I was already on my way to the check-out counter when I saw the fabric. It was straight out of the 70s–polyester, shiny, with a gold gleam, and in colors that made my eyes water 10 feet away–red and orange. And I loved it.
Now, I have a streak of bad taste. Sometimes there is nothing like sequins, shiny fabric, and rhinestones to set the mood. Yes, this is odd for someone whose favorite colors in journaling are sepia and black. Payne’s Gray is way out there for me. But this one looked like a lava flow, a gleaming spill of heat, or, well, a Sonoran Desert sunset.
The fabric was not to wear, it caught my eye because I’m participating in iHanna’s postcard swap. (You have till March 24, 2013 to sign up). I’ve participated before and find it my duty as a Sonoran desert-dweller to make at least three of the cards with an image of a saguaro cactus standing in our red-orange sunsets.
Last year one of the recipients didn’t think it was possible to have a plant that looked like a saguaro, and another one thought I’d sent her a postcard of a pickle in tomato brine, but hey, it’s all good fun.
Here are four of the completed cards:
Polyester fabric, ink on paper.
I still have to stitch around the edges to finish the fabric. The texture of the fabric, and the gold shimmer only shows at a different angle, but you get the idea.
Ink on paper (cactus), marbled paper, dark blue fabric with sparkles.
This postcard is layered–marbled paper, the cactus, and sheer navy fabric with sparkles. This one needs to be edged, too.
Acrylic paint on watercolor, cut out type.
All the postcards are abstracts, and I like the way the paint mixed.
paper collage on inked watercolor, poem.
Another favorite Lorna Crozier poem, “Twilight Angel.” I always wonder what people think when they get a postcard like this.
–Quinn McDonald is working on more than one project at a time.
QuinnCreative 
I love your cards Quinn!! I especially enjoy the cactii
The cacti were SO much fun to make!
Wow, these are fantastic! You are very creative.
Everyone is creative, I think. I blur limits a lot. And make a lot of mistakes. As my sewing machine!
These are all fantastic, love the cactus cards. But I am also a complete sucker for words as well!! Love! I love the effects you get with paint smooshing, looks like tree branches or roots I think.
I love it, too. It not only makes great roots or underwater scenes, once it’s dry,you can cut it up for collage. It’s great to use just parts of it.
Love the cards, hope one comes my way
I think iHanna will be sending out the list soon!
Love the postcards, and all of the info you share about the medias. Especially partial to the night time cactus….stunning!
I wish I could show it to you in person. Photography is so very hard with fabric and paper. I’m pleased that it worked out. I thought the cactus would look funny “behind” the stars, but it doesn’t.
So how did you get the acrylic paints to look textured (“Constantly changing”)? I liked them all but this one stopped me! Always enjoy your work.
It’s a technique I developed. Spray two equal-size pieces of watercolor with water, front and back. (Keeps them flat). On one of them drip individual puddles of gel medium–about four drops each puddle. On top of the paint, drop one drop of acrylic paint (I actually use ink as well). Add three more 3-drop puddles of plain gel medium. Cover with the other sheet of paper. Squish. Starting at a corner, s l o w l y pull apart the papers. That’s what makes the cool design. Allow to dry completely. Seriously, completely. For me, that’s about an hour. Out of the desert, maybe a day or so. Looks like a good topic for a video, huh?
thank you so much! I gotta try this. I am especially intrigued when your monsoon papers or others look like NASA pictures! I love the look of less opaque colors such as white clouds stand out over dark backgrounds. Can you tell that I watched some space-themed documentary last night? I am also eager for your book to be published. I refer to “Raw Art Journaling” often.
Yeah, that whole outer-space look really makes me feel connected, too!
wow how great are these
Fun, too!
All of these are so beautiful, and you know I’m a sucker for sparkle, shimmer and shine!
The Night Cactus turned out really sparkly!
A pickle in tomato brine! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Too funny! I never thought of them that way but I guess you could see that if you didn’t know what you were looking at. I Love saguaros. I miss them whenever I leave Tucson. They have become like friends to me. So soothing to look at…..
I love them, too, but if you live in a part of the world where no cactus grows, the image could be a pickle in tomato brine. It made me laugh, too, but it was such an interesting perspective.
Love your postcards. I’m doing a postcard swap too, but it’s a photography one.
Photography is such a personal postcard art. Hope you’ll leave a link to it when you have them ready to go.