Art on a Shoe String! - Spirography©

 Spirography©!

My new word for this artstyle and I'm 

putting a © on it! Hahaha!

Actually spirography is a real word that has

to do with breathing measurement and

breathing capacity.

I believe it correlates to the zentangle art form

due to the relaxation and calming effect

your breathing and tangling can give. 

Hence, spirography! 

Here is where the  Art on a Shoe String  part comes in!
To get started - grab your old spirograph  from the attic, or basement, or eBay,  or the local Good Will, or thrift shop,  or dollar store, or the nearest kid!  Seriously, there are so many places to find a spirograph for next to no money - or free! Then just have fun and go for it!

 I used my regular tangling pen -

an 0.1 micron.

(Some people use colored pens,

colored pencils, gel pens, 

anything with a narrow tip.)

For paper, I just used card stock.

Nothing pricey in this art project at all!

Not as easy as I remember it being as a kid.

Or maybe we just kept right on drawing

over those slipped lines and 

loved it anyway.

Hahaha!

I had the hardest time.

The inner ring that I had my pen in

kept slipping above the top edge of the

boundaries ring.

 I was getting really discouraged at this point.

But I am no quitter. Hahaha!

So I kept trying.

And trying. Ugh.  Actually, 'ugh' was the word for the day.

I looked through what I had and found one red loopy line that wasn't too bad. Then I added some tangles. Nothing too fancy to get started.
In the photo just above, the red line is the spirograph part. The black lines are the tangling I added. You can see that the tangling takes your eye away from the boo-boos. Spirography!

 Today I pulled my extras sheets out of the

trashcan, seriously, and tried again.

This one wasn't too bad.

I lifted my pen too soon and moved the ring.

Then I realized I hadn't completed the line

but it was too late to figure out how to fix it.

 I'm going to show you step by step

how I tangled this.

I started with some simple perfs (little circles)

around the spiro-ed section,

and made two pencil circles around the whole piece.

A couple simple lines divided this into 

more sections.

 Then I started joining the lines together

with triangles. Easy peasy.

 I turned the triangled boxes into a

somewhat version of knightsbridge.

 I thought about leaving the piece at that point,

but it didn't seem finished.

So, I added another circle around the 

outside and a little flying geese.

I liked how the piece looked at that point, so I called it complete and shaded it. I love shading - although I hate to do it. Spirography! I will keep working on this art style. Because it is so much fun! And so affordable!
Art on a Shoe String comes from the idea that art doesn't have to be expensive to be fun and enjoyable! I hope this series of posts help you realize that you can make beautiful art without it being costly.

To Shade a Dragon

 So I've been working on this

steampunk dragon

for quite some time.

A little here, a little there.

As the ideas hit me.

This is what he looked like this morning.

I realized I had never shaded him.

Shading is not my favorite.

I really dislike shading,

but it makes such a difference.

As you have heard me say time and again.

Shade.

Because this is what happens when you shade.

So much depth and dimension.

I tried out a steampunk name generator

on google.

It came up with the name Bramhall.

Sounds like a good dragon name to me.

Bramhall.

To shade or not to shade?

Shade. 

Big BOOK CLEARANCE in My Etsy Store

I am getting out of the Zentangle® and tangling book business in my Etsy store.

I have combined them into groupings and have listed them

at a huge discount!

All sets are 50-70% off the original prices.

If not more.

Make my day and buy my books.

Hahaha!

Here are a few of the sets listed.

The biggest set I have

Eight books total!

I have duplicates of all these books for myself.

So, if you see your book listed here,

that means I had extras. 

This is a pretty interesting set.

That Zengami book is written in another language,

but it really doesn't matter.

The photos show you step by step how to use

the included paper and make some awesome

zentangled origami pieces.

If you are looking for a way to get started in zentangle,

this is probably your best bet for now!

It's also a great deal for advancing tangle artists.

I have art in several of these books.

I will be happy to sign my artwork -

if you wish.

This sale does not include (so far) art journaling

books, or the official books from Zentangle HQ.

You can check out my store

The Creators Leaf

at this link!

Have fun!

Proverbs 4:23

 Bible Journaling. 

Getting back to the basics in life.

The foundation of my faith.

Getting back to where God wants me to be.

Taking that step to put acrylic paint . . .

onto a Bible page . . .

wow! it's a great big step!

But one I felt I had to do.

It starts with finding a verse that means

something special to you.

Or a verse that speaks to you in your

daily devotions.

I focused on Proverbs 4:23 -

to guard my heart!

I began by prepping my page with some clear gesso. 

I just spread it over the entire page.

I don't mind if a little of what I'm doing bleeds

through to the back of the page,

I just don't want it to be overwhelming.

So prep.

The verse focuses on the heart,
so I traced out a couple of hearts.
And since I'm a tangler - 
I tangled a little line of hearts, as well.

I used Jane Davenport ink water brushes to add the color. My handy-dandy tool to make the spreading lines? A drinking straw :). I made the heart area real soupy with water, added the color one at a time, and blew like crazy through the straw. Aiming where the lines went. I tangled a small line of perfs around the inner heart, and wrote the word guard. A super simple page.  And I really like the way it turned out. A beautiful reminder to . . . "Guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life." ~ Proverbs 4:23 ~

Meshing Tangles

To say I'm getting discouraged tangling would be putting it mildly. It took me three days to draw this simple tangle, but at least I tangled something. 

 I frequently get asked how I decide which patterns to use

and how I make them work together.

One of the weekly prompts in my Facebook group Zentangle All Around was to use Julie Beland's tangle gooberz. I love that tangle! I knew that I needed something else to go with it, so I went to Julie's Pinterest board and looked at the other patterns she has designed. Beauchamp is similar in style and the roundness of each tangle works well together. So Beauchamp became my second pattern.

I began by setting up a section of gooberz

to the left-hand side of my page.

Those thickened lines really make this

tangle special!

They also help cover up any boo-boos 

you may make.

Hahaha!

 I needed to segue from one tangle to the next.

The obvious way to blend the two was to keep

the curvature of the line going.

I placed my first line of Beauchamp to the

right of an unfinished gooberz.

 Then I filled in the right-hand side of the page

with more curvy lines that were to

be filled with beauchamp.

 I connected gooberz to beauchamp with those

straight lines and began drawing in the orbs

for the beauchamp design.

 I felt like the drawing needed to begin and end

the same way, so I added one last

line of gooberz out to the right. 

Blackening in those fills between the

beauchamp blobs really made that tangle pop!

And it gave the bit of contrast I needed.

The last thing I did was to tangle up all  those blobs. Any tangle works here for fills. And the more tangles, the better. I love variety.
In a couple months when my eyes are better I will come back and shade this piece. In the interim a couple people mentioned  they wanted to color this one. Go for it! I'd love to see how it turns out!

Rubbing Alcohol Makes It All Good

Here is a quickie project for you!

*** Protect your work surface! ***

I used three colors of liquid watercolor 

(mine came from Dick Blick,)

mixed media paper and some rubbing alcohol.

First I got the surface of the paper really wet with a mop brush,

then I used a pipette to drop watercolor into the water.

The color started moving around

and I added more drops here and there,

until I got a look I was happy with.

Next I used a paintbrush to flick drops

of rubbing alcohol onto various bodies of color.

The rubbing alcohol pushes the color away -

much like it does when you use blending solution

on alcohol inks.

Then I let the whole mess dry as it was.

And this is how it turned out! I love it! You can see where the rubbing alcohol pushed the color out of the way, leaving behind those white splotchy spaces.
The hope is to eventually draw on this. My eyes are not progressing at the pace I had hoped for. Still praying it happens, but I am not really able to do any detail drawing at this point. At least playing with color is a lot of fun!

Loving These Florals!

I love these big bold floral designs!

They are such a surprising and pleasant experience!

 Like I've mentioned several times before,

I am taking some classes from Alisa Burke.

You can check out her entire website here.

Look for her classes and you can see what

I am up to these days.

 This page in my journal started with Schmincke watercolors.

I love their bright, intense pigments!

 Those little specks of lighter colors were made

by flicking droplets of water from a paintbrush

over the page. You could also flick water

from an old toothbrush.

(Or a new one that you use just for water flicking :) ).

I let the water sit about 30 seconds,

then tapped a paper towel down to pick up

the excess.

 Then I just looked for areas that looked like

flower shapes.

And if they didn't - I pretended they did!

I used a regular black sharpie for the drawing.

Sharpies are permanent when dry,

so you can paint over them.

Or add any wet media.

 Which I totally did here.

Again, I used my Schminckes and a size 0

round brush to add color.

Last came the white highlights. I tried adding those with white acrylic, but my hand wasn't steady enough. So I used a Sakura gelly roll pen to highlight and add color to a few flowers. And I'm ready to move on to the next lesson now.