2x2: 2 Artists, 2 Sketchbooks -- Week 55

We're coming to the last pages of each of our sketchbooks. There are still seven more weeks, but we're on the home stretch. I remember this point working in my sketchbook before sending it to Dana and feeling a bit tired. I had to make sure I finished all my pages and got it to her in time. There's plenty of time, I can wait till tomorrow quickly turned into I need to do three more pages in three days! That's how many pages are left after this week's in the sketchbook Dana has. Doesn't sound like very many.

We don't have that rush to finish on this end of things. Actually, I'm starting to get a little sad thinking that we'll be finished soon.

My page this week was another collage of a cut up watercolor painting. I'm glad I wrote down some notes when I worked on my sketchbook, because I'd completely forgotten my inspiration and my thought process. I'd just watched Yao Cheng's watercolor class on Creativebug and painted circles inspired by that. I cut out the circles with my circle punch, but hated all the arrangements I created and ended up cutting each circle in half. I wrote that the colors reminded me of candy and that my page made me think of broken chakras and colorful moon phases. Today it makes me think of a simple, modern quilt design.

Dana took her page in a fun and surprising direction! Her painted pattern has such a sweet palette and it makes me think of vintage textiles, vintage wallpaper or ceramic tiles.

I know I've said this before, but this is one of the things that's been so fun about our project -- I never know what sort of inspiration Dana will give me or in which direction she'll be inspired to go because of my page.

Don't forget to check out Dana's blog for her take on this week's pages!


About the project (get the full story on the 2x2 web page):

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.

*photos in this post by Dana Barbieri