Zen Gem Swap

Zentangle All Around is currently working on a  zentangle gemstone swap.
I like doing sets of nine ATC swaps. They fit so nicely into a baseball collectors page. Makes it easy to display.
Here are my nine.  Zen gems are fun, a little challenging, but fun and rewarding when they turn out. Hahaha!
There are many YouTube videos teaching gems or zen gems. Why not give it a try today? You will need some colored pencils and a little patience. So worth it! Don't you like a good challenge?

4 Tile Swapping

 One of the CZTs had a great idea to host a 

swap using four tiles,

drawing a mandala onto them,

then tangling each quadrant differently.

We mail our set to her and she will

match one of our pieces up with pieces from

three other people and mail us a set back.

Sounded like a really fun idea to me! So here are my 4 tiles. Here you see them unshaded. At the top of the post you see what a  difference shading makes.  It's a pain sometimes but it is always worth it!
I will be out of town for a couple days. Expect more posts when I get back. 

Thinking of the Beach

I am back home and trying to get back in the swing of posting on a regular basis. I have good intentions, but life keeps interrupting my progress. Some of the Facebook tangle artists are having a tile swap, so that's what I've been working on. I like the spirals, this time I tried something a little different and built a spiral completely from the tangle phicops. Fun. 
It's been incredibly hot here at home, although not so much today. Rain, rain, and more rain is what is in our forecast today. In the back of my mind though - the beach is calling. I'm thinking Cedar Key, a swimming pool, some pelicans in flight and diving, my camera, some crab bisque, and a little sun. Hmmmmm. Soon? Linking this post up to The Artist's Play Room, weekly post with Jenn McLean. Head on over and check out art from various artists and art styles :).

Trip to Paradise

My life just doesn't seem to slow down. I thought when I retired that life would be easier, that I wouldn't feel pulled in so many directions. Boy! was I wrong! I seriously need to learn the meaning of the word 'no' and start using it occasionally. Actually last night I did send an email to a friend who runs an ATC swap  through facebook and asked to be left out of the next swap. I have too many irons in the fire.

I just got back home last night from visiting up north. On Thursday I head south to a zentangle retreat at Paradise Beach. I can not wait! One of the fun things Jo-Ellen arranged for us to participate in is an ensemble tile swap. What you see above are the straight lined ensemble and the curved line ensemble that Zentangle® carries. I sell them in my Etsy store :). There are nine tiles in each ensemble with a running string throughout the nine. For this swap we were instructed to tangle each tile independently - that would be why they look a little strange next to each other. When we come home from Paradise, we will have 18 new tiles - from 18 of our fellow artists. Pretty amazing! And what a great way to collect artwork from other tangle artists! Retreat to Paradise? Here I come! (After I wash clothes, pack, find my supply lists and probably make a trip to Michael's, repack because I will have forgotten something. . . well, you get the idea ;) )

Pink is Where It's At

I had a good week in Maryland. Kali and I went to see the movie Divergent on her night off. I recently read the trilogy and the movie was excellent! Stayed very true to the book. Can not wait for the next installment - in one year. Also, I've been working on book submissions. Kind of hard to do when all my cool supplies are at home, but I'm giving it a shot. And of course I have been readying all 53 of my little twinchies to go out in the mail. Just have to get to the post office and buy a bunch of postage. These were so much fun to make and I just used scraps of color that came from previous projects. (And apparently I make a lot of pink projects.) I hope to show you a few more tomorrow.

Gearing Up For a Retreat

Retreat to Paradise. It's almost here! Counting down and getting ready. Organizing supplies, and lamps, and extension cords.
This is the straight line ensemble for our swap I still need to complete the curvy lined one. So much tangling to do. So little time. Story of my life. The End

Confused About Twinchies?

There are still several sets of twinchies I want to share with you. Fifty-four of us are swapping these little two-inch pieces of art and - as you can well imagine - it is hard to make a little two inch piece of paper become spectacular. You don't have a whole lot of room to work with in two inches. (There are a whole world of people who make inchies - I couldn't even imagine. Haha! Good for them, I say!)

So. Where did I start? 
Where do I many times start? 
I can hear Nancy Wigley chiming in here - I start with Dylusions Ink Sprays.   Yes, I do know there is other product on the market but why go there when I get these bright, luscious, beautiful colors with Dylusions? Seriously. 
When I am working on projects I save any scraps of paper in a ziploc bag and add to it as I go. There is always a scrap bag on my work table. (It's usually buried, but it's there.) Twinchies are a great way to use up some of that scrap. Some of the pieces I used already had color on them. (I don't waste scraps with pretty color on them. I horde, uh, save them.) For the ones that didn't - I spritzed water onto the pieces, followed by spritzes of a couple different colors of dylusions. Then you just let it all sit for about 10-15 seconds and watch those colors blend. A paper towel blotted to the paper surface will stop that mixing/blending action. Remember - if your color is too dark when it is dry or almost dry - you can lighten it up with another spritz of water. Dylusions are not color fast. They will start reacting again when you add 'wet' product - be that water or another color. 
You will notice some of the tiles above have designs on them. Take your dry colored tile, lay a stencil over the top, hold it in place, and spritz water over the top of the stencil. Let it sit for 5-10 seconds, then carefully lift the stencil and watch the color lifting start to work. After about 15 more seconds, blot the tile with a paper towel - and continue to watch that color lift leaving behind the design of whatever stencil you used. Remember - dylusions inks are not water fast, they react with wet product. So take advantage of that and make it work to your benefit.

Since I am a tangler - I went back and added various tangle patterns to the tiles. Some are more elaborate than others. This wasn't one of them :). I loved the little fish and how well he turned out. (He came from a stencil.) I went simpler and just added tangle bubbles to his water, leaving the fish to be the focus of this twinchie. There are so many things you can do! So - save your scraps (or hack up a big sheet and have fun!) and get to making some twinchie awesomeness! Cause it's fun!

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.

More Underwater Twinchies, APR #95

Under the Sea (continued from yesterday) ~ The Little Mermaid ~
Down here all the fish is happy as off through the waves they roll. The fish on the land ain't happy, they sad 'cause they in their bowl. But fish in the bowl is lucky, they in for a worser fate. One day when the boss get hungry guess who's gon' be on the plate.
Under the sea, under the sea, nobody beat us, fry us or eat us in fricassee. We what the land folks loves to cook. Under the sea we off the hook. We got no troubles, life is the bubbles, under the sea. Since life is sweet here, we got it beat here, naturally. Even the sturgeon an' the ray they get the urge 'n' start to play. We got the spirit, you got to hear it, under the sea!
(Kind of long, but here's the rest.)
The newt play the flute, the carp play the harp, the plaice play the bass, and they soundin' sharp. The bass play the brass, the chub play the tub, the fluke is the duke of soul. (Yeah) The ray he can play the lings on the strings. The trout rockin' out, the blackfish she sings. The smelt and the sprat they know where it's at, an' oh that blowfish blow.
Under the sea, under the sea, when the sardine begin the beguine, it's music to me. What do they got? A lot of sand, we got a hot crustacean band. Each little clam here know how to jam here under the sea. Each little snail here know how to wail here. That's why it's hotter under the water. Ya we in luck here, down in the muck here under the sea.
Going to add this post to the weekly Artist's Play Room challenge. Jenn encourages us to 'art' and share it in the play room. Why don't you head on over here and check it out.
*  *  *  *  *  *
Twinchies are tiny pieces of art that are two inches square. A whole bunch of artists on facebook are currently involved in a twinchie swap. I can not wait to start receiving beautiful pieces of art from all over the world - literally! These are just a few of the twinchies I will be sending out. More tomorrow.
These twinchies were made on watercolor Bristol smooth from Strathmore, color comes from Dylusions Ink Sprays, and sparklies are courtesy of Wink of Stella Glitter Markers and At You Spica Pens. Click on photo to see a larger view.

Twinchies Under the Sea

Under the Sea ~ The Little Mermaid ~
The seaweed is always greener in somebody else's lake. You dream about going up there, but that is a big mistake. Just look at the world around you, right here on the ocean floor. Such wonderful things surround you. What more is you lookin' for?
Under the sea, Under the sea, Darling, it's better down where it's wetter, take it from me. Up on the shore they work all day. Out in the sun they slave away, while we devotin' full time to floatin' under the sea.
Twinchies are tiny pieces of art that are two inches square. A whole bunch of artists on facebook are currently involved in a twinchie swap. I can not wait to start receiving beautiful pieces of art from all over the world - literally! These are just a few of the twinchies I will be sending out. More tomorrow.
These twinchies were made on watercolor Bristol smooth from Strathmore, color comes from Dylusions Ink Sprays, and sparklies are courtesy of Wink of Stella Glitter Markers and At You Spica Pens. Click on photo to see a larger view.

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 :)

Judging Debates

Took some time away to judge at the NCFCA (National Christian Forensics and Communications Association) Florida Qualifier Tournament.  Students that advance from this tournament will compete at the regional tournament, advancing from there to national competition in speech and debate.
I spent a good bit of time with my foot propped up and a pen in my hand.
I judged several different types of speeches - persuasive, informative, humorous, and duo interpretation where two students compete together bringing a literature selection to life. (Now that the tournament is over, I can tell you my personal favorite was Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Such an awesome job these two young men did!)
I also judged a couple preliminary debate rounds, as well as the final round of Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate where the resolution they debated was National Security ought be valued higher than Freedom of Press.
Excellent tournament. All the students were incredible. And I got to see a lot of friends that I had not seen in a couple years. Such an awesome thing to be able to judge, critique, and offer encouragement to so many wonderful young people. And I was still able to get a little tangling in at night time. It was a win/win all around.

Therapy Has Begun

I started physical therapy today for my achilles tendonitis. 

Whoa! Stretching, pushing, pulling, straining.

And that was just the assessment.

If you were wondering about the two larger hearts -

they are from a paper punch I have.

Punches both hearts at the same time

and I just put my chop in the centers. 

Tangled a bit, made up those balloons,

threw on a little washi tape and called it done.

Fast Approaching

It will be here before you know it.  Valentine's Day. A time to tell those you love - that you love and appreciate them. A time for words, a time for cards, a time for chocolate :), a time to make a difference in someone's life.
A group of us artist types are trading ATCs to show our appreciation for each other and appreciation for the art. It is amazing what you can do with a little ink, some glitter markers, a micron, and a 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" piece of watercolor paper.
Are you getting ready to tell the ones you love that you love them? Cause you should be. And the time is fast approaching.

A Few More Peeks

Here are a couple more detail shots of that large piece I posted last night. After I took these photos, I added a lot of sparkliness to make my heart happy. I love sparkliness!

And pink and yellow, apparently!

And, I just love me some pretty detail shots! 

Tangle on.

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!)

Still Sittin'

I am still attached to this chaise lounge and getting incredibly tired of it! My foot seems to be feeling better, get rechecked next week. The only tangible positive is that I am getting lots of tangling done. Working on more bookmarks for a swap I am part of. Couldn't decide whether to color the mak-rah-mee in the center and decided to just go for it and do it. Which do you prefer? You know how I am about color, so I don't even need to tell you which one I prefer.

I put a quick shot of this on facebook earlier in the week. Here it is cleaned up a bit. Those shapes came courtesy of a stencil used over Dylusions Ink Sprays. This one was a lot of fun! Now, back to sitting. Ugh.

Pluggin' Along

It's been a rough few days here at the house of Hendon. Somehow I have managed to mess up an achilles tendon. Not cool. I do happen to have one very awesome podiatrist, however, she surgered both feet about 25 years ago and she is still in business. Heck! She's even younger than me by a couple years. I know that 'surgered' isn't a word, but it aptly fits the situation. 
A routine of therapy and staying off the foot is about to drive me up a wall. We are trying to prevent a more aggressive approach and are giving a two week grace period.
So here I sit on my lovely chaise lounge with my ipad, drawing desk, a ton of pens and pencils and markers of every color, and a ton of projects that need to be completed. I am still working away on the 106 ATCs I need to complete for the CZT Deck Swap. I have exactly half of them finished. The one above just reminds me of the Wizard of Oz! Does that not look like the yellow brick road and the Emerald City? Totally not planned, it just fell that way! 
Hopefully my foot will start feeling better, instead of worse which it has done today, and I will be able to get back into the swing of things with this blog. Thank you for being so patient. 
Oh yes, I spent a good part of last week taping together a new journal/calendar/planner but was so unhappy with it that this afternoon I ripped it all apart. Threw away the remains of the journal, and salvaged what I could from the gelli plate prints and watercolor paper. Taking a new direction with that and hope to show you some progress in the next few days. 
Have a great Sunday! May God bless your day and your time and may you be faithful to Him - cause He deserves it. (Something I forget on a regular basis.) Hugs!!!

A New Year's Coming

These are the last three of my New Year's post cards for the swap. I used mixed media paper and cut my own 4" x 6" postcards - rather than buying them. In the last two cards I tried something new. Not sure how I like it yet. I used pen nibs and a speedball wand, which I dipped into Liquitex Acrylic Ink to draw the pink string and the green vines. Other colors in the cards came from Grumbacher Translucent Watercolors, Wink of Stella Glitter Markers, and At You Spica pens. It's almost new year's day. The cards are in the mail. It's a new record :).