Drawing with color

Hello friends! Hope your summer has been wonderful. It's almost September! How did that happen?
I'm here today to share some cards made for a challenge. My favorite artist is Henri Matisse. I have had the good fortune to see two exhibitions of his work in my lifetime. Once at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and more recently at the Tate Gallery in London. The show in NYC was a retrospective of his entire body of work and in London the show was just focusing on his famous cutouts. And that is what led me to creating this challenge.
Matisse said

“The paper cutouts allow me to draw with color. For me, it is a simplification. Instead of drawing an outline and then filling in with color-with one modifying the other-I draw directly in color...It is not a starting point, it is a completion.”

I asked some crafty friends to join me - in drawing with color - using shapes and color. 

Being cardmakers we use a lot of punches 

and dies to make shapes all the time, right?

I decided to use some dies and a punch to create the cards you see here.

The first card - I took some watercolor paper and a reinker and smooshed the color all over. I used my punch as I like to think Matisse used his scissors to cut out the colors and shapes I wanted. I arranged them in a square and used a starfish die and sentiment to complete my card. In this closeup you can see the colors and shapes in each shape that I punched out

 In this card I used a leaf die from PTI- very Matisse like shape don't you agree? I like to think this card has some of the movement of the shapes I see in many of Matisse' cutout pieces.

In this last card again I used a leaf die (as well as an impression plate for the background). I used more of that inked watercolor paper but also foiled one of the leaves with my Minc.





















Okay that's all for today. I hope, if nothing else, you'll go online and look at Matisse's cutouts. Google it - you'll see so many beautiful pieces of his. The shapes are beautiful.
I hope to be back to blogging on a more regular basis. In the meantime however you can find me daily on Instagram

Challenges: 365 Doodle and Popup Challenge

Hi there kids! Yes I've been a bad blogger. I'd like to blame it on summertime - yes let's blame it on that! The schedule is off you know? I would like to invite you to follow me on Instagram as it's quite easy for me to post things there on a daily basis - and really its a whole lotta fun. I've been participating in a 365 Doodle Challenge run by a wonderfully talented illustrator, Johanna Fritz. Not only is she amazingly talented,  she's also such a friendly and supportive soul.  As a matter of fact, I'm finding the Instagram community a very positive and supportive group. If you like to draw or doodle the 365 Doodle Challenge might be for you - check it out!

Another Challenge that is coming up this weekend is The Daily Marker's Pop Up Challenge. It's going to be a lot of fun - and there is a giveaway right now on her blog. Over the weekend she'll have videos and prizes so it would be a great time to get out your stamps and markers and play along!
The Daily Marker - Kathy - also runs the 30 Day Coloring Challenge I participated in twice over the last few months. She's got another one coming up in October. If you like to color - this is definitely a challenge you don't want to miss.
Okay, I need to get going - errands to run, doodles to doodle. Thanks for stopping by!