Time... & haWy Tangle Step Out

Time has flown since I last posted... it’s time to catch up a bit! 

Last year I began the year drawing every day. I made little sketches in my bullet journal, using prompts provided by Sketchbook Skool as a starting point. I LOVED doing it. Here's a little video of one of the months. I did this project through May... when we decided it was time to make a change. Then all my art stopped (until now). 

The big change that occurred is that we moved to Las Vegas! Moving is a LOT of work... but with big rewards. We absolutely love our new home/neighborhood/city! Here are a few photos: 

Day One! Clark knew just what to do! 

Our sunrises and sunsets are spectacular!

I love to sit and listen to the fountain in our courtyard. 

The sunset view through the courtyard gate.

Love our street!

I can't get enough of the sunrises/sunsets! 

Clark loves Christmas! 

Wonderful to have the girls home for the holidays!

The move and getting set in the new area was immediately followed by the holidays... so lots of busyness and still no art. Finally my studio is all set up and I just love it! I have a beautiful view and perfect light. 

The studio

Love the view from my art desk.

All this means that it's time to begin my art practice routine once again... yet it’s been such a long time that I felt a bit of anxiety to start. It’s silly what your mind does to you. I needed a spark to get me going... 

One day a little over a week ago I happened upon a post by Yvonne Westover. She shared some photos of a few patterns she had come across while traveling. (Yvonne is a fantastic Certified Zentangle Teacher, and a virtual friend that I follow on Instagram. You can find her there @ywestart.) The grey pattern intrigued me, and I made a mental note to look at it again later. 

Photo collage by Yvonne Westover

Later that day I found myself trying to deconstruct the pattern while waiting somewhere. It felt great to have a pen in my hand, and especially to have the wonderful feeling that happens every time you are mindful and let the pen guide you. I suddenly realized I had nearly deconstructed the pattern! I was so excited, I had to locate Yvonne’s post to double check my memory. A minor adjustment and I had it!! 

The pattern was so much fun to deconstruct, and I was THRILLED when I realized that I could easily keep proportions in the design if I started with an underlying offset dot grid. It was an ah-ha moment! My first tries were a bit more complicated and I knew it would be difficult to attain/keep the shape... the offset dot grid changed EVERYTHING!

I contacted Yvonne to thank her for the inspiration and to let her know I had deconstructed one of the textiles she had posted. Her warmth and encouragement made my day. Thank you ever so much, Yvonne, for getting the pen in my hand again! 

Sketchbook practice

More practice and testing

I would like to name this tangle haWy... the “Wy” (pronounced why) portion as a tribute to Yvonne Westover, and to the “Y” shape that is a key step in the creation of the tangle. I have included several variations. I love how versatile the pattern is and how it can look so different, depending on how you shade or embellish it. It can also be used as a reticula to fill with fragments. It’s fun to use those angles to create a dimensional look. (If this is a tangle that has already been deconstructed and published by someone else, please let me know so that I can give credit to the proper person.)

I hope you'll give the tangle a try! Please use the hashtag #haWy if you post on Instagram/Facebook so that I can find your wonderful creations. 

Thanks so much for visiting... and for leaving me a message! 

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! 

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! 

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