Diptychs With Bijou - Diva Challenge #318

I've been playing with a lot of new tangles lately. Putting them in my sketchbook, showing the steps of the ones I thought I'd have trouble remembering. The Diva Challenge this week is diptychs. And that is where my sketchbook comes into play.
According to Mr. Google, a diptych means: a painting on two hinged wooden panels that may be closed like a book.
Well, I wish I'd looked that up before completing this drawing. Just pretend it is folded in half - down the center. That center line of diva dance divides the two sections.  The mirrored part (loosely - according to the Diva) would be the strutz and Bijou parts. Left and right. Right down the middle.
Diptychs. They are the thing to do this week. And I will be doing more. BUT to check out everyone else's diptychs, just click here for the Diva Challenge.

Starting Again

It has been some time since I really felt like drawing. Zentangle is supposed to be relaxing, soothing, healing, but it just hasn't worked for me in awhile. Last night I watched The Voice (cheering on Aliyah Moulden and Chris Bruce!), then I started catching up on missed episodes of Marvel: Agents of Shield (poor Fitz!) and this happened.  It just came together. Didn't really have to think about it. And it's the first time I've used ropuz in a drawing. It's that crazy ropey looking one that goes up and down.  It kind of feels like old times.  And I'm so thankful.  (And not a single Printemps anywhere.)

Still Working on This

My blogging has been erratic lately and  I should explain why. l went to the ophthalmologist back in July. I was told then that I had cataracts starting and to come back if I noticed a change in vision. 
I was fine for a while. Then I starting noticing that I was having trouble drawing. I bought different reading glasses, thinking that would help. It did not.
I started having trouble driving at night. Approaching car headlights made huge halos of light. Sometimes the halos covered both lanes of traffic.  I was in Denver a couple weeks ago and needed to drive at night. There are literally thousands of lights in downtown Denver. Add to that all the headlights and taillights  of hundreds of cars. Everything was one massive halo. I had to park the car and get someone else  to get me home. 
As soon as I got back to Maine I went to the doctor and told him about the changes in my vision. They did what is called a glare test and determined that my cataracts were severely worse and that I needed to have them removed as soon as possible.
In Maine "as soon as possible" means January. In the meantime my drawing/tangling is significantly decreased. That would be why you are seeing more "color" posts from me.
My left eye is 20/70, my right is 20/40. I have a pair of distance glasses that correct  my vision to 20/20 but they are only for distance. So I can drive in the daylight.  And I'm at the point where I'm not real comfortable with that now either.
So please be patient while I wait to get my eyes fixed and I can get back to tangling.
This photo above is actually a small block  of a larger piece I've been working on off and on for the past year. I love the colors. I am using an 005 micron to make tiny delicate lines. Can't do too much of that right now, so it is on my To-Do list for when I can see again.
What are you working on? Is it inspired by the season? The holidays? I'd love to know!

A Little Airport Tangling

If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you already know how much I love color. Bright color. In your face bold color. I love it!

You will also know that we recently moved way north. Thankfully it doesn't reach 100-105° F here - hallelujah - but it does require me to make a monthly trip down south to take care of my mother. Which means a lot of airport time. I knew that my last trip would include a two hour layover at Reagan International and I wanted to  stay busy. I pulled out my Peerless Watercolor swatches  and a Stillman & Birn sketchbook and got busy.

I used a water brush and touched it to the swatches - seriously that's all you do - and laid down splotches of beautiful color until the page was filled. At the airport, I found a table at the food court  and pulled out a Sharpie Fine Point and got busy. 

If you look at each section of color, you will easily be able to see what I did. One tangle in one section of color. There are a couple places where I carried the crescent moon tangle over into another section, but mostly it was one tangle per. For this piece of art I used: diva dance rock 'n roll,  crescent moon, tipple and printemps, and that's it.  Easy piece to create even if it does look a little harder than it really was to make. I have a product review on peerless watercolors here.  Bright, bold, and portable. Just exactly what I need them to be! SaveSave

Thursday String Idea #19

 Welcome to another

Thursday String Idea,

and yes, I know it's already Monday.

Hahahaha! 

If you saw my last post then you already know 

the crazy, busy week I had week.

Publishing three books in one week is an 

awesome kind of crazy week to have!

And even though it is almost here again,

here is the string for last week.

A little different this time.

Instead of using my string, do what I did.

I picked up a couple items that were laying on my desk

and traced them onto my tile.

That became my string.

 This would be a prilosec bottle and a sharpie

that I traced.

 Then I just started putting in some tangles.

 I am thinking this is a strange combination of

tangles, which I can explain by saying I am sick.

My little Frankles had a cold when I stayed with her

Friday, now I have it. Ugh.

Here if my completed string #19.

Whimsical, Dr. Seussical, that could be Cat in the Hat's hat!

Those tangles would be printemps, diva dance rock n' roll,

and two of my own - skinz and Tennison.

So, grab a couple items from your desktop and trace them,

then tangle on and have fun!

Thursday String Idea #5

Welcome to Week 5 of the

Thursday String Idea!

Please feel free to print the string and tangle your own work of art with it.

The string is sized to fit a 3.5" tile.

You can print it from this link

OR

there will be another link at the bottom of this post.

I liked the curvy nature of this string, and opted to add some curvy lines in the 4 sides.
Tangles I used: diva dance - waltz and rock 'n roll.
If you would like to print this string, just click this link.
I would love to see what you create with this string!

Wonky Stacking

There has been a lot of interest in stacking tangles lately, as well as using papers other than zentangle tiles. This little piece of art does both!
This is a small piece of scrapbook paper I had left over, about 5" x 4". I made some wonky, non-straight string lines with my pen, and started laying in tangles.   From top to bottom: diva dance, printemps, merryweather, meer and cootie.
All the color in this tile was part of the scrapbook paper. Super easy to do and what a great way to use up some of that paperI still had in a cabinet!
Do you have leftover scraps you could tangle on?

Diva Dance and Dylusions

This was a quick and fun piece to create. The background colors are the new Dylusions Paints. They go on just like acrylic paints and are permanent when dry. Their bright, vivid colors match the Dylusions Ink Sprays. I used three colors - lemon zest, fresh lime, and calypso teal. Then I added a little alternating diva dance rock 'n roll, with some printemps. Easy peasy!

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.

So Far Behind

So far behind in posting. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon. Kali and I spent the past few days in Orlando visiting Disney World and the new Harry Potter attraction at Universal Studios. Photos coming soon :). Yay!!! 

Bijou. It's What's New in Zentangle®

Bijou. A two inch square tile - commonly known as a twinchie. In the realm of all things zentangle, these are Bijou tiles. Bijou is a little snail that came home from Paris with Rick and Maria several years ago. They named these tiles after Bijou. You can see a drawing of him - or her - on the back of each tile. The nice thing about a twinchie is you can tangle one up in a short amount of time. And as I soon found out - they also handle color very well. These are the first four I tangled.
Frankie is over for a few days so posting may be sporadic until next week. Just so you know. 

TootsieMoon and Color

 Last week I posted the step-out for my tangle TootsieMoon and gave some examples of it in use. Below is the tile in straight black and white. I have since come back and added color by way of Prismacolor Pencils. And I added that cute little snail. He (or she) is fresh from CZT training in Rhode Island and will begin popping up all over the zentangle pages you follow very soon. Meet Bijou.

As much as I love the color - it's hard to beat the plain ol' black and white version.

If you haven't tried out TootsieMoon yet, here is a link to the step out. Have fun!

The Diva Challenge, #174

It has been quite some time since I've taken one of Laura's Diva Challenges! I got too bogged down in swaps and they were taking up too much of my time. So for now I am holding off on swaps and trying to reconnect. This was Laura's 174th challenge, wow! that's hard to believe! The challenge was to superimpose one string on top of another. To do that, I went to Linda Farmer's string page on Tangle Patterns.

I started with string 089, lightly marking those circles with pencil in the corners. I filled those in with some Diva Dance Rock 'n Roll.

Next, I took string 094 and lightly marked those lines onto the same tile. I used those basic lines as an additional string - and added a couple more - then ran them like hollibaugh, and tangled cheesecloth in the middle sections. 

Add some shading and it's all done! This was a fun challenge presented to us by Aimee Belair, CZT. You can head on over to I Am the Diva's page and check out all the superimposed string renderings and perhaps post one of your own!

One More TootsieMoon

As promised, one more tile featuring TootsieMoon. You've seen it straight, you've seen it round, and now you see it meandering. In case you didn't see the step-out for TootsieMoon, scroll down to the next post and you can see step by step how to draw it out. How to tangle a little TootsieMoon for yourself. And once again - no shading on this piece yet, because I want to color it first. Maybe. Not sure. I'm kind of liking it just like this. So maybe a little shading to come. Hahaha!
Today I also finally did some cutting on a couple sheets of handmade Japanese paper that I bought in Toronto a short time ago. I was really nervous about that - but everything turned out great. I took photos and I hope that will be a post for tomorrow. In the meantime - have fun with TootsieMoon!

Joey's Weekly Tangle Challenge #13

Recently I came across a new tangle challenge - from Joey. She is a serious creator and crafter, and now she is offering a zentangle challenge each Monday. This week's challenge is: tangling in a circle. I expect most tanglers are going to work on mandalas, I chose not to go that route. We were allowed to use one circle - I decided to make that circle my string. I used a portion of crescent moon. Unless there is another tangle that looks like an uncompleted crescent moon - then I used that tangle :).  Throw in a little fescu (I'm just now seeing that no tangles are supposed to go outside the circle, sorry, pretend those outer fescus aren't there) and a little diva dance rock 'n roll. And there you have it. My first Joey challenge piece done. I didn't shade this piece because I might go back and watercolor it. Then, I will shade with color. If you want to get involved - you know you do! - check out Joey's page right here.

(Now I just need to go back and check out challenges 1-12. Joey leaves them open-ended so we can go back at any time and post to those link-ups as well!)

Peerless Watercolors

I first heard about Peerless Watercolors in an online class I am taking taught by Artomologist Jane Davenport. They are these really nifty little sheets of paper of highly concentrated pure, intense color. The description from the Peerless page includes words like intense strength, absolute solubility, clean color, and convenient. The color adheres to one side of a specially designed paper fabric. The color is activated when water - or any other soluble mixture - is applied. 

What you get with Peerless is plenty of bright, vivid, beautiful colors. Which if you know me, or follow this blog, you already know I am all about the color! I took my Peerless swatches of color and made a color chart page spread in my color journal. I used a Tim Holtz Ranger waterbrush and just touched the wet tip of the brush to a Peerless sheet, then brushed it onto the page. Seriously, it is that simple!

For this particular project I worked in my Strathmore 8" x 5.5" watercolor journal. I just started picking up various colors and touched the wet brush to them, dragging color across the page. 

I kept adding color - building my page. I used the colors I thought I would be coloring with the most. I'm not much of a brown, grey, or tan person so I pretty much stayed away from those colors. I just kept adding and building layers of color. Stacking them here and there.

I worked on this page at Cindy's home just outside of Toronto last month. One of the many things Cindy and her girls introduced me to was hot tea and milk. Yummy! In fact, I had to buy some tea bags as soon as I got back stateside!

Of course, it is a little bit harder to use your Peerless watercolor swatches when Mr. Socks is laying on top of the swatches and your book. Those little papers under Mr. Socks' front paw? Those are the swatches. If you look closely at the one on top of the stack to the left of the photo, you will see a small dot at the bottom corner and another at the top corner of the swatch. That is where I touched my waterbrush to the swatch to pick up the color. These little sheets are going to last me a long time!

I just kept working till my page was filled with awesome, gorgeous, wild color! Above is a close-up.

Here is the whole page. I really just started playing with ideas and this is what I did to get that speckled look across the top. See those random white splotches?

I have no idea in the world why it worked this way. I placed a swatch of dark color next to the right-hand side of the journal. Then, using my waterbrush I flicked water at the swatch - angled from right to left. Think spattering. As I flicked at an angle, the water spray hit the swatch and bounced across the surface of the journal making these lighter spots where it lifted color from the page. Pretty cool!

I was satisfied at this point, so I pulled out my Sharpie fine point pen and started adding tangles. I love working on a larger scale piece and adding tangles to match the size of the color blocks. Tangle with the flow of the color, so to speak.

I wanted to keep this experiment simple, so I stayed with four tangles: printemps, diva dance rock n' roll, tipple, and a variation of crescent moon. 

I just let each section run into the next, using those four tangles only. 

Keep in mind that open space - also called white space - is good. You do not have to fill in every bit of space. Unless you want to.

So much fun to do. You can see the variation in colors of the Peerless watercolors and see how they blend and flow into each other. There is a section in the picture above that I just love. In the lower left corner you see a pink rose shape - that's the diva dance rock n' roll tangle. Just above it you see a section of little black crescents with lines arcing in towards the middle (crescent moon.) It's in shades of teal and pink. That's it. I love the way those colors work together!

Such beautiful color and you can hardly even tell I used my Peerless swatches!

And even though this page may look difficult, it was super easy to draw. Thanks to the power punch of Peerless watercolors, a Ranger waterbrush, and some simple tangles! My perspective on Peerless? Worth every cent and then some! You just can not go wrong!