Stripes 2.0

Over at the Diva's blog, the challenge this week is to use stripes as a string.  I have used this several times since the challenge was first posted last year.  Using stripes can be fun and makes for a good visual.  This time, I made my design large, I used an 8" square piece of watercolor paper and added red as a pop of color.

I added the challenge of red just to see what I could do with it, use it more as an accent rather than just drawing my patterns in red.  In all it came out pretty good I think.

Thanks to the Diva for another great challenge.  I'm sticking to a short post this week as we are looking at Hurricane Sandy to start effecting us soon and I wanted to get this out before we lost power.  Luckily, we are inland.  Water and wind will still be of concern, but we won't have to contend with the storm surge.

Stay safe everyone and have a great week!

Catching up on my Zendala Dare!

I've been busy and haven't taken the time to blog out my entries into the Zendala Dare by Erin.  I'll post this entry to Dare #18 even though it also has zendalas from Dare #19 attached.  Please forgive me.  Things won't settle down around here for a few more weeks, and I fear that if I try and wait until then, I'll never get these up.

Curiosity Zendala

OK, Dare 18.  I have to say that when I first looked at this pattern, I thought that I would do something floral and then this came out instead.  I love when my pen decides to do it's own thing.  I'm calling this Curiosity Zendala in honor of the landing on Mars.  The patterns here made me think of vortexes and worm holes and space travel.  My 11 year old son and I stayed up and watched the feed from NASA on the day the rover landed on Mars and I have to say that it was an incredible thing to witness.  If you haven't seen the video of what was done you should.  It is quite an amazing thing that the teams at NASA did.  I am so glad that I stayed up to see it happen, even if it cost me some sleep.

I think that I'll try my hand at this template again and see if I can't get something floral to come out on the second go around.

Cancer Awareness Zendala

Dare 17 was a personal one for me and for many others as it seems.  My Mother died of Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) in 2006.  My Father has battled prostate cancer as has my Uncle and Grandfather.  Luckily, all were treated successfully.  So, for this template, I played up the ribbons in the design.

I first drew the background pattern of Bales and the edge of Ramykin and then made a photocopy of the basic design onto watercolor paper.  Using watercolor pencils, I colored the ribbons to remember those I know with cancer.  The Blue is for prostate cancer, pink for breast, (My God Mother died of breast cancer, my aunt battled it and I have a friend fighting now.) orange for leukemia and lavender for all cancers.  The lavender is more pink that I would like but no matter. After painting the ribbons, I shaded the design.

Awareness Zendala

I then went back to the original. I decided to keep it simple and let the ribbons stand proud.  I added red hearts in the center of the Bales as a reminder of/for those we know who battle cancer.  Leaving the ribbons plain, I also thought that it would be a zendala that could be for awareness of any/all diseases our loved ones face.

I have one more zendala to share with you all before I end this post.  I made a donation to Erin's team and received the Thank You gift of even more zendala templates.  They are all really wonderful and I can't wait to get pen to paper and explore them more.  One of the templates however really spoke to me and I sat down and got started right away.  My final piece is really quite simple and I love it so much!  I am calling it Spring Zendala.  For the first time I wish that I had the coloring skills that so many of you have as the desire to add green here is almost overwhelming.  I'll keep it as is though.

Spring Zendala

I hope you all have a great week ahead and thank you for stopping by, taking a look, and leaving a comment if you'd like.

(I totally see now, that the spring zendala is turned the wrong way. I love however that it doesn't matter!)

Auraknot Challenge

At last!  I am back to the Diva's Challenge.  I have been too busy to finish or do the challenge for a little bit now and I am glad to be back at it.

Auraknot.  I must confess, I was intimidated by this tangle pattern.  It has so many steps and looks so complicated but I am glad I bit the bullet and tried it for this challenge.  I have to say, I found it MUCH easier than it looks.  I must also confess, that my star shape was traced from a cookie cutter.  A big part of my fear of this pattern is the beginning outline.  Starting with the outline done really helped me a lot.  I think that I can do it without one next time.

Now that my confessions are over, I have to say that I am looking forward to using this again.  I think that Auraknot will be a lot of fun to use.  Creating this tile went quickly, aside from kid interruptions that is.

This one was done on a 6"X6" watercolor paper square.  I found these at Dick Blick on Sunday and I HAD to buy some.  I am not good a cutting a straight line so finding these was very exciting.  They also have them in 8"X8" size.  Whoo Hoo!  The final size is more around 4" though.  I want to take it and see if I can find frames and mats that these would fit into.

After getting Auraknot finished, I added the tangles around the out side.  Please ignore the tangle on the lower right.  It was to be one tangle but I messed it up so horribly, that i just had to flub my way through.  It doesn't look too bad but still...

Thanks for stopping by and I can't wait to see what everyone else has done!

Color in New Sizes

I am still exploring using watercolor with Zentangle.  I learn more each time and am finding this a lot of fun.  I have tried the standard 3.5" X 3.5" tile, Artist Trading cards, 5X7" and working on a 9X12 page.  Each size can present its own challenges and each brings a new experiment to learn.  The only constant that I find so far is that everything is different each time.

I think that I MIGHT have figured out how much paint is too much though.  On a few ATC that I painted over the weekend, I just dropped the watercolor on the wet card and let the paint flow where it may.  While producing a lovely effect, it left a lot of the watercolor on top of the paper.  Too much paint on the paper will disrupt the ink flow from the Micron pen.  The end of the pen, picks up the paint causing the ink to stop.  Good news is that you can write or wipe it off and the pen works fine again.  I think to finish a spot or two I will have to use a Sharpie Pen to finish.

Sometimes there are places on the ATC cards where the ink from the pen bleeds a bit.  I am not sure if this is how the ink flows on the watercolor paint, or if that the paper was wet changes how it accepts the ink.  The bleeding isn't bad though.  The line is a touch thicker and is darker in those spots.  My main concern with this however, was that the bleeding would pull the ink from my Micron faster than normal.  Then I remembered that I had a few older pens that didn't work as well any longer, they left skips and/or a lighter line, and wondered how they would work on these watercolor places.  I am happy to report that they work great!  It is almost like having a new pen. Plus I don't worry about those pens losing ink too fast.  I had already written them off but was keeping them around because I couldn't bear to part with them.  The old pens now have a home in my ATC kit that I am keeping in my purse.

Color Wash

This is the first ATC that I tried with watercolor.  Again, I just followed the paint as the string. The pattern on the left is a variation of Atorm.  I wanted to let that beautiful blue show through.  When I was photographing it, the light caught the pencil shading that I did and gives the photo a shine that isn't in the original.

I like these small sizes.  This one is done on a Bristol card.  I just bought some watercolor paper sizes that I have painted and will try ink on next.  I am interested to see if the ink will flow differently on the water color paper.

Aliens

Aliens was an experiment with less color on a page.  After I got all the lines drawn, it looked like some alien life forms.

Before I started playing with the ATC size, I started doing a 5X7" size.  I liked how it was going and was moving right along on it but then I got to a section and was stuck.  I couldn't decide if I wanted to add a tangle or not and if I did add one, I couldn'd decided on what pattern to put there. So, I set it aside and waited for an answer.


Last night I was trolling Pinterest for some inspiration and found Braids.   I love the flow of this pattern so much.  The site is in German though, so if you would like to read the great lesson that Simone Bischoff has posted I would recommend it. So, braids... This morning I flipped back to the 5X7" piece to see what new things, if any, it had to say.  I had braids in mind so I thought that I would try it in my trouble spot and see what happened.  I am sooo pleased to say, it worked great!

Color Study

The "steps" there are my try at Planateen that went terribly wrong.  I did it fine on my practice of the pattern, but once I put my pen to the paper, I lost my mind.  Luckily, I think that it came out ok despite my best effort to mess it up.  In this piece, I still used the color as a string, but wasn't as fussy about it.  I also drew on the white paper.  Some bits are more successful than others but on the whole, I like it.

Thanks to all of you for the great feedback that you have been giving me on this journey into color.  It helps so much.

Illuminated Letter

I have finally finished a piece that I have been working on for several weeks.  Some friends of ours are getting married next weekend and I made a piece for them.  Usually I would get a couple something from their registry but these two don't want anything.  They have been together for a while and have bought or collected most of what a couple starting out would want.  Something they do have is a new home.  The house is really beautiful and has lots of wall space.  Naturally, I thought that I would make them something to hang on them!

I really admire the work done at the Zentangle Illuminated Letters master class that was held in Rhode Island.  What incredible art was made there.  Taking the idea, I decided to try my hand at making one of my own. 

I am not a calligrapher nor is my handwriting very good, so I chose a font that I liked and traced out my letter L.  From there I divided the space and kind of made it up as I went along.  I am quite pleased with the final product.

I toyed with the idea of adding some light washes of color with watercolor paint but I think I need to learn more and practice before I add to this work.  It is hard to see the shading here but the patterns really popped out once the shade was added.  This was done on 12"X18" watercolor paper using micron pens, pencil, and the Sakura Pen-touch gold marker.  I was going to use my gold leafing pen but it was not working well.  I think the pen-touch did a great job.  It covered really well and the shine is nice.

Starry Messenger

Another piece for my art swap has been completed and will be delivered soon.  I am excited as I really like this Zentangle and Mandala inspired piece.  I call this one Starry Messenger as it carries with it some inspiration from Galileo's  Sidereus Nuncius.  (Click the link to learn more.)  

In an effort to keep the piece from getting too busy, I started with a very simple Bales in the background.  I needed something simple to get me started and I wanted all the same pattern to keep the design from being too fractured.  I knew I could go back and add ornamentation later.  I did go back at the very end and add a bit to make it interesting but not too busy.

For the stars I chose patterns that remind me of fabric.  My friend who I made this for has a love of design and fabric so I wanted to bring that to the fore. After I got the biggest parts done, I did the centers in Gneiss. I chose Gneiss as it reminds me of a compass center and as Galileo was a source of inspiration I thought it fitting. 

I experimented with varying patterns in Starry Messenger and it was a lot of fun.  The top right star grew out of Purk.  I think I may use that again.  It was fun to do and the first time that I made a "3D" pattern.  The variations on Bales Ragz, and Huggins are ones that I will remember in the future.  

Sepia Zendala

Last year, I did an art exchange with some on-line friends.  It was a lot of fun.  I was just getting into Zentangle and made tiles for each of the people that I sent stuff too.  In return, they sent things that they made back to me.  One sent a knittted hat and beautiful jewlery that she made, another sent the most adorable knitted cupcakes (which my 5 year old promptly claimed for himself.)  Since I enjoyed it so much, I proposed to do it again this year. 

I had four takers interested in doing a "creative swap" with me.  As I only had four takers, I figured that I could really have fun and make some larger zentangle inspired pieces.  My skills are better than they were a year ago (I hope.) and I saw this as a chance to give back something beautiful to friends who had sent me such wonderful things.

Mandalas and Zendalas have really been inspiring to me as of late.  I created one for an auction at my son's school and wanted to keep going.  Once again, I started with mandala design that I traced out on to watercolor paper.  My geometry skills are at a solid F so I have to rely on a shape created by someone else.  Wanting to keep with the Indian feel of the mandala, I chose to draw in sepia.  I used the micron speia pens in a 01, 05 and 1 sizes.  I did most of the drawing with the 01 and used the others for fill in and where I wanted a thicker line.

Mostly done here. Just needs some shading and a few highlights.

It took me about 3 weeks to get it all done.  In that time though, there were days when I didn't work on it at all and other days that I drew most of the day.  I finally got it all finished this morning and I am soo pleased with the finished product.  I am tempted to keep it and hang it on my own wall. 



All shaded

 As I was working, I was afraid that the many different patterns would make it too busy.  Often I want to fill in each section with something different.  Once I started shading though, the different sections started to pop out and pull back into their own spaces giving them enough seperation that I think it works.

The final size is roughly 7" and will be framed in a 12X12 frame with a 8X8" opening.

Moebius Trip - Challenge 55

Has it been 55 challenges already? I started late in this journey but it sure doesn't seem like 55 should be where we are.  I guess time flies when you are having fun.

This week we were challenged to tangle a mobius strip or to make a tile including the Moebius Syndrome Foundation's logo.  This was to honor/raise awareness of The Diva's young son Artoo who has Moebius syndrome.  You can read more about the challenge, syndrome, The Diva and Artoo on her blog.

I wasn't up to the challenge of making a mobius strip althought that would be pretty cool.  Time was not on my side so I went with the logo.  I used paradox in the white space of the strip to keep with the whole infinity thing.  After I got that done though, I was unsure where to go next.  Then I decided to use Artoo (the tangle) because, well, it is all about Artoo isn't it?  :)  I used the purple gel pen from last week to color in the petals.  I didn't get exact with the color either.  I wanted it to have some character.  Then, I added bales to the background.  I was going to add more tangles but I changed my mind, as I wanted the logo and Artoo to stand out.  They are the main/important parts here after all.  I kept shading to a minimum as well for the same reason.

I wish the best for The Diva, Artoo and their family.  They face challenges every day that many people would run from and beat them down as the go.  I admire that.  Go on Artoo! Grow big and grow strong!

Quadrifoglio Zendala

Hello everyone!  Happy New Year!  I hope that the holidays were good and restful to you all.  Things were pretty busy for me up until Christmas but after the 25th, things got back to normal and I could relax a bit.

In the middle of all the Christmas preparations, I found a note in my sons backpack asking for silent auction donations for his school.  I love his school for many reasons.  One is that they do a fantastic job teaching and nurturing the children.  The other is that they don't do fund raisers.  I hate fundraisers.  I know that they can be a necessary evil but they can be a drag.  That look in your coworkers eye when you approach them with a sign up sheet often resembles a deer caught in the head lights.  The school has found many creative ways to raise money for the school and I love them for it.  This year the head of the PTA is going to try out a silent auction at the yearly spaghetti dinner.  When I got the note, I wondered what we could do to help.  Naturally I thought of making a zentangle or zentangle inspired art right away.  A few emails later, and I was officially making art for the auction.

At first I had thought that I would make a Valentine's Day inspired piece as the auction is just a few days before.  After talking it out and thinking it over, I was concerned that Valentine's Day theme might limit interest.  I have been interested in zendalas lately so I figured that I would give one a try.

In looking for a pattern to use I came across Laser Forge Designs and their beautiful designs. I ended up using the Quadrifoglio pattern for my starting place.  After staring at the traced out design for a while, I decided to just pick a pattern and get started. 

Approximately 7" on watercolor paper using 0.1 and .005 Micron pens with pencil shading.

I wasn't sure at first how many patterns I should use as I didn't want to get too busy.  I kept Cadent and Bales basic to start.  I figured that I could always go back and add some variation once I was done.  I was doodling a copy of the pattern and found that Shattuck made a nice pattern when done "in the round" as it were.  After that I looked for other patterns that would come out the same.  Purk was a natural for the shape and Sanibelle is just beautiful here (I think.)  The fourth presented a problem so I kind of made up a design.  I added Arc Flower, Tipple, and Scoodle to the little sections at the edge.  After I got the shading done, the whole piece felt unfinished so I went back and added variations to Bales and Cadent.  I also thickened up a few lines to make them pop out more.

I have it all framed up and will deliver it soon.  Here is the piece framed.  Sorry that the photo is a little awkward but photographing the stuff framed is not easy.

12X12" framed with 8X8" opening.

Zentangle Cats



5X7 on watercolor paper done with a purple micron .01, grey watercolor pencil, and pencil for shading.


I mentioned in an earlier post that I had some gifts that I was working on but had to keep secret.  This is one of them!  This was done as a Christmas gift for a family member.  We don't get to see each
other at Christmas so when we did get to see one another at Thanksgiving, we exchanged our gifts.

I am pleased to report that she loved her tangle.  I framed it in a 8X10 black frame I found at Michaels.  I think that I came out nicely.

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.

I'm Beginning to think a lot on Christmas

I guess this year I have joined those that start thinking about Christmas before Halloween is over.  Normally I wait until later in the season but the mood came early this year.  It all started with Christmas cards.  The last several years, I have been super about getting cards but not sending them.  Last year I didn't even get around to it.  But THIS YEAR, I will do better.  These may be famous last words but well, that wouldn't be the first time.

I am working on a Christmas project with a friend and that made me think of cards.  This year I am going to make our cards. I have tangled some ornaments on a card, added a bit of red and green and voila! I have cards. My work place even offered a deal on getting them printed at 40% off. Sweet!  They are prepping for printing now.  I am also having the inside message printed to make it even easier on myself. Next I will just get a family photo printed so I can put it in the card. Then all that is left is to get them addressed.  I may even tangle a design and have the stamps made at one of those online places.  That may be over doing it a bit.  We'll see when my steam runs out.

I may do a few more holiday patterns. I bought some snowflakes and trees to trace and tangle so I might as well give them a try too.

I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.  If they look good printed up, I may make our card every year.  Also, I bet it will be a good incentive to get my other card designs made.

Hoo are Yooo?

I have an online friend who is redoing a room in her house in all black and white.  She has picked lovely things to go in it but when I saw it, I knew that I needed to make a zentangle for her.  That room is made for a zentangle.  Maybe one day I'll make my own black and white room too.  She also loves owls so guess what her ZIA is?

The bedding she chose for the room has a lovely graphic stripe accent so I pulled that in for the background.  I think that I made a new pattern for the outside of the owl.  I haven't seen it anywhere else.  I wanted something that would look "feathery".  I still need to draw it up and think of a name.  It is really quite simple.

This one is an 8X8 square on watercolor paper and done with micron pens.

Happy Birthday Friend!

This year I turn 40 as do many of my friends.  To mark the occasion many of us have thrown ourselves a birthday party.  I love it.  It has been great to be with my wonderful friends and to celebrate this milestone with each other.  I also love that almost all of them will be 40 before me.  ;)

For my friend Steph's birthday, I decided that I would make her a Zentangle.  I chose to do one in a 5X7 size.  I waited until the last minute and wanted to use a standard size to make the VERY last minute framing go smoothly.  I totally lucked out on the framing as they not only had one I liked, but Michael's was having a BOGO sale on the frame that I liked.  I should have bought more as when I went back the sale was over.  Oh well, I'll have to keep an eye out for next time they have one.  I know know what frames to pick up.

Happy Birthday Steph!  I love you my awesome friend!

Steph's tangle unframed



All framed up.  The edges were lost as I didn't leave enough room but, I don't think that it looks too bad.



Kiss My Grids!

The challenge this week from The Diva is to create our tangle using only grid patterns.  I love the grid patterns.  Grids help me to stay evenly spaced.  I like even patterns.  I think it is because the freehand patterns tend to intimidate me a bit.

Every time I think of the name of this challenge, I can hear the actress on "Alice" saying "Kiss my grits!"  Then I am thinking of grits and want to make some.  I know that grits aren't for everyone but they are certainly for me.  I grew up in Tennessee and a full breakfast is not complete without them.  When we were on vacation I had Grits and Fried Green Tomato Napoleon with fresh Gulf Shrimp.  SO GOOD!  Anyone who doesn't like grits, I think it is because you have not had good ones.  Cheese grits are divine and all grits should be creamy and loaded with butter. :)

So, on to the grids.  I'm getting hungry here.  My first go at the challenge I did on the back of a note card.  A friend recently got married and brought me her old note cards to tangle on.  I have been using them for doodles and practice but thought I'd see how they work on a "real" tangle.  The paper did well.  There may be more this size in the future.  Using the theme of the challenge for inspiration, I used a mouth as a string.  Then the idea of grits are there in the gingham pattern.  I think of gingham as a "southern" pattern.  I used my own Huggybear pattern in the background. I skipped the little white dots this time.

I wanted to do a tangle for this challenge that was different , so I tried again.  This time I used 3.5" square of watercolor paper and gridded the whole thing.  I wasn't sure what to do for a string so I just looped around and ended up with this popcorn looking shape.  I used Eye-Wa for the background and a dressed up Bales as the center.  Bales looks like Puff though.  I have been wanting to learn Puff but the center squares keep me away so maybe I'll try Bales this way when I want to make Puff.  I hope you enjoy them.  I can't wait to see more of what you all have done!

Challenge 30

This week the challenge is guest hosted by Christina Vandervlist.  She has us using our initials as strings.  I do this quite a bit as sometimes I'm at a loss of where to start.  If I'm making a tangle for someone, I'll use there initial as a starting point. 

As my initials are JL, I used cursive letters to add more interest to the shapes in the string.  I was afraid that JL on top of each other would look like an inverted T.  I tried some new tangles on this challenge and maybe developed a new one.  I'm still tweaking it and need to come up with a name.  :)

J and L over one another.  Lots of loops!

All done!  I had to fight myself to make sure I didn't fill in every space.

Kingfisher in Sassafras

My Husband requested that I make him a ZIA of a Kingfisher.  Kingfishers are one of his favorite birds.  I couldn't refuse his request. He is so patient with me and my constant drawing.  It was fun to do. I enjoyed making this piece and he is quite happy with it.

I started with the bird and then added Sassafras leaves.  I was trying to decide how to treat the background when my Husband requested that I add sassafras leaves.  Originally I was going to fill the background with leaves but after I got started, I decided I didn't want the piece to get too busy.

On the big leaf is my new pattern Zuan Shi.  I was less free hand with the pattern this time.  I'm still exploring it.  Zuan Shi looked really different after I shaded the diamonds. 

I tagged most of the patterns that I used in the labels.  There are a few I have to go back and look up.  I can't remember the names right now.

Peacocks are all done!

They are all done! This is on a 9X12 piece of watercolor paper.  I ended up getting a Krylon Leafing Pen and adding it over the top of the gold I had added with the Uniball gold gel pen.  I liked the Uniball pen but I wanted the gold to shine a little.  The uniball is nice and the ink flows well, but it doesn't give the shine that the leafing pen does. 

Getting a mat cut for it and my Husband is going to make the frame.  I think the bride and groom will love it.