Days 6 and 7 of Inktober #inktober #inktober2018 #inktobertaa #hahnemühle #31productschallenge #zebrapenusa

 Really happy with the way this tile turned out!

I made the background color with 

Ranger Distress Ink pads,

just kind of scrubbed them around on the paper.

That would be a YouTangle.art Tile from

Hahnemühle.

(And they are working out great for this Inktober!)

The patterns I tangled are O-cee and Onamato.

Just the two.

I thought they worked very well with the

beautiful colors in the background.

I used a Zensations Technical Pen from Zebra Pens.

They work great on these tiles,

and on top of the distress inks.

We are doing Inktober together as a group

over on Facebook at

Tangle All Around.

Want to join us?

It isn't too late - 

it isn't too late until it's November -

join us here.

Want to pick up some of these awesome

YouTangle.art Tiles?

You can do that here. 

 Another program I am working with this October

is the 31 Products Challenge.

The thought is to pull all those art supplies

out of the closet - you know we all have them -

and use a different product each day this month.

I am working on a 12" x 24" art canvas.

Above is what I did on day 6.

(I think I am working too hard and fast and will

be done before day 31 is here.

Ranger Distress Ink pads.

Used them to scuff up those collage pieces

and swipe some color here and there.

Interested?

You can check out the 31 Products Challenge here.

I am in another group on Facebook called

ATC Trades and Jams.

One of the events going on right now

is the letter D swap.

We make 2 ATCs to trade with someone in the

group - based on the letter D.

This shows the bare bones of my ATC.

I will show you the original after it makes

its way to its new owner. 

Just a reminder - if you try to leave a comment

and I don't reply it is because blogger is not

sending me notifications of comments

and they are not showing up in the 

moderation area of the blog. 

I still love you!

I just can't tell you.

Oh wait, I just did!

Have a great day!

ATC Letter O Swap #ATC #artisttradingcards #gelliprint #santoro

 One of the groups I belong to on Facebook - 

ATC Trades and Jams - 

is gearing up to do a trade with the theme of

Letter O.

We can trade with two people.

Can you guess my theme?

Hahaha! Hopefully my theme is obvious!

I know these pictures will appear large on the

computer screen, keep in mind ATCs are 2.5" x 3.5"

pieces of art. You have to figure out what you can

fit into that small amount of space that

will reflect the theme. 

For both cards I started with gelli print pulls

I did on water color paper.

I used a stencil and left a bunch of previous

paint on my plate, making some really 

cool looking bubbles.

Inked the edges with a teal StayzOn ink pad,

then tangled some airways, printemps and

IndyRella.

Shading is graphite, highlights is a white

gelly roll pen. 

The sweet little mermaid was part of the

cardboard packaging for some Santoro stamps.

The O tiles, glass flowers and cute little charms were 

stuck down with glue dots. Then I put them into

baseball card sleeves to protect them.

An hour's worth of work at tops.

Can't wait to see who I get to send them to!

And where!

I'm looking forward to being part of this group.

Now I just have to find the time.

Valentine ATC Swap, 2016

Before you know it, Valentine's Day will be here. This year - probably for the first time ever - I was able to post a swap  before the holiday happened. In my Facebook group Zentangle All Around, we are currently holding an ATC swap. A 9 for 9 swap, which means you make nine ATCs and you receive nine ATCs in return. People are mailing me their ATCs now that they created, and at the end of this month I will set them up in groups of nine each and mail them back to the participants. This is a smattering of what I made for the swap. None of the entire ATCs show here. ATC stands for Artist Trading Card and they are the same size as a baseball card - 2.5" x 3.5". We trade them in little plastic sleeves and they are greatly treasured.  In my personal collection I have ATCs from all over the world. Little glimpses into the hearts of artists that have become friends -  truly all around the globe. So. Happy early Valentine's Day from me to you!
these are all made on white yupo paper. the color is alcohol ink

Satin & Silk

Satin & Silk is that pretty section

across the middle.

Ordinarily, it doesn't look a thing like cadent.

But I am noticing here, because of the way I 

filled the centers  of the arms with ink,

it does indeed favor cadent.

Hmmm. Who knew!

The top and bottom is line dance,

another tangle of mine. 

Both can be found in the Tangle It! Planner.

Yes, this last week and a half does sound like an ad for the

Tangle It! Planner.

Sorry, I didn't intend for it to be that way.

Hahaha! 

I will start posting some new step outs very soon.

Blue Semaphore

I will be back home in sunny Florida before you know it. Being too hot and wishing I was back in Maine. Seriously. In the meantime, let me introduce you to semaphore. That grid tangle down through the middle. Doesn't it remind you of the signal flags used on ships? The art of signal flagging is called semaphore. Hence, the name. To the left you have dropz, another of my patterns,  and the fringe is an abbreviated version of airways.
I had a lot of fun putting these ATCs together, and you have almost seen them all. 

Golden Airways

I love this tangle airways! It is easy to draw and looks different every time, depending on how you  draw the arms.  It also has a lot of applications.
Step outs will be coming soon.  If you can't wait, you can find airways in the Tangle It! Planner.

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve. It's here already. This year has flown past. Seriously. A lot of changes have happened in my life, the biggest being the forming of Simalinas. This is a book company consisting of  Ina Sonnenmoser of Germany, Simona Cordara of Italy, and myself. Since September, we have released four books - the Tangle It! series. It has been amazing and fun and intimidating and overwhelming  and busy and hectic and crazy. And fun. I love it! I can't wait to see what 2016 brings to my door.

This particular ATC features several of my tangles: knights of the round table, baubles and bow*petal. So much fun! Background? Cheap school supply watercolors. $1.29 on the school row at Wal-Mart.

Holidays In Maine

By the time you see this I will be in Maine. Relaxing and enjoying our new house. Sitting on the sectional, admiring my huge Christmas tree. Hahaha! Cause we finally have a home tall enough  to house a ten foot tall tree!
This ATC was made with postbox red and lemon zest  Dylusions Ink Sprays. The tangle is called Airways - it is one of mine that was released in the Tangle It! Planner. Super fun and easy to draw.
I hope you are enjoying the holidays. I am (insert big smile here.)

Working On Some ATCs

By this point all the Christmas gifts have been opened, all the cookies and cakes and pies have been devoured, Grandma and Grandpa have headed back home, and all the new toys have been played with and left laying around the living room floor.
I hope you had a wonderful holiday spent with someone you love. I am going to prep a few blog posts and schedule them to post over the next couple weeks. They will feature a set of ATCs I've been working on for an upcoming swap. This particular one takes a new tangle called  Beauchamp by Julie Beland, and mingles it with Baubles - a new one of mine that debuts in the Tangle It! Planner. The colorful background is Brushos Color Crystals.
Enjoy the rest of your holiday!

Brusho Crystal Colors - Product Review

A couple days ago I blogged about making this awesome tree. I had a lot of people contact me through email, through facebook, instagram, and pinterest, to ask me about Brusho Crystal Colors. To those that asked - here you go! Brusho Crystal Colors product review.

Never heard of Brushos? I found out about them on pinterest. Everything you ever needed to know can be found on  Pinterest!  The Brusho® website describes them as:
brilliantly intense paint powder that comes in little pots of magic!
Hahaha! So true! Little plastic pots filled with crystals of beautiful, lush color. My starter set came with 12 pots of color. I began by making a color chart.

Brushos are activated when they hit water.  Literally all I did to make this chart was to put a drop of water on my paper using a mop brush, then I shook/tapped some of the crystals into the wet drop, and waited.
The brusho crystals are a fine powder. The little spots you see in random places on my paper are the fine little bits of color that didn't reach the water. And I was a little stingy on the color, these could have been brighter and more intense, as you will see as you read through this post.

The first project I made was this tree. I used three techniques.
For the tree trunk, I used a paint palette and mixed some dark brown crystals with a wet paint brush. Then I just painted on the trunk and some random limbs.
For the top part of the tree, I used a mop brush and spread a layer of water across the area where I wanted there to be leaves. Then I used purple, lemon, and emerald green crystals - by simply tapping the color straight into the water I had spread on the paper, allowing them to  spread and mix.  Easy peasy. I promise.
I did the same thing under the tree: wet the area, sprinkled some color, then used a wet paintbrush to mix the colors and spread them a bit.
You can dry this with a heat gun if you wish, but my understanding is the heat may mute the color. So I left it to dry while we ate dinner.

 For the next project, I used a sheet of Bristol Smooth Mixed Media paper.

(I will do a detailed post later showing the steps in this project.)

Basically what I did was use a mop brush and plenty of water 

to draw the larger flowers on the paper.

The Brusho crystals were sprinkled into each area and left to mix.

In some areas I used more than one color.

In a few spots I used a small paint brush to push color where I wanted it to go.

The leaves were added the same way the tree trunk was added in the first project.

Once this was completely dry, I added tangling with a Sharpie fine point.

I did not have any trouble drawing on the Brusho at all.

The Brusho dried flat and smooth, and 

accepted the penwork with no problems.

No skips, no pulls on the nib, no dragging lines.

Smooth as could be!

The Brusho colors were consistently bright,

intense and beautiful. I really love the way the purple shows several different colors.

The black does the same, I just haven't used it in a project yet.

Here is the completed drawing. This paper is 9" x 12", and the colors really are this bright and beautiful in person! Super simple to make.

Here is a smaller piece, made on smooth watercolor paper. I made closely spaced blobs of water with a paint brush, then sprinkled the color into the water drops. I used a small paint brush to fill in the areas, and make it look like the flowers were overlapping.
I did have a bit of an issue when I got one wet color too close to another wet color. They wanted to bleed into each other. I found that a paper towel to blot up the excess and create a barrier between the colors worked very well.
To make the background, I mixed water and crystals in a paint palette. I made a well of lemon, one of lime green, and one of yellow. I used lots of water to create washes, which I spread onto the paper with a wide, flat brush. (Sorry, I'm not all that familiar with the brush names.) This piece came together really well once I figured out how to deal with the bleedover in the wet colors.

Up to this point I used paper made for water. I wanted to experiment on some of the other papers that I routinely draw on. Here I used a Zentangle® Bijou® twinchie. A little two inch bit of paper. 
I made this a little backwards from the first projects. I sprinkled color onto the dry paper,  using purple, turquoise (love this color!), and lemon. (I prefer the lemon over the yellow. I would have thought they would be similar, but the yellow has a lot of orange in it. I am not a fan of orange.) Once I felt I had enough crystals on the tile, I hit it with one spritz of water from my spray bottle. Then I left it to sit, this is how it turned out. Awesome! Paper didn't curl, it stayed flat, and dried nice and smooth.

I was happy with the way the twinchie performed, so I moved on to Zentangle® ATCs. I began by tangling with a Sharpie Fine Point. Then I liberally sprayed them all with water (and said a thank you prayer that the pen didn't smear.) I sprinkled a color on each ATC. 
Up to this point I had let the color stay as brilliant as it developed.  I wondered what would happen if I blotted up a good bit of the color. So as I sprayed and colored these, I completely blotted them - removing a decent amount of color. Then I added more color, sometimes a second color, and blotted again. This is how they turned out. A little muted, but still quite beautiful.

Moving on, I took a large sheet of mixed media paper  and a mop brush and slopped tons of water all across the page. I mean lots of water! Then I sprinkled on all the colors I like best - leaf green, purple, ultramarine, and turquoise.
I tilted the page and spread color all across the surface, then covered the whole thing with a piece of kitchen plastic wrap. When you use the plastic wrap, feel free to push it gently with your fingertips so it causes these little creases.

I left the paper intact with the plastic wrap right where it sat, and let it dry overnight.
The next morning, the first thing I noticed was the plastic wrap had moved and flattened out on the paper. The little texture creases weren't there anymore. I was really disappointed. Until I removed the wrap. Even though the creases didn't show in the wrap, they still showed on the paper. This is how it looked dry. And quite frankly - I love it! Reminds me of rich, beautiful batiks!

I took the same steps with this one, except before placing the plastic wrap down -  I dropped a lot of sea salt into the wet puddles. Then I added the wrap, scrunched it up into texture creases, and left it to dry overnight.

This is my favorite piece so far! I removed the plastic wrap, smoothed off the remaining salt crystals with the flat edge of an old Disney World hotel room key (think credit card), and this is how it turned out!
This was a 9" x 12" sheet of Bristol smooth. The colors are wonderful and the texture worked better with the salt!

I am really happy with the way the Brushos have reacted  in the several projects I did. The colors are bright and intense (you know how I am about my color!), they lay down smooth and flat, and they are a dream to draw on. The papers I chose to use worked well, there was no pilling, and very minimum warping. I like the results so much in fact - that I went online and ordered the other twelve colors they come in so I will have them all!
Next project? Brushos meet the gelli plate. Stay tuned.

Time to Create

It has been a crazy few weeks. Due to an injured achilles tendon, I have been spending a lot of time sitting with my foot propped up on an ice pack. Trying to draw when I could , but finding it hard to keep my concentration and focus due to pain. Then Kali had some issues which necessitated a trip to the hospital for her and a plane flight for me. I took a rough spill in a dark movie theatre and smashed a knee, shoulder, and hip, and twisted the bad foot - setting me back to ground zero on the healing achilles problem. I spent two weeks there and just returned home last night. I am sooooo tired!!!

I still have ATCs to complete for the CZT Deck Swap, but I am closing in on being finished :). Here are a couple closeups of one of the larger sheets I am working on. It will eventually be cut down into 16 ATCs.
As a side note, now that I am back home I hope to start doing some massive overhauls on the blog, my Pinterest boards, my Etsy store, and setting up a Facebook group to make things more cohesive and easier to access. I believe I need a focus for the facebook group. There are many zentangle/tangle pages already out there. And in all truthfulness I am more of a Zentangle Inspired Art person than a Zentangle person. Do you have any suggestions for a focus in a facebook group? Something that isn't already being done to death? I have some ideas, but I'd like to hear what some of you might suggest. Thanks :)

Judging Debates

Took some time away to judge at the NCFCA (National Christian Forensics and Communications Association) Florida Qualifier Tournament.  Students that advance from this tournament will compete at the regional tournament, advancing from there to national competition in speech and debate.
I spent a good bit of time with my foot propped up and a pen in my hand.
I judged several different types of speeches - persuasive, informative, humorous, and duo interpretation where two students compete together bringing a literature selection to life. (Now that the tournament is over, I can tell you my personal favorite was Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Such an awesome job these two young men did!)
I also judged a couple preliminary debate rounds, as well as the final round of Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate where the resolution they debated was National Security ought be valued higher than Freedom of Press.
Excellent tournament. All the students were incredible. And I got to see a lot of friends that I had not seen in a couple years. Such an awesome thing to be able to judge, critique, and offer encouragement to so many wonderful young people. And I was still able to get a little tangling in at night time. It was a win/win all around.

5 Minute Border Practice

Need some help with borders? Do you have five minutes to practice? Take an ATC, it's a 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" piece of paper, the size of a baseball card. Grab your pen of choice. At this particular time, I was using a Pitt Pen, size SX. Draw a series of unevenly spaced parallel lines.

Select an open section and practice a border. You don't have to spend a lot of time, just work on getting a variety of borders drawn. Perfection can come later, for right now just work on drawing the borders you know.
As you learn more and more borders, keep adding them into your practice ATC stack. They make a great, easy-to-go-to reminder of the borders you know how to tangle.

Therapy Has Begun

I started physical therapy today for my achilles tendonitis. 

Whoa! Stretching, pushing, pulling, straining.

And that was just the assessment.

If you were wondering about the two larger hearts -

they are from a paper punch I have.

Punches both hearts at the same time

and I just put my chop in the centers. 

Tangled a bit, made up those balloons,

threw on a little washi tape and called it done.

Fast Approaching

It will be here before you know it.  Valentine's Day. A time to tell those you love - that you love and appreciate them. A time for words, a time for cards, a time for chocolate :), a time to make a difference in someone's life.
A group of us artist types are trading ATCs to show our appreciation for each other and appreciation for the art. It is amazing what you can do with a little ink, some glitter markers, a micron, and a 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" piece of watercolor paper.
Are you getting ready to tell the ones you love that you love them? Cause you should be. And the time is fast approaching.

Pluggin' Along

It's been a rough few days here at the house of Hendon. Somehow I have managed to mess up an achilles tendon. Not cool. I do happen to have one very awesome podiatrist, however, she surgered both feet about 25 years ago and she is still in business. Heck! She's even younger than me by a couple years. I know that 'surgered' isn't a word, but it aptly fits the situation. 
A routine of therapy and staying off the foot is about to drive me up a wall. We are trying to prevent a more aggressive approach and are giving a two week grace period.
So here I sit on my lovely chaise lounge with my ipad, drawing desk, a ton of pens and pencils and markers of every color, and a ton of projects that need to be completed. I am still working away on the 106 ATCs I need to complete for the CZT Deck Swap. I have exactly half of them finished. The one above just reminds me of the Wizard of Oz! Does that not look like the yellow brick road and the Emerald City? Totally not planned, it just fell that way! 
Hopefully my foot will start feeling better, instead of worse which it has done today, and I will be able to get back into the swing of things with this blog. Thank you for being so patient. 
Oh yes, I spent a good part of last week taping together a new journal/calendar/planner but was so unhappy with it that this afternoon I ripped it all apart. Threw away the remains of the journal, and salvaged what I could from the gelli plate prints and watercolor paper. Taking a new direction with that and hope to show you some progress in the next few days. 
Have a great Sunday! May God bless your day and your time and may you be faithful to Him - cause He deserves it. (Something I forget on a regular basis.) Hugs!!!