Mark Rothko ATC's

These are my version of Mark Rothko's paintings in an ATC form. One of the yahoo groups I am a member of has a monthly artist swap. Each month an artist is picked and you make 4 ATC's that are in the style of that artist and send them to the hostess. In return you get 4 ATC's back. I made five, one for the hostess and the other four for the swap.


I found this project a lot of fun and actually quite informative. I have seen his work in the National Gallery and in New York. The size and depth of his paintings have always intrigued me. On top of that, his life and tragic death are so easy to romanticize that his work always deserves a second look. However, to do this project the how he created came into it. Honestly I thought it would be alot easier than it was.


Like his paintings each ATC has several different coats of paint with each peeking through to give a clue that it is there. The colors that form the main images were actually two, three, four layers of different values of that color. I liked turning the ATC's upside down to let the paint run. I came away with a greater appreciation of Mark Rothko the artist.

Maybe it was the size and scale of the ATC's that was so different. I can't imagine the physical energy it must have taken to paint some of his large canvases. I began to understand the logistics behind the paintings. It was a great exercise in learning about the artist.