Welcome to July ...

Our inspiration this month comes to you from Thea Proctor with The Game.

CRITERIA - Use penwork on your work

A little about Thea Proctor ...

Thea Proctor (1879-1966), artist and stylesetter, trained at the Julian Ashton School before leaving Australia for London in 1903 where she remained until after World War 1. In her early years in London, she was a friend and model for her fellow Ashton School student, George Lambert, and encountered many of the major figures of the Edwardian art world. When she returned permanently to Sydney in 1921, her art and ideas were at the forefront of contemporary art and design in Australia; her authoritative opinions on decoration, colour, interior design, flower arrangement, ballet and fashion were widely published in new journals such as The Home (for which she designed many covers) and Art in Australia. Although she maintained a large and varied circle of friends (and adversaries), she was a lifelong singleton, living very frugally in rented accommodation, making a slender living from drawing classes, periodic exhibitions at the Macquarie Galleries and commissioned drawings of Eastern Suburbs children. 

And now some inspiration from our team ...

(in no particular order)

Dale Tiernan -  (Australia)

I used some pp by G45, Game On collection. I picked the tennis players for inspiration. I used a stencil and fineliner pens to create a background.

Karen McLaughlin - (Australia)

I used pen and a stencil to do the squares.

Sharon Bishop - (Australia)

I used black pen to outline my letters so they stand out more from the mixed media background!

Karen Brierley - (Australia)

I took my inspiration from the heritage fashions in the photograph, and scrapped some photographs of a heritage-listed building. Lots of penwork on this layout - stencils, handwritten journalling, and the doodled border. I used a dark brown 0.4mm Staedtler fineliner - beautiful to write and draw with, smooth and blot-free, and dries immediately with no smudges.

 Tip: A children's lettering stencil is a cheap and easy way to make a title!

Annemarie Caister - (New Zealand)

I used stamped floral images and leaves and used a black fineliner pen to enhance the black outlines, I used a stencil to draw some leaf images in the background, I hand-drew in black around the edges of the layout and I useda stamp set for the title which looks like hand-writing.

Karen Guy (Australia)

I used a pen to make the boarder, the Title and the arrows, simply highlighting the photo!

Jane Howden - (Australia)

I used pen to create lines on my page and to go around the circles to add dimension and used the colours from the artwork for my paper choices..

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

Second Prize

(drawn if more than 8 entries)

Now over to you ......

This year we will no longer be using a "linky" tool. 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.

Hope to see your amazing layouts in our Facebook gallery.

May winner ...

Thank you for all your lovely May entries based around our inspiration from Graham Gercken called Autumn Stroll.   

CRITERIA - Please use Autumn/Fall colours

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:

BRENDA

Unfortunately we didn't have enough entries to do an additional prize draw.

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 June ...

Our inspiration this month comes to you from Renee Farrant with My tree words worth.

CRITERIA - Let's focus on the words ...

You can do this via patterned paper, embellishments, a grand title, journaling, or a combination of them all!

And now some inspiration from our team ...

(in no particular order)

Sharon Bishop - (Australia)

I used the butterfly as inspiration for my page, I cut butterflies from book pages.... looks like the words are flying off the page!

Karen Brierley - (Australia)

I chose a colourful, word-themed patterned paper to work with. I cut some of the words to use in my title, and then highlighted some of the most appropriate phrases with a journalling pen.

Karen Guy (Australia)

Look at his concentration, focused on the words in his book, he loves reading with Gran!

Karen McLaughlin - (Australia)

Annemarie Caister - (New Zealand)

Dale Tiernan -  (Australia)

Jane Howden - (Australia)

I used patterned paper and a variety of word related diecuts and stickers for my page. 

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

Second Prize
(drawn if more than 8 entries)

Now over to you ......

This year we will no longer be using a "linky" tool. 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.

Hope to see your amazing layouts in our Facebook gallery.

May highlights ...

There is still some time to play along with us this month. We'd really love to see your layout based on our inspiration this month from Graham Gercken with Autumn Stroll.  

CRITERIA - Please use Autumn/Fall colours

Please remember - You may combine your entry with 3 other challenges only.

We have enjoyed seeing your fabulous entries this month.  Here are just a couple which have caught our eye over the past few weeks ...

KYLIE

ADITI

Hope you can join in too.

April winners ...

Thank you for all your wonderful April entries based around our inspiration from John Maitland with Down to the Ocean.

CRITERIA - Girls only

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:

GERRINA

Second Prize
(drawn if more than 8 entries)

Donated by Karen Guy

and our winner is:

MARY

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 May ...

Our inspiration this month comes to you from Graham Gercken with Autumn Stroll.  May is the last month of Autumn (Fall) here in Australia before we head into the colder winter months.  

CRITERIA - Please use Autumn/Fall colours

A little about Graham Gercken ...

Graham, predominantly self taught he chose oil paints as his medium and painted wet into wet, which is the style of the impressionist artists and lends itself best for outdoor painting. He was most influenced by Sir Arthur Streeton and those of the Heidelberg school of artists.

1984 saw Graham moved to the "World Heritage listed" Blue Mountains west of Sydney. He tried a number of jobs but always felt constrained. His professional career started by selling paintings to the buses of tourists who visit the Blue Mountains every day. Graham applied for an Artist In Residence at Dunmoochin, Victoria 1998, the home of renowned Australian artist Clifton Pugh, Here he met other artists and with renewed vigor painted the local landscapes plein air. This area North of Melbourne had beautiful stands of Huge River gums and other subjects which were all new and fresh to his eye.

In 2001 Graham returned to NSW living on the Central Coast. Selling online the majority of his work was sold to overseas clients from the USA, Japan, UK and Europe. With the freedom of the internet to make sales he traveled to China where he lived there for 4 years and met some great Chinese artists who showed him the techniques of ink wash painting.  Graham presently lives in Lithgow NSW where he continues to sell through his online gallery. After painting professionally for many years he has won many awards and his works have been presented to visiting dignitaries, sports persons and are represented in private collections all over the world.

And now some inspiration from our team ...

(in no particular order)

Karen Guy (Australia)

Inspired by the painting, an autumn tree in autumn colours.

Karen McLaughlin - (Australia)

Annemarie Caister - (New Zealand)

Dale Tiernan -  (Australia)

Sharon Bishop - (Australia)

I took my inspiration from the yellow and orange/ brownish leaves for my field of wild flowers. Two people in the artwork and green undergrowth.

Karen Brierley - (Australia)

I love working with yellow and orange, and I delved into my old paper stash to pull out some patterned papers to fit the autumn colour scheme.

Jane Howden - (Australia)

I took the opportunity to scrap a page for my Tasmanian travel album.  This one is all about using leaves I have had in my stash for ages and working with a 6x6 paper pad and a circle punch.  It was a lot of fun putting this together.

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

Second Prize
(drawn if more than 8 entries)

Now over to you ......

This year we will no longer be using a "linky" tool. 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.

Hope to see your amazing layouts in our Facebook gallery.

April highlights ...

There is still some time to play along with us this month. We'd really love to see your layout based on our inspiration this month from John Maitland with Down to the Ocean.

CRITERIA - Girls only

Please remember - You may combine your entry with 3 other challenges only.

We have enjoyed seeing your fabulous entries this month.  Here are just a couple which have caught our eye over the past few weeks ...

MARY

CATHY

Hope to see your entry too.

March winners ...

Thank you for all your fantastic March entries based around our inspiration from Lisa Frances Judd with Come fly with me.

CRITERIA -  Monochromatic (any colour)

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:

CATHY

Second Prize
(drawn if more than 8 entries)

Donated by Karen Brierley

and our winner is:

MARIANNE

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 April ...

Our inspiration this month comes to you from John Maitland with Down to the Ocean.

CRITERIA - Girls only

A little about John Maitland ...

John Maitland’s innovative style is created and conceived outdoors, exposed to the elements and the extreme heat of the sun. The built-up layers in his paintings are encouraged to crack and fissure giving an aged appearance resembling archaic surfaces. Broad, sweeping brushstrokes and the strength of his paint application give rawness and beauty in an understated way, thus the paradox of power versus gentleness which contributes to the evocative and distinctive character in his paintings.

With his skilfully executed oil and acrylic paintings which are informed by figurative expressionism they are imbued with rigorous colour and texture to denote emotive nuance. The work achieves poignancy through a unique perspective which resonates throughout his cohesive presentation.

And now some inspiration from our team ...

(in no particular order)

Karen McLaughlin - (Australia)

Lots of fussy cutting for this beautiful little girly.

Sharon Bishop - (Australia)

My (scrappy, creative) Tribe together at 'Farm Scrap and Sew' Jan/Feb 2020

Karen Brierley - (Australia)

I followed the water theme and scrapped a travel page featuring my Mum. 

Annemarie Caister - (New Zealand)

Dale Tiernan -  (Australia)

Act - Commit - Belong

Karen Guy (Australia)

My Daughter with her Daughter as we were walking along the beach!

Jane Howden - (Australia)

I went with the beach theme ans made by page bright and happy using some of the colours from the artwork.

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

Second Prize
(drawn if more than 8 entries)

Donated by Karen Guy

Now over to you ......

This year we will no longer be using a "linky" tool. 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.

Hope to see your amazing layouts in our Facebook gallery.