Did Someone Ask For Circles?

I mentioned yesterday how far behind I am on challenges. I've had this one sitting in my smash journal waiting to lay down some color. And now I remember that someone challenged us to circles, but for the life of me I cannot remember who - and I cannot find the challenge in my daily reads. So. Here is my response to the Unknown Circle Challenge! I used a little spinner pattern, mixed in some assemblies and jalousie, threw in some of my barz and geerz, and you have a bit of steampunk. With a whole bunch of circles. I count 79, but there might be more :). On to the next drawing.

Tape the String - ZIA Journal #25

The ZIA Journal challenge at Tangles and Stuff is called Tape the String this week. To do that, I took a sheet of watercolor paper and randomly placed blue painter's tape on it. Some pieces wide, and some torn into thinner strips. With the tape in place, I slapped on some watercolor paint. 

When the paint dried, I dropped drips of paint on to the page and blew them around with a straw. Once all this was dry I removed the blue strips of painter's tape. In those white spaces I added various tangle patterns. I might do this again tomorrow and tangle the painted areas. We'll see. This was a load of fun to do! And I love the bright colors - I am all about the color! If you'd like to join in this week's challenge and play with tape - check it out here at Tangles and Stuff :).

Get Your Steampunk On

Last night I posted the pen version of this picture. I spent a little over an hour today adding color. I even got some texture of sorts, due to all the product I used.

I drew this in my smash journal. I guess if I am going to continue to doodle steampunk I should probably start a journal specifically for this. Products that I used included: Derwent Inktense Pencils, Pitt Artist Pens, Robin Mini-Metallic Rub-Ons (I've had these forever. I don't know if they are even still available,) Sakura Opaque Pigment Markers, Pentel Slicci Pens and Micron black and sepia pens.

Patterns include:  assemblies, spinner, parabola, kolum, jalousie, linked, and two I made up - geerz and barz. This was a load of fun! Now, back to working on challenges!

Zendala Dare #5 with the Bright Owl

It is hard to believe it's already the 5th week of Erin's Zendala Dare! This is the pattern she gave us this week. It's really very simple (snicker, snicker!) Erin gives us a pattern and challenges us to fill it with various tangles. Then we get to share our work through her blog and we can visit everyone else's page and learn from their work. The hard part for me is deciding which tangles to use. Sometimes it just comes to mind - like last weeks' surboards. Sometimes it's a bit of struggle for me. I'm sure that is what Erin has in mind with this dare - to challenge us, to push us, and to help us learn. So, with that said, here is my finished zendala for this week :).

I am really interested in steampunk design right now - for whatever reason - and I knew I wanted to use that this week. It was a lot of fun! I used: spinner, metal plate, assemblies, deha, and two patterns that I just made up - geerz and barz. For the color I used Derwent Inktense Pencils with a water brush.

You can find the Zendala Dare here. Check out everyone's zendalas for the week and maybe you'd like to post one of your own! We'd all love to see you there!

Just a Little Steampunk

I am working off a laptop in a hotel room in Tallahassee, Florida. My daughter - Kali - and I are here for the NCFCA Region 8 speech and debate qualifying tournament to nationals! Basically this is a Christian debate and speech competitive league for high school students. Kali graduated last year, so she is no longer competing. She is here to cheer on her friends. I am here as a judge - and to visit with my region 8 family who we love so much!

I am trying to have something to post for you every day, so I came prepared with saved photos in my email. The night before we left, I sat down to draw. I've gotten a little interested in this steampunk idea I see floating through so many websites and blogs. Thought I'd give my hand a try at it!

I hope my interpretation of steampunk is right :). These were a lot of fun to make! I started by watercoloring my tile. These tiles from  www.zentangle.com are perfect for watercoloring. Just threw a splash of brown or tan across the tile, then set it with a heat gun. I scouted through patterns for anything that looked like a gear, wheel, or metal, then started drawing. I used Spinner, Assemblies, Metal Plate, and I made up some filler. I didn't worry so much about my lines being perfect - hey, it's steampunk! Once I got what I thought looked steam-punky enough, I added some shading, and . . . 

. . . this is what I ended up with. So much fun! So, my offering today is a little zentangle-inspired art called Steampunk. Why don't you give it a go and get your steampunk on?