I got a lot of work done in Cedar Key last week, but I'm about to run out of artwork to post - hahaha!
This is a piece of steampunk I was working on. I tried some new patterns - new for me - and am pretty much pleased with the appearance. Very little shading done so far. I want to use my derwent intense pencils and watercolor this piece. When I get it completed, I will post a final product :). I'm liking this steampunk idea a whole lot!
Diva Challenge #72 this week - Tanglation Nation - Crescent Moon. Our instructions were to use only crescent moon in our tile, no other patterns. This is what I came up with - and I am very happy with it. I first watercolored the tile, set it with my heat gun, then drew the string. Next I penned in circles to use for my crescent moon pattern and added auras. I changed it up by making some areas dark, and leaving one area un-auraed. Easy peasy!
Tangle Patterns offered a challenge as well. A string was provided for us, we just needed to add the pattern.
So, in an attempt to catchup on challenges, I combined the Diva's Challenge with the one from Tangle Patterns :). You can check out everyone's work by clicking on the links I just gave you. Feel free to join in!
This is the first time I've posted a pattern I created. I've searched and searched the internet and I don't see anyone else using a similar design. Fairly simple steps, lots of variation possibilities. One immediate point to address is in step 3 - all the corners are drawn in brown - I have no idea why the internet makes some brown and some black. This is an easy pattern to draw. I like to use it for backgrounds and filler. I drew this last week at Cedar Key. I think I drew it for a challege, but so much has happened since then that I can not remember! The scripture was from the previous Sunday morning. We came home to Tropical Storm Beryl. What better time could there be to work on drawings? I finished the crete section, and added some color with Pitt markers and Gelly Roll Glaze pens. I also used sunz (my own pattern,) mura for the rocks, kloonz, and beams. Feel free to check out Crete and see what you can do with it!
Recently I saw an article on the internet where someone had painted a huge jellyfish on a canvas for a home decoration. While we were at Cedar Key last week, I sought to re-create her jellyfish . . . on a 2.5" x 3.5" Strathmore watercolor tile. These are the size used for ATCs and the watercolors worked wonderfully on them! I drew the jellyfish with a sepia micron pen, used some Pitt markers on the head, and added some tentacle detail with Sakura Gelly Roll Glaze pens. Then, Kali wanted to draw a jellyfish, and she made Josh draw one as well. Here are our three jellyfish - a swarm of jellyfish, that being the official google name for a group of jellyfish :). Science lesson - √.
Last week, Tangles and Stuff offered a journal prompt to make a tangle sampler, using your own tangles, new-to-you tangles, or ones you hadn't used in awhile. I had never done a tangle sampler before, so I really enjoyed this! I used a whole bunch of tangles - buttercup, krust, sippy, Msst, knase, beaded, hurly burly, zedbra, zuan shi, pickets, vache1, linQ, and cellu. All but one of these patterns were totally new to me. Of course I had to add some color and some sparkle with Pitt markers and At You Spica pens. So much fun! This is what drawing looks like to me. My journal (in this case a smash journal,) a pencil, a stump, microns, and a bowl of Frosted Cheerios and dried cranberries! Yummo!
Tangles and Stuff seems to offer a different journal prompt each week. You can check it out here! And join us next week!
Last week, Tangles and Stuffgave us the challenge to use mooka in our journal and to use a quote, or to write something of meaning to us. (I had never drawn mooka successfully, so I was determined to make this work!) Sunday morning, Pastor Matt repeated this verse several times. It was the focus of his message. It is important for us to know we can look to God when trials hit, and in good times, too!
We had a few new trials hit yesterday - a health issue in our blood-related family, and a death in our speech and debate extended family. Lots of tears being shed over the southeastern United States, from teenagers and adults alike. I am thankful that Pastor Matt - who has own challenge going on - took the time to share this one verse. Look to Him who is invisible!
I gave this tile to my daughter, who is dealing with the loss of a friend today. Please help me pray her and our speech/debate family through this loss of Justin, who was so loved!
And, take a minute to visit Tangles and Stuff, what a wonderful blog!
Running a little late on posts this week - we've been on vacation at Cedar Key for a few days! I can't even tell you how many pictures I took of seagulls and pelicans! About a gazillion at least! And in the midst of all that, I drew up this zendala for Erin's zendala dare! I couldn't post from there because there is no internet at Cedar Key. Hard to believe but there isn't! My cell phone even quit working around 6 PM every night! Ugh! Anyway, I had lots of drawing time - so I was happy :). This is the mandala Erin gave us to work with. I used betweed, dandelion, and two patterns that I haven't any idea at all what they are called. To see everyone's zendalas, or to post one of your own, head on over to the Bright Owlhere.
It's been a busy past couple days! Our house got flooded during a big storm a couple weeks ago. Four inches flooded. We've been cleaning up, replacing carpet, and talking about furniture. We decided yesterday to get new living room furniture, but to make the set fit that we selected - required a bunch of work! We replaced the computer desk with my roll-top desk (my new office), which meant cleaning out 2 desks to move things around, and to find a new home for the computer desk. We also had to haul the old sofa to the dump and find a new home for Mark's power chair. I forget now if we made three or four (maybe five - I think five) trips to the furniture store before we settled on everything. I am also combining all my scrapbook/art items into one room AND preparing for a homeschool used book sale tomorrow! I lost track of how much stuff we threw away, but I think I packed close to 20 boxes for the homeschool sale. Mark and I were awake until 4 AM last night! Whew! What a day or two it's been!
So, you are getting a bit slighted on a post today. I put this cartoon on facebook this morning. All the kids and moms know I spend a large portion of the day on the computer. Editing pictures, posting pictures on two different blogs, posting and keeping up-to-date on facebook, checking Twitter, and cruising Pinterest. (And, yes, I do have a life :).) Actually, Pinterest is what got me interested in Zentangle and Art Journaling! Hahaha! You just never know :).
Hopefully some artsy stuff will be forthcoming from my new work area - very soon! Have a great weekend!
Lately I've been a bit obsessed with steampunk. I've been collecting tangle patterns that would work with the genre, and drawing a couple tiles that I've posted. I've had a couple people message me to ask - what is steampunk?
One of the blogs I follow - Pop Art Minis - posted a definition today, and I am borrowing it to share here:
Joni at Pop Art Minis has a wonderful, unique style that I love! Her designs are always fresh, colorful, bright, exciting, and fun! I was so thrilled today when I opened her new post and saw this little girl! Isn't she adorable??? I did mention that Joni's work was "colorful, bright!" Well, to see that for yourself - you are going to have to go to her blog - Pop Art Minis - and check out her completed, colorized steampunk mini! Join her site here, so you can keep up with her work! You will be glad you did!
It's time for our weekly challenge from Laura, also known as the Diva :). This is challenge #70. A colour challenge - of sepia. I used one of Zentangle's pre-strung zendalas, a couple sepia microns, and a brown micron. This super simple design just kind of drew itself. All the pieces fit very well together. It doesn't always work that way - hahaha! For patterns I used weave, strircles, betweed, tipple, and a variation of shattuck.
To admire all the other designs, head on over to the Diva's page here. Perhaps you'd like to give it a try and post one of your own :).
It is hard to believe it's already the 5th week of Erin's Zendala Dare! This is the pattern she gave us this week. It's really very simple (snicker, snicker!) Erin gives us a pattern and challenges us to fill it with various tangles. Then we get to share our work through her blog and we can visit everyone else's page and learn from their work. The hard part for me is deciding which tangles to use. Sometimes it just comes to mind - like last weeks' surboards. Sometimes it's a bit of struggle for me. I'm sure that is what Erin has in mind with this dare - to challenge us, to push us, and to help us learn. So, with that said, here is my finished zendala for this week :). I am really interested in steampunk design right now - for whatever reason - and I knew I wanted to use that this week. It was a lot of fun! I used: spinner, metal plate, assemblies, deha, and two patterns that I just made up - geerz and barz. For the color I used Derwent Inktense Pencils with a water brush. You can find the Zendala Dare here. Check out everyone's zendalas for the week and maybe you'd like to post one of your own! We'd all love to see you there!
I've always been fascinated by the sea. I grew up in Newfoundland, Canada, right on the ocean. My dad would take me with him to the docks where he would fish, sometimes for hours. I remember the library on the navy base where we lived had a great book about the ocean. It was huge, and every page was printed in full beautiful bright color. A sentence on each page would identify the fish, plantlife, coral, whatever was depicted. I checked that book out every time it was available and would only return it when I had to. These days I would simply buy the book on amazon so I would always have it. I started drawing this ocean life yesterday. I like all the patterns. The spiral shell idea came from a zentangle pattern from Michele Beauchamp called spiral. I saw the pattern and wanted to do something with it - it's a really pretty design! My picture just kind of took life from there.
I used the patterns: squid, popsicles, spiral, fescu, an unknown pattern - I can't find its name - the top flower with the pink in it, and added some tall reeds (perhaps a variation of mooka.) The color comes from Faber-Castell Pitt artist pens and Faber-Castell watercolor pencils which I used dry. It was incredibly satisfying to complete this project - good memories all the way :).
Do you remember these pages I posted at the end of April? You can review the post here if you wish. Derwent inktense pencils, a brush, a paper towel, and a little water made this project simple. With a few embellishments - I made this. Some of the little tags were leftover from my scrapbooking days. The three pieces with words printed came from a sale at Joann's. I got a package with about 20 of this type of printed ephemera for 50 cents. It was a good investment. I stamped a couple flowers here and there, then colored them with my derwent intense pencils and a water brush. Inked a couple edges with chalk pads. Did a little outlinking with a black micron. On the round tag, I brushed on a little Tim Holtz distress stain and attached a flower beaded decal (leftover from my Miley Cyrus paper-bag book making days.) Super simple pages! I'm not sure if I'm finished with them. That's one nice thing about art journaling - you can always come back and add more detailing! Why don't you try an art journal page today? And, have a wonderful afternoon!
It's Zendala Dare time again. Zendala Dare #4, actually. On Friday, Erin posted this zendala for us to tangle. Well, when I looked at it, the first idea that popped to mind was surfboards! So, you might ask if I'm a surfer. Hahaha! I watched Surf's Up - the movie, does that count? Actually, I'm a little old for that sport, but I do love the ocean! I started by drawing the version above. I like it, but I thought it needed some color. Surfboards are typically colorful! So I used my Derwent Inktense Pencils and a waterbrush to add some color! Can't you just feel the sand between your toes? Patterns are Btl Joos, cootie, pepper, Msst, sunz (my own pattern), and some free-hand waves. A zentangle-inspired offering. If you want to check out some incredible zendalas, head on over to the Bright Owl here, perhaps you would like to draw one of your own.
This is a really fun project! I did this a month or so ago and I needed something to post today - so here it is :). I found this project at Art With Mr. E.. You can find the instructions here. No matter how many times you do this project, it will look different every time! I drew this in my smash journal, then used watercolor pencils and had fun coloring and shading. (I've learned a bit about shading since I did this.) Lots and lots of fun! You should visit Mr. E's page and give this project a go!
This week the Diva's challenge was groovy, a pattern offered by Eden at Cut'n It Up!Here's my first shot at it. Groovy was not easy for me to draw, it should get easier with practice. In addition to groovy for the water, I used my own flower design that I call sunz, pearlz for the border, and a variation of punch for the riverbank. I watercolored for the first time with my water pen using the Derwent Intense Pencils, and finished it out with some highlights in At You Spica markers.
Head on over to Laura's page here to check out everyone's offering of Groovy! Maybe you'd like to add your own design :).
Whale! Swim with me, Whale! We will swim far into the sea. Lyrics from Whale, by Yellow Ostrich.
I was working on this tangle a couple nights ago when my daughter walked past my desk and commented, "nice whale." At that point, I had the string drawn and was working on the pattern hibred that you see filling in the head of the whale. There was one circle on the right-hand side of the drawing and that was it. So, I added a second 'eye' and shaded the lower corner to make a body. Ta-da! Whale!
This past fall, Kali traveled with a team of ten teens teaching debate and speech skills to students across the United States. They traveled and taught for five months - representing the Institute For Cultural Communicators. One of the songs the team listened to as they traveled was Whale!
So, today - enjoy my little whale and if you get a minute, check out Whale by Yellow Ostrich. It's different! (And the opening line of the song is Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! - hence, the title of this post.)
I am working off a laptop in a hotel room in Tallahassee, Florida. My daughter - Kali - and I are here for the NCFCA Region 8 speech and debate qualifying tournament to nationals! Basically this is a Christian debate and speech competitive league for high school students. Kali graduated last year, so she is no longer competing. She is here to cheer on her friends. I am here as a judge - and to visit with my region 8 family who we love so much! I am trying to have something to post for you every day, so I came prepared with saved photos in my email. The night before we left, I sat down to draw. I've gotten a little interested in this steampunk idea I see floating through so many websites and blogs. Thought I'd give my hand a try at it! I hope my interpretation of steampunk is right :). These were a lot of fun to make! I started by watercoloring my tile. These tiles from www.zentangle.comare perfect for watercoloring. Just threw a splash of brown or tan across the tile, then set it with a heat gun. I scouted through patterns for anything that looked like a gear, wheel, or metal, then started drawing. I used Spinner, Assemblies, Metal Plate, and I made up some filler. I didn't worry so much about my lines being perfect - hey, it's steampunk! Once I got what I thought looked steam-punky enough, I added some shading, and . . . . . . this is what I ended up with. So much fun! So, my offering today is a little zentangle-inspired art called Steampunk. Why don't you give it a go and get your steampunk on?
I started this blog roughly two weeks ago. I've had a photography blog the past 3-4 years, and I enjoy keeping that one up, but I've really been feeling the desire to get emersed in art.
Do I know anything about art? Not really. I got pulled into art journaling - thanks to Pinterest! I stumbled over someone's board featuring art journals and I was hooked. The more I looked, the more convinced I became that I needed to get involved. When I learn something new - I research it to death, then get all the tools necessary, and jump into it 150%. Nothing new here.
I zeroed in on zentangle. That seems to be the style I'm most drawn to. Let me tell you my pinterest boards are covered with artwork from you guys! I try to give credit every time, not always possible, but I try.
So. To get a handle on all that I am learning, I started this blog, as I said - roughly two weeks ago. I didn't know if anyone would even look at it - other than me. Let me tell you how surprised - and thrilled - I am! When I looked - just before writing this post - we were at 1,109 hits already! Wow! I am thrilled! Thank you so much!
So, I'm practicing, drawing, and learning as much as I can about this interesting art of zentangle. When I started researching, one of the first things I did was scour amazon.com looking for books on the art. One of the first books I grabbed wasZenspirations - Letters and Patterning by Joanne Fink. This book has a lot of great ideas and step-by-steps for frames and lettering. And, on page eleven, Joanne talks about dangles and vertical patterns. In this style you use geometric shapes as building blocks for your patterns. You can use a lot of different ideas in dangles. Just give it a shot and draw whatever comes to mind! The top photo is my first dangle. My only one so far. I drew this in my smash journal. I think next I am going to draw one on a zentangle tile and see how that works out. For those of you who aren't familiar with these tiles - they are 3 1/2" squared. I am going to have to be pretty creative! Stay tuned! In the meantime, why not try a dangle of your own? email it to me and I'll post it here on The Creator's Leaf!
Each week, the Diva gives us a challenge and sends us to work! This week's challenge was to make a duo-tangle, using the patterns Strircles and Hybrid only. No other patterns, just these two. I started with a zendala - kind of liking these now. Now that I'm not afraid of them anymore! (Thank you, Erin!) It kind of reminds me of this huge star with a lot of little moons circling it! Haha! Then I pulled out a square zentangle tile and drew this. (I forgot to shade, so I added the shading in photoshop just before I posted this.) The strircle pattern is just determined to remind me of the solar system! I think I'll keep working with this idea of the two patterns. I'm still new at this - I'd like to rev it up and get more detailed and intricate. Coming up with the ideas is the hard part for me! I keep looking online, and studying other artist's work, hopefully the ideas will start coming :). Please visit the Diva's page here to check out the other tiles, and even consider posting one of your own!
