I don’t know what you’re talking about I hear you cry…
So Artist Trading Cards have been around for years now, possibly around 20 years or so. They are the same size as a baseball/football etc. trading card and they are intended to be traded, collected but supposedly not sold. Back in the early days of the internet, there was a collaborative mail art community called Nervousness, it was particularly popular in the UK and US and many of the projects would feature these ATCs. I was part of it as a teen, it was fun and a real organic amateur art community, if anyone knows of something similar I would love to be part of it. There was lots of sabotaging of old books in the form of ‘Altered book’ collages being sent around the world!
The market for ACEOs or Art Card Originals and Editions came about on Ebay, which are basically the sale of ATCs. There is a well established niche on Ebay for this collectable miniature art. Many artists who specialise in creating ACEOs do series of a particular theme or a set that can be put together to create a larger picture.
So I have created my first ATC or ACEO after many years of leaving the Nervousness community. Its a Christmas edition which will be sold in my shop, of a baby Highland cow with mistletoe (well why not?). I will do more as painting miniatures is quite a lot of fun.
Whimsical Art by Hazel 