Get Inspired & Creative with Art Challenges! (free online class - #4 of 9)

Hooray for the 14 of you that played in the third part of our online class: Get Inspired by Color! So many vibrant, colorful collages to enjoy! You can see most of them in our YahooGroup (Photos section: "Helga's Blog: #3 Weekly Art Challenge").   My kitty, MoMo, volunteered to pick all 3 winners this week (scroll down a bit). Each of the winners get to pick 3 ARTchix sheets of their choice. Hooray!

And now, let's continue expanding our creativity together with a new art challenge! Now is the perfect time to jump into my free online class! Come join the fun! : )

Art Challenge #4 (of 9): Get Inspired by Texture!

Ahhh, it's a wonderful time to take a break and treat yourself to a breathe of fresh air and a nice walk. While you're out for your stroll, gather gifts from nature. Look for unusual textures. I collected leaves, seed pods, berries, branches, feathers and more.

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Before we play with all of our collected items, let's make a simple background in our art journals. I glued down some vintage papers and adhered them to the page with a UHU gluestick. Then, I dipped my paint brush in a bit of white gesso and painted the page randomly. I focused on putting a thin layer of gesso here and there so that you could still see the vintage papers peeking out from the background.

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Now, get out some acrylic paints. I'm feeling a bit Christmas-y these days, so I picked these colors: chocolate brown, red, green and ochre. These are just inexpensive acrylic paints from Michaels. You can use whatever acrylic paints you have on hand.

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Now, make a grid using one of your found items. I drew my grid lines by dipping a leaf stem into brown paint. Fun! Now, play! Try dipping your items into acrylic paint and make imprints of them. See what happens when you dip your items into a few colors and press them on the page. Try painting your leaves and pieces with a foam brush first and then imprint them on the page. Have fun and play, play, play!

You can see above that I placed the item that I made the imprint from next to each section. For example, on the top left, I used that pine needle branch to make the red imprints. Below that is a leaf that I painted with a foam brush and then pressed onto the page at various angles. On the top right, I dipped that green moss into green paint and sponged it on.  Below that is a twig with dried pods...I painted it with green and red and then pressed it around on the page. I had a blast doing this!

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More imprints! It's amazing the variety of textures you can find just outside your door. If you live in the city, I bet you could make an awesome grid filled with imprints of bottlecaps and modern found objects.

Same as above, you can see the item that I made the imprint from next to each section. On the top left is a neat seed pod, love the wing like shapes that it makes. Next to that are some rosehips that I dipped in paint. They sure make a fantastic polka dot background! On the bottom right is a twig covered in moss, I painted it with a foam brush in ochre and red and then pressed them onto the page. Love this repeated shape.

I'm thinking that these imprints would make gorgeous backgrounds for collages and maybe even my Christmas cards this year. We shall see. : )

Art Challenge #4 (or 9) SUMMARY: Get Inspired by Texture! Take a walk and collect leaves, twigs, rocks, berries, etc. (anything that has a neat texture that you want to play with). Then make a grid in your art journal (or on a piece of paper) and make imprints of your found objects.

How To Play in This Art Challenge: Scan your grid that shows all of your imprints and post it online to your blog, flickr account, website or our YahooGroup (Photos section: "Helga's Blog: #4 Weekly Art Challenge").

Next, click on "Comments" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your gred so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

Deadline: Wednesday morning, November 11, 2009. (Note, you've got an extra day for this art challenge!)

Prizes: My cute kitties will randomly pick 3 participants and they will each get to pick 3 free ARTchix sheets of their choice! Hooray!

Winners & Next Art Challenge To Be Announced: Thursday, November 12 (special day next week)

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WINNERS from Last Week's Art Challenge: Get Inspired by Color!

Hooray for the wonderful, creative 14 artists that made great color collages! MoMo picked 3 winners which will each get 3 free ARTchix sheets of their choice. Here's who she picked:

I printed all of the artists' names, cut them out, spread them out on a table and put a treat next to each name. Then MoMo got to pick 3 treats to gobble down! The name that was attached to that treat won! What fun! Congrats to Cheryl, Michele and Gena!

See you next Thursday with the next art challenge and a whole lot more!!! : )

 

 

Comments

[Gena Boone-Curtis]

Way To Go MOMO!!!
Thank you
Gena :}

[Cat Dodt-Ellis]

Momo is one happy cat with all of those treats!!!
Congratulations to the winners; your collages were wonderful!!!

[Glenda]

Way to go. congratulations to the winners, yeah Helga an extra day makes two for me LOL as your Wednesday is Thursday for me. So I should have house, computer and phone and internet connection all up and running by then, and will be able to scan to put on my blog etc. I am sorry I missed the last one, because of packing, cleaning etc, but I intend to catch up.

[Marion]

Another fun challenge! Here´s my result:
http://bockel24.blogspot.com/2009/11/music-of-nature.html

[Sabine Busch]

Thank you so much for this challenge. My results are here:
http://stempeltanz.blogspot.com/2009/11/art-challenge-4-of-9-get-inspired-by.html

[Christa Bockelmann]

This messy challenge was a great fun for my rainy Saturday-Evening! Thank you so much, Helga!
The results you can find here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14257786@N05/4085037611/
and here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14257786@N05/4085100577/
Christa

[Linda]

Lots of fun with this challenge Helga-and yes messy fun at that! I used a forsythia leaf, Yew branch, the top of a mum, string, bottlecap and plastic cap. I wasn't able to get these things in with the scan. I'll be anxious to see what you come up with next week.

[peggy gatto]

http://wwwpeggysamusement.blogspot.com/2009/11/helgas-challenge.html
I posted my work AND the "brushes " I used! Be sure and click the image to see the layers! I worked on this all afternoon and made a mess, but I sure had fun!!!!!
Thanks helga!

[marina]

here is mine
http://theboxofcolors.blogspot.com/2009/11/89-texture.html

[Angie Hall Haviland]

THANKS SO MUCH for another FUN challenge, Helga. Here's what I came up with...

http://angiehallhaviland.typepad.com/angiesartfulllife/2009/11/helgas-art-challenge-4.html.html

[Buddhini]

Wonderful challenge!!!

Here is my entry.

http://buddhini.blogspot.com/2009/11/helgas-art-challenge-4-of-9.html

Thanks Helga :)

[Carol A]

here is mine:
http://traveller2006.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/helgas-challenge-number-4/
Carol A