Thursday, April 24, 2014

ARTful Challenges

    I love a good art challenge, don't you? There are so many challenge blogs to choose from that it's sometimes difficult to keep up so I end up checking out the week's challenges and if something immediately comes to mind I go for whatever I can complete.
                           Do you have any favorite challeges? And if so please do share :).

    I'm always looking to have a variety of cards on hand for any occasion so first up are some cards and the corresponding challenges I will be linking to.


  Sketches are such a great and quick way to put together a card. The DT at Freshly Made Sketches not only provide you with a sketch each week, but they also each make a card using it! This is the card I came up with using this week's sketch:

 Products: large white note card (Canvas Corp.); white card stock; patterned card stocks (Mediterranean Café-DCWV); rubber stamp (Hero Arts); Versafine Onyx Black ink (Tsukineko); Grand calibur die cut machine and Standard Circles Lg. dies (Spellbinders); paper flowers (Recollections); rhinestones.

 I am linking this to Freshly Made Sketches, Simon Monday Challenge blog (theme is "big stamp"), and Simon Wednesday challenge blog (theme is" keep it clean and simple", featuring Hero Arts although it's not necessary to use Hero Arts products).

 The next two cards are also for the Simon challenge blogs although I can only link the same post once.



  Products: turquoise card stock (the Paper Studio); clear stamp (Think Big Favorites #1-Papertrey Ink); Versafine Onyx Black ink (Tsukineko); paper flower and fabric and washi tapes (Recollections); tiny button (Gary Burlin and Co.).


  Products: yellow card stock (the Paper Studio); clear stamp (Think Big Favorites #3-Papertrey Ink); Staz-On Stone Gray ink (Tsukineko); fabric and washi tapes (Recollections); tiny button (Gary Burlin and Co.).

  In this post I shared my new collection and storage for the washi tapes and I've been a bit obsessed about using these pretty tapes :)

  And for Paint Party Friday I'm sharing an abstract practice project. The beautiful art of the PPFrs, along with Jane Davies and Jo Murray have gotten me really longing to go back to it! I've been putting most all my time this year into my drawing classes and lettering practices  and I am enjoying it, but I'm finding my real passion is in mixed media abstract and wabi-sabi painting.

 I went back to a book I had gotten quite awhile ago Painting Abstracts by Rolina van Vliet. Do any of you have it? It is an EXCELLENT book filled with so much content about composition, mediums, color, texture, movement, etc. etc.. There are hundreds of projects and practices to try along with some directions and many examples- I LOVE this book.

 Here's what I started with:

 This  was Exercise 30 about rhythm, design, and repetition using oil pastels only. I used a piece of  8 1/2" x 11" Strathmore  Texture paper for the effect of texture with the pastels.








  After adding color I used my fingers to smear/ rub the colors around. The white circles were added after I was finished smearing. Then I decided to rotate it all four ways. Do you like one way better? Do you even like it at all? Any thoughts? Advice? I have another practice I'm working on and have a few more in mind I can't wait to get to! I have discovered I NEED to do that which I TRULY love and must make time for it despite whatever else I'm working on.

 Thanks so much for your comments and input as always. Can't wait to see what everyone else has been up to!

   "Abstract painting is abstract. It confronts you. There was a reviewer who wrote that my pictures didn't have any beginning or any end. He didn't mean it as a compliment, but it was." Jackson Pollock







 



34 comments:

  1. Lovely card, I love your bright colour schemes, perfect for Spring. Thanks for joining us for this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!

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  2. Your cards are so lovely. I do love washi tape although I've never used it myself. Do you know artsyville blog? Aimee had the most gorgeous selection of washi tape in her etsy shop.
    My favourite challenge is the summer of colour-especially because it's how my doodimal pet portraits came into being Thanks to icecream colours in 2012!
    I think it's fabulous that you live doing the abstract exercises so much-that's exactly what I'm searching for in my art something I can't wait to do rather than dreading it (like the foxes fur! !) I'm hoping impasto might be the one that does it for me.

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  3. Beautiful cards and artwork Linda. Interesting to see as I am branching out from watercolours now and trying out mixed media. Lots to learn from you clever people.

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  4. Lovely cards, Linda and very expressive work on canvas. Big hugs to you and thank you for sharing
    http://agagasiniak.blogspot.co.uk/

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  5. Love your cards! Some of my fave challenges are SoArtful, Art Journal Journey and the Three Muses. Valerie

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  6. LOVE seeing your abstract piece emerge... it's magical :)
    Happy PPF :)
    (no. 20 on list - I'm new!)

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  7. Hi Linda. Your cards are wonderful. Great job on them.:)

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  8. beautiful cards and abstract. I never thought about getting a book on abstract. Great idea.

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  9. LOVE the cards! The designs and colors are gorgeous. The flowers are very pretty, too! Thank you so much for joining us at the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Blog!

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  10. Loving your cards Linda especially the first one. Have never heard of the book you mentioned, will definitely look that one up on Amazon. Love the interesting results with the pastels. Happy PPF, Annette x

    http://nettysartadventures.blogspot.co.uk/

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  11. I found your abstract artwork to be very successful. I don't usually do abstracts myself as I find them difficult but maybe I will give it a whirl. Happy PPF

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  12. If we think of abstracts as celebrations of color and design then they are easier to understand. And the beautiful thing is that they can be successful from a variety of angles. I really couldn't say that one orientation was better than the other -- each spoke just a bit differently from the other but they all feel celebratory and a bit jazzy. Thanks for sharing your cards and creativity.

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  13. I love using oil pastels. They are so much fun, you can get color on the page quickly. You'll love playing with deli paper, its pretty cool stuff.

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  14. I like your abstract anyway... that's the beauty of that kind of work for me. They make me feel happy and ready for a party, all the colours and soft shapes work that way for me.

    Your card designs are also lovely, the Hello Friend one especially appeals to me.

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  15. I LOVE your abstract!!!!! Your cards are simple with such elegance.
    Nicole/Beadwright

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  16. Terrific cards you created!

    I like the juxtaposition of the rectangles and the circles in the abstract, the hard angled lines and the softer curves. The contrast is again mirrored in the difference between the definitive lines and the blurriness of the smeared color. For the record, the third orientation is my favorite, but they all look good!

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  17. That was a great idea about the washitapes, using them on the edges of the paper. Makes the pages much more lively. I like your abstract piece in all 4 directions, although I must admit when I saw the last one the first thing I saw was a little man ... I'm not very abstract-minded I'm afraid, I see figures everywhere .... ;-)

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  18. Wonderful Linda. I have several canvases that can be turned all four ways... I love that because each way has a different look!! I wish there was a page with all the different challenges... it would make things a lot easier! I always forget to look!

    Hugs Giggles

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  19. Really like your abstract work especially combined with the canvas texture.

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  20. I do like your abstracts on canvas. I love the smudged effect. Thanks for your comment over at my place.

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  21. Delicious creations, lovely flowers!

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  22. The canvas is extremely wonderful. OMGosh what would we be able to do without fingers to smudge with. . .absolutely nothing else works as well. Blessings, Janet PPF

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  23. I hadn't heard of FMS, but I love their sketch, and especially the card you designed from it. As to the abstract, it's stunning! I love your use of repetition and how you gave it some interest by breaking it up with the circles. I'm more of a realistic artist and have a hard time working on abstracts, so maybe I should look into purchasing that book. Have a blessed week, my friend!

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  24. Your pastel piece looks really cool! What a great technique. I'll have to give that a whirl sometime.

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  25. There is something very inspiring with abstract art. Yours is very interesting, and after studying them, I think I like the third one best. Great colors also.

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  26. What a great piece, I like to see how the development of the abstract occurs. Oil pastels look great with texture paper

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  27. Nice work on the cards Linda. I like the third one down, not sure why.Just looks like a painting I would see in a model home. Lovely work.
    Annabelle

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  28. Your cards are wonderful! I love challenges too! I have choosen Alisa Burke's online class as a challenge for spring and I'm still busy working on it.

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  29. Fantastic projects! Love the papers you've used in your FMS card and your last project is stunning! I only wish I was as talented! Thanks so much for joining us at Freshly Made Sketches.

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  30. Your cards Linda are all fascinating to me. I love the way you continue to experiment and the last abstract one is really interesting - smudging - go for it!
    Thanks for enjoying my bird book of fabrics, lace and sweet Australian birds!

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  31. Lovely cards and like your abstract very much, Linda. I favor the second from the bottom. I think that the circle toward the bottom half is settling to my eye. I find abstracts difficult so you have given my inspiration to try again.

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  32. Lovely cards there Linda. I like sketches too as you can turn them upside down or side to side if you wish.
    As for your painting, I keep seeing fabric with that design on in my head. You know the kind that would look great made into grungy bags. Don't know why!!
    Hugs
    xx

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  33. Wow so much Activity here!!! Loved going thru ur projects...I am into PPF and at times Illustration Friday....Other than that I don't get enough time to take part in it though I love many. I was part of 'The Summer of Colors' and 'Fall Fearless & Fly'.
    Your cards are gorgeous Linda :)The abstract one is fab too.

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Thank you so much for your comments; it's a pleasure to connect with you!