Waiting For Spring

Living in the south you don't get a whole lot of winter. Or seasons. You just get different levels of humidity. Pretty much. The past week has been ideal weatherwise. Cooler temps at night. Nice, comfortable temps during the day. Now, if the flowers and trees would just start blossoming again we'd be in springtime business. And, we still have Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years to get through before then. So, in the meantime I am drawing flowers, working on another large project. If you haven't done a large project of your own, this is the time to pull out an 11" x 14" sheet of paper and give it a go. Tangle away and when you're  finished, let me know and we'll post a link to your blog right here so we can share your work :). Go on. You know you want to!

Accent on the Pink

I love the accents made with the pinks! I could be all about the pink! Or teal, or purple, depending on what day of the week it is.

I am getting ready for another ATC swap. The theme for this one is black with one accent color. Of course, I chose pink to be my accent color.

Once again, I drew this on a sheet of 11" x 14" Bristol smooth surface paper from Strathmore. For the pink accents, I used At You Spica Pens (2 shades of pink), a pink copic marker, and some pink watercolor.

I really love the colors! Lower left you see the tangle Sindoo by Sharon Robinson, England. That strip on the lower right is Ragz from CZT Christina Vandervlist. That long skinny one with the openings is Beanpodz from Neil Burley. I love the spiral in the middle - that's my favorite part!

Sliding across from lower left to upper right is Liberty 100 from ~ once again ~ Neil Burley. Mix in a little Kuke from Katy Abbott, some zander, some bunzo,  a variation of tagh, and something I totally made up - those circle thingies. 

I love finery! It is one of the 'official' zentangle® patterns. 

At the top right is Stella, I don't think the step-outs of that one's been released yet. Then I tried a little Undling (yes! it worked), which is Susie Achter's new tangle. In the middle are those cute little circles I made up, along with Sandy Hunter's Cruffle. I think the two work pretty well together!

Yes, I really do like these two together! Anyway, these are some closeups of the detail work! I cut this sheet down into 16 ATCs that I will mail out to sixteen different people in the new swap that starts on the 1st!

I am really having a ball drawing large scale this way! Next up? A 53-deck of card ATCs for a swap amongst the CZTs. I can not wait!

Pink Sneak Peek

Here is a little peek at what I've been working on yesterday and today. It is for a swap, the theme is black with one accent color. Of course, I went with the color pink for my accents. I'm finished with this project, I'll show you the whole thing, plus a bunch of detail, tomorrow!

Making Plans

We have the most awesome Ace Hardware store anywhere! Inside the hardware store is a gift shop with so many beautiful things. I usually do some Christmas shopping there each year and I have already spotted a couple things I want to go back and pick up. Today, they had some new butterflies in stock. I have a couple others that I got at Ace to use in photo shoots, but never one like this. I love the colors and the shimmer! I came right home and got it hung up in my studio. And I have plans for a photo shoot with Frankie some time soon. Frankie and this butterfly! Can not wait!

Making the Most of My Day

I've been having some issues with my daily life. Some questions I'm trying to answer. Some peace I'm trying to find. Some quietness in a life that is too full of stuff and doing. I had gotten lax in my tangle time each day. Now I realize that tangle time is exactly what I must make time for each day.

This is one thing I can do without thought. Without feeling guilty because I'm not doing something else. Without worrying about how the house is going to get clean. Without worrying about what I have to fix for supper when I don't like to cook. Time for just me. Time to wind down and relax. Time to zone everything else out and just enjoy my time alone. Time with my pens and my paper.  Ahhhhh! Getting in the zone! It's sweet!

Ta-Da!!! All Done

In my last two posts I showed you some of the progress on this project. I used an 11" x 14" sheet of multi media paper and started tangling.

I worked on this off and on for several days. Probably more than several, I just haven't felt well and was dragging my feet. Anyway, I finished it up and needed to start cutting it down into ATCs for a swap I am participating in.

ATC stands for artist trading cards and you swap them with other artists. For this particular swap, we were supposed to only use black and brown ink - any kind, just those two colors. I chose black pitt pens and a couple shades of brown in the Tsukineko At You Spica pens which are loaded with sparkle and pop!

ATCs are 2/1/2" x 3 1/2", same as baseball trading cards. I took my larger sheet and cut it down into 15 ATCs. I am really happy with all of them. None of them were short on tangles, they all looked balanced and sparkly.

I preferred doing the project this way. It was quicker than drawing out 15 individual cards and I didn't have to think as much. And isn't that what zentangle is all about anyway? This was the first time I approached a swap this way and I was concerned about using my products economically. This was all the paper I had left over. I have figured out a different way to cut the cards so that I finish up with one extra ATC next time and less waste.

Here you can see all 15 ATCs. Pretty even coverage, something pretty to look at on each card, a balanced spread of black and white and sparkly. In fact, I like the way this turned out so much that I am going to do the next swap the same way! I hope you have a great week and that you get to tangle something really incredible and fun! Maybe some Christmas ATCs? Or Christmas cards? Just an idea to get you started :).

Trying to Find the Groove

Yesterday I showed you the start of this 11" x 14" piece I'm working on. This is destined to be cut down into fifteen separate ATCs for a swap I am participating in. In this one view you can see three brand new tangles - merryweather, stella, and crezn't. These pink links will take you to step-outs for two of those. Stella hasn't been released (I don't think). It is the pretty poinsettia looking flower in the center. 

This bold band across the middle is something I made up. I was trying to draw Caren Mlot's new tangle spokes and got lost in the first two steps. It isn't a hard tangle, I just wasn't paying attention. So I just kept drawing and that dark band from lower left to upper right is what I came up with. You can also see some printemps, Sandy Hunter's cruffle, cirquital, Sandy Bartholomew's msst, Jane MacKugler's henna drum, knase, and a few random other tangles. 

In this photo you see more of merryweather and crezn't. The fan shaped tangle near the top right is called S Wich Blade and it's by Carol Ottaway. She's an awesome artist, you should check out her blog here.  That dark wavy line and circle tangle is beanpodz from Neil Burley. A little footlites, more stella, a little munchin, and a variation of rain. 

I hope to finish this up today.  Still having some issues today with creativity, but trying to push through. Trying to find my groove once more. Thank you to everyone who sent me warm wishes and encouraging words, and thank you to those who offered to pray for me. You are loved and appreciated!

Life Got You Down?

I don't know about you, but life has certainly got me down right now. It has for awhile. Trying to figure out how to deal with certain things. My creativity has certainly taken a hard shot to the arm! 
What you see above is an 11" x 14" sheet of mixed media paper that I've been tangling on for over a week now. This is all I've accomplished. But I'm trying to do a little bit each day. 
Once it's completed I will cut it down into ATCs for a swap I am woefully behind in. Lots of drawing left to do, then shading. For those of you who are still learning about zentangle, when I am done this entire sheet will be covered with patterns. Hopefully it will be a site to behold. Hahaha! Hopefully. So, stay tuned. 

New Products to Try

I bought some new products a while back and I've been trying to find some time to play with them. Here is my completed project. Well, mostly completed. I just realized I wanted to do some white gel pen highlights. I will go back and add those. Here's a look at what I used.

These are some really awesome watercolor paper blocks! I used the 4" x 8" block of fifteen cold press pages. The really cool thing about these blocks are that all the pages are glued together along the two long sides - thus making a block. What this translates into for the artist is a smooth, flat product upon completion. I used a lot of water and a lot of layers. Normally when I do this kind of project on a loose piece of paper - I finish with warping, a product that will not lay flat. With this glued block you work on your project and because of the way it is glued together - your project dries in place and you have a flat project when you are done. Ta-da!!! I like this a lot!

I have been wanting to try these out for quite some time! I've been following Tracy Weinzapfel's blog, she likes bright colors just as much as I do. I saw one post where Tracy had a set of Grumbacher Watercolor Pans laying on the table with her project. I really love the way her projects look, so I went online to amazon.com and bought both the transparent pans and the opaque pans. So easy to use, the colors are vibrant and they layer well, and the pans are big so they should last a long time.

For my first project - - - I am very happy with the results!

Heading to Peru

Yes, that was a shameless post title to pull you right in. I wish I was heading to Peru. Seriously. This is a project I worked on while I was in Maryland. I just added some little last bits of color last night, some sparkly that you can't really see here. This name tangle is headed to Peru!

This little sweetie is Emeli. She is ten years old and lives in Peru with her mom and dad, a younger brother, and a new baby sister. Emeli is a Compassion International child. I support her with a small monthly fee that allows her to attend a Christian school, provides medical care, food, clean water, and also gives Emeli life-skills training. I write Emeli letters and she writes back to me. We talk about her family, about her school and what she is learning, we talk about God and the scripture, we talk about anything Emeli wants to talk about. We've had a couple letters focused solely on food. I've been sponsoring Emeli for a little over five years now and she's been such a blessing in my life! I wanted to make something special to send her. Hopefully she will be excited when she opens the package to find her name - with lots of pink and purples - cause those are her favorite colors! Heading for Peru later today!

A Journal Around the World

 A Journal Around the World. What a wonderful idea!

This is going to be a rather lengthy post, chock full of photos

explaining how ~ and why ~ I made these journal pages.

My friend Karen is a fellow CZT, we attended zentangle certification training together. Karen got this great idea to send a journal around the world to various art friends and get them to each complete a 2-page spread in her journal. Not only is it traveling all around the United States, it is also making two trips to Australia and one trip to the Netherlands. 

If you have followed my art for long you will already know that I love bright, vivid color. The more ~ the merrier.

To get my pages going, I went to my supplies and pulled out some Dylusions Ink Sprays (these cute little storage boxes from Michael's are the perfect height), some ink pads, and . . .

. . . some stamps. 

I also pulled out brads, jewels, and charms, anything I thought might work on my pages, as well as two ATCs. These particular ones are from some time ago when I ink sprayed a bunch of ATCs and mailed them to some of the CZTs to try them. I tangled around the designs made by the various ink sprays. You can see this a bit better in the next photo.

I'm sorry I neglected to take a photo. I cut a piece of watercolor paper to fit the pages in Karen's journal. I spritzed some water over the surface and sprayed three different colors of Dylusions Ink Sprays onto the wet surface. I explained this process in the last post that you can read here. Once my pages were inked and dried, I  started placing some basic elements that I wanted to use in an eye pleasing manner around the two pages ~ until I found the configuration I wanted. I attached some of the pieces with brads, then . . . 

. . . covered the back of the pages with Scor Tape that I bought from joggles.com, then . . .

. . . attached the watercolor pages into Karen's book.

I wish I had gotten a better photo of this, but hopefully you can see what I did here. I took an old medicine bottle, pressed it down onto an inkpad, and stamped circles onto various places around my two-page spread. I finished attaching some of the loose elements . . .

. . . and arrived at this. I liked the way it looked at this point, but I wanted to add some more zing!

So I started looking at the page and deciding what I could add. (And I figured I could show off my fancy nails I got painted on at Kali's house. They need to be re-done. I've had this gel on for three weeks already, but I can't find anyone in my area who does this kind of beautiful detail work on nails.)

Where the stencils and ink sprays left circle patterns on my pages were the perfect spots for some printemps.

And those at the bottom were perfect for Sandy's tangle cruffle.

I kept adding details until I was happy.

And I ended up with this. So happy with this layout!

It didn't take long to make, it has beautiful, vibrant color which I love, I got to combine several medium to make the project, and I got to show off my awesome nails!!!

From here the journal heads to Connecticut. It still has 18 stops to make before it finds it way back home to Karen.

Let me tell you, Karen is going to be one excited lady when she gets this package in the mail!

I am so jealous!