A Little Zingo

Since my mom passed away two months ago,

I have had a really hard time getting motivated to art.

Drawing/tangling is like pulling teeth.

Making color is a little easier right now.

I can always make color,

BUT

tangling isn't easy.

Zentangle® HQ recently blogged and videoed their granddaughters Indy and Mazzy tangling Zingo.  You can see my rendition of zingo in the tile just above this.  To watch the 7 and 5 year olds make their very own video, click this link. And turn the volume up. Their commentary will leave you smiling.
I probably should have left things alone at this point, but I wanted to push myself and try to draw.

So I added some Printemps and some fiore. Two of my no brainer tangles. I don't know if it helped or hurt, but at least I did something.  Here's hoping this motivation down time comes to an end soon. 

Too Busy

Too busy. That accurately describes my life but I love it! Lots on my plate art wise, swaps, adminning, looking into book options, helping a friend launch a new book tomorrow. (Stay tuned.) Working my Etsy store again, trying to find some me-time to draw, staring out my window at Maine. I love all of it! Hahaha!
Let's do some links. Etsy store is here. Tangles used above are: airways, cee-a-mosa, and  cross bar - all my patterns.
Also Carole Ohl's inapod,  Katy Abbott's kuke, and  zentangle® original tangle printemps.
It's a beautiful day. I think I'll stare out the window some more.  SaveSave

A Little Airport Tangling

If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you already know how much I love color. Bright color. In your face bold color. I love it!

You will also know that we recently moved way north. Thankfully it doesn't reach 100-105° F here - hallelujah - but it does require me to make a monthly trip down south to take care of my mother. Which means a lot of airport time. I knew that my last trip would include a two hour layover at Reagan International and I wanted to  stay busy. I pulled out my Peerless Watercolor swatches  and a Stillman & Birn sketchbook and got busy.

I used a water brush and touched it to the swatches - seriously that's all you do - and laid down splotches of beautiful color until the page was filled. At the airport, I found a table at the food court  and pulled out a Sharpie Fine Point and got busy. 

If you look at each section of color, you will easily be able to see what I did. One tangle in one section of color. There are a couple places where I carried the crescent moon tangle over into another section, but mostly it was one tangle per. For this piece of art I used: diva dance rock 'n roll,  crescent moon, tipple and printemps, and that's it.  Easy piece to create even if it does look a little harder than it really was to make. I have a product review on peerless watercolors here.  Bright, bold, and portable. Just exactly what I need them to be! SaveSave

Relaxing With Narwal

We are finally all settled in and my office/studio is looking pretty good. And workable. Now if I can just keep it clean. As if. Hahahahahaha!
I've spent the past few days in Bar Harbor, Maine, working on some art but mostly relaxing. And eating. Photos will come soon.
This is a piece I started some time ago, but saved the shading. I dislike shading intensely but it makes such a difference in your  finished work. Perservere and do it. It really is worth the effort. (And I love drawing narwal, so that was an added bonus.)
That background wall is my tangle called blox. Here is a link to the steps. Hoping to be a bit more regular with posting now that we are all unpacked. Thank you for being so patient. You're the best!

Small, Medium, and Large

 Recently on Zentangle All Around -

my Facebook group -

guest poster Yvonne Westover challenged us to tangle the

same basic piece of art in different sizes.

 I began with a two inch tile - a Bijou from Zentangle.

Some call this a twinchie.

I decided to go with the wreath shape

and picked some basic organic tangles to use. 

I was surprised how much I could fit into a

small two inch tile. 

 Next I moved on to my middle size in the grouping.

This medium size is about 4 inches across.

Same organic tangles, just with more

attention to detail.

This is where the challenge ended -

with small and bigger -

but I wanted to carry the challenge another step.

I pulled out a 10.5" Opus tile and got to work.

This one took me a couple nights to complete.

I used the same tangles - 

printemps, flux, pokeleaf, and tipple.

To complete the piece, I pulled out a

red gelly roll pen and filled in some of those

little tipple. Zing! I loved the bit of color!

And last, I shaded the flux.  Nothing else.

Just the flux.

I love the way this tile ended up.

You never quite know going in how things will turn out. 

Why don't you give it a try?

Take 3 different size tiles -

or draw 3 different size tiles in your sketchbook -

limit yourself to 3 or 4 tangles

and give it a whirl.

I would love to see what you do.

Feel free to post your art at

Zentangle All Around

on Facebook.

Make Your Own Journaling / Tangling Cards

Recently on Blitsy I found little packages of journaling cards -  actually bits of colorful scrapbook paper - from BoBunny.

 The cards came in several different sizes,

all perfect for tangling.

 Do you only have a few minutes at night for yourself?

Pick up a journaling card and tangle it for yourself.

The first three you see only took me 10-15 minutes each to complete. 

You really can fit a quick project into your tightly scheduled routine.

Do you have to buy little journaling cards from Blitsy? Or Michael's?  Or Hobby Lobby?  (No, but you should go there and check out all the holiday decorations! I am now the proud owner of three snow covered Christmas trees that I saved a total of $1,300.00 on by waiting till the day after Christmas.)
If you scrapbook/ed like so many of us, you probably have scrapbook paper that you bought for a  specific project and never used.  Or paper you bought in a pack and you  still have sheets that you don't really like,  or they don't go with your color scheme.
Take you trusty little paper trimmer and cut those sheets into: 4" x 6" 4" x 4" 3" x 3" OR 2" x 2".
These are frequently used journaling sizes, and they will fit into any of the journaling sheet protectors you might have from various companies.
Tangle and decorate these cards with  whatever tools you normally use.  Pens, fine liners, markers, pencils, watercolor, ink sprays, they all work well on scrapbook paper.
And have fun! That's the recipe for success!

Thursday String Idea #19

 Welcome to another

Thursday String Idea,

and yes, I know it's already Monday.

Hahahaha! 

If you saw my last post then you already know 

the crazy, busy week I had week.

Publishing three books in one week is an 

awesome kind of crazy week to have!

And even though it is almost here again,

here is the string for last week.

A little different this time.

Instead of using my string, do what I did.

I picked up a couple items that were laying on my desk

and traced them onto my tile.

That became my string.

 This would be a prilosec bottle and a sharpie

that I traced.

 Then I just started putting in some tangles.

 I am thinking this is a strange combination of

tangles, which I can explain by saying I am sick.

My little Frankles had a cold when I stayed with her

Friday, now I have it. Ugh.

Here if my completed string #19.

Whimsical, Dr. Seussical, that could be Cat in the Hat's hat!

Those tangles would be printemps, diva dance rock n' roll,

and two of my own - skinz and Tennison.

So, grab a couple items from your desktop and trace them,

then tangle on and have fun!

Narwal Again

This narwal tangle is so much fun to draw!

I would use it in every drawing if I didn't worry

that you would get sick of seeing it!

Hahaha!

Same thing with printemps - those little swirly things - 

actually I do use those in every drawing.

Probably.

Hahaha!

Are you sick of those yet?

By the way,

this isn't shaded so it can actually be part of 

a coloring page.

Cause those are fun, too!

(Tangled on Stonehenge paper.)

Ringz, A New Tangle

Allow me to introduce you to a fun little tangle, that is easy and joyful to make! Ringz. So named because of all the little rings I drew  making this alien looking work of fun-ness.

I drew this in the Detroit airport during a layover flight. I needed something easy to do as I balanced my sketchbook on my lap, along with my ipad and my earphones. I had been obsessed with these little eyeballs and needed somewhere to use them, and in the Detroit airport ringz was born.

Ringz is really very easy to tangle. Start with a circle and start adding rings under that, building one below the one before it. I decided to make mine as arms extended from a central point. Then I added the little wink of an eye at the end.

I began layering them with circles of various tangles. And ringz just kind of took on a life of its own.

Hahaha! Another tangle I love right now is narwal. Ringz, narwal, and printemps were made for each other!

Here I was going for some heavy contrast, so I pulled in another tangle of mine -  patch -  and filled those large circles with it. Shading makes the big difference in this piece of art.

It's all about the details.

I would love to see what you do with ringz.  Please give it a try and let me know what you think.
Also, I am going to be in Maine for the next nine days. Hanging drapes and daydreaming in the new house. I hope to have internet next week sometime,  but blog posts may need to wait till I get back home. Have a great week!

Thursday String Idea #13

 Welcome to Thursday String Idea #13.

Sorry I missed the past two weeks,

I was in Maine with no internet.

This week's string is a kind of a 

loopedy-loop kind of string.

To print the string out at 3.5", click here.

As for myself, I am going to start moving away from the 3.5" tangling tile. As I get older I find that little tile is too small. I need a larger work area.  In my tangling string #13, I opted for some white space in my work.  I like the contrast and the way the string of  TootsieMoon holds the gnarly tangle in place.
Want to try string #13 for yourself? Just go here and print out the string. To use this same string on a larger work area like I did,  just extend the ends of the lines. My tile is 4" x 6". Have fun!

Thursday String Idea #12

 Welcome to Thursday String Idea!

This week we have a stacked straight-line string

that can be filled with both straight and round tangles.

The string is all ready to print at the official 3.5" square tile size 

just by clicking here. 

For my tile, I wanted to incorporate both types of tangles. I started with the longer dividing lines and  filled those with TootsieMoon, rain, coaster,  and folie-form. Then I started filling in the other spaces with printemps, ahh, flux, shattuck, and portholes.  Quick to tangle, this little stack was complete.
Won't you try out the string this week? Here is a link to print. 

Straight v. Curves

Strings, strings, and more strings. That is where my brain is lately. Do I go with straight lines? Do I go with curved lines? Do I mix it up and include both? Yep! This is a tile I meant to fill with straight line tangles. You see how well I did that! I forgot as soon as I drew the string. Oh well, back to the drawing board. Literally.

Thursday String Idea #9

 Welcome to Thursday String Idea!

We are already on string #9, 

that is really hard to believe!

Today we have a straight line string.

Have fun!

You can download today's string here to print it.

The string is sized to fit onto a 3.5" tile.

Lately I have been focused on tangling in the round.  Even though this is a straight line string, you can still tangle in the round as you can see from the tile I made. Tangling in the round is as simple as using some element of roundness, whether it be round tangles, round tiles, or a round substrate. If you'd like to get involved in tangling in the round, check out my Facebook group called Zentangle All Around. To print out this week's string,  just click here and it will take you to a place to print. You can share your string #9 on Zentangle All Around!

Wiggle Worms

 I must apologize for my lack of consistent blogging.

I am currently working on a special project

that I hope to be able to tell you about in a couple weeks.

It will be worth the wait,

I guarantee it!

What you see here is a new tangle I've been working on.

It's called ringz. 

Reminds me of when my dad used to call me a wiggle worm!

I hope to post the step outs here before long.

Ringz is super simple to draw. For color here I used my relatively new LolliZ Gell Pens. Super cool pens. Lots of glitz and sparkle, and smooth and metallic.  Anything you could wish for in a gell pen. Tangled up on my wonderful Stonehenge paper!
Have a great week. Hopefully I will be back soon.