300!!!

WOW! A huge congratulatory shout out to Laura (the diva) for her 300th Zentangle® challenge! It is wonderful that this momentous occasion also landed during the week that she focuses on a tile to bring awareness to Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day, which is observed during this week. Purple is the color for MSAD so I decided to incorporate it into my tile. Please visit her blog here, to read all about it and her very special son. I've named this tile after Laura's son, Artoo. 

 

Diva Challenge #300 Moebius Syndrome Awareness : "Artoo"

I got back to basics this week with the lovely new book from headquarters... Zentangle Primer. I plan on working through the book along with the Zentangle : Tangled & Journaled Too FaceBook group. Here's my first tile from the book. I am doing all of the exercises in this sketchbook. I think it will be a great reference that I could use in future classes. 

Zentangle Primer : Tile 1 : #zp1tile1

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit... I'd love if you left me a comment! I treasure each one! 

More Inspiration...

Yesterday I completed a mixed media piece inspired by Inspiration Wednesday, one of Donna Downey's wonderful art exploration workshops. 

I enjoyed creating a couple of stencils using my Silhouette Cameo. I then used modeling paste to add dimension. My favorite part of this project is the paintbrush that I attached with wire to the page. It has very special meaning to me... it was one of my grandpa's brushes. He was an amazing person and artist that I so admired and aspire to be like. I included the words "inspiration 2017" on the brush. 

As an aside I looked up the Sketchbook Skool daily prompt for the day and saw that it was... aspiration. It was definitely a serendipitous moment! 

I appreciate all who visit, and am always grateful for any comments. Have a wonderful, art filled day!

Drawings

I feel like I've had a very productive art week so far... I finished the Intentions 2017 mixed media piece yesterday. YIPPEE! (You can see the art in the post here.) 

I am excited about starting a new mixed media project tomorrow... but TODAY was the day to work on the Diva Challenge #299 "Drawings." This tangle, pronounced draw wings, was released by Zentangle® headquarters over the holidays. This was the first opportunity for me to sit down and play with it. I adore how it just flows... the basic set up reminds me a bit of the pattern, fengle. As I drew the first set... I realized I liked the idea of individual pieces floating in hopes of joining the set. It's a "Gatherwings." 

"Gatherwings"

I am so happy to be submitting before the last day for once! PLUS... two weeks in a row I participated!! YAYYYYYY! 

Besides getting some time in my studio, I've been allowed to start walking Clark again. FINALLY! Today was gorgeous and as we walked I noticed that his shadow made him a BIG dog... It made me chuckle that the size he THINKS he is was showing. 

My BIG dog, Clark. 

If you're looking for the most recent Zentangle® Audio Meditation that I released last week, you can find that post here.

I really appreciate all who visit, and am always grateful for any comments! Have a wonderful, art filled day! 

Habits... make good art...

Okay... now 2017 can officially begin! 

I finally completed my Intention piece... I've layered lots of thoughts, celebrations, goals, and dreams into the final project. I began this piece by writing about things I wanted to celebrate and do in the coming year. I wrote about my word of the year and I admitted fears to help me release them. I then started painting over this layer... adding and removing color as felt right. As I mentioned in my last post, I am drawn to spiral shapes and LOVE to draw them as well. I decided to draw a large printemp and cut it out to include on my page. I was thrilled when the interior spiral sort of "sprung" out. I knew I had to use it in my piece! It was perfect... representing to me that by sticking to my word of the year it would help me spring to what I want to be/accomplish.

WIP : With spring released...

WIP : With spring flattened...

After placing and carefully gluing my printemps/spirals so that the spring could also lay flat when I wanted it to, I figured out how I wanted to add my word of the year... I initially thought I'd collage a little paper over part of the symbol and then write over it. It didn't feel right. It didn't represent my word. So... as I do whenever I am stuck, I walked away for a little while. Eureka! I knew what to do... I got out my gelly roll clear glaze pen and wrote my word, "habits," around and around the Printemps, it would show the words in a certain light and it would add a little dimension. I adore how you can see it... it's there... it's important... yet it disappears if you're not paying attention. It reminds me that I need to be vigilant to stay on track to make actions into habits. 

I wanted to add in my intention/goal for the year that was supported by my word of the year. This has become a mantra that means so much to me. I first watched this speech by Neil Gaiman last year... it inspired me and I watch it again when I need to relight my fire. I have written down quite a few things from this speech that resonate with me... but I'll stick to some of his words that are the thoughts behind my goal. 

"When things get tough... this is what you should do... 
Make Good Art.

Do what only you can do best... 
Make Good Art. 

Make it on the bad days, make it on the good days too."

Sooooo... my goal for the year is to simply make. good. art. How do I do this? I make art on my good days, and my bad days... I make a habit of creating. 

My next challenge in this piece was how did I want to convey it... Simply writing it wasn't going to give me the Oomph! I needed it to have. I decided to create and cut out my own stencil. I then used modeling paste to create a dimensional phrase. Yay! Just the effect I had hoped for. 

I continued with glazing and adding a bit more color before using a dip pen to add some printemps and swirls. I used Dr. Ph Martin's lovely iridescent ink in black sparkle to continue the theme of seeing things differently depending on the light and angle. After a bit more messing around with it, I am now calling it finished. I feel so satisfied with my intentions and goals... all put onto a piece of watercolor paper. 

This demonstrates that "habits" is invisible...

With a slight shift of the angle "habits" become visible. 

Detail shot...

More details... you can see the raised mantra. 

I liked how the shadow showed dimension here. 

I keep a bullet journal... this is the page where I kept track of what I used for this project. 

I am so happy to be participating in Life Book and Our Tangled Lives again this year. The inspiration and opportunity to learn from other artists is priceless! 

It's time to start the next project!

I so appreciate all who visit, and am always grateful for any comments! Have a wonderful, art filled day! 

SaveSave

Intentions, Orbs-la-Dee, and another Zentangle® Audio Meditation!

Yay! It's been the most wonderful art week! My surgery hand is getting a little stronger and more cooperative every day. (The hand that needs surgery is complaining from all the art work this week, but I'm ignoring it for now... as I ice and soothe it with painkiller gel.) I've worked on a couple of projects this week. 

First... a sneak peek of my 2017 Intention piece. (I will have it finished soon and will share the finished project in a future post.) I am combining prompts from a couple of groups that I'm participating in this year, Our Tangled Lives and Life Book. 

I wanted to choose a tangle/symbol to represent my journey this year... I chose Printemps, a lovely spiral shaped tangle that I am always drawn to AND love to draw. I wanted to cut it out and incorporate it on my page... as I was cutting it I saw the waste paper was creating a spring effect! YAY! So exciting! I had to use it! 

Playing around with Printemps placement...

I messed around with placement and then had a Eureka! moment... I love it woven together showing that sticking to my "habits" (word for the year) will help spring me to what I want to be. I didn't know how I wanted to add my word to the piece at first, would I collage over and add? That didn't feel right... and then it came to me. I would use a clear glaze pen that would show the words in only a certain light and it would add a little dimension. I adore how you can see it... it's there... it's important... yet it disappears if you're not paying attention. It reminds me that I need to be vigilant to stay on track to make actions into habits. I wanted the spring to lay flat or spring up so I was careful with how I glued, allowing for a little pocket to tuck in the middle of the spring Printemps... (3rd photo)

"habits" written in clear glaze pen and spring released...

Spring tucked into lower printemp spiral...

I've progressed a bit more from this point but will share all of that next time. 

Now it's time for this week's Diva Challenge #298 Orbs-la-Dee by Anneke van Dam. It has been quite some time since I've participated... I've missed you, Laura! Orbs-la-Dee is a very versatile lovely pattern by Anneke. Definitely a lot of fun to play with. I decided it would be perfect to explore on my new Zentangle 3Z tiles. Yay! My first triangle shaped tile. I am in love... the size is a little smaller AND so much fun to arrange into mosaics when complete (I've seen others do this and can't wait to have enough complete to do it myself)! I decided to isolate a section of the tangle to highlight the shape of the 3Z tile. It begged to have 3 gems added, again a tribute to the 3Z tile. It's titled, "3 gemZ."

"3 gemZ" Diva Challenge #298 Orbs-la-Dee

Finally... I created a Zentangle® Audio Meditation for Kelly Barone's, Tangle Troves™ subscription service filled with tangling treasures last year. You should definitely check out the service it is so much fun to get new tangling things in the mail every month! All who subscribed have had private access to this audio for the past 10 months. Today is the day that it is available here! Yippee!! I plan on producing more ZAM's during the coming year. 

So... Number Four as created originally for Tangle Troves. 

You will need the following: 

Bijou Tile (2 inches by 2 inches) or tile of choice (instructions are for bijou sized tile)

Micron 01 pen

Pencil

Tortillion or Stump

...and a nice quiet place :)

This meditation will take approximately 25 minutes. Please remember that you can pause the audio at any time if you need a little longer to complete the instructions. Most importantly... listen... and draw... there are no mistakes. 

I would LOVE to read comments from all those who participate. If you would like please post a photo of your tile on your blog/flickr/instagram, etc. and post the link in your comment. This will allow others to view your version of the meditation. It's so much fun to see everyone's artistic interpretation! DON'T PEEK UNTIL YOU COMPLETE THE CHALLENGE! THERE IS NO CHEATING IN ZENTANGLE! 

A SITE MAINTENANCE NOTE:

I pay a fee to have Vimeo host these audios. I would appreciate any help to defray this cost that anyone is willing or able to provide. You can find a contribution button in the side bar on the right... There are three choices $2.50/$5.00/$10.00 just click to select. Thank you in advance SOOOO very much to any who would like to help out once in awhile. Any amount is greatly appreciated.  

Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit! I adore seeing who's been here... please leave me a little note! :)

Hello 2017...

... I'm ready!

I have my new bullet journal set and organized. I have my word of the year. (Details in a future post.) I am excited about growing in my life and in art. I have set daily goals to be a good, kind, creative person. 

Last night I completed the mussel shell that I've been working on here and there for the past week or so. I know I could keep fidgeting with it... but I'm telling myself it is good enough and time to move on to the next project. 

I appreciate all who visit, and am always grateful for any comments! I hope you have a wonderful, art filled day! 

Happy New Year!