One of the best things about keeping a sketchbook is that anything goes! You're free to follow your curiosity, pages don't have to be consistent, and you can try different things. This week's inspiration from our community represents exactly that! Each submission happened to include 2 pieces from the same artist that are very different from one another and embrace a variety of techniques/mediums/tools. I think it's really cool to see and proof we are capable of going in so many different directions. I hope you enjoy checking these pages out! (And don't forget it's always up to you as to how many pages you'd like to fill in for each prompt, there's no pressure to do more than 1!)

“I used tin foil and painted acrylic red on it, when paint dried I crumpled foil up, got textured piece and took flowers and painted them and crushed them on the foil. Then I picked the flowers and placed the pedals haphazardly and stuck one full flower in the middle as well as the leaves.. it’s my interpretation of Valentine’s Day.. I actually don’t care for it. lol” --Sue P. I think there are some of us who also share that sentiment :) The foil is a really cool idea, so much interesting texture here!

 

For Sue's second piece, she tried out the cherry blossom plastic bag tutorial. I love how different these two pieces are and all the different techniques that were used!

"I knew I wanted to experiment with this internet hack of making heart stamps out of paper towel rolls. The aftermath was crunching up the finished product for a crushed feel. Valentines Day is not my favorite and this goes out to many that have had their hearts broken.

Picture 2 is a YouTube prompt of an ode to a favorite artist. Everyone knows I love pop art so this is a more collage type tribute to Roy Lichtenstein. While I tried the effect of dotting the skin it didn’t come out the best so I figured a cartoon thought bubble would be better. Outlined the background for that effect too.” - Robin S

"Initially all I could think of was that famous … at least to us boomers 😎 … ‘I Love Lucy’ skit where Lucy and Ethel crushed grapes in tubs by stomping on them. Lucky for y’all 🤣 my mind finally opened up to other possibilities.

1. Schminke’s Super Granulating Tundra colors smashed with CRUSHed Cling Wrap.

2. Acrylic paint smashed on a Geli Plate to create hearts for my CRUSHes. (inspired by @drewsteinbrecher though failure led me to improvise the backside. 🙃
Note: For the origami envelope I again smashed CRUSHed Cling Wrap on one (red) side then spindled CRUSHed salt on the other (black) side." – Vanesa S

Have you taken a look at the photo album for last week's prompt of “Connect”? It's been updated with all the submissions! Each image includes a caption about the piece and a link to the artist's social media (if provided and permission was given). If a video has been made of that piece, I've also included the link to that (and even if you're not on the platform, you should still be able to watch it.)

 

 

 

I'll be working on my page for “crush” today and my idea is pretty simple: to have some fun and take an acrylic piece and use it to crush as many different things on my page as possible! I have no idea what the finished page will look like but looking forward to finding out :) 

 

Have a great rest of your week and Happy Valentine's Day! I love the idea of using this holiday to celebrate all the different kinds of love that exists. Today I'm happy our love for creating has brought us all together! 🥰