2x2: 2 Artists, 2 Sketchbooks -- Week 20

I had a few ideas for this week's page, things to coordinate with Dana's abstract color play. What I really wanted to do was paint a bouquet of flowers with gouache, but I was hesitant. I don't have much experience with gouache. And, I might add, I don't have much confidence. What I really need is more practice.

Isn't a sketchbook, among other things, supposed to be about practice? It's hard to practice in such a public way, though.


2x2, #2x2sketchbook, sketchbook, gouache, Anne Butera, Dana Barbieri
Dana (l), Anne (r)

First I wanted to paint over it. And then after I stopped myself from doing that, I wanted to keep tinkering, trying to "fix" it. I let go of that desire, too, and decided to just let it be.


2x2, #2x2sketchbook, sketchbook, gouache, Anne Butera, Dana Barbieri
Dana (l), Anne (r)

It was fun to do something completely different for a change, even if I don't love it.

Don't forget to check out 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.

Comments

  1. I love the colors you both chose, especially your use of grey as a backdrop for the saturated fuchsia and sky blue. Sometimes we have to let go of outcome in order to experience growth. Sketchbooks are for experimenting and playing in, something you and Dana do very well.

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  2. Thank you, Sharon! You're so right about letting go of the outcome. Sometimes that's harder to do than others. It is fun to play, though.

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