More Color

Went to Urgent Care yesterday because I suspected that my 'flu' was really bronchitis.  I was right.  And I am happy to report that the 7 prescriptions (!) are beginning to work.  I still cannot think clearly, but I am able to at least sit up which is an improvement, since I've been mostly lying on the couch since Saturday.

I'm also happy to report that I can still tangle, even with my brain fog.  Here is today's project.  Mostly Zig markers over a watercolor wash.  With accents of Marvy white Reminisce pen, Prismacolor purple marker, Green perm opaque, and chalk.  I was also heavily influenced by a piece of Sonya Yencer's are that is sitting here waiting for our new book.

 

Happy Earth Day

After last week, I think the whole earth needs some happiness, so here is my Diva challenge for earth day.

Inspired by my favorite quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

Here are some other flower-themed pieces I have been working on for the last few weeks.

This one is made using an old cereal box.  How perfect for earth day.  I started by covering the box in masking tape and gesso. The original lines were made using Elmer's glue. Then I did quite a few watercolor washes. Then I sprayed it with workable fixative and added detail with acrylic paint, markers, gel pens, and india ink. For all of the time I spent on this, I think it is still not quite right, so I will put it aside for a few weeks and see if I can figure it out with fresh eyes.  Any advice would be appreciated.

 

 

Finally, here is my tangled garden inspired by Cherryl Moote's book of the same name. I was fortunate enough to take a class from her at Retreat to Paradise. Joanne Fink also taught her Zenspirations Dangle designs class and I added some dangles to this piece. I just wish you could see all of the glitter in the pictures. I went crazy with the sparkle pens.

 

Travel Sketches - Alaska Cruise

I spent 5 days at 2 different Zentangle retreats last week, plus the better part of a day waiting in the Atlanta airport. Since I have a water brush, Sakura Koi field kit, and a small sketchbook, I can work just about anywhere.  When I got tired of tangling, I painted.  I don't love all of the sketches, but I am tickled pink that I got 10 pages done.  

 

 

 

 

Happy Paint Party Friday!

 

One Zentangle A Day - Day 33: Zendalas

From your hostess, Ellen Gozeling:

 

I love Zendalas. Before I became a Zentangle addict, I was a Mandala addict. And combining the two.... No words for that!

I copied the template and reduced it to 90%, so it would fit a Zentangle tile. In this case I filled the same spaces with the same patterns, so its symmetric. I like the black on white the most, but the yellow/orange one seems the glow from the centre. I use colored pencils and for the hard of the yellow/orange one, I used a neon colored pencil. Like the effect.

Looking forward to what you all did this week,

Keep tangling,

Ellen

 

 

 

Beautiful, Ellen.  Love those cool colors and love how you shaded with them.

 

Ellen's compatriot, Maria Vennekens contributed this zendala:

 

 

 

Sonya Yencer, who is in Haiti right now, sent this before she left:

 

I'm a rebel. I didn't like the Zendala string for Day 33 so I decided to do another frame from Day 32 instead. To add some variety, I created a double frame, extending the art all the way to the edge of the tile, a technique I rarely employ. The shading really brought this piece to life and created good eye movement. The white space is minimal and, while my Betweed still isn't quite the way I'd like it, I'm happy with the tile overall.

 

 

 

 Beautiful shading on that one.  It almost looks 3-D.  Wish I  do tripoli that well.

 

Marty Deckel writes:

 

Here are my 2 tiles for Day #33-OZAD; Zendalas.  the first is achromatic, and the second (same template), in color.  I used Tombow Markers with water, and then highlighted with some "sparkle" using Gelly Roll Stardust pens...very cool, and fun!!  I seem to shy away from Zendalas, however, I really enjoyed this lesson and using the color...so am looking forward to the next two lessons with more zendalas!!

 

 

 

 

Stunningly beautiful, especially the black and white version.  Love the sparkles.  What a happy zendala.

 

Here are my two.  Since I am working on the Kindle version of One Zentangle a Day, I couldn't print the Zendala template, so I drew my own.  It is my first time using Genevieve's Zendala templates and I think I would have been happier if I had taken my time.

 

 

Thanks for you patience as I get caught up from my trips.  

Fun With Color

My family watched basketball this weekend.  To be sociable, I sat in the room with them.  But, I don't like basketball, so I got a lot of tangling done.  This is a piece I started over the weekend, but it lacked something.  Color, I thought, so I whipped out my new Sakura Koi watercolors.

It was  still missing something, so I put it aside for later. When I saw today's Diva challenge was to use LeeAnn's new tangle Tuxedo, I knew what was missing: that tangle.  I used it in 3 sections that had just been color-washed and the strong contrast with the black was exactly what it needed.  

I finished up by coloring in the few black and white sections using Prismacolor colored pencils brushed and blended with baby oil.  I just learned that I can use baby oil instead of odorless mineral spirits to color-wash pencils.  I love the technique.  Does anyone know about the long-term effects of baby oil?

 

Year of the Snake

In celebration of Chinese New Year, this week's Diva Challenge is to tangle something that looks like a snake.  I can tell you that I worked really hard on this ZIA and took hours to get the stippling, but I still don't like it.  Probably because I'm not a snake fan.  And when I showed Birdie, she said, "It's going to give me nightmares."  Guess I was too literal on this one.

So, this nest of tangled snakes is looking for a home.  Does anyone want it? Comment below if you do.  If there are more than one of you, I will let Birdie read the comments and decide who she thinks will provide a better home for the snakes.

And on an entirely different note, I wanted to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has ordered my book. I never thought there would be 400 sales in less than 3 weeks. I am grateful to everyone who has supported me during this journey. I hope that you all find it useful.  Thanks!

Embrace the Unexpected

Hello Everyone,
I didn't fall off the planet, but I did just get back from Alaska.  I'll share more about that when I get caught up with housework, schoolwork, yard work, and life in general.  But, I did want to share this week's Diva challenge.

It's called "Embrace the Unexpected."  When I first saw the Diva challenge this week was to use Margret Bremner's Copada, I thought it would be lovely to use as part of a Zendala.  So, on my way out the door to drive Birdie to band on Tuesday, I grabbed my Zendala tin as well as my tangle bag.  Lo and behold, when I sat down to tangle, I discovered that I brought the full tin.  Yep, not a single blank one to tangle.  Since I was stuck using a square tile, I decided to go with a curved string and used the lid of the tin to draw it.

I thought copada would play nicely with my own tangle esses so I made a curved path of those two.  I wanted a simple look, so I paired them with Knightsbridge.  I even used the lid to draw it so everything is curvy.

Embrace the Unexpected: copada, esses, knightsbridge

I had planned on leaving the area behind the copada empty, but I was so in the zone when I was coloring in Knightsbridge, I just kept going.

Ugh. It was pretty ugly at this point.  Even shading wasn't helping much. So, I set it aside for a day to see if a new perspective would help.

Still out of ideas yesterday, I thought I'd try more shading. I took the tile and my bag of drawing pencils to Birdie's flute lessons yesterday.  When I pulled out a pencil to shade, I found the one lost Aquarelle pencil stuck in the bottom of the bag.  I figured I'd just go with it.  What a huge difference it made!  The gold really brought out the Copada and esses and let the Knightsbridge stay in the background.

Next time you are tangling, I encourage you to also embrace the unexpected. Enjoy the journey.

Passing the Time

This has been a busy week for us.  Birdie has had 4-hour rehearsals every evening at Ohio State. I decided that since it is 40+ minutes to drive her there,  I would stay and find a way to amuse myself on campus. The first day, I brought a few books and thought the 4 hours would never end.  The next 3 days, I took ran errands and went to a movie.  I thought it might be fun to see "adult" movies.  I learned that I don't like R-rated movies.

Finally, last night, I brought my art supplies.  The time just FLEW by!

Birdie made a rubber stamp of her uncles.  I colored two of them and did pen and ink shading on the third.

I'm not particularly happy with the results, but at least I was happy while I was doing it.

A Friend for Nemo

Hello PPF friends,

It's been such a busy day that I completely forgot it was even Friday until about an hour ago!  And I painted early this week.  That's probably why.

I just got the fall schedule from my art teacher and found out that she won't be having adult classes any longer.  I can't say that I blame her, since she didn't have enough students to justify the time.  But I will really miss them.

I can still set aside a few hours a week to paint, but it is much harder without that studio time paid for in advance.  And I will miss the opportunity for critique.  Lucky for me, PPF will help with that.  I'm definitely motivated to paint so I have something to post on Friday.  Plus, I love all of the feedback I receive.  Please, don't hesitate to give me honest, constructive criticism.  Especially since I won't have my teacher for feedback.

So, I really need some feedback on this painting.  I started it a few weeks ago and "finished" it on Wednesday.  But, I showed it to a few people and they didn't think it looked done.

But, I do think it now goes well with Nemo.  He doesn't have to be lonely any more.  (If he could swim to the other painting, like they do on Harry Potter!)

Thanks in advance for any comments and happy PPF to y'all.

Cris

Painting Help and Contest

Hello Paint Party Friday Friends,

My PPF painting this week is inspired by Joanne Thomas's Watercolour Line and Wash instruction video. There are also videos on painting movement and using a palette knife. If you want to learn something new and maybe win $50 worth of art supplies, check out the challenge page. The contest ends on Sunday, July 8, so you still have a little time to enter.

I really enjoyed the line and wash technique, but I always end up frustrated whenever I do this kind of lesson because I expect my painting to look like the instructor's. Which is totally unrealistic, considering I doubt I have 1/10 of the experience!

I had the same problem this week doing my Zentangles. I let my expectations get in the way of my art. My new mantra will be: "LET GO and GO WITH THE FLOW." Expectations only lead to disappointments.

Despite this painting not looking like the Joanne's, I kind of like it and will definitely add this technique to my toolkit. Happy PPF. If you enter the contest, please let me know. I'd love to see your interpretation.

Packing Light

I love my travel sketchbook.  I've only been keeping it since January 2011, but we've gone to many places since them and it brings back such fond memories whenever I get it out.

But when we were in New Mexico, I was so busy working on the Sketchbook Project that I only did one sketch.  And we're leaving for the beach on Sunday!  Catching up on my travel sketchbook is high on the priority list.  Right up there with packing :-) Luckily, I pack light.  Especially my art supplies.  My Zentangle supplies fit in a box the size of a paperback with room for my paints.

Here are all of my travel sketchbook supplies.  

Sometimes, I think I'd like to get something better, but this little $5 special holds my pencil, eraser, and water brush, while still acting as a palette and fitting in the pocket of my travel skirt.

So, while Birdie was at her 4H meeting tonight, I sat in the car and started a sketch of sunrise in Ruidoso, NM.  Mountains are a challenge to me, living her in the flat lands, but I am improving.

Steering wheel holding the iPad, painting on my lap.  

The best thing was that when I showed Birdie, she knew exactly where it was.  That makes me happy.

Happy PPF.  Hope your painting makes you happy, too.

Please Help Nemo

Here is my first Friday Paint Party painting.  It is an 18x24" watercolor and colored pencil affectionately nicknamed "Nemo."

I've been working on this piece for a few weeks and I'm stuck.  I thought I was done except for painting another small clown fish in the white space above the coral.

I like my anemone and fish by themselves:

and I like to coral on the right side by itself, but as a whole, I'm not fond of the composition. I don't like the space to the left of the anemone and I think I need some darker and perhaps more defined seaweed behind the anemone, but I'm not sure.

So,  should I

• leave it as is (once I put in the other fish)? 
• crop it into two pieces and make it into a group?
• leave it big, but paint some more?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as my art lessons are on "summer break" as of Monday.

Don't Stop Believing

Birdie told me I HAD to include Don't Stop Believing. Since I love Journey, I agreed even though I hadn't a clue how to illustrate that.  I finally decided to just go with copying the album cover and trying to use some more "interesting found objects."  (This is a fancy term for trash.)

I found this gem under a cake.  Yep, it's a foil doily.  I tried stamping with it, but that didn't work as planned, so I lined it back up as best I could and used it as a stencil for a spray of Perfect Pearls mist.  
Is it perfect? No, but at least it is somewhat interesting.
I had a lot of fun doing the record label. I used my 4x6 chevron stamp and LOTS of embossing powder.

Finally, here it is in all its glory.

I did the wings using Prismacolor pencils that I layered and layered some more.  To make them even brighter, I used applied odorless mineral spirits with a brush.  I went outside the lines to put the blue shading between the feathers. The rest is done with watercolors and Stickles pearl over the white on the stop sign.  This one is so sparkly and 3-dimensional I wish you could see it in person.

My Multi-Mixed-Media Sketchbook

If you are reading this, I am betting that you are a collector of art supplies, like me.  This is a picture of my desk showing some of the supplies I used for my sketchbook project.

hand-carved stamps, embossing powders, distress inks, glue, Zentangle markers, gel pens, glimmer mist, watercolors, Stickles, Stayz-on inks, paint pens, plus colored pencils and markers. 

I thought I would do my sketchbook as a kind of Zentangle-focused art journal.  Of course, I've never done an art journal before. I've only read about them on the internet.

The theme I chose was "How to Tie Your Shoes and Other Things to Learn."  My version was going to be "Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from the Radio." But, I ended up with the more sedate Pop Proverbs, with wit & wisdom from the age of vinyl.

Since I turned 50 last year, I've become obsessed with time. Where did it go? How much is left? How come time seems to be moving at such a frantic pace? So, the first line I chose was, "Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping, into the future" from Fly Like an Eagle by the Steve Miller Band.  On each page, I cut a circle out of card stock, and  embossed some grooves on it.  I made a stamp by cutting a circle out of a styrofoam take-out container and "carved" it using a pencil.  It worked surprisingly well.

I wanted jewels instead of sand in my hour glass, but we weren't allowed to use glitter.  Finally, a use for my Stickles paint!  It is very hard to see how sparkly it is from the photo.  (Observant readers may have noticed that the first picture is actually a screen shot from the video I tried to make showing how I made this book.  Let's just say that I have a new respect for those who do "how to" videos on their blogs.)

The clock hands are just an opened brad, so this page is interactive.


This is the one layout that looks most like an art journal to me. At least there is a bit of layering. It is also one of the most literal. As time went on, I became less literal and also went back to using more familiar techniques.

Stay tuned to this station for more pop proverbs.  It's sketchbook week here at Tangled Up In Art.

(If you can't wait to see the whole thing, you can find it on my Flickr page.)

The Sketchbook is in the Mail!

Wallpaper sample with glossy black
paint pen and sharpie lettering. So
sad I didn't have time to do any
tangling or stamping.

Despite a week with dual ear infections, featuring a ruptured ear drum, my sketchbook is now in the hands of the USPS! It was a little scary, a little sad, and a little exciting handing it over tonight.

I participated in the Limited Edition project and chose the theme "How to spell and other things to learn."  I titled my book "Pop Proverbs, with wit and wisdom from the age of vinyl."

I only had 2 hours tonight to fold, bind, make a cover, and put the whole thing together, so the cover and title page don't match my vision of it should be, but I will admit that it was a thrill finally holding the finished book in my hands.

I told the postal worker that I trusted him with my baby.  I'm hoping that trust was not misplaced!

Happy Art

Loved this week's Diva Challenge: Mardi Gras.  My first thought, was, "Ooh, sparkly and colorful."  This is something I love doing.  So here is my mixed media (Pigma pen, watercolor, Prismacolor pencil, Whispers marker, and Stickle) ZIA.  It makes me happy.

I also finished the watercolor seascape that I've been working on for a few weeks in my Monday night studio class at Art Garden Studios.  It also makes me very happy and reminds me of a wonderful trip to the beach.

Hope all of your art makes you happy and brings you good memories.  Thanks for stopping by.