Welcome to April ...

Welcome to April and a very happy Easter to everyone.

This month our inspiration comes to you from Evelyn Chapman with French Ruins with Poppies.

CRITERIA - Remembrance plus the colour RED

This doesn't have to be about ANZAC Day unless you would like it to be - just a layout remembering someone, somewhere or something that was near and dear to you.

A little about Evelyn Chapman ...

Evelyn Chapman studied with Dattilo Rubbo in Sydney and travelled overseas to paint in Paris, where she exhibited at the Salon. A few weeks after the end of World War I she took up the opportunity to visit the battlefields of France with her father, who was attached to the New Zealand War Graves Commission. Thus, she became the first Australian female artist to depict the devastated battlefields, towns and churches of the western front. Chapman remained overseas with her father, an organist who played in Dieppe, Venice and elsewhere, and married a brilliant, though domineering, Australian organist herself. After she married, she had to give up painting, but she encouraged her daughter to pursue art. For the rest of her life, Chapman lived in England, only returning to Australia for a visit in 1960. The art gallery of New South Wales has her 1911 portrait A Dattilo Rubbo, Girl in Red Hat c. 1918, and a number of her paintings of France, Belgium and England. The Australian War Memorial, too, has several of her key French scenes.

And now some inspiration from our team ...

(in no particular order)

Karen Guy (Australia)

Sharon Bishop - (Australia)

Remembering Great Grandma's vintage toys ...

Karen Brierley - (Australia)

I tried to ground my page with cream and muted colours like the painting, so the red would pop. I created a page in my art journal, using up scraps.

Dale Tiernan - (Australia)

Dale took the photo before she added her personal journaling about her Grandfather.

Jane Howden - (Australia)

I did vintage style using some of the colours from the artwork and added pops of red. In remembrance of my Aunt who was a very large part of my childhood.

Our main prize winner is selected by random draw - so anyone could be a winner, no matter your style or your level of experience or your country of residence. If there are more than 8 entries in the month a second prize (donated each month by one of our team) will be drawn from amongst our Australian entrants.

Main Prize

Second Prize

(drawn if more than 8 entries)

Donated by Karen Brierley

Now over to you ......

 Please upload your entries directly to the monthly album in our Facebook public group (ARTastic challenges) by midnight on the last day of the month - please remember we are an Australian based challenge so do check your day and time. For anyone not on Facebook, simply email us your entry and if you have a blog, a link to that too so we can still pop past for a visit. You may combine your entry with 3 other challenges. You may enter more than once in any month as long as each submission is with a different creation. International entries are very welcome.

  We hope you might find time to play along with our challenge.

March highlights ...

Thank you for your entries this month - there is still time to play along with us and we'd love to see your pages.

This month our inspiration comes to you from Marie Jonsson-Harrison with this quirky little painting called Noahs -Ark.

CRITERIA - Animal theme

 Please use the provided sketch (feel free to complete a double page or either the left or right side).  You can flip, rotate and change out photo sizes, just so long as we can see the basis of the sketch in your page(s).

Sketch courtesy of Pagemaps

Here's just a couple of entries that have caught our eye over the month ...

MAUREEN

HEIDI

There is still some time to play along with us this month. We'd really love to see your entry. 

February winners ...

Thank you for playing along with our February challenge using inspiration from this bright and happy artwork by Sarah Beetson called Purple Flamingos.

CRITERIA -  Use one or more colours from this artwork and include birds in some way.

Our main prize winner is selected by random draw - so anyone could be a winner, no matter your style or your level of experience or your country of residence. If there are more than 8 entries in the month a second prize (donated each month by one of our team) will be drawn.

Main Prize

and our winner is:

SHARON

Second Prize

(drawn if more than 8 entries)

We only had 7 entries but since it was the first challenge of the year and DT Sharon was feeling particularly generous we did the draw anyway :)

Donated by Sharon Bishop

and our second winner is:

JULENE

Could the winners please contact me on artasticchallengeblog@gmail.com with their postal address.  Please remember it is the winners responsibility to claim their prize and provide their details.  You have until the announcement of the winners for next month to do so. 

Please don't forget to enter this month's ARTastic challenge. All the details are in the left sidebar. Remember you have until the end of the month to submit your entry.

Welcome to March ...

Welcome to March and our first month of Autumn here down under.

This month our inspiration comes to you from Marie Jonsson-Harrison with this quirky little painting called Noahs -Ark.

CRITERIA - Animal theme

 Please use the provided sketch (feel free to complete a double page or either the left or right side).  You can flip, rotate and change out photo sizes, just so long as we can see the basis of the sketch in your page(s).

Sketch courtesy of Pagemaps

A little about Marie Jonsson-Harrison

Born in Sweden, Marie immigrated to Australia with her family in 1972, and embarked on a highly successful career ‘diversion’ as an international model. However her rich artistic heritage soon exerted its primacy and she began painting while pregnant with her son.

Bringing immediate zest and life to the genre of Naïve or Naïf Art (sometimes also referred to as outsiders art, innocent art) she developed a unique painting approach wherein figures and objects are rendered in relief, giving the works a wonderful human and tactile quality. Marie’s art can best be described as Contemporary Naive Art.

Marie brings to her work a great sense of humor and keen observation of life, always presenting a positive and joyful experience often with a social comment about the human condition. Her paintings, prints and sculptures are for sale and are collected widely throughout Australia and internationally. Japan and USA has proved to be particularly appreciative and supportive markets for Marie and recently she has been making inroads into the European market.  Her artworks are also featured in corporate collections, private collections and several art books worldwide. 

And now some inspiration from our team ...

(in no particular order)

Karen Brierley - (Australia)

I used the full sketch to make a double page layout, starring our gorgeous dog Jess.

Dale Tiernan - (Australia)

Karen Guy (Australia)

Sharon Bishop - (Australia)

Skyla (my Granddaughter) hugging ‘Dolores’, one of our pet chooks!

Jane Howden - (Australia)

I used the right side of the sketch to document Orca whales near Vancouver Island, Canada.

Our main prize winner is selected by random draw - so anyone could be a winner, no matter your style or your level of experience or your country of residence. If there are more than 8 entries in the month a second prize (donated each month by one of our team) will be drawn from amongst our Australian entrants.

Main Prize

Second Prize

(drawn if more than 8 entries)

Donated by Jane Howden

Now over to you ......

 Please upload your entries directly to the monthly album in our Facebook public group (ARTastic challenges) by midnight on the last day of the month - please remember we are an Australian based challenge so do check your day and time. For anyone not on Facebook, simply email us your entry and if you have a blog, a link to that too so we can still pop past for a visit. You may combine your entry with 3 other challenges. You may enter more than once in any month as long as each submission is with a different creation. International entries are very welcome.

  We hope you might find time to play along with our challenge.

December / January winners ...

 Thank you for your wonderful entries over December and January.  We know these months can sometimes be very busy so we do appreciate you taking the time to play along with us using inspiration from Salvatore Zofrea with Christmas Bells 2011.

CRITERIA - Anything goes so surprise us !

Our main prize winner is selected by random draw - so anyone could be a winner, no matter your style or your level of experience or your country of residence. If there are more than 8 entries in the month a second prize (donated each month by one of our team) will be drawn.

Main Prize

and our winner is:

LIZ

Additional prize

and our second winner is:

JACKIE

Could the winners please contact me on artasticchallengeblog@gmail.com with their postal address.  Please remember it is the winners responsibility to claim their prize and provide their details.  You have until the announcement of the winners for next month to do so. 

Please don't forget to enter this month's ARTastic challenge. All the details are in the left sidebar. Remember you have until the end of the month to submit your entry.

Welcome to February ...

Welcome to a brand new year on ARTastic.

Our first inspiration for 2021 is this bright and happy artwork by Sarah Beetson called Purple Flamingos.

CRITERIA -  Use one or more colours from this artwork and include birds in some way.

A little about  Sarah Beetson ...

Working in fashion, editorial and publishing, Sarah has exhibited in galleries around the world. Spending most of her year in Queensland, Australia, returning to the UK for a few months now and again, she also takes on artist residencies, such as her project depicting Coney Island, New York. Sarah has a BA in Illustration with first class honours.

Sarah begins by creating a background using spray paint, tissue paper and/or collage, which is applied to paper, wood, a photographic print or fabric. She then draws the linework in pen. The image is rounded off with a full range of additions such as acryl-gouache, markers, gel pens, crayon, stickers, vintage magazine clippings, beads, sequins, Letraset…and more. Sarah also works in layers using Photoshop so that edits can be accommodated.

From out of the chaos emerges glorious illustration work that finely balances colour, line and texture for a unique effect – Sarah’s own personal take on Pop Art.

And now some inspiration from our team ...

(in no particular order)

Karen Guy (Australia)

My Granddaughter playing with her Lego and I noticed the bright colours and birds ... perfect!

Sharon Bishop - (Australia)

My Granddaughter Skyla wearing her ‘Flamingo’ bathers!

Karen Brierley - (Australia)

I made an intro page for my travel journal.

Dale Tiernan -  (Australia)

Jane Howden - (Australia)

Our main prize winner is selected by random draw - so anyone could be a winner, no matter your style or your level of experience or your country of residence. If there are more than 8 entries in the month a second prize (donated each month by one of our team) will be drawn from amongst our Australian entrants.

Main Prize

Second Prize

(drawn if more than 8 entries)

Donated by Sharon Bishop

Now over to you ......

 Please upload your entries directly to the monthly album in our Facebook public group (ARTastic challenges) by midnight on the last day of the month - please remember we are an Australian based challenge so do check your day and time. For anyone not on Facebook, simply email us your entry and if you have a blog, a link to that too so we can still pop past for a visit. You may combine your entry with 3 other challenges. You may enter more than once in any month as long as each submission is with a different creation. International entries are very welcome.

  We hope you might find time to play along with our challenge.

Merry Christmas and November winners ...

 We'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone the very best for the Christmas season. Thank you for your continued support through 2020.  I'd like to offer a huge thank you to my amazing ARTastic team.

ARTastic will be back in February, 2021 with new artwork, fresh challenges and some great prizes to inspire you.  We may even introduce the odd Cyber Crop weekend for you.

Saying a sad goodbye to team members ...

Karen McLaughlin - (Australia)

Annemarie Caister - (New Zealand)

Remember our December challenge is open right up until the end of January so you will have lots of time to get creative and put in an entry (or two).

Thank you for your delightful vintage style layouts for November inspired by Hilda Rix Nicholas with Picardy Girl.

Our main prize winner is selected by random draw - so anyone could be a winner, no matter your style or your level of experience or your country of residence. If there are more than 8 entries in the month a second prize (donated each month by one of our team) will be drawn.

Main Prize

and our winner is:

MAUREEN

Additional prize

and our second winner is:

MARGARET

Could the winners please contact me on artasticchallengeblog@gmail.com with their postal address.  Please remember it is the winners responsibility to claim their prize and provide their details.