Celebrating over a Year of Collaboration at the Conclusion of 2x2: 2 Artists, 2 Sketchbooks

And so our project is finished. We've shared all 62 spreads from our sketchbooks. Including the planning stages, the project has spanned over a year and a half.

I still find it hard to believe that we're on this side of things.

I'm not sure what I'll do without our shared sketchbook as part of my to-do list anymore (though I do have a project in the works to fill up the Wednesday spot on my blog -- stay tuned for more on that because I'm going to need a bit of help...). I think I'll simply have to buckle down and work in my own sketchbooks more regularly, a practice that has fallen a bit by the wayside with all my busyness these last months.

I want to share some of what I've learned during this collaboration and the art-making outside of the project that it's inspired. This list is in no particular order (and is probably leaving a few things out):

• inspiration is everywhere; we just need to be open to it
• if there's something you've been wanting to try, stop thinking about it and just do it
• it's ok to be messy
• don't let anyone else impose limitations on your creativity 
• don't impose them on yourself, either
• try new things without worrying about failure because even when you "fail" you learn something
• don't give up if your first attempts don't work how you want them to -- good things take time
• you can always turn the page and start fresh
• don't be afraid to reach out to other people, with questions, with ideas, to share your work, to ask for advice, to say how much you love their work... for the most part people are happy to share their experience and delighted to hear how much you love their work
• share your work only if you feel comfortable doing so... if sharing it is stifling your creativity listen to those feelings and take a step back
• say yes to things that scare you
• creativity always leads to more creativity
• collaboration leads to wonderful things

Oh, and want to see our sketchbooks as a whole? Dana and I created quick, time-lapse videos of us flipping them. (You can visit the 2x2 page for a re-cap of the project, too).

Enjoy!

Oh, and one more thing... I want to thank each of you who has followed along with this project. It's been lovely to have you here cheering us on!  I hope that our project has inspired you in some way or another (if so, I'd love to hear about it!!).