I completely forgot to post this yesterday! Here is yesterday’s Inchie. I did several because it was such a fun prompt, TWIST.
Now that I think of it, I could have also did a twist ice cream cone, too.
Inchie – Day 2 (Yesterday)
tiny art
Inchie Challenge – 2022
Amy Maricle of https://mindfulartstudio.com hosts an online Challenge called the Inchie Challenge. Inchies are small 2×2 Art that are a mindful way to get focused and relaxed. They are great warmups for helping creatives to show up at the desk and focus on creating. A 2×2 inch square is not very intimidating and you can create tiny art in a very short time from just about anywhere. I like doing Inchies because they help me switch gears from left to right brain very quickly. If you are an Urban Sketcher or Plein Air painter, Inchies are perfect for clearing your mind of clutter so you can quickly focus on painting or drawing. You could even use them as thumbnail sketches for the larger art. They are so tiny they fit in your pocket.
Another reason I like doing these is because they can lead to ideas for other work. And if I am stuck, I can play with an Inchie and then one thing leads to another and all of a sudden, I am in the middle of a project. They are wonderful for creative inspiration
This is my Inchie for today, Day 1. “Leaf” You can see the size from my cutting mat on my desk.
#mindfulartstudio #inchies #inchiechallenge2022 #inchiechallenge @amymaricle
Final Inchie Day
The final prompt is “DETAIL.”
One of the things that Amy Maricle encourages during the challenge is to do multiple versions and then see if they can be part of a larger piece. I played with acrylic paint and created a bunch of blue blocks and then followed the brush strokes to find a pattern. This was a surprisingly inspiring process and I found that it’s a good way to create patterns. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.
Overall, if you are stuck creatively, Inchies are helpful. The small size makes doing the art less time consuming and intimidating, while also being portable and a little addicting.
I have quite the little stack after 12 days.
Inchies – Swirling
The theme for Day 11 was “swirling.” Instead of drawing something that swirls, I opted for a completely different idea and grabbed some old art
(see previous post: https://ginalento.com/2021/08/25/i-have-done-something-horrible/ )
and I cut it up into the 2×2 squares. I sprayed the squares with spray Ink and sealed them after they dried so they wouldn’t reactivate. They reflect the light a little and my scanner wasn’t handy so this is just an iPhone photo of the 4.
Inchies – Indigo
Day 10 – indigo
Here is my exploration into indigo. In my humble opinion, the best shade of indigo is from Daniel Smith.
Inky Inchies
Day 9 and the post was “ink.” I got a little carried away again. Each square was done independently but I tied them together with laying them out on my desk and turning them to see how well they would work together as a group.
The bottom two were separate pieces done with crayon and ink washes.
More Inchies
Day 7 was “Broken” and Day 8 was “Boots“
For”Broken,” I thought of something more, ambiguous and just let impulse take over.
For “Boots” and octopus with boots popped into my head so I went with it.
Inchie Challenge Continued…
Days 4-6 prompts:
Day 4 – Yellow – I was totally spontaneous and I used two Tombow Markers and a waterbrush to create this one. Simple designs like this can grow into something else…
Day 5 – Wood – They Draw had sent out an email about typography so wood became wooden letters.
Day 6 – Sea
I kinda went berserk on the prompt for Sea. I am also doing Carla Sonheim’s Year Long class and the lesson came up for working with crayons and melting them. I made a bunch with crayon and used other media over top over the crayons. I created many Inchies for the prompt “sea.”
Inchie Challenge
During August, I participated in the Inchie Challenge. Inchies are small 2×2 Art. I like doing these because they can lead to ideas for other work. The ideas for Inchies was started by Amy Maricle and occasionally she’ll host an on-line challenge to encourage people to create these little pieces of art.
One thing that I agree with Amy is that you always have time to create art. However. Amy has created a no hassle way to create art in a short time and that’s with 2×2 inch sized art that can be done anywhere. You can tuck little 2×2 inch squares in your bag and all you need is a pen or pencil. I usually carry a small sketchbook but little 2×2 inch squares can also be inspiring and fun.
There were 12 days of prompts:
Day 1 was “Bundle“
Day 2 was “egg“
Day 3 was “mend”
The squiggles was an Inchie I did, just playing around with taking a line for a walk.
Gina Lento: Fine Art and Illustration 
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