Mixed heART...

I've been busy working on a mixed media piece for the past week or so... I'm putting lots of thoughts and intention into it as I incorporate several ideas/prompts/goals for the coming year. Here are a few progress shots as I work on my Inner Light girl... 

I just cut out these suns and spirals that I drew and they were resting while I contemplate placing and how I will paint and add my words to them. I loved how she looked in the sun and shadows so I had to take a photo... it almost captures the glow that I'm trying to create and have emanate from her. I still have quite a bit to do: more layering in the hair, shading, highlights, etc.

I couldn't let the week go by without participating in the diva challenge 304. This week the tangle to use is the new tangle from Zentangle® "waybop." Well... it happens that I used this tangle for my valentangle last week! I wanted to try something a bit different so decided to test out starting with the seeds of the tangle, MI2, in graph format versus the circle start of waybop. I then started connecting the lines in a combination of Huggins/MI2 style. As a throwback to my tile last week it seemed right to add a lone heART. I loved the simple line art once again, so decided to just add rounding and shading. Rounding always brings such a calm, zen feeling. It was another very enjoyable challenge! This piece is titled, "heART link."

Diva Challenge 304 Waybop : "heART link"

Thanks so much for visiting... and especially to all those who kindly leave a comment. I will be sure to leave a comment back... I know how much I enjoy receiving them, and once I complete my tile for the week, I start viewing and commenting on submissions. I strive for 5 to 10 a day. 😊 Who doesn't love a kind word?! 

I hope you have a wonderful, art filled week!

Shells and Paint

It's been a fun art week so far! 

I was thrilled to try a semi new tangle to me in the Diva Challenge this week. It's the 302nd challenge... the tangle to use is called, "Hamadox" by Diana Schruer, CZT. It's a mix between the tangles Paradox (which I've used) and Hamail (which I hadn't used previously). First off... I adore Paradox and then when I started playing with the "Hamail" way of finishing off a fragment of Paradox... well, it was LOVE! It has such a wonderful finished edge... brilliant, Diana! While experimenting with the tangle I decided to start with a block of Paradox and then finish with that Hamail element... Hamadox! Also in my experimenting I wanted to highlight the individual elements that are created within the group. I did this by drawing with three pens; black, grey, and brown. It was fun to see the outcome. This piece is titled, "Nestled Shells." (The border was created with a leaky pen a few weeks ago... I set aside the tile and came across it when starting this project. I like the contrast it provided.)

#dc302 "Nestled Shells"

A couple of days ago I completed some art in my inspiration art journal. I challenged myself to JUST START PAINTING... no pre sketch or pencil AT ALL! I also used a very limited palette of colors and worked with acrylics. I have to admit that I was a little sweaty taking that first paint stroke... but it all ended up okay. Nothing bad happened, AND I learned some things that will help me for my next project. 

Here are my bullet journal pages for this project. I enjoy taking a photo or a small copy of art projects I complete and adding the photo to my journal. I wanted to capture the inclusion quote so I created a mini book to add... I use clear photo corners to keep it flat to the page when not being looked at. 

Here's another example of how I attach photos/copies into my journal. The 3Z tile in this photo is just attached at the bottom... the top is held shut with a photo corner, so you can just slide it out to view the notes underneath. It's a lot of fun to see photos of projects within the pages. It also helps me to remember what I used/liked/would try differently. 

I had an exciting Flickr event happen after posting last week's Diva Challenge to my account. The next morning I was surprised that I was getting LOTS of notifications. It prompted me to look at the Flickr page... I found that my photo was featured in their Explore section. YAY! I was very excited! Here's the screen shot. 

Thank you so much for visiting. Comments are always welcome and SOOOOO appreciated! 

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!

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

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!

Happy Holidays!

It's hard to believe how quickly this year has passed. I am very grateful for my many blessings this year and am looking forward to another wonderful year ahead. 

A couple of days ago I had the chance to play with some of the new toys I received for my birthday this year.   I. had. a. blast!  Here's a shot of my mussel shell work in progress while I explore and figure out how to use the new supplies... I have just started layering and blending. I definitely have quite a few layers to go. I am in love with my new supplies! I'll write more about them in the new year.

From our home to yours... I wish you all a magical holiday season filled with joy and love!

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

The Little Mermaid

The little mermaid project is now complete. I really enjoyed trying out some new techniques that I hadn't used before. It is so fun to create when inspiration strikes, and you know just what to do to put what's in your head onto the paper. So. very. satisfying. when that happens! The way that her hair and bubbles have a part in telling her story makes me very happy. 

I am having a lot of fun taking this course and am looking forward to studying new techniques and styles with more artists.  (Click here to view more details about the course. It started early July but you can still sign up and not lose a step. You can download all course materials to work at your own pace.) It is WONDERFUL!


Here is my finished mermaid... I tried to take shots from different angles to show how her tail, the bubbles, and the flower in her hair sparkle and shine depending on the light. It wasn't very easy to capture these subtleties with a camera. I wish you could see her in person!  

I so appreciate those who stop by to visit and am always grateful for any comments. Have a wonderful, art filled day! 

X-rays, a Zentangle® Book, & Mermaid Progress

Soooo... My last post I mentioned my foot surgery. One down, one to go. Well... This week I rescheduled an appointment I had with an orthopedic doctor that I had cancelled while dealing with scheduling the first foot surgery. The appointment was to have my hands checked out, specifically the pain I've been experiencing in the thumb area. (I was hoping the pain would go away while I was resting with foot surgery recovery. It didn't.) Basically... it looks like more surgeries are in my future... I have bone on bone in my thumb joint, both hands. Here's the lovely X-Rays. You can see there is no space at the bottom of the third bone... Ouch!

The doctor gave me some braces to wear on my hands during the day to try to help with the pain. We will have to wait to do anything further until I've recovered from the current and upcoming foot surgery. I. Am. A. MESS! I told my husband that it may be time to trade me in for a newer model... I think my warranty has expired. I'm just going to take it all a day at a time. I know it will all be fine.

 I received some very exciting mail yesterday! I received this beautiful book...

...from Beate Winkler. She's a Certified Zentangle Teacher in Germany who has published many wonderful Zentangle® books. I am so pleased and honored that she invited me to submit some art for this book! I am overjoyed to have my art included with so many amazing and talented artists. Several of my pieces are in the book. Here's a little preview of the elegant layout inside...

"Das Grosse Zentangle Kreativbuch" is currently being translated into English, and should be available possibly later this year on Amazon. The projects in the book are beautiful and inspiring. The book is wonderful in every possible way! It is well laid out and pleasing to page through. It includes step outs to tangle patterns as well as lots of lovely Zentangle Inspired Art projects. (Thank you again, Beate, for including my art.)

I introduced my latest project, the little mermaid in my last post. Since that post I have been working on additional face layers and details. (Click here to view more details about the course. It started early July but you can still sign up and not lose a step. You can download all course materials to work at your own pace. It is a WONDERFUL course!) 

I had to get back to my mermaid today (no matter how my hands are feeling)! I was so excited! I was selecting lots of papers to start collaging... I looked for papers that would tell her story... her longing for the items of the earth world. I printed out part of the original fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson so that I could incorporate that also. I have bits of paper with birds, roses, shiny things, etc and then I found some paper with butterflies that almost reminded me of scales!!! I'll use some twinkling H2O watercolors to pick up and enhance the change of colors and luminescence of the paper. This paper is perfect for my little mermaid's TAIL! I also LOVE that the butterflies represent her transformation and longing to be free. I've place the pieces to see how it would look... I LOVE IT! I'll save them to add later after I do some of the other layers of painting. 

Then I began playing with the page of the fairy tale that I had printed out... I chose pieces I wanted to include and immediately thought it would be wonderful to have her story be part of her and lifting her towards the surface... bubbles also float her story towards the surface... This is the start of that process. (I was very particular about the words/phrases that were selected. You can see the part where she is told that she can go to the surface at 15, her handsome boy statue, a kiss each other, little mermaid, sisters, youngest one, the sea, flowers, and never having seen a bird...)

I then started adding some sparkles to her hair with some shiny paper that I had with birds and flowers printed in foil. More earthly things for her in the sea. I placed more scraps. I saw some numbered paper... YAY! It had a '15.' Perfect number for my "horse," as this is the age she is able to travel to the surface. So here she is at this point. 

Now it's time to glue down my pieces and begin adding some color! It felt so good to work on her for a couple of hours today. I'll rest my hands a bit, take some more tylenol, and get out the gel medium! 

As always... I so appreciate those who stop by to visit and am always grateful for any comments. Have a wonderful, art filled day! 

Hikes, Surgery, & ART

It's been a tricky year so far for me. I have had lots of distractions and some challenges. One (okay two) of my challenges have been my feet. Over the past couple of years I have been in more and more pain that for the most part I: a) blamed on my shoes b) thought would get better by themselves c) tried to ignore. The denial had to come to an end and finally did when I realized during a vinyasa class that I was unable to be on my toes without excruciating pain... And there are a LOT of postures that rely on toes in vinyasa yoga. Luckily it prompted me to make an appointment with a podiatrist. 


My appointment was scheduled the week after a trip to visit my family in Southern Utah. Whenever I'm home I have to hike. The desert landscape calls to me and soothes my heart and soul. I'm very happy I didn't go to the podiatrist prior to this trip... I would never have been allowed to do the 5 hour hike. Although it hurt, I was so happy to be hiking in such a beautiful area again. I feel so lucky to have been able to grow up here! Here's a few photos of our hike a couple miles from my parent's home...

We drove about 40 minutes to get to this location (This was the 5 hour hike!) Here are the photos from that hike...

By the time I was done with the hiking I definitely knew that reasons a-b-c were not flying anymore! I returned home and went to the doctor. Here are the X-Ray's...

Bone on bone in toe joint. Ouch! 

Bone spurs on big toe joint. Ouch!

Bone on bone in big toe joint on left foot too. Ouch!

More spurs on big toe on left foot. Ouch!

OUCH! Time to schedule surgery to remove the bone spurs, and shorten the metatarsal leading from the big toe and screw it back together so that there isn't as much pressure pushing into that joint. Right foot scheduled for July 6th, and left foot will be fixed 3 months later (early October) when the right foot is strong enough to be my main foot. 

I'm happy that the first surgery is over and now that I've had several weeks of recovery I can get back into my studio for little snippets of time once again. This brings me to the art part of this post! YAY! 

Prior to surgery I signed up to take an art course called Ever After. Click here to view more details about the course. (It started early July but you can still sign up and not lose a step. You can download all course materials to work at your own pace.)

I LOVE fairy tales and I liked that this course studied fairy tales using different artist/styles plus you had the option of working on discovering your own style throughout the course.  (I signed up for both modules because I was very interested in the self discovery portion of the workshop as well.) I knew that the assignments would be waiting for me and would inspire me to get back in the studio. I started the first project this week. The first fairy tale study is, The Little Mermaid. Here's my initial sketch in my notebook...

I then drew my sketch onto watercolor paper and started the first layers of watercolor for the skin and began the detail of the eyes. Definitely a work in progress. I'm enjoying every moment. It feels great to create again. 

I'm looking forward to drawing and painting when I can and I am forgiving myself for being absent for so long. I am grateful that art always waits patiently for me to return. I am excited to share more zentangle and art of all forms as I continue healing, creating, and exploring.