Challenged by a reader!

OK question:

Am I not the one who is supposed to be challenging you guys?

Well one reader thought she'd turn the tables on me

and truth be told, I'm so glad she did!

Recently I received an email from the lovely Anita asking

if I would swap tiles with her.

Many of you know that I decided to start the

"finish my tile challenges" because I was too timid to try a real swap.

I still don't know how she did it,

but she got me to agree!

My first thought was that I didn't have any of the original smooth finish tiles to send Anita.  I mostly use my sketchbook and make any 'tiles' that I use out of heavy weight paper.

So over the weekend I scoured two of our larger Art supply stores

to find that they don't carry the "official tiles".

After a bit of researching on the internet I found that the tiles are made from a heavy weight stock with a vellum finish.

Another trip back to the Art supply store and I came out with a large pad of thick 100lb (270gsm) Bristol paper with a smooth vellum finish.

A few minutes with my guillotine and I now have something

decent to use as 'tiles'!

Pleased with myself, I immediately had to try them out.

It was a similar experience to the first few minutes when you get back on the ice skating rink!  Not being used to a smooth finish I could barely control my pen!  After a few minutes though I figured out how much pressure to apply and I was back in control! 

I drew two tiles to send to Anita,

(which are not shown)

I won't post photos until she receives them.

I also pulled out the watercolour paints

to make some coloured backgrounds.

I love that this paper doesn't warp when painted!

So the moral of my post is:

That it never hurts to try

new things,

you never know

what kind of fun you will discover!

~ joey ~