Alcohol Ink on Yupo

 
I absolutely love working with these alcohol inks! I keep finding new colors,  and new color combinations. I just can't stop!

Their colors are so vibrant and fresh. I use Yupo paper. It has a plastic coating over it, making it perfect for the alcohol inks. I put the color on first, let it dry completely, then use a Copic Multiliner pen to tangle.

And I end up with this. I love it! This is 5" x 7". I am thinking a black mat and a lime green frame.

Stacking Circles

 Lately it's been all about the stacks.

Stacks of tangles. 

In this case, it's a stack of tangled circles.

Now you know I love me some gorgeous colors,

but I did not make this background myself.

It came from this book. (I was going to tell you what page,  but this awesome book doesn't have page numbers. So that's not going to happen.)
I purchased three of Mindy Lacefield's books and they are all beautiful! They are copies of her personal art journals with lots of open spaces where a tangler could have some fun. And I love the results!
Why don't you grab a book you haven't enjoyed in awhile,  or a book from a second-hand shop, and tangle a little today? You'll be glad you did.

Garlic and Joey

I've been playing with this shape a lot lately. (I'm so cold I'm having trouble typing. Back space, correct, go forward, repeat.) Playing with different ways to fill this shape - that totally looks like a bulb of garlic to me, for some reason. That background is a 5" x 7" pull from a gelli plate.

Joey's Challenge this week was called  The Polka Dot Tangle. Randomly drawn circles,  each filled with a different tangle. It's really good practice for quick tangles.

For this 5" x 7" piece, I used my new  Prima Color Bloom Spray Mists. I've used them before and my pens worked great over the color, but for some reason this time my pens did not work so great.  I used a sharpie fine point and had trouble filling in the dark areas. I tried shading, but the color wouldn't hold the graphite. So. Here it is. Unshaded but that's ok. To participate in Joey's Challenge, just go here and check it out. 

Cue the Warthogs

Cue the warthogs and meerkats. Ready the lions, zebras, and giraffes. Prep the elephants and wildebeest, cause it's the circle of life. Hehehehehehe!
Circle of Life lyrics by Tim Rice

From the day we arrive on the planet
And blinking, step into the sun,
There's more to see than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be done.

There's far too much to take in here,
More to find than can ever be found,
But the sun rolling high
Through the sapphire sky
Keeps great and small on the endless round.

It's the Circle of Life
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope,
Through faith and love,
Till we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the Circle,
The Circle of Life.

It's the Circle of Life
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope,
Through faith and love,
Till we find our place
On the path unwinding,
In the Circle,
The Circle of Life.

A little more twinchie fun today, this time in circles. 

I used watercolor paper - Bristol Smooth from Stathmore - 

and Dylusions Ink Spray, Wink of Stella Glitter Pens,

and At You Spica Pens.

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 :)

Doing Better, APR #89

My foot is coming along. Finally. That old achilles tendon is finally starting to feel a bit better. Of course I've been sitting for a week and a half now. Reading, playing my gameboy, checking facebook, and drawing a little here and there.

About 40 heated foot soaks, 40+ ice packs, and one can of BioFreeze and I can tell some difference. Getting up in the morning and putting that foot on the floor is still a challenge. Talk about pain!

But I'm getting there. I go back to the doctor this Thursday to see where we go from here. She is looking for a 50% improvement. I think we have that much. Praying we have that much.

And in the meantime, I draw. And for the first time in quite awhile, I am linking this up to the Artist's Play Room where Jenn lets us post whatever art floats our boat this week. This is what has kept me afloat as I sit here on my chaise lounge with yet another ice pack. You can check out the Artist's Play Room here at Just Add Water, Silly! (I love Jenn!)

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 :) .

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!

Diva Challenge #127, DuoTangle Time

The Diva's challenge this week was to take two tangles - cirquital and opus - to create a tile. No additional tangles, just those two. Above you can see the tile I made today. Now, let me show you step-by-step how I made it.

I wanted to lay some color down in the background and decided on this particular template/stencil because the circles mimic the shape of cirquital. 

When I was taking a gelli plate class recently, I covered the desktop with brown craft paper. I have just left it in place so I don't have to worry about making a mess. I used an apprentice tile for this challenge. I placed the tile on the desktop, angled the stencil over it making sure all the corners were covered, and used painter's tape to hold the stencil in place. I've noticed that the tile underneath doesn't move as long as the stencil is firmly in place.

I decided on two ink colors. I used the pink ink first and  . . . 

. . . just tapped a layer of color over the top of the stencil. I was going for a touch of color, not complete coverage. Then I took a paper towel and dabbed the color off the stencil.

I used a Brilliance ink pad for the second color. I just really like the shiny, sparkly look I can get with the Brilliance pads.

Then I tapped blue onto the tile through the stencil. I went for a heavier coverage with this ink. If you notice at the top left corner of the tile, you still catch glimpses of the pink underneath.

Remove the stencil and clean it. Then lift up the painter's tape and see what you've got. I really like the circular effect made by the stencil and was curious to see what it would look like once I started drawing the cirquitals.

I placed some circles on the tile, and decided to make them all double ringed. You'll notice that the center one on the left is a bit wobbly.

I noticed that as I started adding some texture to the rings, some of that wobbliness started to disappear.

Completed the cirquital tangles . . .

. . . and started the opus. What a cool name for a pattern! Opus! Reminds me of Berkeley Breathed's Bloom County comic strip. Wasn't the penguin named Opus?

Sorry. I digress.

Anyhoo! I drew a bunch of opuses :smile: and auraed everything in sight.

Then last of all, I shaded with a pencil and a tort. Cirquital and opus. What a great combination! And speaking of great combinations -

Berkeley Breathed and Opus

 That would be Opus!

 

 In case you can't read this one, it says, "I have an outty bellybutton, which means I have to be ever vigilant that it doesn't unscrew and let my butt fall off."

Did I mention that I got sidetracked and just spent fifteen minutes with google reading Opus/Bloom County comics?

 A somewhat blurry (but the best I could find) 

Opus and Bill the Cat!

 A tribute to Schroeder and Snoopy.

Peace, out!

* * * * * * 

Back to serious business, check out the Diva Challenge here to see all the awesome artwork people are posting. And, it isn't too late for you to give cirquital and opus your own rendition!