i have been wanting to participate with the sketchbook challenge for quite a while. i haven't followed through because i felt like i had to be committed enough to sketch on a daily basis and i knew that was unlikely. recently i re-read their guidelines and realized that i could join in on a far less regular basis and still grow creatively. my goal (for now) is to sketch at least once a week and to post a minimum of two examples within their flickr group each month.
the prompt/challenge for january 2012 has been "doodles". i have managed to get my sketchbook out as planned and although my doodles aren't impressive in any way i am pleased to have finally jumped in.

you can tell that i've been heavily influenced by the zen doodling practice that i've done . . .  and i see a bit of quilt-like mark making . . . i guess it's a start.

Lyric Kinard recently posted (within the sketchbook challenge blog) on the topic of turning doodles into art. she explained as well as stepped out exactly how she uses the thermofax process to print unique fabrics from her own sketches. she then pieces these prints into beautiful abstract fiber art.
her question at the end of the post "What ways can you think of to make use of your doodling?"  got me to thinking . . .

i've become very interested in combining traditional art techniques such as drawing/doodling, stitching, photography, painting, etc with the more contemporary field of digital art. and so i played with that as a jumping off point for how i could use my own doodling . . .

and so i isolated one element off of my doodling pages . . .

combined it with photographs that i have taken of some of my paper/mixed media hexagon work, subtly layered in my own textures and within a reasonably short period of time came up with a digital image that i could live with.

and best of all: i had fun.

i'll get my chosen images into flickr tomorrow and have met my goals for the month of january.

:-D

recent gifts include:

• celebrating 31 years of life together with my wonderful husband
• making a start with the sketchbook challenge
• a faster internet speed (~!!!!~)