Star Unraveled

 This is what I've been playing with lately. Not an idea that I came up with, but based on a piece of artwork created by my friend and fellow CZT - artist Sharon Payne . . .

. . . that I saw and loved! Sharon calls this piece Dreaming at Sunset. You can see this - and more of Sharon's beautiful art - on her blog Jazztangled. I was really drawn to the leaf shapes and the little pieces dangling and swirling out the ends of them. 

So I picked up a pen and a sheet of 9" x 12" bristol smooth surface and started drawing. I sat in my chair and drew for two hours. That is pretty intense for me. I can play with paints and inks for two hours, but drawing for two hours is a completely different story. I toyed with the idea of the almond shapes with the tendrils flowing out the ends. And somehow they ended up in a star-ish shape - I think someone else may have drawn them in this shape first, but I couldn't remember who. (So, sorry if I miss giving credit to someone for the idea.) I love all the loops, and swirls, and curls, and furls. Kind of like a star just unraveling and spilling everything right out there.

Then I moved on to a smaller version. I had some scraps leftover from a book project - with dylusions ink spray colors already on them - and I used one of those. This piece is about 4" squared. There are a couple background pieces on the right that you haven't seen yet. I'm still working on those.

And of course I had to play around some with the settings on my iPad when I took this picture. This filter is called process. Apparently some rocket scientist named the filters. Who knew. 

Anyhoo, here she is - Star Unraveled - in all her beautiful, bright, wild and crazy unedited color! Keep in mind she's about 4 inches across and compare that with the size you see on your computer screen and you'll know about how big this piece truly is. And please go check out Sharon's blog here. You'll love visiting her! (And just read her posts with a soft, southern drawl and y'all will feel right at home.) (And I can say that cause I'm from the south, too!)

New in my studio? A brand new product from Zentangle.com that we will be releasing to the public in a couple weeks. Until then I get to play with it all by myself - bwahahahaha! 

Lola

Love this new tangle 'lola' by my CZT buddy Sandy Hunter. Here is a link to her blog post where she intros her tangle with the step-out and some awesome adaptations. I am still working on it, but so far I am pleased with what I have. For some reason the curviness of it is giving me some problems, but I am going to keep working on it! (Lola makes some really awesome butterflies, too!)

Guest Artist Nancy Wigley

Today I want to share some artistic backgrounds from Nancy Wigley. Nancy is a Facebook friend I met through my The Creator's Leaf page. She has been following my artisitic endeavors for a while now, which led to Nancy giving the inks and sprays a try out of her own. 

To make this beautiful blue background you see above, Nancy used Dylusions Ink Spray's London Blue on 100 lb. Strathmore Bristol Board. She first sprayed water onto the board, then spritzed the London Blue on top. Then Nancy added more water, finding that she could use the water to manipulate where the color went. (In the process, she also sprayed her fingers blue, as well as a box sitting on her work surface.)  To get the cool designs you see, Nancy placed a stencil over the wet surface, and spritzed more London Blue through the stencil.  I love the way it turned out! This one is my favorite!

For this one, Nancy used Dylusions Ink Sprays Fresh Lime and Pure Sunshine (two of my favorites!) Using the same paper, Nancy sprayed the inks onto a dry board, then used water to move the colors around. She blotted the excess water with kleenex, then spritzed ink onto a stamp and stamped images onto the wet paper. I really like the way this one turned out also!

This one is Nancy's favorite! She used the same paper, Dylusions Ink Spray Postbox Red, and Heidi Swapp's Mint Green Color Shine Spray. Again, she layed down the color first, then moved it with water, blotting with a kleenex. That green color shine spray has some fantastic sparkle in it, that unfortunately does not typically photograph. 

Nancy offers a tip of taping down your watercolor paper to your work surface. Leaving it taped down until the paper dries helps minimize paper warping. 

Nancy, thank you so much for sharing your beautiful backgrounds! These inks are so much fun to work with, and you got some really super results! I can not wait to see what you use these for!