down at one gulp house and old woman went.

Cold Mountain (Duo Card set)

This is a set of two cards that when placed side by side creates one larger image as seen below. The image is from a three layer hand carved stamp that was 2.5' x 7'. It is based on the movie Cold Mountain. The real Cold Mountain and the true story that inspired it is local here to my NC mountains.

And so Day Watches Over the Night

Shimmer & Shine: and so Day Watches Over the Night
September 2009

This card is hand painted. The card itself is made up of layers so to create a stiff, rigid card. All of the black areas of this card is the handcarved stamped image. It appears differently in person. The image was heat embossed with a sparkling embossing pwder. The sparkles in this card doesn't show in the scanned image. The colors of the moon and the sun also has a shimmering pearlescent effect.

Colors of an American Veteran

Zeb Thomas Brendle

The Colors of an American Veteran

Zeb Brendle was born and raised in the Alarka Mountains of western NC. He was the son of Thomas & Betty Brendle. Husband to Viola Bridges. He was stationed in Normandy in WWII. He was a logger, fisherman and beloved man of the Appalachias. He was my grandpa!

This image is from a 2 layer hand carved stamp.
The image was then shaded and colored for a limited edition.

EXOTICA

Exotica has pearlescent shimmers & color changing effects that you can't see in this image. The blue and pinks change color and shine when you angle the card differently and light plays with the colors. The darkest color at the bottom looks purplish pink at one angle and blue another. There are some touches of green and gold shimmer also. This card was a first of the sort that I have done... It was FUN!

A crapper by any other name....

This time I chose to do something different.
This stamp is by Mama Fox (my buddy...my pal). She allowed me to make LTCs with the understanding that of course that....no matter how I decided to decorate the outhouse on the cards....she gets one of them. LOL
Well... I decided to do each one of them different. They are each painted and/or drawn on differently to give it a unique setting. One has a cornfield in the background... one a moonshine still.... mostly mountains and hills and trees.... but then I just knew I had to do something special for Mama Fox.... and then at about 2am.... I got it.... a FOX. Well, duh! Right? LOL So although each card is different here is "The Fox and the One Holer"

Sorrow (a collaboration)

This stamp was carved and donated by Sahalie.
The original image and artwork was by Vincent Van Gogh.

I absolutely fell IN LOVE with this stamp image. I am so grateful that she allowed me to have this stamp to make LTCs and to plant here in the mountains of NC. This card is done with blended colored pencils. I also have plans to do a watercolored Sorrow card in a completely different color scheme. I told ya i LOVE this image. :)

Ancestry: Cohorts (5 layers)

This image is of my maternal grandpa William Jessero Ramsey or simply "Jess" and his cohort.
The image is 5 layers of hand carved stamps. Each color represents a different layer or stamp. The whitish streaks you see on or over the image is a reflection from the scanner lights reflecting on the glossy artist medium brushed over the entire image. I used the medium to leave deliberate brush marks and texture over the stamped image. Go to the listing at AQ to read a little about Jess the moonshiner...the man I will never stop missing... and my memories of him.

Last Remorse

Masterpiece: The Scream

This card is the most labor intensive card I have ever done to date. I have only done one other card with acrylics but this one I used a gel medium in the acrylics and a totally new and fun technique. The colors are vivid and even though I felt like I could SCREAM myself after doing bookoos of these things.... the more I look at it.... the more i love it. Hope you do too. I still have a few to trade but it might cost ya your first born. Just kidding :)

Smoky Mountain Lights

This was my first piece of work down by handpainting with acrylics.
I also used pearl pigments for the first time to add shimmering effects to the jar and the fire flies.
This was very challenging.
Limited Edition

These Hands

just purely a carving...
no embellishments for this limited edition card

Salome

This image is from the "Salome" art piece by Alfons Mucha.
The card was done for The Mucha Challenge swap by The Red Cat.
Limited Edition of only 10 cards each card is watercolored by hand.

The image didn't stamp well on watercolor paper so I had to fill in the lines of the image to get a crisp image... but I am glad I used the watercolor paper. The vivid translucent watercolors make the card my favorite.

Hobyah - ("Hobby-Yar")

Hobyah is a card done for The Froudian Friends LTC swap which featured cards done with the art of Brian Froud as the subject matter. I used a completely new technique and did some experimenting with new materials. The image was encased beneath a slick, clear sticker material. I finished the front of the card with dapples of cranberry colored alcohol ink.

4 layers!

This was tough...
still not as hard as my precise 3 layer Obama in Color image but very tough!
This image and card was done for the LOST swap I hosted recently.
The image is based on the Season 3 episode called "Everyman for Himself". It is kinda hard to see the lightest layer in this scanned image but it's a bit more vivid in the originals

too pooped to pop!

I have simply been too tired, busy, sick and too pooped to pop!
It has been more than a month since my last post of art card images here.
I have made a few in that time but I just haven't updated the blog...
maybe I can remedy that ;)

LOST with... Sawyer

OMG!
This was so much fun!
Maybe because I have the hots for Sawyer...
or maybe because it seemed easy to do this layered image in comparison to my Obama layered stamp... or maybe I am just getting the hang of it...?

2 layered Hand Carved rubber stamp
Limited Edition

LOST with.... John Locke

Another layered stamp that was a great deal of fun.
However...Locke is such a complex character it was hard to decide the color choices etc.
Hand Carved Rubber Stamp image - 2 Layers
Limited Edition

Unwanted Words

Unwanted Words...
The card on the left is the "Challenge Edition".
It has a glaze over part of the image.