New Floral Tangles

 There are a lot of new floral tangles online right now.

I like tangling gardens - so I thought I'd try a few.

AND

I hadn't done much drawing since my surgeries,

so this turned out as a nice surprise.

It's 5.5" x 8.5".

I drew most of this yesterday and sat down to finish it and shade it this afternoon. Shading just adds so much to your art. I know. I know. It's boring and tedious. Yes. It is. BUT it makes such a difference!
Some of the new tangles I tried are: alcatraz, barbet, orchid, plum lei, biskus,  daidai and anooka. I also added some zinger, beadline, and mooka.
A really fun piece to draw! In case you are new to my blog - anytime you soon pink words, that is a link. Easy to remember. Pink = link. You're welcome.

Quandu 2

Eni Oken has come out with a fun new tangle called quandu. It is fun to draw and I just can't stop mixing it with zingers and springkles. What a great way to spend a few minutes! I will be back home from Florida in a few days and life will get back to normal. Most likely. SaveSave

Lolliz, a New Gel Pen

 Ok, so I will just say it.

I am fascinated with this new tangle narwal.

I keep drawing it over and over and over.

Here I wrapped it into a wreath and added some floral.

 This is my before-I-added-color-and-shading look.

Good crisp lines,

a little narwal mixed with my tangle floral.

 I added some whisps and zingers.

 Then I pulled out some new color.

I don't use gel pens a lot, but they seemed to be

perfect for this piece.

LolliZ, a new gel pen I just got in recently.

And they worked like a champ!

 I really like the packaging on these pens.

There are four trays of pens inside the case.

Some regular gel pens,

some metallic,

some sparkly,

some milky,

and something else I don't recall right now.

(And I'm too lazy to get up and go look.)

They drew and filled in the spaces smoothly and evenly.

 And the colors were great!

I think my favorite was that darker gold.

It is sparkly and shiny, 

though you can't see that too well here.

 You can see some of the shimmer and sparkle here.

 And here.

I love how the printemps centers look!

Finished version pre-shading.

Completed version post-shading. I really like the way this narwal turned wreath turned out and the lolliz pens were better than I had hoped for!
Have you tried narwal yet? It is really fun!

Coloring Page Perhaps?

I drew this quite awhile ago and never posted it. I found it buried on my desktop :).
With all the interest in adult coloring pages these days, I am thinking this could be a possible start for one. It was extremely easy to do, it just took quite awhile.
So, what do you think? Coloring page, or not?
And, yes, if you should want to print it out to color, please feel free to do so. And if you would be so kind as to send a photo of your finished work to  kenoly2000@hotmail.com and put Coloring Page in the subject line, I would love to post it on my facebook page The Creator's Leaf. Thanks!

Sunz, New Step Outs

Sunz is a tangle I started drawing a couple years ago. I have some step-outs on my pinterest board and buried here in my blog, but figured now that I know how to draw better step-outs, I would give it another go.

This is the actual piece of art I designed sunz for three years ago.

It was one of the very first zentangle inspired

pieces I drew. 

That wall behind the sunz, is another tangle of mine called crete.

My drawing skills have developed a bit in three years, too.  Hahahaha! Here is a piece I tangled this afternoon, featuring sunz!
Please feel free to pin these newer step-outs. They look so much better!

Twinchie Time

Twinchies are tiny little works of art. Drawn on a 2" square tile of paper, twinchies are shared and traded between artists.
I have a really hard time deciding what to do with a 2" piece of paper, so for this new year I decided to try to draw one twinchie a day.  Above are my twinchies for January 1-7, 2015.

I'm starting to get the hang of this a little more each day.  Here is week two, January 8-14, 2015.
So far, so good. I'm not falling behind although some days I do have to do more than one twinchie because I missed the day before. Minor technical difficulty. It's all good.

Punzelair

Recently we have worked on a few of the harder tangles to draw. Punzel being one of those. You can see the step-out for it here. It's really fun to draw, all loopy and wavy like a bunch of seaweed. Mix it up with a little dragonair - they go perfectly together. Throw in a herd of clamshells ala printemps, some zingers and flux plant life and you have one awesome underwater scene starting to take place!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!
So much to be thankful for, so many blessings in my life. So many ways to thank God, so many things I take for granted.
May God richly bless you and yours in this next year, as we all take time to just say Thanks!

Spill Ink on Your Project?

I have had a request for more tutorials here on The Creator's Leaf, but I have to tell this tutorial was not a planned one. This is a post of necessity.

Off and on for the past week I have been drawing - and adding to - this 8" x 8" tangle. A little here, a little there, as I had the time. Last night I was happy with where the drawing had arrived and pulled out my copics to start some coloring.

I was rolling along fairly well until this happened. Do you see it, just there? (I sound like Hermione to Ron, "you have dirt on your nose. Just there. Did you know?") My pinkish copic was working very well as I colored parts of those zingers, then all of a sudden a big blob of color popped right out and onto my paper. I had no chance to even react. The marker just spit that color right out onto my drawing I've been working on for a week. Needless to say I was not happy.

So not happy. I grabbed my blender and tried to salvage some of the area, this was the best I could get the blob reduced to. I was so not happy. I can't even tell you how not happy. I shut everything down for the night and went to sleep.

My original thought last night was to throw the whole project in the trash, thankfully I didn't do that. I've told my kids over the years something I learned from my dad - that typically nothing is broken so badly that it can't be fixed, or mended, or altered in a workable manner. So. I woke up this morning with the thought that  - shoot! I can totally camouflage that blob! So out came my trusty little circle template. I had circles spaced around the project already, I just decided to add another. If I  hadn't already had circles figured into the drawing, I could have certainly added them at this point. I just needed to figure out a way to salvage what I already had - by adding something else. Pulling out an existing element and making it work in this blobby area.

In my haste - and probably partially due to all the cold medicines I'm taking - I didn't even realize I drew right over the top of the zinger stem. I also drew into the leaf - which I did realize. Ugh. So I grabbed a small tip pen and drew hash lines along the edges of some of the leaves to camouflage the error. 

To cover up the line through the stem - I added lines to all the zinger stems. Not a big deal, an easy fix. Then I drew another circle to go around that pink blob.

Finished coloring the circle, added some hashlines to a few other leaves to balance the drawing out, and I had my pink blob repaired and good to go.

Then I finished up the coloring with some other copics, At You Spica glitter pens, and my Wink of Stella glitter markers. Love those pens!
So, if you need to cover up a blob of ink - or a portion of your drawing that didn't turn out like you expected - look for an element that is already present in your drawing. Perhaps you will find one that you can replicate in the problem area to camouflage/fix it. And have fun!
(The idea for this drawing came from artwork of my friend Marizaan Van Beek. Marizaan is a fellow CZT who lives in South Africa.)

Confused About Twinchies?

There are still several sets of twinchies I want to share with you. Fifty-four of us are swapping these little two-inch pieces of art and - as you can well imagine - it is hard to make a little two inch piece of paper become spectacular. You don't have a whole lot of room to work with in two inches. (There are a whole world of people who make inchies - I couldn't even imagine. Haha! Good for them, I say!)

So. Where did I start? 
Where do I many times start? 
I can hear Nancy Wigley chiming in here - I start with Dylusions Ink Sprays.   Yes, I do know there is other product on the market but why go there when I get these bright, luscious, beautiful colors with Dylusions? Seriously. 
When I am working on projects I save any scraps of paper in a ziploc bag and add to it as I go. There is always a scrap bag on my work table. (It's usually buried, but it's there.) Twinchies are a great way to use up some of that scrap. Some of the pieces I used already had color on them. (I don't waste scraps with pretty color on them. I horde, uh, save them.) For the ones that didn't - I spritzed water onto the pieces, followed by spritzes of a couple different colors of dylusions. Then you just let it all sit for about 10-15 seconds and watch those colors blend. A paper towel blotted to the paper surface will stop that mixing/blending action. Remember - if your color is too dark when it is dry or almost dry - you can lighten it up with another spritz of water. Dylusions are not color fast. They will start reacting again when you add 'wet' product - be that water or another color. 
You will notice some of the tiles above have designs on them. Take your dry colored tile, lay a stencil over the top, hold it in place, and spritz water over the top of the stencil. Let it sit for 5-10 seconds, then carefully lift the stencil and watch the color lifting start to work. After about 15 more seconds, blot the tile with a paper towel - and continue to watch that color lift leaving behind the design of whatever stencil you used. Remember - dylusions inks are not water fast, they react with wet product. So take advantage of that and make it work to your benefit.

Since I am a tangler - I went back and added various tangle patterns to the tiles. Some are more elaborate than others. This wasn't one of them :). I loved the little fish and how well he turned out. (He came from a stencil.) I went simpler and just added tangle bubbles to his water, leaving the fish to be the focus of this twinchie. There are so many things you can do! So - save your scraps (or hack up a big sheet and have fun!) and get to making some twinchie awesomeness! Cause it's fun!

Time to Create

It has been a crazy few weeks. Due to an injured achilles tendon, I have been spending a lot of time sitting with my foot propped up on an ice pack. Trying to draw when I could , but finding it hard to keep my concentration and focus due to pain. Then Kali had some issues which necessitated a trip to the hospital for her and a plane flight for me. I took a rough spill in a dark movie theatre and smashed a knee, shoulder, and hip, and twisted the bad foot - setting me back to ground zero on the healing achilles problem. I spent two weeks there and just returned home last night. I am sooooo tired!!!

I still have ATCs to complete for the CZT Deck Swap, but I am closing in on being finished :). Here are a couple closeups of one of the larger sheets I am working on. It will eventually be cut down into 16 ATCs.
As a side note, now that I am back home I hope to start doing some massive overhauls on the blog, my Pinterest boards, my Etsy store, and setting up a Facebook group to make things more cohesive and easier to access. I believe I need a focus for the facebook group. There are many zentangle/tangle pages already out there. And in all truthfulness I am more of a Zentangle Inspired Art person than a Zentangle person. Do you have any suggestions for a focus in a facebook group? Something that isn't already being done to death? I have some ideas, but I'd like to hear what some of you might suggest. Thanks :)

Judging Debates

Took some time away to judge at the NCFCA (National Christian Forensics and Communications Association) Florida Qualifier Tournament.  Students that advance from this tournament will compete at the regional tournament, advancing from there to national competition in speech and debate.
I spent a good bit of time with my foot propped up and a pen in my hand.
I judged several different types of speeches - persuasive, informative, humorous, and duo interpretation where two students compete together bringing a literature selection to life. (Now that the tournament is over, I can tell you my personal favorite was Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Such an awesome job these two young men did!)
I also judged a couple preliminary debate rounds, as well as the final round of Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate where the resolution they debated was National Security ought be valued higher than Freedom of Press.
Excellent tournament. All the students were incredible. And I got to see a lot of friends that I had not seen in a couple years. Such an awesome thing to be able to judge, critique, and offer encouragement to so many wonderful young people. And I was still able to get a little tangling in at night time. It was a win/win all around.

Trying New Things

Wow! That's really big! You can see every line I drew and all my little slip-ups, too.  >,< Actually, I like the pictures being big so you can appreciate all the lovely color against the black backdrop of the blog :).
So, it's 2014 already. Seriously? What happened to 2013? Our family seemed to have a fairly eventful year: 
Jason and Bobbie blessed us with a beautiful little precious granddaughter in Frankie. She was five weeks early, and weighed 4 pounds, 9 ounces. Beautiful and perfect in every way.
Kali moved to Maryland to attend culinary school and is on the way to realizing her dream of being a professional pastry chef. She is working at a world-class French restaurant in their pastry kitchen when she isn't at school. 
Mark continues to work at Shands and hunts every chance he gets, and I do mean every chance. 
Nicole and Dale are still enjoying life with all six of their children. Nicole changed jobs this year and seems to be enjoying life immensely. I love to read her and Dale's facebook statuses! They make me smile on a regular basis. 
I have had some health issues this year, and continue to work with them, trying to get things back to normal. It's been a very stressful year for me personally, but the family is all doing great. I continue my journey into the new land of art and creativity. My art was published in two books this year. I can tell you that it feels really strange to stand in a store and see your artwork staring back at you from a page in one of the books for sale!
Here's hoping that 2014 will see even more positive changes. Some new things, if you will. Kali will be finishing school and continuing with her two-year commitment to the restaurant. Little Frankie will celebrate her first birthday. I have artwork coming out in at least two new books this year, will be starting to co-write a book with a friend, and will continue working on my own e-book. 
May 2014 be rosy and bright for you and your family. May God richly bless you and provide for you in abundance as you honor Him with your life. Thank you for hanging in there with me and The Creator's Leaf in 2013! You are appreciated more than you will ever know! Hugs!!!
(A working note to myself: hits at 35,704 and 103 members.)

Pkok Tangle, Sandhya Manne

Currently, I am working on postcards.  A few of us are involved in a New Year's postcard swap and I'm trying to get mine done and in the mail.  You might have seen yesterday's post where I listed how far behind I am.  I am one step closer now, haha!
Pkok is a new tangle from Sandhya Manne, one of our CZTs from India. Her work is always so beautiful and delicate.  I love this new pattern of hers! It just really wanted to mix it up with some merryweather (Sandy Hunter) and bales (Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas).
I cut my own postcard from mixed media paper. Color came from my Grumbacher Transparent watercolors. The sparkle is from Wink of Stella Glitter markers (which unfortunately doesn't photograph well.)

Accent on the Pink

I love the accents made with the pinks! I could be all about the pink! Or teal, or purple, depending on what day of the week it is.

I am getting ready for another ATC swap. The theme for this one is black with one accent color. Of course, I chose pink to be my accent color.

Once again, I drew this on a sheet of 11" x 14" Bristol smooth surface paper from Strathmore. For the pink accents, I used At You Spica Pens (2 shades of pink), a pink copic marker, and some pink watercolor.

I really love the colors! Lower left you see the tangle Sindoo by Sharon Robinson, England. That strip on the lower right is Ragz from CZT Christina Vandervlist. That long skinny one with the openings is Beanpodz from Neil Burley. I love the spiral in the middle - that's my favorite part!

Sliding across from lower left to upper right is Liberty 100 from ~ once again ~ Neil Burley. Mix in a little Kuke from Katy Abbott, some zander, some bunzo,  a variation of tagh, and something I totally made up - those circle thingies. 

I love finery! It is one of the 'official' zentangle® patterns. 

At the top right is Stella, I don't think the step-outs of that one's been released yet. Then I tried a little Undling (yes! it worked), which is Susie Achter's new tangle. In the middle are those cute little circles I made up, along with Sandy Hunter's Cruffle. I think the two work pretty well together!

Yes, I really do like these two together! Anyway, these are some closeups of the detail work! I cut this sheet down into 16 ATCs that I will mail out to sixteen different people in the new swap that starts on the 1st!

I am really having a ball drawing large scale this way! Next up? A 53-deck of card ATCs for a swap amongst the CZTs. I can not wait!