Challenge Day #2

 Yesterday's challenge was to use henna drum

and gotcha in a tangled piece of art. 

This was the start of my project.

 The henna drum reminded me of flowers

growing along a trellis,

so I went with that and added blox in the

background.

Here is the shaded piece. Shading really does help make your art more three dimensional. Next challenge coming up tomorrow on Zentangle All Around on Facebook. Why don't you join us?

Relaxing With Narwal

We are finally all settled in and my office/studio is looking pretty good. And workable. Now if I can just keep it clean. As if. Hahahahahaha!
I've spent the past few days in Bar Harbor, Maine, working on some art but mostly relaxing. And eating. Photos will come soon.
This is a piece I started some time ago, but saved the shading. I dislike shading intensely but it makes such a difference in your  finished work. Perservere and do it. It really is worth the effort. (And I love drawing narwal, so that was an added bonus.)
That background wall is my tangle called blox. Here is a link to the steps. Hoping to be a bit more regular with posting now that we are all unpacked. Thank you for being so patient. You're the best!

Thursday String Idea #14

 It's another Thursday String Idea!

On Friday because I have too much happening in my life.

It's time to start weeding out some of the unimportant stuff,

if there is such a thing, 

and focus on what's important.

Right now what is important is getting ready to make the move to Maine. That's all I think about when I'm not drawing, and usually while I am drawing, too. Hahaha! BUT, back to the string idea. 
Here is my new string for the week, a day late. This string can be interpreted in a lot of ways.  I chose to go with some tangles in the foreground, then use my blox as the background, tangled in a small handmade journal I have. I used scrapbook paper, watercolor paper, mixed media paper, and pages I pre-colored with dylusions ink sprays and Brushos. For tangles I used paradox, ceedarr and blox in the first square. The second square has corn rows, golden, arrowhead, patch, and part of dayz eaze. All are my own patterns with the exception of paradox. Fun times stacking squares!
If you would like to print out the string as a standard 3.5" square, click here. Have fun! Happy Thursday a day late!

New Tangle: Dropz

This new tangle just came together as I was circle stacking. Dropz. So easy to do and it looks really cool!

 See that band across the middle?

That is dropz.

Someone asked for the step outs, 

so here they are!

 Those are the steps.

Just below this sentence you see what dropz looks like when it is completed.

Below that are two tangleations.

 Really versatile and you can make it look different

by adding highlights, or changing up the dark sections.

Dropz. Across the bottom.

Why don't you try it out today and see what you can do with dropz?

Trying to Get Back in the Routine

Wow! It's been twelve days since I posted. And, yes, I realize my blog looks weird. Having a bit of an issue with photobucket, hopefully Cindy will be able to figure it out soon.
I had a wonderful trip to Colorado, and the great news is I did not have an issue with the altitude. The medicine the doctor put me on worked! Hallelujah! I was pretty groggy the first several days, but eventually I was able to do a little tangling. This is the biggest project I worked on. A little flux, rock n'roll, rain, beadlines, cruffle, TootsieMoon and blox. A fun piece to draw!
I'm working in the studio - re-organizing - again. One of the CZTs started a facebook group for studios and it has started a desire to re-organize. Stay tuned in a couple weeks for new studio shots.

A New Year's Coming

These are the last three of my New Year's post cards for the swap. I used mixed media paper and cut my own 4" x 6" postcards - rather than buying them. In the last two cards I tried something new. Not sure how I like it yet. I used pen nibs and a speedball wand, which I dipped into Liquitex Acrylic Ink to draw the pink string and the green vines. Other colors in the cards came from Grumbacher Translucent Watercolors, Wink of Stella Glitter Markers, and At You Spica pens. It's almost new year's day. The cards are in the mail. It's a new record :).

One Step At a Time, APR #83

This coming week's challenge at the Artist's Play Room is sea shells. Jenn lives up north where it's cold and freezing and possibly covered in snow, so it is no wonder she's thinking about warm waters, soft ocean breezes, and beautiful sea shells. And I haven't participated in awhile, so I thought I'd just jump right in!

Here are a couple sea shells I've been working on this past week. For those of you new to the art - this is Zentangle®. Creating beautiful pieces of art by drawing a series of structured lines. Just relaxing and enjoying yourself, letting the worries and stress of the day take a back seat for a bit. In the above two photos, the seashell spiral takes center stage to a plethora of flowers and other boardwalk/beach kind of items. These shells were super easy to draw and literally only took a few minutes to make. The longest past was coloring in the dark areas!

My last couple posts have shown you bits and pieces of this 11" x 14" tangle I am working on. It has taken me longer than usual to complete the drawing due to a lot going on in my personal life this past week. I finally finished most of the drawing last night and have started adding a bit of blue.

This piece will eventually be cut down into 16 ATC pieces for a swap I am part of. The swap theme is Black and White with One Color Accent. The last sheet I did had pink as the accent. I went to blues for this one and I'm just getting started with the color. Thought I'd show you a preview - mainly because I haven't posted in a couple days and I didn't want you to think I had dropped off the face of the planet.

Here is a look at the entire piece - with just some beginning pops of color. I will post another photo when I'm finished with the accent color.
Please take a minute to visit Jenn's blog here, where the week's challenge is posted. You have an entire week to artfully craft your interpretation of the sea shell - in any art medium you desire - and post a link to your work. I know Jenn would love to see you there! (And I love the name of her blog - Just Add Water, Silly!    I have a new art journal ordered, waiting for it to arrive so I can start on a more cohesive project. Stay tuned :) .

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!

Heading Home (Old News, I'm Home Now)

I am actually typing this Saturday evening. Kali and I just went to see Austenland at the movie theatre. Not being a Jane Austen fan, I thought it was hilarious! I think Kali was offended through most of the first half, especially when I was laughing so loud. Not a serious movie at all. It's about people who pay to go spend a week living the Pride and Prejudice life. So funny! Anyway, I am typing this up tonight and scheduling it hit the blog Monday during the early, early morning hours. I will be doing the drive back home to Florida, expecting to arrive late Tuesday if all goes well. I hope you have a great week!

Note: actually this is a post that was supposed to hit a couple days ago while Kali and I were driving to Florida. Something happened to my blog and many photos disappeared, and this didn't post. For whatever reason, today all the pictures are back and things look normal again. So, here is a late post, hope you don't mind that it's late :).

Fall is Almost Here

Fall is almost here, if you discount the fact that the high tomorrow in Florida is supposed to be 91 degrees. I will be glad when the high temps go away for awhile, even if it does only drop 5 degrees! For a girl who grew up in Newfoundland, where the average summer temp hovers around 61 degrees, these Florida temps of 90-102  in the summer are just killers. Add to that hurricane threats and wildfires, and you will see why I am excited about fall.

I made this two-sided bookmark for a swap my friend Sandy Hunter is hosting. The first picture, the front, features two of my own patterns - punkin' and blox. The back has ambler and avreal, two patterns I've not used before. I really like avreal - the one down the middle! Color is courtesy of my Koi watercolor set. Shimmer (if you can see it) is from my twinking H2Os. Shipping this off to the swap tomorrow. When I receive one back, I will post it here for you to admire :).

Posting From Kali's

I am up north visiting Kali. I had planned to be working on a book project during this trip, but the book deal fell through. So I am kind of at a loss for what I should be working on. Some of the CZTs are getting ready for a postcard swap, so that's what I'm working on now. No more than three tangles allowed, black and white, the only color we can use is by pencil or micron. I used Derwent Graphitint Pencils for the color you see in these two.

This card was fun. These are two of my own patterns: Blox and Harlequin. You can see the step out for blox by clicking on 'My Patterns' at the top of this page. On to more postcards. I have something like 16 more to make! That should keep me busy for a day or two :).

Looking For Something New?

Looking for something new? This past week, I took a few days off and headed to Orlando. Alone. I stayed at the Disney complex and just locked myself away in a room. For the most part. It rained every day I was there anyway, so it isn't like I missed a lot by not going to the parks. I did manage a trip or two to Downtown Disney, picked up a replacement pair of Toms, had some awesome Chinese Chicken Salad, and some Jelly Bellies from Goofy's candy shop (whose exact name I can not recall). All in all, it was a successful trip. Oh yeah, I worked on some new stuff, too. Here is a little teaser, but don't look for it anytime real soon. I'll let you know when and where you can get a look-see. Hopefully before too long! Have a great week! I'm off to babysit the little munchkin tonight so her mom and dad can have date-night :). Yay!!!!!!!

Brayd With the Diva, A String, and Inspiration

I apologize up front because I am going to use this tangled tile for three challenges this week - I have never done this before.  I am feeling the stress this week - I am leaving town in two days for almost a week and I am nowhere near being ready. So, up first is Challenge #82 from the Diva (AKA Laura) - that's police talk :). Laura challenged us to use Shelly Beauch's pattern brayd for our tile. I think I have drawn this pattern once before, so it was like new for me. The hardest part was taking my time, and not rushing my way through.

The second challenge comes from Linda Farmer at Tangle Patterns. The string came from Barbara Finwall.

When I drew this, I patterned my brayd along the lines of the string Barbara drew for us. To give the color - I used Derwent graphitint pencils, and their metallic pencils with a water brush. I really like the way the graphitint pencils look - like aged patina - sweet!

Inspiration Avenue offered a challenge this week to use the art of zentangle. Above, I used the patterns brayd, jalousies, and two of my own patterns - blox and barz.

To see some fantastic art, go to these sites and check it out! You can share your work with us! The Diva Challenge, Tangle Patterns, and Inspiration Avenue.