The Inchies Challenge 2023

Over the past weeks, I've played along with the Inchies Challenge with Amy of Mindful Art Studio.

I wanted to play around with watercolors in a partially used sketchbook and also see if I could come up with simple drawn designs to fit her prompts. 

(Full disclosure - I dislike prompts almost as much as I am unable to follow written directions for a quilt -- but I wanted to push myself a bit, so I did.)

My "inchies" measure 3.5" x 3.5" (squares traced around one of my quilting rulers).  Amy makes hers 2" x 2".

I also played with my water colors first and then overlaid her prompts onto which ever one seemed to fit the best.

FROTHY 

Clearly inspired by the free motion quilting of Christina Cameli.

MAGNOLIA

Again, my FMQ leaves and Angela Walter's "echo, echo, echo" are obvious.

SPILL 

A variation of yet another FMQ design . . . 

KNOT

This one was inspired by a You Tube video posted by Jon Harris named "Worm Knot."

MOON

Hmmm, aside from drawing a round circle . . . I went with the phases of the Harvest moon instead.

RIVER

Perspective drawing is NOT my strong suit, so I went with another FMQ-inspired design.

FERN

My riff on the FMQ Fern design shared by Leah Day.

BOX

I like my watercolor but I'm not in love with the nested boxes I tried to draw.  It was a good idea, just poorly executed.

BARK

Inspired by the Woodgrain FMQ motif, particularly the version taught by Christina Cameli.

TOUCHING

I like the watercolor circles.  I'm not at all in love with the drawn design.

WOVEN

Can you see the wavy organic lines?  More FMQ at play but done using a Pigma Micron pen.

ART/POEM

I chose to use a quotation instead of a poem.  I love how the words and the watercolors suit each other.

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Takeaways?

This effort has been enough to satisfy my curiosity about the Inchie business and  several other things.  As I try each of these various approaches/instructors, I'm learning more about MY style and MY preferences.

I prefer collaging papers of all sorts and using watercolors to generating layers and layers of heavily marked up acrylic paints. 

I'm most comfortable when there is an obvious link between my love of fabrics/colors/quilting and the mixed media project at hand.

I have enough supplies - so no matter what future instructors may list on their supply lists, I plan to use what I have and alter their plan to suit what I have on hand.

I love learning about the possibilities and I very much enjoy playing with the bits of papers and colors.  But these journals and random sketchbooks are only a delightful alternative to sitting and sewing, not the reason I get up each morning.

There's another finished journal ("Just Because") to share on Wednesday and then I plan to get back to my fabrics (my shoulder was sore after stretching up the design wall the other day so I took a paper-based break to let it recover). 

Quiltdivajulie

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"Enough is a decision, not an amount."

Alison Faulkner