Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Diva Challenge #348 and other artsy stuff...



Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day 2018


It's a String Thing Challenge #277
&

I've been trying to work these two challenges back into my practice for awhile now, but it seems like there's just never enough time as I've been trying to diversify my art with studying more illustration, painting and lettering.
I have also been inspired by so many gorgeous Tangle-a-Day calendar pages I've seen out there as way to keep introducing new patterns into ones repertoire. So I thought I'd try to design my own method in a sketchbook format using these two challenges as a starting point. We'll see how it goes;-)

I continue to work on my handmade book binding technique. I'm finishing up the last page in my Trainwreck Journal, so I made a new one:

I'm getting better!
I haven't decided what to call this one;-)

The Sea Lemon YouTube channel has a bunch of book binding tutorials. I used Daiso A4 Drawing paper. It's smooth but takes mixed media pretty well. It's 11.7" x 8.2" . I fold each page in half and tear it to get the deckled edge. I save all the backing cardboard from my watercolor and mixed media pads to use for covers. This one is covered with IKEA wrapping paper. I used dental floss (also from Daiso) to sew the signatures together.

My Alphonso Dunn page

There's an artist at my neighborhood cafe who makes bookmarks from her trimmings and leaves them on the bookshelf. This was just a red and gold strip of paper that I loved. The texture study is from this video. This journal may just be all over the map;-)

Next, I painted a bunch of pages:







This page is stained with really strong tea

🐾




Thanks so much for stopping by! Your generous and thoughtful comments delight and inspire me 😍











27 comments:

  1. Michele, I simply love the tile where you combined the 2 challenges IAST and Joey's, and the Diva Challenge is stunning!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Susie! I had a lot of fun with that page;-)

      Delete
  2. I agree with Susie, your Diva tile looks great but the combination of the two challenges into one drawing is also my absolute favorite, even when it is not colored, this is really cool, especially with that unique Exeter.
    I love the backgrounds you have painted, they are a beautiful base to tangle on!
    I prefer the first pic with Aimee, she is lying there just like a real Diva!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many thanks Ria! I had a lot of fun with these;-)

      Delete
  3. These are all wonderful examples of your work. I love how you are always trying new things and growing in your art.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The combination of the two challenges is wonderful and elegant! No one will miss the colouring. I like the Diva tile too. I am looking forward what you will do with your coloured pages of your new sketchbook.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Margarete! The idea is to keep the Joey/IAST duets "simple" so I can actually finish itπŸ˜‰ we shall see. I'm looking forward to the water color pages too!

      Delete
  5. Love your challenge tile, but have to agree the combo of the two is really beautiful! Always love what you do with color!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your challenge tiles are gorgeous:-))

    ReplyDelete
  7. what a great idea combining the two challenges on one page! oooh, I'm stealing that ;) as always, your work is inspiring...well done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Heidi! Although you can't tell, or maybe you can, I got the two strings to flow into each other pretty well;-) This was fun. I just hope I can keep it up.

      Delete
  8. Call it the Bubbles sketchbook.

    I really should learn that watercolour studies are still art works in their own right. I’ve always felt the need to add more things on top of the pretty colours.

    Pretty kitties with even prettier tiles. <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Stephanie! Oh, those watercolor pages are just the jumping off point. Stay tuned;-)

      Delete
  9. Fabulous Diva-tile with great colours! I really love your sketchbook with the combination of the two challenges. Wonderful idea!
    Thanks for this inspiring post!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Just stunning work this week Michele! Loved your combining the two Challenges so much!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love the cat as well as your art. Cun tangling

    ReplyDelete
  12. Beautiful work as always, Michele! The combination of challenges is just wonderful, very well done!

    ReplyDelete
  13. You are so creative! Love to look at your journal-adventures! And the tile for the Diva is great!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wonderful Diva tiles. Like the other challenge contributions as well.

    ReplyDelete