A Garden View

Yayyyy! It's time to work on another Diva Challenge! The guest blogger this week for challenge 328 is Suzanne Fluhr. I regularly see what she is up to via her awesome blog. The challenge she set forth was to use her lovely tangle, Aloha, in a tile. 

I was first introduced to this tangle while attending Lynn Shelton Mead’s class at Tangle U in Naples, Florida earlier this year. I loved the bold floral look!  After reading Suzanne’s post about the creation/inspiration for this tangle, I was definitely feeling the island atmosphere. I added my new tangle, haKrall (step out updated today!), in the background and added a sunset of colors… creating my “Garden View.” 

Diva Challenge 328 : "Garden View" 

Thank you again, Suzanne, for a fun challenge! It was wonderful to escape to the islands for a bit! 

Jewels of the Sea

This week's diva challenge 306 was posted on 3/06! I find that ever so AWESOME! The challenge was to use Lily Moon's pattern, Amphora. This was my first opportunity to draw this lovely tangle... as I experimented with it I realized I wanted to emphasize the feeling of the sea that it gave to me. I selected a tan tile and decided to use sea colors, blue and gray for my ink. Instead of using the first line of the pattern with the diamonds I started with circles to feel more like pearls/jewels to go with my sea theme. As I tangled, my mind wandered to a magical place under the sea where:

The sea waves 

crashed

and rolled

gathering and

selecting 

beautiful

mother of pearl

ornaments...

a gift.  

This tile is titled, "Jewels of the Sea." 

"Jewels of the Sea"

"Jewels of the Sea" side angle view

Thank you for stopping by for a visit today... It's always nice to have guests. Please be so kind as to leave a comment, I'll be sure to pop on over and return the favor! Have an amazing, art filled day! 

heARTfully twined...

Valentine's Day is TOMORROW and today's Diva Challenge 303 is to create a "Valentangle" to give your loved one. This meant I better get to it TODAY! I kept it simple... I used two color pens (red and grey) to try out a new to me tangle, Way Bop. Recently, Lynn Mead wrote a love-ly piece and included a step out to Way Bop with hearts. When I read the challenge I knew it was the perfect opportunity to give this a try. I liked the simplicity of the tangle as is, so just added a touch of watercolor for shading. It was fun to take advantage of the 3Z tiles shape to accent the hearts. I'm looking forward to giving this tile to my sweetheart. 

Diva Challenge 303 : "heARTfully twined"

Thank you for visiting... and for kindly leaving 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 Valentine's Day with your loved ones! 

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! 

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! :)

New art and a new decade...

A week ago today I turned the BIG 5-0... FIFTY... 50!!

I am filled with gratitude for all I've learned in each of my previous decades and I look forward to experiencing and learning from each day as I journey into this new decade. I feel so very blessed to have an amazing family and kind friends. I plan on celebrating ALL month! Please share in my birthday happiness and enjoy some art, yoga, rainbows, unicorns, and... cake!  

(I was extra grateful that my hand was not quite as sensitive and I could create a little art to celebrate the day... it's titled, "Fifty," of course! 😂) 

"Fifty" 

I really enjoyed creating "Zen Gems" for the first time on this piece. I am looking forward to creating art more regularly once again. I still have pain in my right hand and will have to have surgery eventually on that hand as well. Hopefully I'll be able to avoid it for another year. The surgery on my left hand went well, but it does have a long recovery time. It's been a tough year with all the surgeries and my husband and I need a break! I don't know how I would have survived this last 6 months without his constant help and support. I am so lucky to have such a patient husband. 

I enjoyed taking Life Book 2016 so much this year that I've signed up to participate in Life Book 2017! (Even though I didn't complete most of the lessons due to all those surgeries... I'll double up!) If you love learning all kinds of mixed media techniques and studying many different artist's styles... this is the course for you! Find out all about this AMAZING year long course here!!!

As December comes to an end it's wonderful to reflect and to get excited about the year ahead. I'm busy getting organized and making lists of things I want to accomplish. I LOVE lists! 

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

Deliberate Intention

I had a revelation during yoga on New Year's Day... I was lucky enough to be practicing next to Mark Reis, one of the wonderful teachers at our studio. I noticed his very deliberate, INTENTIONAL movements throughout class. He embodies strength AND grace. After class this came to my mind as I considered what word would be my inspiration for the year. I had considered "cultivate," but NOW I had a stronger, more deliberate word... INTENTION. I know that if I approach everything I do with INTENTION I will be able to complete anything I do in a more focused and mindful way.

Soooo.... it looks like Mark is inspiring me two days in a row! He taught class the next morning and during the savasanas read us part of a story. The book was titled, "Hope for the Flowers," about the adventures and life realizations of two caterpillars. He only read to chapter 4 during the brief savasanas, but wow, what an impact! Class seemed to fly by as he seamlessly read and guided us though practice. I left class imaging my practice as a metamorphosis of postures slowly progressing in the safe cocoon of the studio. How wonderful to think of that slow progress towards one day being a butterfly/better version of yourself. I sure hope Mark includes "story time" again in class one day. Beautiful!

The lovely story of the caterpillars reminded me of a tile I created a little while back... I pulled it out and worked on the finishing touches of shading. I had so much fun creating this organic tile that didn't have a fixed orientation... in true Zentangle fashion you can turn it and admire from any angle! (I created this tile at Sharla Hick's wonderful Dance of the Flowers, Zentangle Retreat in Big Bear.)

"Cornered Mooka"

The last couple of days we have had LOTS of rain! It has been several years (way too long!) since we have had a storm this size. It was wonderful to hear the rain falling... I had missed it! This morning the storm was moving out and the sky was  blue crystal... all freshly scrubbed with puffy cotton balls floating by. 

I took advantage of the nice rainy day to get my studio back into creating order! It had become a little messy during the last several weeks between preparation for the large workshop and then Christmas.  It is nice to have the new year ahead... and it feels wonderful to have all my paraphernalia back in it's place. This means it's time to get creating again! YAYYY!

I love my bright, cheery, ORGANIZED studio! 

The 60 day Bikram Challenge at the studio began this week! What an awesome way to start the new year! 

I hope that your start of the year has been inspiring and happy!

St. Patty's Challenge & CHAMPIONS

It's an exciting week! Cami performs at the USA Dance Nationals. The competition began on Friday. It is so wonderful to watch her dance... the proud mama always gets a tear in her eye. Friday night was the award show for the afternoon performances. Cami had tears of joy as their team won Champions (1st place) in the Small Dance category. This is such a great accomplishment for the team. Cami was excited as she is a senior and it's her last competition, she got a backpack that says "USA Dance Nationals CHAMPION" on it, she got a nice heavy medallion... and she accomplished this with her friends. It.was.an.amazing.night. Cami's comment a little later was, "I LOVE to win!" I agree, Cami... I. agree. 

Champions Trophy for Small Dance

The entire dance team...

Four of the nine who competed in the winning dance. 

A wonderful side benefit of attending these competitions is that there is a LOT of waiting time in between performances. Luckily our hotel is just across the street from the convention center. So... in between performances Leila and I would head back to the hotel (did I mention how AWESOME it is that Leila joined me for this?! Double. fun. weekend!) so that she could work, and I could draw. This means I had time to do the diva challenge! YAY! This week's challenge is #209 "St. Patty's." You were to use green somehow in your piece. That could mean colored paper, pen, paint... I decided to use some "green" that I had in my wallet. 

Weekly Challenge #209 : St. Patty's

Wish Cami good luck on the rest of this weekend's competition! I'm so happy that I have this opportunity to watch her dance AND spend time with both of my daughters (also time to draw!). Thank you to all who stop by for a visit (leave me a comment if you have a chance, please)! 

P.S. Have you tried out the Audio Zentangle® Meditations yet?! The first one is here.  Here is the second one.    I'll be creating the third one soon. 

Zentangle® Inspired Nail Art

Another version of my art... ready to be showcased on my fingernails!

I initially signed up to be an Independent Consultant for Jamberry Nails because I was oh-so-excited about creating designs with my own art, plus I LOVED all the existing designs. (They also last so much longer than traditional polish!) I finally had a chance to play around with the Nail Art Studio, AND my design was approved today! Yippee!! I'll be able to order my own Zentangle Inspired Art nail wraps! (Want some of these for your own? Contact me!)

I'm already imagining pairing these with a nice sparkly red...

My Diva Dance Nail Wraps! 

UPDATE: (02/21/15 I received the wraps earlier this week! I am thrilled with how they turned out! Here they are in the packaging...)

They arrived! So excited to put these on!

Thank you to all who always leave me such lovely comments... I appreciate each one! 

Tangling Around...

October... a perfect month for tangling on one of the awesome, faux pumpkins from Michaels! I've been working on this off and on for the past few weeks. It was so fun (and challenging) to work on a round surface. I used the Sakura IDentipen and a Copic grey pen for shading.

I taught a class early this month using these pumpkins. I prepped them with chalkboard paint for each participant. This chalkboard area can be changed as wanted by using chalk or chalk pens. Draw in a jack-o-lantern face, write a message, or a menu... endless possibilities! I know I will be happy to use this pumpkin year after year.

Finally finished! A Zentangle Inspired Chalkboard Pumpkin!

Pumpkin Bottom

Left Side

Left Back

Right Back

Right Side

A Zentangle Inspired Chalkboard Tangled Pumpkin!

I had to get in the Halloween spirit with my nails too! I decided to go sugar skull style... dia de los muertos with a little accent of black and white damask!

Sugar Skull Nail Art

I have a couple more pumpkins prepped and ready to go... Maybe I'll be able to create my very own Zentangle Inspired pumpkin patch!