The Sketchbook Challenge Comes to Houston!

If you are coming to the International Quilt Festival in Houston next week, I hope you will consider signing up for the Sketchbook Challenge Workshop that will be taught on the floor in the Make-It-University area.

Here's the plan:  Sue Bleiweiss, Jamie Fingal, Jane LaFazio, and Judi Hurwitt and I will be teaching on Saturday, November 5th, from 1:15 to 2:15.  We will teach several techniques, round-robin style.  The participants will be divided into groups and move from table to table to learn some great techniques.

You won't believe all the goodies in these beautiful, custom-printed tote bags!  Don't miss this great opportunity to join in the fun.  You must submit your name in advance in order to be eligible to participate, and you must be present when your name is drawn.  The cost to participate is a bargain at $15.  The contents of your workshop tote are worth more than that!!

Check out this awesome tote:

Sue Bleiweiss' amazing new studio! Take the YouTube tour!

 I can't remember who first told me about Sue Bleiweiss.  I was looking for some unique hand-made journals, and a friend from the quiltart list sent me her way.  I believe it was Karen Stiehl Osborn, now that I think about it.  I was interested in purchasing several journals for my daughters as holiday gifts, plus one for myself.  I believe I have given several friends these lovely works of art.  They are so beautiful, inside and out.  Sort of like Sue.  Please stop by Sue's Etsy shop and take a peek at her beautiful art journals, and more.

You may recognize Sue's name from a variety of sources.  She has been featured in a multi-part article on studio construction in Studios magazine, published by Interweave.  She is also the facilitator of The Sketchbook Challenge, an online collaboration of mixed media, textile, and paper artists.   Recently, she posted a YouTube video tour of her new space.  It is absolutely "drool-worthy".

Sketchbook Challenge Theme for February: Opposites!

I hope you have decided to follow along with us as we create pages in our sketchbooks for each monthly theme.  February's theme is chosen by Laura Cater-Woods:  Opposites.  Please stop by the Sketchbook Challenge blog and take a look at what everyone is doing.  Check out the amazing work on our Flickr site.
I hope you consider joining the project.  Nothing is more intimidating than the blank page/canvas/cloth.
The only way around it is through it.  It is the rare individual who is born with the ability to draw or paint well.  Most of us have to develop our skill set by using it frequently, learning from our experiences.  There is no magic involved:  experience is the teacher.

last January page:  "Highly Prized:  My Women Friends"

detail

Is it finished?   I think not.  Since I have a couple of ideas about the next step I decided to think about it for a bit and move on to something else using the new theme.  I've been working on some collaged pages to use as foundation pages, and I think these are good starting points.  I'll post about the process of these pages here and on the Sketchbook Challenge blog once I have added another layer or two.

What do you think?  Is this page finished?  I would be curious to know.

"Highly Prized: Family, Home, & Friends"

This sketchbook page is part of the January theme, "Highly Prized", as part of the Sketchbook Challenge.
It explores working into wet media, as well as screen printing onto paper.  Please click the links to visit the Sketchbook Challenge blog and consider joining us for a new monthly theme.  I have no idea what the theme for February is until it posts on 2/1, and I can't wait!

Happy New Year! The Sketchbook Challenge begins!

SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 2011

Jill Berry is the very first theme-maker for the

The Sketchbook Challenge
which begins NOW

The theme for January is

HIGHLY PRIZED

These words are inspired by the work of Sister Corita Kent, a nun who made fabulous graphic serigraphs in the 1960s-1970s. Sister Corita was an artist, a social activist, and a grateful person who enthusiastically embraced the gift of each day. You can find out more about her here. Lucky me, my mother was an early fan of Sister Corita, and hung her artwork all over our house. This one is my favorite, it hangs in Mom's living room, where I am right now.

Anything that you consider "Highly Prized" is what you will sketch this month. It could be your dog, child, husband, favorite tea cup, your right hand, whatever you feel this way about. Sit up and take notice, and sketch sketch sketch. Here is my starter page, of my children as babies, books, berries, all "B" things that are highly prized to me.

GO FOR IT!!!!

Along the way, each of us, the artists and guides that have signed up to lead this pack for a year, will be blogging about what we are doing with the theme. I will be adding videos and tutorial on my blog as the month goes along. Now is your chance to learn, practice, appreciate and maybe start that one-day-a-week art habit you have been dreaming about.

January is a month of renewal, and fresh starts, named for Janus,
the Roman god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, endings and time.
(Thanks to my mom for this tidbit from her Latin class)

HIGHLY PRIZED

Create as many pages in your sketchbook related to this months theme as you like and post photos of them in the Sketchbook Challenge flickr group here or on your own blog if you have one.

How to be eligible for prize drawings:
In order to be eligible for one of this months prizes you must post at least one photo of a sketchbook page related to this months theme to the Sketchbook Challenge Flickr group and you MUST tag one of your photos with the code "jan246". IMPORTANT: PLEASE ONLY TAG ONE OF YOUR PHOTOS with this special code! It is not necessary to tag more than one and it will not increase your chances of winning prizes.

Photos of this months prizes can be found here and information on how to upload photos to flickr can be found here.

Winners will be chosen based on random draw on 1/31/11 and announced on the Sketchbook Challenge blog either on that day or on 2/1/11.

Get all the details on the sketchbook challenge here.

WELCOME TO 2011
The Year of the Sketchbook Challenge!

The Sketchbook Challenge!

So, you want to start keeping a sketchbook but every time you sit down with your book in front of you and pencil in hand you freeze up and just can't seem to get started.  Wouldn't it be helpful to get a glimpse inside another artist's sketchbook and see how they use theirs?  Well, you are in luck because help is on the way!  I'm excited to tell you that I have been invited to join an amazing group of artists in The Sketchbook Challenge.  The Sketchbook Challenge is a new project launching on 1/1/11.  Follow along with us as we fill our sketchbooks based on a monthly theme that will be announced on the first of each month.
You will be sketching alongside:
Jill Berry
Sue Bleiweiss
Laura Cater-Woods
Jane Davies
Jamie Fingal
Judi Hurwitt
myself
Lyric Kinard
Jane LaFazio
Kelli Perkins
Carol Sloan
Carla Sonheim
Susan Sorrell
Melanie Testa
Diana Trout
Violette

Each month we'll announce a new theme on the blog and will be showing images from our sketchbooks
and talking about the intention/inspiration behind them.  We hope to inspire our followers to keep sketchbooks of your own.  Please visit the blog for more details, as well as to pick up a badge for your own blog.  We hope our followers will post comments on our blog, as well as images on your blogs of your pages.  Along the way we will be doing some giveaways and special offers!  I hope you will join us!