Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jig

What nursery rhyme or story is that title from? I don't recall, but it sounds familiar and it totally fits today's post as I am once again home. Jiggety-jig. (Or however you spell that. Must be right because there is no little red squiggly lines under it.)
I spent the better part of the past week where dreams come true. Haha! Mostly. I really enjoy just sitting in a hotel room in the Walt Disney World complex, spending days drawing or painting. Or sleeping as the mood hits. By myself and on my own schedule. And that is what I did last week.
I started my visit at Downtown Disney and was so disappointed with my few hours there that I didn't go back at all. They are "rebuilding/reimagining" their shop area and what a mess it is. 
They never had enough parking to start with, so they are working on that problem but have created an even bigger problem while they do. The Disney folks had closed down a couple of the parking lots while they build a huge parking garage to take care of the problem. I just decided to visit at the wrong time. The only place I found to park was at one end (the wrong end for everything I wanted to do) of a long, narrow shopping district. Once you are inside the shopping area, many of the shops and restaurants have been closed or relocated to smaller areas while they rebuild and reimagine the shopping area as well. (On the upside, I hear there might be an American Girl shop going in.)

 map borrowed from google images
(I parked at the far left end and everything I wanted to visit is at the far right end. ugh.)
Long walls of construction blocked the view of the new building and the hundreds, probably thousands, of shoppers were funneled down those long tunnels of walls. Not a fun shopping experience at all. (And I didn't start off intending to vent all that on you. Sorry.) 
From there I checked in at the hotel and I didn't move my car for the rest of my stay. I did everything at the All-Star Sports Resort. Being a Florida resident gave me a huge discount on cost :). Mostly what I did was artsy stuff. 
I began by completing an online class taught by Carolyn Dube called One Pull Wonders. (Hey, Cindy, I've now totally completed 3 online classes!!!) The class is all about that wonderful little artsy tool called the gelli plate. And so much fun it was, too! I had such a paint filled bunch of fun - I'll post more about that later!
I also tried to tangle a bit each day. I had a larger piece I am still working on, but one of the first things I did was to check out Joey's Challenge for the week. (Hahaha! I am soooo tired. I just thought of something. Anytime you see pink words here it means there is a link attached. . . . pink = link. Pink link. Hahaha! Doesn't take much to amuse me!) 
This week Joey's challenge was to focus on snow - or  - to use four specific tangles Joey gave us. Scrumble, Nvelope, Ojo, and Widgets. S.N.O.W. I had never used any of these tangles before, so it was all a learning experience for me. Which is exactly what a challenge should be. Something we use to challenge our limits, to push ourselves into growing and developing. Sometimes a painful experience but always essential to our continued growth.
So after all that wordy wordiness, at the top of this post you see my challenge tile. (Although, I think instead of snow this reminds me more of sunny beaches here in Florida where people are still swimming and surfing on the 4th of December. Our temps are expected to be in the 80s today.) Happy winter to all! 
Why don't you head over to Joey's and check out the snow challenge. (Did you see what I did there? Pink = link. Hehehehe! Bye!)

Quilted Challenge #35 - Thanks, Joey!

Joey's challenge this week was to tangle something quilt-like. With tangling that is a really easy thing to do. Pick any pattern in a grid format . . .

(photo borrowed from google)

. . . and tangle away! For my quilt I used a basic florz pattern and worked from there. The quilting lines remind me of barbed wire, I may draw a step-out for that. Nothing to it really, very simple. Shading rounded out the sewn lines and gave a little puff appearance of quilt batting underneath. The color comes from Dylusions Ink Sprays. The quilt border itself is a piece of digital scrapbook paper. It really pulled my easy little quilted tile together and made it complete. 

You can check out all the quilted tangles on Joey's page here. (Any time you see pink lettering on this blog - just click on it and you will be directed to a link with more information.) And please feel free to add your own quilted tangle on Joey's page. She (and the rest of us) would love to see your work!

The Eyes Have It - Joey's #33 Tangle a Mandala

There's a cool blog that posts a weekly tangle challenge. Made By Joey has something for every level of tangler. I don't always get my artwork posted on Joey's blog but I always try to complete the challenge. This eye mandala was drawn for her 33rd weekly challenge. I got it finished after the next week was already posted and am just now getting around to linking it in.
This is a free-hand mandala that I worked on while I watched Merlin on Netflix. I don't know if that is where the 'eyes' came from or not. Morgana was being her usual creepy-deepy self, so it is entirely possible. Haha!
Also, I haven't shaded the mandala yet because I am hoping to add some spiffy color to it. But of course!
If you would like to check out Joey's weekly challenge just click on the pink link with her name at the start of this post. This week's challenge is to tangle something quilted. I am going to be all over this one!

Optical Illusion, Joey's Challenge #19

Sorry it's been awhile since I posted anything new. I was visiting Kali last week and did not take my laptop. I have never been able to successfully post with my iPad. So frustrating, but I did make art while I was gone. 
This week's challenge from Joey is to use a tangle that has the appearance/feel/aura of an optical illusion. Zonked by Barbara Finwell is perfect for this. I even tried it out with various colored microns. Those lines that look black? Those are totally purple. Cause I know you can't tell from this picture. Hahaha! 
Why don't you head on over to Joey's here and check out everyones optical illusions. You could even post one of your own!

Floral Challenge #14 at Joey's Place

Last night on facebook I posted the above picture at The Creator's Leaf. I was just starting on the new weekly challenge that Joey runs over at MadeByJoey's. This week's task was to tangle some flowers, or use patterns that resemble flower parts, or use a flower shaped string. I decided to go floral - they are some of my favorite things to draw! And literally everything you see in this picture is a tangle pattern, several with auras. (Auras are those black areas that surround and mimic/aura the tangle itself.)

I used my Stillman & Birn 7" square Zeta Series sketchbook and a Sharpie fine point pen. For patterns I used printemps, flux, tipple, mooka, sunz, fescu, and flora. Lots of loopy, swirly, yummy garden fun!
Check it out at Joey's place -  and join in on the tangletivity! 
Next up - I am going to use some yummy Grumbacher's watercolors and add some spunk to these flowers!

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!)