Drawing Day 2012

Last year I found out about Drawing Day and participated.  Luckily, I followed them on Twitter because that is how I was reminded about it again  this year.  I got my drawing done just in time to say I did it on Drawing Day but I failed to get it submitted in time to make it into the book.  No matter, I made it into last years book.

9X12 on watercolor paper drawn with Micron pen.

For this, I started with three circles and then added a string around them to divide the space.  After I added Knase to the upper right corner, I decided that I wanted to have black in the corners to give the edges some definition.  Hollibaugh was a natural choice to carry that down.  Knightsbridge and Crescent Moon, gave the same feeling but not quite as dark.

I am really pleased with how this one came out.  It was a very enjoyable way to spend a Saturday.

Birthday Gifts

Red Velvet cake.  So yummy!

Fall is a busy time of year for me and birthdays.  Not only do many of my family members turn a year older but also do many of my friends.  This year, I have made zentangles for several people.  I can't post them all yet on the off chance that they may see them.  This weekend though, I was able to gift a few and now I can share them with you.



5X5 on watercolor paper with 0.1 and 0.005 micron pens and pencil.

This is a zendala that I made for my friend Cheryl.  I found this mandala pattern on 102 Free Mandalas to download.  This is a nice place to find many different mandalas.  This one was a little different than what I used but I really liked the shape.  You can download the patterns as .jpeg or PDF files.

I really enjoyed making this and am surprised at how quickly it went.  I framed it in a 10X10 float frame, with a black piece of scrapbooking paper to fill the empty space.  I had hoped to put it in a 10X10 with a 5X5 square cutout to frame it but I made the zendala too big and none of the premade frames would work.  I waited too late to have it framed professionally.  I was quite pleased with how it came out though.  The paper had a black on black pattern on it and with the zendala in the middle it looked quite nice.  The pattern on the paper was just enough to give it interest but not too busy to distract the eye.




5X7 on watercolor paper with 0.1 micron and gold gel pen

This one is for my friend Kent.  While I didn't plan it, this one works double time as Kent is a New Orleans Saints fan and their colors are black and gold.  This photo is of the tangle in the frame so there is a little glare in the glass but not much.

I tried to alternate the dark and light patterns in this one.  I tried a new pattern Golven and I really like it a lot. It isn't difficult to do and looks great.  I look forward to using it again and again.

I am glad to report that both Cheryl and Kent enjoyed their tangles as much as I did making them.  I hope that you enjoy looking at them too.

Breast Cancer Awareness

October is National Breast Cancer awareness month.  Did you know?  I didn't until this week's challenge from The Diva.  I have had 3 women in my life to battle breast cancer.  One was my Godmother Cam.  She fought bravely but sadly was taken by the disease in the late 1980's.  Another is my Aunt who has successfully battled breast cancer with a minimum of side effects.  The last is someone I met on the Internet and who I think is truly the definition of hope, strength and courage.  Julie is battling cancer currently and I have every hope for the best possible outcome.  She is a beautiful person and I am proud to call her a friend.

It is these three women who I thought of as I drew my zentangles for this week's challenge.  I will get to send Julie and my Aunt their zentangles, and will keep the one I drew for my Godmother as a reminder of her and her strength and love.

I started each of these tiles with on outline of a ribbon. After deciding on what tangle I wanted to put on the ribbon, I divided the remainder of the space behind and finished the tangle.  I used the micron pen, a white and pink gel pen and pink colored pencils.



Tangle for Cam




Tangle for Aunt Susie



Tangle for Julie

Jonqal/Opus

This week the challenge is to use just two tangles in our zentangle this week.  Just using two tangles isn't hard for me, I don't think so anyway, but using Opus is.  I don't usually use this tangle and I'm not really sure why.  It looks like I have some more practice ahead of me for Opus.  Some of you have such beautiful Opus.  Mine is a bit plain, but as I said, I have some practice ahead of me.

I do like the interplay with these two tangles.  The flow of the Opus is a nice counterpoint to the rigid Jonqal.

Thanks to everyone for the really great comments on last week's challenge.  My 4 year old had a great time playing with it.

Hope you are having a great week.

String Theory v. IV - Diva's Challenge 29

Happy 4th of July to all you Americans out there!  Happy new challenge Monday to everyone else!

This week I got to do the challenge in wonderful quiet as my Husband and sons headed off this morning to go camping.  It's amazing how much quicker I can get this done without being pulled to do something else every 15 minutes or so.  :)  Because they are off camping, Husband took my camera so please forgive the poor quality of the photos.  Yea for iPhone cameras though!

I thought the idea of using an actual string to make the string for the challenge this week was a super idea.  I may have to try this on larger pieces.  I am always perplexed when doing a large ZIA on the best way to divide up the space.  Using an actual string will be a nice way to solve that I think. 



 I used my son's yoyo as my string.  It already had a weight attached. 

I laid down the yoyo as I knew that I wanted part of the circle in the tangle but not all of it (the yoyo is a bit large) so I set it in the corner and draped the string on the tile.  This is the first draping and I thought it looked good, so I went with it.










Next, I traced around the edge of the yoyo and followed the string around with the pencil.



 I used the die to pick my tangles this time.  Lucky for me, the die chose some of my favorites.  :)  Blogger is giving me a hard time this morning and uploading this tile on it's side.  I know there really is no top of bottom, but I like this tile with the tipple in the bottom left corner.

So, thanks to the Diva for another great challenge and thanks to my family for going camping.