Review Coming Soon #hahnemühle #hahnemühlebamboo

 If you follow my blog you already know -

I love bold, bright and colorful!

Heck!

Just look at my wall!

Hahaha!

I call myself a color artist because it is what

I prefer and it is what I have studied.

Each of the pieces above also have a back side

full of color!

And I'm going to be doing a complete review

soon on these projects I made using

Hahnemühle's wonderful paper -

Bamboo Mixed Media!

Just need to tangle a couple first.

And it's the weekend!

Yay!!!

Although, when you are retired it is always

the weekend!!!

Saturday is the day I post new prompts for

the week in my Facebook group

Zentangle All Around. 

I give them a string to tangle and I thought

I might as well give it to you, too.

You know. 

In case you aren't in my group. 

And if you aren't - why aren't you?

Just messing with ya!

If you are interested, you can check us out

here. 

Have a great weekend!

A Bit of a Week

So I haven't posted in a couple days and I was wondering why not. Then I realized a lot has been going on in my life. I did find time to participate in A String Symphony with my Facebook group Zentangle All Around. Above is my tile for string #30.  I am only about 30 strings behind. Hahaha! The tile is a mashup of arukas and airways. Such fun!

 I also got to spend some time with the Frankles.

She loves those sunglasses. 

 She even insisted I wear them -

even if they were made for a little guy

and barely fit my face.

Frankles wore her new glasses that 

are helping her see better.

(When she gets tired of wearing them,

she will have them to me and say, "thank you.")

And our really big news this week is that Bobbie - my son's wife who I call daughter - and mom of the Frankles - earned her ears at Disney two days ago. The beginning of a new adventure for their family. My son will be starting a new job dispatching in a 911 call center for one of the Sheriff's Offices in the area. And the Frankles is starting day care.
In the meantime, we are packing everything  that doesn't move in preparation for our move to Maine.  Happy times. 
What are you up to? How was your week?

Camouflaging a String

 I love making the string disappear,

make it vanish right into the tangling.

Can you see the string in the drawing above?

In my Facebook group Zentangle All Around

we are doing a string each day.

By the end of 2016 we will have 366 completed

works of art!

I tangled this last night.

Because I know what the string looks like I can see it.

Can you?

Here is the string I used.

This particular string is #51,

the string for February 20th.

Strings are meant to be used as guidelines.

You can either follow the string exactly,

or use portions of it.

For my tile, I elected to leave out the square borderline, 

but keep the string itself intact.

This tangling was done on a piece of scrapbook paper

that I bound into a handmade art journal.

That tulip band in the center is a tangle of mine 

called veez. 

It was published in Cris and Sonya's book

Pattern Play: a Zentangle Creativity Boost.

Everything else you see is a tangle called arukas.

I don't recall the specific story behind arukas, 

but i remember how to spell it

because it is Sakura backwards. :)

Yes. I can see the string very obviously,

and you can see it because I showed you the blank

string tile.

But my guess is - 

most people won't spot the string that helped

me create a bit of interesting art.

And they probably (hopefully, maybe) are going

to wonder how I created this.

So.

Camouflage your string line and leave them

wondering!

String #11 for January 11th

 I tried several times yesterday to make a post,

but Photobucket was down and so many of my photos

were missing. 

I didn't want to draw attention to that.

And it seems I have lost 11 subscribers since yesterday.

I don't know if that is because the blog looked so messed up yesterday, or not. 

I do apologize, but I have no control over Photobucket.

That is where all my photos are stored.

They have me totally at their mercy.

At lease it is back to normal today.

Above you see string #11 that I posted for January 11th.

From top to bottom I used - scallops, rixty, and florz. This was a fun string to tangle up. I love rixty, though I rarely use it. I need to rectify that situation. I need to work on those black sections and figure out how to make them more uniform.
If you should want to play along with our String Symphony - one new string for each day of the year -  then head on over to Zentangle All Around at this link and send me a join request. Hope to see you there!

A String Symphony #10

 String #10?, you say.

And today's the 28th?, you say. 

Yes, I am abysmally behind. Nothing new there. But the beauty that I built into this String Symphony is simply this - you can NOT be behind. Work on whichever day you wish, whenever you wish, just keep tangling along when you have the time.
The thought is by me providing one string for each day of the year, at the end of 2016 we will have 366 lovely pieces of art. AND if we keep them in a binder, or a journal,  or a file box  - we will be able to travel through a progression of our tangleabilities  and watch our style and capabilities expand  as we simply relaxed each day and let the zen part of zentangle occur.
Want to join us? Easy peasy. Head on over here to Zentangle All Around, send me a join request, and get started.

String 24, January 24, 2016

I am a day late posting, but better late than never.

This is the string I drew for the 24th of January.

In our Facebook group Zentangle All Around,

the prompt for this string was to do it as a monotangle.

Using just one tangle, variations or tangleations were acceptable as well.

For mine, I used my tangle TootsieMoon.

It works very well when you have several sections that

meet and intertwine.

Shading really makes it yummy!

It is not too late for you to get involved in our year long endeavor -

A String Symphony.

Just head on over to Facebook and join us in

Zentangle All Around

by using this link.

Hope to see you there!

String 23 - Zentangle All Around

 Some of you may not know that I host a Facebook Zentangle group called

Zentangle All Around.

I recently started a year long challenge in the group.

I provide strings - a week at a  time - and the challenge is to tangle a string for every day of the year.

At the end of 2016 each participant will have 366 pieces of artwork that they created themselves.

A treasure trove and beauty, of learning, of advancement and progress.

This is today's string.

As a prompt this morning I challenged each member to tangle today's string using at least one tangle they had never tried before.

Here is what I tangled up. I actually tried three tangles I hadn't drawn before. From upper left to lower right you have: OO Africa (new,) flying geese, gryst (new,) and fracas (new.) I enjoyed trying some new linework,  I think I'll be using that gryst a lot in my circular art. I love to do circles! Haha! 
If you are interested in expanding your tangle abilities,  or if you are just looking for a way to stay busy,  head on over to Facebook and search for Zentangle All Around. Send me a join request and I'll accept you right in. There is still time to get involved.

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 #18

 Here it is Thursday again,

and once again I have a string ready.

Will miracles never cease?

Hahahahaha!

I seem to like roundish strings,

so here we are one more time - 

tangling in the round.

(Should you like to print that tile out at 3.5" size,

simply click here for a link.)

I know there is probably a lot more that could be done with this tile, but I am liking the minimal effect here. So I am calling it done. And my actual tile is a 3.5" one, so it is smaller than it appears here.
That tangle in the center going around in a circle - that one is called Shiretown. If you are interested in it, you should be watching for an announcement here oh, just any day now. Hehehehe. Thanks for joining me for Thursday String Idea!
(Again, click here for a printable tile.)

Thursday String Idea #17

It is another Thursday String Idea! I missed last week because I was in Maine and just wasn't prepared. Sorry. But it is all good now, because we have a new string this week! Should you want to print the string above at the  standard 3.5" size, click here.  This is what I did with string #17. I know it is hard to follow, but trust me. The string is definitely in there. I used two tangles - one of mine called baubles, and one of Julie Beland's called beauchamp. They work very well together! You can find those tangles in the Facebook group Zentangle: Tangled and Journaled, Too!
I would love to see what you do with this string! And here is the link one more time if you should wish to print the string. Right here. 
Coming soon - a bunch of photos from Maine!

String #15 and Diva #243 Combined

Welcome to Thursday String Idea #15.

 Yes, I still owe you a step out for ringz, but first

here is Thursday String Idea #15,

also posing as The Diva's challenge #243 - Just a Tiny Taste.

A simple string on the surface.

Deciding where to go with those sections is another thing.

If you would like to print the string out at the 3.5" square size, 

click here and print.

Then just pick a section and start tangling.

For me, when I looked at this string I had

crescent moon screaming out my name. 

I draw my crescent moon a little different than most,

but this is what consistently works for me. 

The Diva's Challenge was to consider white space. 

More specifically to leave a majority of the tile blank.

I didn't quite hit the mark on the "majority"

but this is still a major step for me. 

Like the Diva - I tend to tangle everything in site,

every bit of the paper is filled when I am done.

So this was a bit of a challenge for me,

and isn't that what the Diva Challenge is all about anyway?

Stretching us to be better tanglers.

If you would like to see all the artwork posting this Diva Challenge, click here.

If you would like to print the string out, click here. 

I would love to see what you do.

AND if you are new to my blog,

wherever you see pink in the post, that means it is a link, because

Pink = Link.

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!

Thursday String Idea #10

 Welcome to the Thursday String Idea.

This week's string is a basic spiral

that you can turn any direction you want.

Upside-down, rightside-up.

It's your call.

To print the string at the correct size for 

a 3 1/2" tile, click here. 

My spiral is flipped from what you see in the string. And I opted to use my spiral on a larger size than the 3 1/2" square. Some of the tangles I used are: popsicles, ixorus, indyrella, antidots, printemps, flux, sedgling, and sanibelle. All can be found on tanglepatterns.com .
Spirals are fun, sometimes a challenge, but always fun! I would love to see what you do with this week's string. If you haven't tried one of them yet, this would be a good time to start. Click here to be taken to a printable page.

Thursday String Idea #9

 Welcome to Thursday String Idea!

We are already on string #9, 

that is really hard to believe!

Today we have a straight line string.

Have fun!

You can download today's string here to print it.

The string is sized to fit onto a 3.5" tile.

Lately I have been focused on tangling in the round.  Even though this is a straight line string, you can still tangle in the round as you can see from the tile I made. Tangling in the round is as simple as using some element of roundness, whether it be round tangles, round tiles, or a round substrate. If you'd like to get involved in tangling in the round, check out my Facebook group called Zentangle All Around. To print out this week's string,  just click here and it will take you to a place to print. You can share your string #9 on Zentangle All Around!

Thursday String Idea #7

 Welcome to Week 7 of the

Thursday String Idea!

It is still Thursday for another 3 1/2 hours, so I am not late. Hahaha!

But close!

This past weekend I kicked off a new Facebook group called

Zentangle All Around.

We are focusing on tangling in the round,

and each Thursday I will be sharing the weekly

string idea with them.

If you are interested, go to Facebook and check us out.

We would love to have you join us!

Tangling in the round includes several things: round tangles, OR round tiles, OR tangling on any round substrate. Not every tangle used has to be round, there just have to be some manner of roundness included. Today's string has some curvy angles and I chose not to use any round tangles at all. Using a round string is enough to meet the qualifications.
You can print out the string template by clicking here.  The string is sized to fit a 3.5" tile.
The tangles I used are knightsbridge, cheesecloth, and msst.