2x2: 2 Artists, 2 Sketchbooks -- Week 16

This week's spread feels so summery to me.

Dana (l), Anne (r)

On my recent drive to visit friends I thought a lot about why I love summer. One of the reasons was right in front of my eyes -- the colors. Blues and greens are my favorite colors. Summer is all about blues and greens. Changeable blues of the skies. Many, many, many shades of green: trees, grass, crops, gardens. Every imaginable green.

Dana's page of landscapes inspired me to create some of my own.

Dana (l), Anne (r)

I used watercolor for mine even though the mixed media pages of this sketchbook don't let watercolor do its thing quite the way I like. I hadn't tried painting any landscapes since my very early watercolor experiments. I think I'd like to play around with them some more. Would I have tried it if I hadn't been prompted by Dana's page? Probably not. Makes me so glad, again, to be collaborating like this.

Is there something you've been wanting to try? Why don't you try it this week?

Don't forget to stop by Dana's blog for her take on this week's pages.


About the project:

2x2: 2 Artists, 2 Sketchbooks is a collaboration between artists Dana Barbieri and Anne Butera. Dana and Anne met in an online painting class. Although they have never met in person, they have become friends through regular visits to each others' blogs. It was through this connection that this project began. Wanting to move from friendship to collaboration, each spent two months filling one half of a sketchbook before mailing it off to the other. Dana worked on the lefthand pages and Anne on the right. Each will be responding to the other's work on the adjacent sketchbook pages over the coming year. Watch weekly as they reveal another page of their story.

About the artists:

Dana is an artist and crafter living in the foothills of the Catskill mountains two hours north of New York City with her husband, two children and little kitty. She is passionate about painting, knitting, crochet, color, pattern and design.

Anne is an artist, writer and crafter who finds inspiration and joy in the beauty of her garden and the magic of nature. Dissatisfied with and disheartened by the pace and lifestyle of the city, she and her husband (with their two rescued greyhounds and an aging Siamese) relocated to a small town in the beautiful Driftless region in southwest Wisconsin with the goal of living a slower, simpler, more intentional life.