The 100 Day Project Wraps Up! #the100dayproject #ledaartsupply #zentangleallaround

I am going to hope this photo is clearer 

than it shows on my computer screen.

Collage of my 100 pieces of art for

The 100 Day Project!

I made this in the free section of

TurboCollage.com -

a friend pointed me to this program.

I worked on this piece over two days,

so part of it was day 99 and the whole

piece is day 100!

Overall a great project but really - it is

so hard to keep going. 

After awhile you just want to get your life back. 

I will not be doing this project myself

next year, but I will be there in spirit for

those who want to participate.

Great job to my Zentangle All Around members

who kept up with the project and to those

who are finishing up.

All of us totally rock!!!

Loving this Collage in my XL Leda Sketchbook! #ledaartsupply #zebrapen_usa

 Wow! Where to start?

Photo heavy post ahead.

I am going to walk you through how I made

this two-page spread in my XL Leda Sketchbook.

If you don't care about that -

just admire the above photo of the finished

project and have a super day :)

but

if you want to see how this was put together,

just read on.

 I started with my XL Leda Sketchbook

from Leda Art Supply. 

Here is a link where you can see their other items.

The pages are 8.5" x 12" which makes this 

2-page spread 17" x 12".

That's big!

I began by covering both pages with 

Dina Wakley's Clear Gesso. I spread the gesso 

with an old credit card to get smoother coverage.

That teal color you see is some of Dina's

acrylic paints. I just smeared them on with a 

paintbrush to give some texture. 

 Whoa! Too dark! 

So I covered it with some white acrylic,

also from Dina Wakley.

I worked on both pages, adding layers of a couple

different colors from Dina's line,

then left it to dry overnight.

 I still didn't like how it was looking,

so I changed over to 

Pebeo High Viscosity Studio Acrylics,

Golden Fluid Acrylics and Golden High Flow Acrylics

and a brayer.

I rolled several colors up and down

and side to side.

 And kept working this way until I got something

I was happy with. Then stopped to let it dry.

 Figured to throw in a bonus here:

whether you are rolling paint on pages

or rolling paint onto a gelli plate -

don't waste your paint. 

That leftover on your brayer rolls very well across

some blank pages in your other journals.

This is what I did with the Baby Leda Sketchbook

you saw on the left in the photo above this one.

Leftover brayered paint makes a great base

for some zentangle art.

 If you follow my tutorials, you already know I have

trouble remembering to take photos.

I get "in the moment" then all of a sudden I think-

I should have taken a photo of that!

So what you see above is this -

I collected various items I wanted to use in the collage.

Items I thought would work well together.

The Indian figure photos came in the mail as

part of a promotion Ashton-Drake had going on.

Those blocks of color are bits and pieces of a napkin 

in Jane Davenport's line. 

The birds are from the collage pages sold at

Joggles.com.

The Hope block was part of an ad in a

North Face sales paper.

The song lyrics I printed on my computer

and the mushrooms and flowers are clip art

from Tim Holtz - I believe. 

I adhered all those pieces to my background with

Dina's clear gesso,

then covered each of them with the same gesso making sure the edges were sealed well. 

To give some color to those white

lyric blocks, I sprayed Dylusions Ink Sprays 

and used Jane Davenport's Mermaid Markers,

then allowed the color to run down the page. 

 Here you can see the green and pink runs of color

from the Dylusions Ink Sprays.

I colored the mushrooms with Jane's Mermaid Markers.

I used the mermaid markers here as well.

 You can see drips on the wings,

and color on the lyric block.

 A shot of the Hope box that was part of 

a magazine ad. 

I just tear out pages that I think I may

want to use one day and throw them

in a drawer until I need them.

 Possibly hard to see - I used a 

Tsukineko Shimmer Spritz to add some sparkle

and shine. And I added some color with 

Zig Pearlescent Watercolors on the mushrooms

and over the lyric blocks. 

 This big open area needed something,

so I pulled out my Joggles ATC stencils

and came across these fish.

Perfect!

I placed the stencil where I wanted the fish,

then scraped Liquitex Basics Gloss Gel Medium

through the openings of the stencil 

and left it to dry overnight.

 Here's a little more of that Shimmer Spritz.

 Actually I didn't put it away just yet,

I took a photo first.

Cause you know - I am just so good at

taking photos. 

>.<

 It's the next day and I really wish I had

taken a photo of these fish to show you.

They were white when they were wet.

Looked like Elmer's School Glue, didn't they?

They dry completely clear.

Clear didn't help a whole lot, so I

colored them with my trusty 

Tombow Dual Brush Pens

that Mark got me for Christmas a few years ago.

I used Pebeo Deco Markers and

Montana Acrylic Markers to add dots and outlining.

And still there were areas that needed more

color. How do you know when enough is

enough? You just will. And there wasn't

"enough" so I pulled out my Dylusions Paints

and rubbed color here and there with my

fingers. That adds texture and it really is

self-satisfying when you know you've done

something cool and your hands are such a mess!

 You could see it in the last photo, but also this one -

those blue rings. I made those with a little styrofoam

squishy circle that holds the DVDs in the container

you purchase them in. Makes a great little stamp.

Then I also used some of those Joggles ATC stencils

I mentioned earlier and a black StayzOn ink pad

to add another layer of shapes.

 This page needed some help, too.

 So I added some stencil work in black here. 

Here you can see scuffs that I made with

the black StayzOn ink pad.

I just scuffed it across the pages in several

places  - to add more texture. And it kind

of ages the page, so to speak.

 Getting closer but not quite yet.

There were still areas that needed something.

Back to the stencils and the ink to add

some pops of steampunk because . . . 

why not?

 And here, as well. 

So I really liked what I had at this point. 

And was ready to quit until I got an aha! moment

and realized I couldn't post this in my Facebook group

Zentangle All Around

because there wasn't any tangling in the spread.

It's a requirement for posting.

 So I pulled out my Zebra

Zensations Sarasa Fineliner and added some

tipple and flying geese . . .

 . . . and printemps.

I also added some auras around circles

and called it done!

I figure all in all there are a total of about 25 layers

of product. And the XL Leda worked great!

I love using this book for collage work.

It holds up so well and the larger size is really 

fun to work in!

This spread had a lot of wet product added and there

is really minimum curve to the edges of the pages.

And I know from experience those will flatten out

once I have left the book closed overnight.

You can see other collage

work I've done in Leda Sketchbooks here and here. 

I am currently an Artist Ambassador for 

Leda Art Supply and absolutely love their product!

I am also an Artist Ambassador for Zebra Pens. 

Their Sarasa Fineliner worked great on top of all 

these layers for the added touches of tangles. 

Interested in doing some collage work of your own?

I would encourage you to try both the Leda Sketchbooks

and

the Zensations Sarasa Fineliners from Zebra Pen.

Have a great rest of your week!

Days 81 - 83 of The 100 Day Project #the100dayproject #tanglestartsstrings #zentangleallaround #hahnemuhle #ledaartsupply

 Day 81 was a lot of fun and so easy to do!

I was working on a large collage piece - 

making a background layer - 

and rolling the leftover paint onto a couple sketchbook pages. 

This is one of those page spreads of brayered on leftover paint. 

Done in my Baby Leda Pocket Sketchbook from 

Leda Art Supply. 

Perfect size book for this project.

(You can get this book on Amazon.com but if you

buy it direct from Leda it costs less.)

Then I tangled some kuke and Tennyson.

Reminds me of a picnic with a 

bunch of watermelon balls. 

 Day 82 was tangled in my latest book

Tangle Starts Strings.

It has 378 pre-drawn strings so you don't have

to worry about creating that part yourself.

I used perfs, crescent moon (the way I draw it) 

and a new one I'm developing called Zone. 

 Wow! This looks psychedelic!

Day 83 was done in my 

Hahnemühle Black Book. 

It can be purchased here. 

The book is great!

All the pages are black; the one issue that causes

with tangling is figuring out what pens to use.

I purchased a set from Jet Pens called

Teranishi Magic Glow Pens

and they are purported to

"stand out incredibly well on black paper."

The set I purchased had 12 pens.

If you were to count the colors seen in day 83 

you would notice there are only 7.

Five of these 'magic' pens do not actually

work on black.

Not if you would like to also see them.

But 7 are wonderful. 

And the Black Book from Hahnemühle is

 perfect for this! 

The smooth paper was a charm

to draw on with the 7 magical pens I had.

Enough said about those pens.

I will be reviewing the Black Book before long. 

(And I love it!)

The only tangle I used was printemps.

(I'm sure you are surprised with that tangle choice. Hahahaha!)

This doesn't go with any specific day of the project.

I just like it so far.

This is a large collage piece I've been working

on for a couple days now. 

Paint a little, glue a little, and wait for it to dry.

But it is in progress and I love it so far!

Building this in my Extra Large Leda Sketchbook.

You know I love these books!

Hope to have this finished in the next day or so

with a step-by-step of how I made it.

Mostly, skip every other step but I'm trying

to remember to take photos.

It's the weekend!

Yay! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Day 19 of The 100 Day Project #the100dayproject #zentangleallaround #ledaartsupply

For Day #19 of

The 100 Day Project

I pulled out my Baby Leda Pocket Sketchbook

and looked at what collage elements I could put together -

I had been collecting cutouts of clocks and lamps.

For the challenge in our Facebook group,

I set a 15 minute time frame for drawing -

and I've had people complaining because

I set a time limit. 

(I also told them in the instructions they should

tangle for as long as they wished.)

Oh well.

Hence the wording in my finished piece.

And that would be why there are a bunch

of collaged clock faces, too.

Hehehehe!

 Collage art is fun and it really is

anything goes!

This time at least I remembered to prime my

pages first with some of the awesomest

clear gesso on the market - Dina Wakley's.

Clear is not necessary if it is your first layer,

I just use clear on everything so I only need

to buy one type of gesso.

(If you don't count the black, and gold, and blue

in my drawer.)

To prevent streaks, I spread the gesso with an

old Christmas gift card that was already spent.

Thank you, Sis!

 A good collage needs some funky color happening

so I pulled out a couple bottles of neon

cheapo craft paint that came from WalMart . . .

 . . . squirted some dots on the pages . . .

 . . . and spread it up and down

and back and forth.

And I added some more dots along the way,

til I had enough coverage mixed with

some white space.

Cause who doesn't love white space?

 And once again because I am impatient,

I used my Martha Stewart heat gun to dry

the whole mess quick.

So please forgive me, I forgot to take a photo

of my collage pieces before I glued them down.

But this is what I did -

I took all the pieces I wanted to use and figured out 

how I wanted to arrange them on the pages.

Then I put some more clear gesso on a paper plate

and took my elements one at a time and with an old

paintbrush I spread gesso over the backs.

I placed the element on the page where I wanted it,

smoothed it down with my fingertip,

then painted gesso over the top and around the edges

to adhere it and seal those edges.

I did this same procedure until all collage pieces

were adhered and I set it aside to dry.

(Who am I kidding. I totally grabbed that heat gun.)

Things needed a little spicing up.

So, I reached for my Jane Davenport 

Mermaid Markers that I got at Michael's

and started adding some color here and there.

They work just like a water brush and I used a

kleenex to blot some color off the page

so the colors would have a somewhat

mottled look.

In the above photo you can see that really

well on the yellow clock face and on the

silver number-faced clock.

 For the most part I was happy with the colors.

But it needed some tangling so I could post it

in Zentangle All Around.

 I wanted to put the wording

Time to Tangle on that red clock . . .

 . . . so I tried with a white gel pen.

Looked awful, so I went over it with a

super thin brush and some white paint

and basically gobbed it all up.

 So I let that dry, then went over it with

a Zebra Technical Drawing pen and I

like it much better.

I did add more layers along the way.

I did a little tangling,

I added the word blob, 

and I pulled out some stencils and an ink pad.

Posca Paint Pens finished out my collage piece

and I am really, really happy with it! 

If you are looking for a place to get involved

with The 100 Day Project,

you can join us at Zentangle All Around.

The 100 Day Project is basically a global

challenge to make art for 100 days in a row.

It started April 3rd and will run through July 11th.

It is a great way to get involved in art -

or for some to get re-involved.