Isn't it Amazing?

Here at the TwobyTwo Challenge, we are amazed at what the human race can produce for no other reason than it looks nice. Or intriguing, awe-inspiring or thought-provoking. Sometimes, humorous. It can hang on a wall, sit on a table, be the table or perhaps, worn on the body. (An then, there's the body, which is utterly amazing unto itself).
Some of it sits neglected in a box hidden in the attic while others get lifted up to museum status for all the world to see. Still others move in the fourth dimension of time.
Ah, beauty is still in the eye of the beholder (which created the estate of critics).
We say, hell with the critics. Create your art.
This week, the challenge is to create a-MAZE-ing artworks.
As luck would have it, last week, a visit to Denny's diner provided a placemat with a maze, the objective being something about helping bacon and egg to get together:

Denny's placemat maze, surely copyrighted by Denny's

Hey, it's something to do while you're waiting for your... bacon and eggs! This is surely fodder for TwobyTwo art!

Here are some other mazes that life hath brought:

A Human Maze

College wasn't all fun and games, was it?

From Scientific American

Show us your twinchie MAZE-inspired art!
Email to 1xeritas@gmail.com by April 7 and they will be shared here for all the world to see!

Week 1--Trees

Here are the responses to "Trees:"

From Ann in Denmark:

Our responses:

Come back to see what get's added as time goes by...and visit the Flickr group to see images that have linked up there. Enjoy the art, join the fun!

A Poem Lovely as a Tree

Here's a concept I come back to time and again. Trees. (With all due respect to Joyce Kilmer...)
My yard is all trees, which is abnormal for the desert Southwest. We're entirely enveloped by shade. The previous owners planted or nurtured a pine tree, five mulberry, two olive, eleven citrus, two palo verde and a fig. (There's also some fruit tree that I have yet to figure out. It could be an apple or pear or? It doesn't get a lot of sun and isn't very happy. That much I know).
Everywhere I look there's a tree.
I've been working in the yard vigorously to make sure I have a lot of fruit again next year. The citrus are all blooming and the scent in the yard is powerful. Overwhelming, almost. But, to me, there's nothing quite like a grapefruit fresh off the tree and while I still have plenty, the trees and the bees are already working hard on next year's crop.

Next Year's Pinkies

I Googled trees. I found a lot of politics about chopping down trees and the like. Yes, it seems kind of moronic to fell a tree, make paper out of it then put a label on the paper that reads: "Save a Tree, Please Recycle." I get the point.
Then, I came across Van Gogh's "Maulbeerbaum," a fantastic painting of a mulberry in autumn.

I just love those colors, don't you? The leaves of my mulberry trees turn a kind of blah dark gold and brown.

I also found among Van Gogh's works a different painting of a tree. I've never seen it and it's not surprising. The painting was stolen from a private collection and no one knows where it is. 

Quite the shame. 

Wind Beaten Tree

I have to include one more tree for inspiration. I also found this on Google, but without attribution. I think it's cool; I wish I knew who created this:

Isn't that wild?
Send me your Tree(s) to 1xeritas@gmail.com; show me your twinchies! Include links to your blog as well. Come back next week to see what transpired! 

New Challenge Blog!

Hopefully you're as excited as I am to have a Twinchie Challenge. I like working in a two by two inch square (or roughly five centimeters, if I got the math right). It's enough space to get creative and for me the end result usually decorates my refrigerator.

You can choose whatever artform you wish. The major parameter is: keep your mini-masterpiece to Two Inches.

My faves are photography, digital designs, paper collage and Zentangles (or ZIAs), but that's just me. I know that just about anything is fair game--paper, foil, clay, fabric, beads, paint--the choices are fairly endless. I may make some challenges based on media or materials just because I need to stretch some artistic muscles.
Please keep it fairly PC, okay?

Until I get the kinks worked out, this will be bi-weekly (of course it's every TWO weeks!). The deadline for entries will be TWO pm on the designated Tuesday, my local time--that's Arizona (USA) time, which never wavers from Mountain Standard Time or GMT -07:00. (You can always try the challenges as the spirit moves you...)

Since I haven't figured out a link mechanism, send the images or links to the images to me: 1xeritas@gmail.com.
I'll organize the responses and post them here the following Tuesday. I'm also creating a Flickr Group so they can be linked up there; it's my only nod to social media outlets. I also welcome suggestions on the prompts--let me know!

I look forward to seeing where this takes us and creating together!
Cheryl