Stack Your Stripes

Here is a new stacking challenge for you -

stacking stripes.

Basically this means one tangle per stripe, all stacked on top of each other or next to each other. Stacked stripes can be horizontal or vertical. And one tangle per stripe. This is a great way to learn some new tangles, and to practice the ones you've been working on. These two I'm showing you are very different in appearance. I did not plan it that way, but that is the way they turned out. Why don't you give stacking stripes a try today?

4Mom, Jane Eileen's New Tangle

 Here is a pretty cool new tangle my friend and fellow CZT Jane Eileen created for Mother's Day!

Jane was playing around with this new tangle. As she drew it out, this is what she saw on row two and the name right away became 4Mom.

Jane has a pretty fantastic blog called  See Jane Run  where you can see her beautiful renditions of 4Mom,  as well as a host of other goodies!

Here is a little two inch Bijou tile I drew,  stacking Copada with 4Mom.  A lot of punch in a little tile!

This is another 2" Bijou tile, stacking 4Mom with flux.
My tile at the very top of this post stacks 4Mom with crescent moon and my own tangle TootsieMoon.

 4Mom is a versatile tangle, with lots of tangleation possibilities.

We'd don't you join us and give 4Mom a try this week!  

Test Driving My Wall Book

 My friend Jane gave our art journal group the challenge of stacking.

Stacking tangles,

stacking text,

stacking text and tangles,

stacking colors with any of the above.

Jane showed some examples of stacking,

and in a couple pictures she showed drawings she had made in her wall book.

I thought, I have a wall book that I rarely use.

So I pulled it out and tangled the stacks you see above

 in the page on the right.

It started out as a blank brick wall. 

(This is an actual two-page spread in the book.)

 I started at the bottom and worked my way up.

I love the way it turned out.

Looks like that art could be real graffiti.

(Fourth tangle up from the bottom,

is one I made up for this page.

I'm calling it Box It Up.

I'll post step-outs for it in tomorrow's post.)

In case you wondered, and even if you didn't, hahaha!

from the bottom up, the tangles are:

shattuck, copada, curlz (one I came up with at CZT training,) 

box it up, variation of crescent moon, flying geese, rain, 

curvy variation of shattuck, twing, laced, and footlites.

Here is the wall book, which I have been calling by the 

wrong name for the past couple weeks! 

I got mine at Amazon,

(I mean, really, is there any where else?)

Walls Notebook by Sherwood Forlee.

 I enjoyed that stacking stuff so much I decided to do a second page. 

I decided to go with graffiti circles and tangles that draw the eye to that post rising from top to bottom of the page.

And here is the completed page. 
Tangles from bottom to top: shattuck (yes, I love this one,) puf, shattuck  (see what I mean?), rain, box it up, and flying geese again.
And remember, anywhere you see pink words, that means it's a link.  Click on it and you will be taken to step-outs for that tangle. Cause pink = link. In every picture I draw, I include my chop. My signature. At least I try to. You see it just under this post. My initials with the leaf - for The Creator's Leaf. I don't always date the drawing - on the drawing itself - it's usually on the back. For this page, though, I included it on the front. Can you find it? And my chop? (It's kind of obvious.)
P.S. ~ time for you to try out this whole stacking thing. No rules, except you pile it up. Words, tangles, colors, elements. Whatever media you want to use. It's stacking time!

Lucky Cat

 So excited!

This is my first template animal and I really like the way he turned out.

 On Facebook there is a wonderful artist named Ben Kwok. 

Ben administrates a group called Ornation Creation, where he regularly posts templates he has made for us to take and tangle. 

If you are a Facebook aficionado, you should check out Ornation Creation.

Ben gave us the above cat template, which I printed out on cardstock and started tangling.

Next time I will use watercolor paper, I wasn't convinced I could actually 

pull this off this time. Hahahaha!

 Ben also has a Facebook page called BioWorkZ.com where he features his own work.

He is really incredible! Worth taking a look.

I promise!

I just kept filling in tangles. 

The idea I went with was the oriental lucky cat -

typically done in either gold or white with touches of red.

I kept the tangles simple.

The gold was a metallic Pitt Artist Pen,

the reds were a combination of PrismaColor pencil and Uniball Signo pen.

Shading made all the difference.

It usually does. 

And there you go. My first Ben Kwok template tangled and framed in a dark red, wooden 8" x 10" frame. Yay!!!!! Now to decide what to work on next.  He has 94 templates posted on the group page, so there's plenty to pick from!

Tangle Reference Guide

 
Lately when I've been 'trying' to tangle, I have a lot of . . . do I know any tangles??? What do I know? I can't remember a thing! Has this ever happened to you? I am probably not the only person who has so many things going on in my life that my brain is just bogged down by the end of the day and I am left with - - - do I know any tangles???

Now. Rewind to May. I flew to Toronto to surprise a friend I had never really met in person - just online - who is really as close as a sister. While I was visiting Cindy, my CZT friend Cherryl Moote invited us to spend a little time in her home - and studio - and we did some fun shopping that I talked about here. One of the things Cherri showed us was a tangle book she was  building in a moleskine storyboard journal. I loved what she showed us so much that I ordered my own journal from Moleskine and got started.

This is what one page looks like. This journal can be ordered from moleskine.com or amazon.com for around $15-20.00. It measures 5" x 8.25" and closes with an attached elastic band. Each of the 108 pages has four story blocks already drawn on the page like you see in the photo above.

From the first photo in this post you can see that I started by keeping primarily to the blocks. That extra space in the middle can be used to make notes about the tangles, or to sketch out the steps, or to say "hey! this is my absolute favorite!" By the time I got to this page I was regretting losing that space in the center and began filling it with tangles that needed more room than one box.

For me - this book isn't intended to show step-outs. This book is all about being something I can grab when I hit a brick wall and can't remember anything. It is a reference. A refresher. A reminder.

Being such, I want to fill it with my favorite tangles to draw. Not ones that I don't want to use, or ones that I can never get to look right. It isn't a place where I 'practice' - I do that in a different sketchbook. I want these pages to look pretty. I want to be able to flip through and have the tangles bring up good memories in my mind. 
When I look at cat-kin I remember how I could never get that to look right until Meredith Yuhas taught us the steps in a Retreat to Paradise class. 
When I look at verdigogh I remember that it is a cool, versatile tangle that adds a little spice wherever I can use it. 
When I look at copada by Margaret Bremner - it reminds me of her little wonky houses - even though there isn't a single house in the tangle. 
Anything by Michele Beauchamp reminds me of her beautiful spirals and I find myself trying to fit one in - even if there isn't enough space - just because I love them so much! 
And when I see those awesome little Lilah Beans I just smile from ear to ear! I love those little beans! 
And thanks, Cherri, for letting me take your idea and make my own book!
As a quick reference guide of tangles I am comfortable with drawing - this moleskine journal is awesome! Except for that whole quick part. Any time I sit down with this journal is good for at least 30 minutes because I just get lost in remembering!

Teddy Bears and Fall

The fall ATC swap is upon us. I am really having trouble coming up with ideas. It was 90 degrees here today, who could possibly be thinking about fall? For this swap we can use any type media we want. So I pulled some old scrapbook paper and salvaged this little teddy bear and flower blocks from a sheet. The rest is tangled and colored with Koi Watercolors.

I've been working my punkin' pattern into several pieces lately. It speaks of fall, so I figure it's fair game.

I was still having issues with 'fall' ideas, so I thought I'd try something a little different. Made a bunch of random width (and unparallel) lines. . . .

. . . then filled them with tangles.

Next I added some fall-ish washi tape down one end, and pop-dotted three fall leaves into a corner. The ATC edges were dipped into a gold stamp pad. Voila! A fall ATC, and I still don't know what to do with the rest. Haha! Hopefully something fantastic will come to mind. Soon. I hope.  Stay tuned. Better yet - send me ideas. :)

Borders, Anyone?

Today's postcard is a combination of border tangles. I like the way you can use them in thin areas, in chains, in braids, in borders, so many applications. Haha! And that's one more postcard. Again, using the graphitint Derwent pencils. I just love everything Derwent! 

Ina-pada

So, in our postcard swap we are allowed to use up to three tangles. I don't always remember, but I think I was close on most of them so far. Hahaha! I love Margaret Bremner's copada tangle and wanted to use it right across the center of the card. It hit me about halfway through that I could do a double row, then turn the centers into a variation of inapod. Then I realized that inapod + copada = ina-pada. Pretty cool! So that's like either one or two tangles, depending on how you view it. Then I topped it off with msst. Don't remember who I sent this one out to, but it's already in the mail and on its way. Hopefully it will be very happy in its new home :).

A Little More Color

Last night I posted a sneak peek of a project I was working on. Here is the finished art. As a reminder, the colors were washed on first - using a simple watercolor pans kit from the toy aisle at Wal-Mart. You can get some really pretty colors. Then I used a Pitt Artist Pen for the linework. I hadn't used girdy or hibred in awhile. I also used two of my patterns - pipez and crete. You can find the step outs for those two in "My Patterns" at the top of this page. I love Margaret Bremner's copada tangle and use it frequently. 
After I posted last night, someone asked me about crete. That pattern was based on cinder blocks/concrete blocks. There was a time when my children were breaking concrete blocks with a hammer fist in karate, so we have several of them sitting around the yard. Crete looks a lot like those blocks. Why don't you give it a try and see what you come up with?

ATC Swap

It has been really hard lately to find time to tangle. There is so much stress in my life right now trying to make arrangements for Kali to move out of state for school. She leaves in about 5 weeks and we still don't have anywhere located for her to live. My mom has been in and out of the hospital four times in the past 2 months, and is in a rehab house now. It has been one really hectic time. I finally decided to stop everything else I was doing to just draw. I mentioned the CZTs were doing an ATC swap. I've stayed away from posting my tiles anywhere online, so they could be a surprise when they arrived at their destinations. I did go ahead and post this one, though. It has two of my own patterns in it - netz in the background, and 8ball across the bottom. This ATC swap is a lot of fun! I plan on posting all 24 of my cards at one time - after they've been received :). And - I only have 16 more to draw >.<

Tape the String - ZIA Journal #25

The ZIA Journal challenge at Tangles and Stuff is called Tape the String this week. To do that, I took a sheet of watercolor paper and randomly placed blue painter's tape on it. Some pieces wide, and some torn into thinner strips. With the tape in place, I slapped on some watercolor paint. 

When the paint dried, I dropped drips of paint on to the page and blew them around with a straw. Once all this was dry I removed the blue strips of painter's tape. In those white spaces I added various tangle patterns. I might do this again tomorrow and tangle the painted areas. We'll see. This was a load of fun to do! And I love the bright colors - I am all about the color! If you'd like to join in this week's challenge and play with tape - check it out here at Tangles and Stuff :).

Zendala Dare #10 - Thanks, Erin!

Erin at The Bright Owl is sponsoring Zendala Dare #10 this week. She gave us the blank you see below. Above, you see what I did with mine. I chose a yellow round tile and used the patterns paradox, weave, copada, hurry, and a variation of vortex. I'm calling the design in the middle 'paradox' - am I right? Or is this called something else?

You can check out everyone's drawings at The Bright Owl. You can even try your hand it at and post one for me to look at! I will leave you a comment to let you know I've visited your page!