'A' Tangles

Another fun prompt in  Zentangle All Around. Use the first letter of either your first or last name. Draw it on your paper. Then tangle with only patterns that start with that letter. 
This is a piece of paper about 4" x 6" that I had pre-colored with some  Color Bloom sprays. I used the letter A from my first name and drew it on the paper. The tangles I used are: Ahh, aquafleur and avreal from  Zentangle HQ and my own airways and All Boxed Up. White highlights came from a gel pen. What a fun idea!

Garlic and Joey

I've been playing with this shape a lot lately. (I'm so cold I'm having trouble typing. Back space, correct, go forward, repeat.) Playing with different ways to fill this shape - that totally looks like a bulb of garlic to me, for some reason. That background is a 5" x 7" pull from a gelli plate.

Joey's Challenge this week was called  The Polka Dot Tangle. Randomly drawn circles,  each filled with a different tangle. It's really good practice for quick tangles.

For this 5" x 7" piece, I used my new  Prima Color Bloom Spray Mists. I've used them before and my pens worked great over the color, but for some reason this time my pens did not work so great.  I used a sharpie fine point and had trouble filling in the dark areas. I tried shading, but the color wouldn't hold the graphite. So. Here it is. Unshaded but that's ok. To participate in Joey's Challenge, just go here and check it out. 

Working on Snow

 No, it isn't snowing here in Florida.

At least, not that I know of. Hahaha!

That could be a little but of wishful thinking

on my part!

So, I've been playing with snowflake making

for an art journal prompt,

part of a group project I'm involved in for 2015.

I really love how this one turned out,

but then you know I'm all about that color, that color!

Such a fun process and I tried some new technique -  for me, anyway. The beautiful background color was done with Prima's Color Bloom Spray Mists. Yummy color with plenty of oomph and sparkle. The sparkle was a surprise,  I had no idea the sprays were going to do that. I love it! Then I tangled my snowflake over the top of  that yumminess with a Sharpie fine point. I've seen some discussion on Facebook today about using microns over inks and paints. (I used to use a micron all the time - with no problem. I just found I was too heavy handed and wore the nibs out before I ran out of ink. Sandy Bartholomew mentioned the Sharpie fine point somewhere and I've been using them ever since.)  Then I took two Derwent Inktense Watercolor pencils  to add all the shading, with the assistance of an aquash waterbrush.  Love how it turned out! The overall snowflake is about 4" x 5". Time to go order a few more of those wonderful Color Bloom Spray Mists. I see a new favorite product on my countertop!

This post brought to you courtesy of Studio Assistant Aurora.
Have a great weekend!

Must Be Snowing Somewhere

I had this nice little blog post almost finished,

I had even saved it a couple times,

then my computer went Boop! 

and the whole post went swoop! 

and try as I might I cannot find it anywhere.

Ugh.

The third week of our art journal journey is coming

to a close. Actually it should have closed late last night,

but don't tell anyone. I am almost on time :).

Cherryl's prompt this week was to fold a snowflake.

Much like I used to do as a child,

and then with my children,

and to trace your initials on it

being mindful of the fold.

(My initials are A, D, and H.)

Being mindful of the fold so that when you cut

your snowflake out, it doesn't fold up

and fall apart on you. 

That fold is mega important.

I call the above photo my

spaceship taking a bath photo.

Hehehehe.

Here is my snowflake cut out.

Nothing fancy. My initials are mostly straight-leggers.

Doesn't lend to very much roundness,

but that's ok. Just gotta work with it.

(Save.)

Then I started prepping my pages.

Since I am working in a journal and I didn't want my blues to spread onto other pages,

I placed a scrapsheet of computer paper under each side.

(Actually, I consider myself a bit of a rebel. 

So, I used new, unused sheets of computer paper.

Hehehehe.)

Background color comes from Prima's 

Color Bloom Spray Mists - I used two colors.

I also spritzed them with water when they didn't move like I wanted them to.

I am so impatient when it comes to artting.

I sprayed a darker blue onto some bubble wrap

and placed it face down into the lighter shades of blue.

(Save.)

Totally must have deleted the photo I took of the salt,

so you are going to have to imagine it.

I sprinkled bits of sea salt across both pages of the spread

while it was wet and left the whole thing to dry.

Once the pages were completely dry, I used an old Disney Room hotel key -

resembles a credit card -

and scraped it gently across the top of the pages

to remove the salt residue.

You can rub your fingers across the surface 

to feel where you need to work a bit more.

Ta-dah!!!

(Save.)

I am sorry I didn't take more photos.

I have a date stamp that has letters on it, 

in addition to numbers, leftover from the old scrapbook days.

Everything old becomes new. Yep!

I used that to stamp the wording.

Noticed I misjudged my distance and got one too many B's on that first page.

Joy.

Then I took the snowflake and traced parts of it onto

the adjoining pages. 

Color added to the flakes are from Derwent Inktense Watercolor Pencils.

I love them! They were the first big expense I made

in my art journey and I've never regretted the cost.

(Your art is precious. Get the best product you can afford. You are worth it.)

Then I added a few tangles,

and a sweet little crocheted snowflake that my mom

made for me back around 1980. 

Thirty-five years ago.

I had just build an old farmhouse style dollhouse

and mom made me some rugs for the floors.

I had this one in the living room.

She will be so surprised to see I still have it.

Stuck this beautiful little treasure down with

some glue dots.

My pages still needed something more to tie them together.

I took the two Derwent pencils I used inside the snowflakes,

and used a waterbrush to flick/spatter

specks of juicy color across both surfaces.

Still it needed some little pop.

And I still have that extra letter B to contend with.

Wal-Mart to the rescue.

Actually I got the jewels from Wal-Mart awhile back on sale -

even better.

See how I totally covered up that bad B

with a stone? And to balance I added

one to the right-hand side by the don't,

even though I didn't mess that part up.

I feel like the jewels were the right touch.

All done.

Two page spread of snowflakes.

Did I mention I live in Florida where it's been in the 70's here in early January?

Hahaha!

Thanks to Cherryl for another great journal prompt!

(Save.)