Tangling on Scraps

This was a fun project! I took a leftover piece of scrapbook paper and trimmed it down to 5"x 7".

 I trimmed one edge with a bit of washi tape.

At first glance, this section reminded me of an underwater cavern.

Of course, most things remind me of underwater scenes.

Hahaha!

So I started sectioning off what I thought might be 

a big piece of coral.

 I finished tracing it out and used my tangle

coral for the main part,

then started stacking in some tipple at the base.

 That tipple slowly evolved into my signature printemps, 

forming the base in the shape of a hill.

 I really liked the orange band across the center and thought it would be a lovely place for a school of little fishies to be swimming past!

 And underwater you are going to have a little bit of current flowing, 

especially with those swimming fish - so I added some movement with beadlines. 

Perhaps that could be some algae or reeds growing along the bottom, moving in the water.

Then I added more beadlines,  and a few more swimmers. All in all, about 15 minutes time invested in this really simple to make  leftover scrap of paper project!

Ghosty Postie #3

Similar to the past two days' posts, so I won't go into a lot of detail. Other than my eyes are almost shut and I'm about to fall off my chair. Ugh. I hate flying.

Started with wet paper and added some spritzes (?) of bubblegum pink - Dylusions Ink Spray. I did this totally backwards. I sprayed the pink first, then added some Lemon Zest. Apparently that make bits of ugly green. Who knew???

Time to salvage some paper. So I added water and some more color. Let it run, and bleed, and move. Then I blotted it.

And I was happy. Finally. This one was a bit more work than I like to get involved in. I like these projects to just come together because they are more fun that way. 

I think this is what I drew on this piece of paper. If you cut off the top inch of paper. Which I would have when I took it out of the sketchbook. If this isn't what I drew - too bad, you get to enjoy it anyway :). It was so much fun to do! And sadly I think I am out of ghost posts to make. Oh well. Thanks for checking in with me as you read my crazy posts. I'll be back home soon and everything will return to normal. I think.

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 ;) )

Feel the Flow

I drew this tile awhile back. I've long had a fascination with the undersea world. When I was growing up in Newfoundland, my dad would fish off the only dock on the Navy base in Argentia just about every weekend. He fished for cod and flounder, and would often catch a puffer fish. It seems like they called them blowfish back then. I remember him taking me to the base library when I was about ten years old and we checked out this wonderful, big, full-color book of ocean photography. For almost a year, I kept that book checked out, renewed and renewed again. I loved it! My dad never got to see any of my drawings, but I know that he would have loved them! And he would have shown them to every single person at his church.

Ixorus Meets Crescent Moon

This tile was interesting to draw. I used my big ruler and just laid in some lines. Not even sure how I ended up with these sections, I remember going diagonally from corner to corner. Then I started the groundwork for ixorus on all the lines. That would be the little scallops - overlapping the lines. Some of the tangled sections look like crescent moon even though that isn't what I was drawing. That little flower/ribbon-y tangle - not sure if it has a name. It is fun to play with. I am going to try to develop it a bit more. I originally saw the basics for it in a Shelly Beauch drawing, and someone commented it was reminiscent of Helen Williams' drawing style. Either way, I really like it and want to work on it and develop it more. By the way, this is postcard #8 for the postcard swap.
Speaking of Shelly Beauch (I never know what to call her online, sorry), I went to Michael's last night and invested in a couple 16" x 20" Canson Artistico Bristol white boards to do some larger scale drawing on. If it doesn't stink, I'll post it here when I'm done :). Hahaha! Not even kidding!

String 031

I love Linda Farmer's string challenge each week. This is the 31st one and I've completed each one. Not always in the same week it's been posted - but completed all the same. 

This is the string that Linda gave us to work with. I was practicing a new tangle that Maria Thomas gave us this week called diva dance. This is what I came up with. 

Diva Dance is really fun to play with! I mixed it here with some ixorus. Loads of fun! Can you find the string in there? You can check out the string challenge at Tangle Patterns!

The Language of Tears

Earlier this week we celebrated Veterans Day, thanking all those who have served in the past or are serving currently in our military forces. I think probably everyone knows someone either in their family or among their friends who has at some time served our country, protected our freedoms, freedoms that many take for granted.

I appreciate the men and women who serve us in this way. Not everyone can do it. It takes someone really special. As our country continues to come under attack around the world, we should pray for, and be thankful to, those who step forward and meet that call.

Both my father and father-in-law served in the military. Both were overseas during World War II. My dad also fought in the Korean Conflict. I think it's wonderful that even years later, years after retirement, that the military watches out for its own. 

Do you know that saying no one left behind? Even in death our soldiers are not forgotten. There is nothing like a military funeral. This particular one was for my father-in-law.

I am so thankful for those who stand in the gap for my family. Those who take the challenge and the responsibility. Thankful for the families that sacrifice time and time again, so we could live in a land of freedom.

Not all tears are tears of sadness. Some are tears of thankfulness.
This tile was drawn for the string challenge (#26) this week. You can check that out here.

Preparing for Hurricane Sandy

Kali and I are in Maryland waiting for hurricane Sandy to hit. We expect much rain and wind and some flooding, no power, you know - all the nastiness that comes with hurricanes. We have an appointment at the culinary school on Tuesday for Kali to take an entrance exam. I don't really think at this point that this appointment is likely to happen, but we'll see. In the meantime, I have a nice cozy hotel room and lots of time to create art! Not much editing ability, or sizing photos, so what you get is what you get. I've even thrown in a pattern I messed up inadvertantly made. I'm going to call it punkin' in honor of the fallish pumpkin appearance it took on as a life of its own. Enjoy! 

Black Water

Really just playing around with some of my favorite tangles. There are two of them that I don't even know the names of, but I use them often. So, I should probably figure that out!

And once again, I realized that I forgot to shade. Shading really does make an incredible difference, adding depth and dimension. Some of the shading is done with a pencil and tortillion. Other parts are shaded with a light grey colored Pitt artist pen. At this point I probably couldn't tell you which is which. You should get your pen and tile out and draw something. You'll be glad you did!

String 021

Tangle Patterns' string challenge this week - can not believe we are at number 21! And I've done every one so far - that's a minor miracle all by itself :).

Here's the string we started with. Pretend it is upside down and what I drew will make more sense :). String provided by Sue Zanker. There is still time for you to head over to Tangle Patterns and post a string tangle of your own.

Tangle Fun

A tile I put together yesterday. If you follow my blog, or my facebook page The Creator's Leaf, you will have noticed that I've been doing a bit of creative work with paints and ink sprays lately. This particular tile started off looking like this:

I am having a lot of fun making these different tile. A couple people sent me messages to ask if I would actually be able to tangle on these tile. They were concerned that the paints, or inks, might be too dark and that you wouldn't be able to see the drawings. As you can see in the first photo, that is not the case. The tangles actually show up quite well. The final colors in the tile were actually darker than what you see in this shot just above - I wasn't completed with it when this photo was taken. Once the tile are completely dried, they are ready for you to tangle any design your heart desires!

Here is a link to the post where I showed step-by-step directons for how to make these tile. You really should give it a try! You know you want to!

Zendala Dare #24

It is hard to believe it's been 24 weeks since Erin started the Zendala Dare. I participated in her first dare. It was my 3rd post on this new blog. Since then I have gotten fully immersed in this art style called zentangle, to the point that last month I trained and became a certified zentangle teacher. For jollies, here is the zendala I drew for that first challenge.

I have learned a lot since then, but I still kind of like this zendala. Haha! Wow! I've learned a lot about editing since then, too.

Back to week #24, this is the template Erin gave us to work with. I didn't really know what I would do with it, nothing was coming to mind. So, I just picked up a pen and started with that center square. Then I moved on to the main square and dreamed up some borders.  I enjoyed trying out Helen's petal ribbon (a take-off of finery,) which you can see on her blog A Little Lime here. A really pretty and fun variation! From there, this tile just kind of took on a life of its own. Throw in some Pitt artist pens and Derwent Inktense Pencils, flick a little color around, and call it done.

Several people have asked how I take photos of my tiles for posting. My main problem is always finding even light. Look for a spot where you have the same amount of light across your tile - and background, if you use one. Be careful around windows because you will get some sunlight, some shadows, making your photo uneven. 
Every photo on my blog has been taken with my iphone 4S, even though I have an excellent canon, the iphone just takes good pictures. I get as close as I need to so that the tile and a minimal amount of the background fill up the screen on my phone. I lean against my chair, lock my arms to my side, hold my breath, watch for the square on the phone that tells me the shot is in focus, and gently push the button. No snapping, no jerking, no punch the button to get it over. Gently, so your photo is sharp. Then I just email the photo to myself for editing. And that will be the subject of a different post.
Head on over to Erin's page The Bright Owl and check out all the incredible zendalas! You should really draw one of your own and post it for us to enjoy :).

Pinwheels For Peace, 2012

This week's Diva Challenge #87 is inspired by the Pinwheels for Peace project.

The original purpose of the pinwheels for peace project was to enable kids to speak out about the world around them. The project has grown from 500,00 pinwheels the first year to over 3.5 million last year. Above is my pinwheel for the peace project. You can see a whole lot more at the Diva's page here.

Floating on the Bottom

How's that for a depressing post title? Hahahahaha! Seriously, I wish I was a scuba diver! We used to spend a couple weeks each summer in the Florida Keys. The boys would snorkle and look for lobster. Kali and I would swim in the pool and shop :). A couple years Mark had an underwater camera and was able to shoot some pictures of fish. I've never been down there swimming, but if I could - I imagine this is what it would look like - all zentangle-y :).

When I was at CZT training this past month, there were a couple ladies there that had large artbooks with pages filled with every pattern type imaginable. When I got home I knew I wanted to give it a try. I got a little side-tracked along the way and came up with this, so I will give it another try soon. I built this on a 9" x 12" sheet of Bristol from a Strathmore pad. I started with the pokeleaf at the bottom and the pokeroot in the adjacent corner. I thought fengle would make one awesome starfish, so I did that next.  I just started adding elements here and there.

When I'd get stuck, I would start adding in some color with Pitt markers and Copic markers. Then I realized that ixorus would make some awesome swimming creatures and I kept adding indyrella around the bottom.

My favorite element is definitely that fengled starfish with the danglies and springkles! It also has a little rounding enhancement.

More color added in - when I got to this point I thought I was finished.

Silly me! There was still some room to add in some popsicles (hahahaha!) and those dandelion-looking floaty-thingies. Add a whole bunch more color, and voila! Floating on the Bottom! Just because I can :).
So much fun! I will definitely be doing more of this real soon!
The challenge this week in the Artist's Play Room is ~ juicy! Beneath the seas, lots of water, lots of bright juicy colors - it's just what Jenn ordered up this week. Check it out here and join in the fun!
I am also trying to link up to Serenity Now where Amanda hosts the Weekend Bloggy Reading. You can share your best post of the week and check out other bloggers' fun posts! Why don't you head on over and join in the fun?