2x2: 2 Artists, 2 Sketchbooks -- Week 58

This week was so much fun for me to do.

Dana (l), Anne (r)

I checked out a beautiful book from the library by Sharon Beals titled Nests: Fifty Nests and the Birds that Build Them and after looking through it I knew what I wanted to do to accompany Dana's page of sketches of owls.

I took plenty of creative license with this one; an owl's nest would never look like this. For one thing, most owl eggs are just white. For another, there are very few owls that actually build nests with nesting material. Some owls will use nests made by other birds, but many will just use crevices or hollows in the dirt. Some owls will line their nests will owl pellets, meaning there will often be small bones in the nest and some will use moss, feathers and leaves to partially line them (I checked out another book from the library after I created my nest because I was curious to learn more about owl nesting habits. This one was a Princeton Field Guide: Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds).

Even though my my nest isn't very authentic, it was fun to do.

Dana (l), Anne (r)

The base is a circle of brown kraft paper. I tacked down some yarn and fabric to make something resembling spokes and then used more yarn and fabric to weave around the circle starting in the center. I stuck various other bits into the circle (chicken feathers, oak leaves, stems of lavender and even a piece of butterfly wing) and then added the eggs I painted with watercolor. I couldn't help but add some speckles to them.

The pages make me think of a nature journal. Dana's owls are so sweet and even if my nest doesn't look like it belongs to a family of owls, I think the two pages are a fun side by side.

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) relocated to a small town in the beautiful Driftless region in southwest Wisconsin with the goal of living a slower, simpler, more intentional life.