Long awaited for and loved by many, the art challenges of October have begun! They started many years ago and have grown in popularity so now we have SO many people hosting them! I don't know if INKTOBER was the first art challenge or not, but I believe it may have been, I'll do more research and try to find out. MAB GRAVES and her 'club' have one, she is so creative and brilliant!!
MABSDRAWLLOWEENCLUB25
Because of the way Instagram works, we have to tag our artwork a certain way and Mab came up with this code. The first day was tagged with a hashtag and then the call letters of what it is, (Mab's Drawlloween Club) the year and then what day it is. So day one went like this: #mdwc25d1 and since the first day was 'Spooky Intro' you also made a tag like this: #mdwc25d1spookyintro. This way we can all see what everyone else is creating right away, the algorithm isn't all messed up and it is so handy! I love viewing what everyone is creating and I follow new artists that I discover this way too.
My Familiar - day 2
Every year I swear I'm going to paint with real paint and make art that perhaps I could sell, like maybe 8" x 10" or ACEO size (2.5" x 3.5") or make greeting cards and sell them in lots of 10. Or, maybe do some clay work, sewing or some other fun craft. That is my goal, my personal art challenge. I've been doing digital art for so long now, I don't know if I can paint, draw or do anything crafty without the computer! For sure I'd like to embroider something, so that will be a fun challenge! I should check out the prompt list and start it soon, maybe I'll embroider a mushroom, for day 19.
Witch - day 3
My Frunsi android tablet has an art program installed called SKETCHBOOK and it's pretty good actually. It has a lot of nice tools, good paint brushes, pencils, chalk, charcoal, textures and air sprayers. I can purchase the premium version for $2.99 but I don't really need to. This tablet has been fun for me, does just what I want for sketching little things as I watch night time tv, I can check my social media, mail and weather, but the battery doesn't last long. It's just a cheap tablet, but for now, it's fine.
Haunting - day 4
Ok, so today is day five and I'm going to try to paint something for Mab's Drawlloween Club art challenge. I'm loving the prompt FOREST SPRITE and I'll need all day, I'm sure. In the meantime, here are some more challenges by other artists who host such fun artistic challenges! Join in! NOBODY has to be the best artist in the world to do this, it's a challenge for fun, for learning, for sharing, for enjoying other artists work in a great way and it's all fun for everyone! NO pressure!
HERE'S A LINK to some fun looking art challenges listed at Instagram! Below are some challenges now on at Instagram too, enjoy perusing them and do go ahead and try some of these fun prompts!
Now that autumn has officially started, according to ME, in August, it's time for fall colors, fall temperatures, fall decor, fall food, fall smells, fall sweaters, fall bonfires, fall leaves, fall cleaning, fall blankets and fall FALL!
I've decided to enjoy this September by getting outside and taking a photo every day. I intend on painting something from that photo or the photo itself. It's going to be a phenology wheel style like the one that Marion creates. Marion? You don't know Marion?
Go to MARION'S WORLD at YouTube!! She is a wonder. A dear. A true nature lover, gardener, cook, creative sewer extraordinaire! I love her dearly. She's in the UK. She just had a terrific live stream for her 66th birthday and it was so much fun! Everyone was happy and excited and gracious to her, giving her gifts of money was awesome!
I don't remember how I found out about her but I believe it was when I was doing research on how to make fabric rope, rope or cloth weaving or something like that. I saw her video of how she makes coiled cloth rope and I was hooked! Not only was she down to earth, so interesting and charming, but the way she shows how to do this method she does of making coiled rope or cloth rope or cloth twine, is the best!
CRAFTY MONTH
We've seen Halloween in the stores already, I think I actually saw some things in July! Wait, we have Christmas in July too, geesh! But for sure, September is the time to get those fall decor crafts made and the Halloween makings AND the Thanksgiving season decorations made too! Oh, and don't put everything away yet because you'd better get the Christmas supplies out and keep them handy because you'll be needing those right away too!
So yes, it's time to make the stuff for the 'holiday season'! After you've spent all your money getting the kids ready for school with all the supplies and clothes they need, time to go into debt for all the craft and decor items you'll need for FALLHALLOWTHANKSCHRISTMAS!
Do you feel the change in air in August? Do you take notice of the way the earth smells, the way the light changes? The trees have started losing leaves. The grasses are brown, wildflowers and plants are gone to seed and all of the things that nature does at this time of year makes me feel melancholy. Every year, every August I feel this way. I always call August 'August Autumn' because it feels like it's the start of autumn to me.
As an artist, I've been planning to create designs for at least six months ahead but I never truly do. I think I'm going to, to stay ahead of the shopping crowd, to be 'ready' for the season, but I honestly never do. Except for my sewing, which lately has turned into doll making and I've made some creepy-cute dolls for this Halloween. I have some pumpkins that I had sewn last year ready so it feels like I'm kind of ahead of the season.
I keep putting off selling my wares at the local farmer's market/flea market. Part of the reason is that I just don't want to sit out there in the heat and set up and not sell anything. I am also totally not sure of my prices. My bags have hours of work in them, but I don't feel like people will see the value in them if I try to get $25 for them. I think they'll buy them for $10 and I just won't sell them for that price. There is more value in a handmade craft, I believe.
Anyway, I'm hoping to watercolor paint with the new Rebelle 8 Pro art application and submit some new designs to my Greeting Card Universe shop. I haven't submitted in a very long time and it feels like I'm learning all over again how to paint as well as how to submit cards to that website. They are quite picky about the cards they accept and there are a lot of rules they want followed. Which is fine, but it's more work than I quite like to do.
Ok, enough about me. Enjoy these beautiful 'art cards' from Greeting Card Universe and my fellow artists! I'm choosing fall and possibly some holiday themed cards for you to view.
Have a wonderful Sunday! (Today is August 10th, 2025)
