Did Someone Ask For Circles?

I mentioned yesterday how far behind I am on challenges. I've had this one sitting in my smash journal waiting to lay down some color. And now I remember that someone challenged us to circles, but for the life of me I cannot remember who - and I cannot find the challenge in my daily reads. So. Here is my response to the Unknown Circle Challenge! I used a little spinner pattern, mixed in some assemblies and jalousie, threw in some of my barz and geerz, and you have a bit of steampunk. With a whole bunch of circles. I count 79, but there might be more :). On to the next drawing.

Steampunk String 010

Yesterday, Tangle Patterns posted a string for the week. I posted a tile last night that I made following the string of Anne Marks. Today, I made another - of the steampunk variety this time :). You know how I like drawing steampunk! Patterns - jalousie, assemblies, and from my patterns - pipez, barz, and geerz. Color by Pitt Artist Markers and Derwent Intense Pencils. You can join in the fun at Tangle Patterns here :).

Can We Punk in Pink?

Hopefully I'm not breaking some kind of code. 


Some kind of steampunkiness code. 


I got to playing around today with this pattern auraknot - trying to get it down - and I ended up with a steampunked wall - on a piece of pink background paper. In - what else? - my mini smash journal. I love it! Steampunk is so much fun! And I think auraknot will be, too, as soon as I'm used to it :).

String 008 - Steampunked

At Tangle Patterns, it is time for String 008! This week's string is shared by Hope Martin. Here is what I did:

Steampunk just really calls to me right now. Hopefully you aren't getting sick of looking at it. Let's see. I used some assemblies, some geerz, some barz, and apparently not enough light when I photographed it with my phone. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow.


Check out string 008 and get involved here!

Get Your Steampunk On

Last night I posted the pen version of this picture. I spent a little over an hour today adding color. I even got some texture of sorts, due to all the product I used.

I drew this in my smash journal. I guess if I am going to continue to doodle steampunk I should probably start a journal specifically for this. Products that I used included: Derwent Inktense Pencils, Pitt Artist Pens, Robin Mini-Metallic Rub-Ons (I've had these forever. I don't know if they are even still available,) Sakura Opaque Pigment Markers, Pentel Slicci Pens and Micron black and sepia pens.

Patterns include:  assemblies, spinner, parabola, kolum, jalousie, linked, and two I made up - geerz and barz. This was a load of fun! Now, back to working on challenges!

Zendala Dare #5 with the Bright Owl

It is hard to believe it's already the 5th week of Erin's Zendala Dare! This is the pattern she gave us this week. It's really very simple (snicker, snicker!) Erin gives us a pattern and challenges us to fill it with various tangles. Then we get to share our work through her blog and we can visit everyone else's page and learn from their work. The hard part for me is deciding which tangles to use. Sometimes it just comes to mind - like last weeks' surboards. Sometimes it's a bit of struggle for me. I'm sure that is what Erin has in mind with this dare - to challenge us, to push us, and to help us learn. So, with that said, here is my finished zendala for this week :).

I am really interested in steampunk design right now - for whatever reason - and I knew I wanted to use that this week. It was a lot of fun! I used: spinner, metal plate, assemblies, deha, and two patterns that I just made up - geerz and barz. For the color I used Derwent Inktense Pencils with a water brush.

You can find the Zendala Dare here. Check out everyone's zendalas for the week and maybe you'd like to post one of your own! We'd all love to see you there!

Just a Little Steampunk

I am working off a laptop in a hotel room in Tallahassee, Florida. My daughter - Kali - and I are here for the NCFCA Region 8 speech and debate qualifying tournament to nationals! Basically this is a Christian debate and speech competitive league for high school students. Kali graduated last year, so she is no longer competing. She is here to cheer on her friends. I am here as a judge - and to visit with my region 8 family who we love so much!

I am trying to have something to post for you every day, so I came prepared with saved photos in my email. The night before we left, I sat down to draw. I've gotten a little interested in this steampunk idea I see floating through so many websites and blogs. Thought I'd give my hand a try at it!

I hope my interpretation of steampunk is right :). These were a lot of fun to make! I started by watercoloring my tile. These tiles from  www.zentangle.com are perfect for watercoloring. Just threw a splash of brown or tan across the tile, then set it with a heat gun. I scouted through patterns for anything that looked like a gear, wheel, or metal, then started drawing. I used Spinner, Assemblies, Metal Plate, and I made up some filler. I didn't worry so much about my lines being perfect - hey, it's steampunk! Once I got what I thought looked steam-punky enough, I added some shading, and . . . 

. . . this is what I ended up with. So much fun! So, my offering today is a little zentangle-inspired art called Steampunk. Why don't you give it a go and get your steampunk on?