DIVA CHALLENGE #160 - SPIRAL OUT

This week has been a crunch... not just because I've been busy, but also because my mind has been floating around in the ether a bit more than usual.  (aka - la-la-land)

SO - this week's Diva Challenge # 160 was all about spirals.  I haven't even had a chance to look at anyone's work yet!  I hope I get a chance to do that this weekend.  I did, however, manage to find time to do a piece for the challenge.

here goes nothin...

tangles used: curvaceous, paushalov

Snail Zendala?

Diva Challenge #144

A while back I made the beetle zendala at the left for another Diva Challenge about bugs.  I've always wanted to do more bugs in this manner; a whole collection of them at the same size & using the same colors.  Recently, my mom went & framed for me a whole bunch of pieces that I left with her, including the beetles.  For the past week or so, they have been propped up on a table in my living room where I see them constantly because I haven't decided where to hang them yet.  & I've been staring at the beetles... staring & staring & staring, coming to the conclusion that I WILL make companion pieces so the beetles won't be so lonely. (ha!)  As soon as I saw the word "spiral" in the challenge name, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to make a friend for my current bugs.  Et voila, snail zendala.  I like it.

UGH, no time no time no time no time I HAVE NO TIME!  So many things to do!  I'm building floating bookshelves this weekend.  At least that's the plan.  Which may be subject to change.  It's exciting.

DIVA CHALLENGE #159 - "TOP 'O THE MORNING"

This week's Diva Challenge #159 is entitled "Top O' the Morning," which is a cute way to say that our mission was to create a piece inspired by St. Patrick's Day.

I'm pretty sure that when the average American thinks about St. Pat's day, they are inundated with visions of shamrocks & leprechauns, rainbows & pots of gold, beer (sometimes green) & a really great reason to party it up.  I won't deny it, that's pretty much where my thoughts went at first.  However, doing a piece to celebrate St. Patrick's Day that was all about the kitsch & commercialized cartoonish vision that, sadly, the day has become... well, I just sorta felt "eh" about it.  Which may be strange.  I have an intense love for the color GREEN, (did you know that green occupies more space within the visible spectrum of light to human eyes?) & hello - RAINBOWS?  YES... rainbows are awesome.  Also, emeralds.  Emerald Isle.  Emeralds emeralds emeralds, I will never love another stone, not even the most flawless diamond, as much as I love emeralds.  (Have you seen the 1958 movie Gigi w/ Leslie Caron & Maurice Chevalier?  Of emeralds, she says "only the most beautiful emeralds contain that miracle of elusive blue.")  ANYWAY - I decided to do a little googling & wikipedia-ing, & try to sort out some of the real essence of the day set aside to celebrate the life of Saint Patrick.

As far as symbolism goes, there's a lot more to choose from than leprechauns & shamrocks.  Also, green, white & orange may be the colors of Ireland today, but long before today's Irish Tricolour was raised during the Easter Rising of 1916 & accepted as the official flag, BLUE was considered to be one of the sacred colors of the country, & there is even a shade of blue associated with St. Patrick - appropriately named St. Patrick's Blue.

I could honestly go on all day about this stuff, but really, who's interested?
So, on to my challenge piece.

tangles used: monaghan

A Blue Irish Cross over a green background tangle.  In this case, Monaghan by Neil Burley, who created the tangle after an inspiring trip to Ireland.  This started life in my sketch book (& actually remains there.)  It wasn't supposed to be my challenge piece, but I'm pretty happy with how it ended up.  It also wasn't intended to be a monotangle, but I think that it worked out well. 

I'm a big fan of comments - in whatever form they might come - please leave your message after the beep.


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DIVA CHALLENGE # 158 - DUOTANGLE: DIVA DANCE & CRESCENT MOON

Ok... lets see here...

This weeks Diva Challenge #158  is - Duotangle: Diva Dance & Crescent Moon.

I was surprised with how quickly I came up with ideas for this one, & another one (possibly two?) is in the works.  So let's just get down to it, shall we?

Here's numero uno

tangles used:  crescent moon, diva dance (waltz & foxtrot)

I started with 2 big overlapping circles, & the rest of it just sort of flowed from there.  I would be totally happy with this if I had chosen a different red pen - the red 005 micron is really disappointing as far as the color output goes.  Very pale & on the verge of pink - also, looks like a different color all together next to the red that comes out of an 05 micron.  Is anyone else in agreement that Sakura really needs to work on their ink colors?  They all just seem kinda wonky.

et le numero deux

tangles used: crescent moon, diva dance (waltz)

This one started with me just scribbling with markers on a large but narrow piece of paper that was trimmed off of a larger work.  It was 80 DEGREES f yesterday!  The sun was shining, the breeze was soft, & I sat in my office all day with the door open enjoying the fresh air.  It's messy, but I like it that way.  Uhm... & yeah, if you couldn't tell (because it is so messy) it is a sun.  This one was totally fun to do, scribbling away loosely with fat juicy fiery warm colors.

I've been totally blown away by many of the pieces found so far on the linky machine.  You people are AMAZING.  Now I just have to go back & tell each & every one of you Diva Challengers just how rad you are.

 

ZENDALA DARE #93 & THE MISSING CURVY GRIDLOCK!

I'm a few days late out of the gate on this one, but I finally finished with The Bright Owl's Zendala Dare #93 - Snowflake Surprise.

Just from checking out the other posts on the linky machine, I'm going to assume that I'm not the only one who had some.. well... issues with this one.  For me, it was mostly that I AM SO OVER SNOW THAT IF I SEE ONE MORE SNOWFLAKE THIS WINTER I MIGHT DO SOMETHING DRASTIC!!!  Ugh... snowflakes.  BUT, I guess, therein lies the challenge???

I wasn't the only one who looked at the template & scratched my head & thought... how do I fit a 6 pointed snowflake into this 10 pointed mandala?  Well, I finally figured it out.  I went through & nixed a bunch of lines, & came up with this.  Only problem... well... not really enough room to tangle anything... so I added some lines, & called it a day.  & here it is.

tangles used: ...uhhhhhhhh nope

 This weekend I found my missing 2nd go at Diva Challenge #156 - Curvy Gridlock.  I was in an experimental mood, so I decided to use a bunch of different markers on the same piece so I could look at how different/similar they are (how they lay down, saturation, color consistency, other junk like that.)  Then I decided to throw some gouache on it too... just because I've been enjoying using them lately.

tangles used: exis, brax

Lets seeeeeeee... the light blue is obviously the gouache.  The darker grey-blue is a Tria marker, the dark turquoise-ish color is a Prismacolor, & the slightly lighter turquoise-ish color is a sharpie.

Even though I have an almost literal TON of "art/illustration markers," lately I've been enjoying playing with sharpies.  Most recently, I've become fascinated with bleed through.  Particularly in my journal.  I'll draw something on one side of the page & color it with sharpies, then flip it over & use the bleed through pattern for something else. 

OK - so that's it.  I'm having a real bad case of the Monday's today.  It's been a very very Mondayish Monday. 

Comments of any kind are awesome, so please feel free to drop a line & tell me what you think - positive, negative, or otherwise. 

DIVA CHALLENGE #157 - UMT - CHARLIE

GOOD GRIEF!

Get it... Charlie... Brown...

Alright, now that that's outta my system...

This week's Diva Challenge #157 is a "Use My Tangle" challenge using Erin (The Bright Owl) Olson's original tangle Charlie.

I'll admit, I haven't used this one before... but it's quickly become addicting.

I had an idea for how I wanted to use it almost right away.  Laying it out & drawing it the way I wanted didn't happen nearly as quickly.  I'm going to say right now that I consider this an unfinished piece - that being said, I have completed 3 versions while trying to figure out how to finish it off.

This is my original, uncolored waiting to be finished but I can't make a definite decision & it's driving me bananas version:

tangles used: charlie, zigahzigah

I think it looks pretty neat as just plain lines, but it doesn't feel finished.  I've paired Charlie up with a tangle by Neil Burley called zigahzigah.  It's basically a twist on a chevron pattern.  & I love chevrons.  There are so many different ways to shape chevrons & so many different variations, & so many ways to change the look of them with color.  Chevrons are a recurring pattern in my home.

I did have to make a change to how Charlie is drawn to  make this look right.  Basically, I created an imaginary center line down the middle to give it some symmetry.  I tried to make the diamonds down the center roughly exact on each side of the line.  The outside ones are a mirrored reflection of each other, & though they still have that imaginary center line running through it, I didn't feel the need to make the diamonds the same on both sides.
If that makes any sense...

I was so terrified I was going to mess up my original drawing that I not only made copies of it, but I scanned it as well as traced it so that I could try to figure out the fill.  2 of them are done in blues & oranges.  These are the main colors in my living room, & I was hoping to end up with something I could frame & put on the wall in a particular space that is lacking something.  One is in watercolor, the other in colored pencil.  The third one was done with markers in a sort of grey scale.  I had a boo-boo where the warm grey marker I was using decided it wanted to be streaky, so I attempted to cover it up with colored pencil & a burnisher.  It created this really strange effect - I think it gives it a worn/weathered look.

watercolor

colored pencil

marker

 

Because I've been playing with this for 3 days straight & last night started dreaming about it, I've decided to put it aside for a while & come back to it.  That's a pretty dangerous decision, most things I put aside & don't finish remain that way FOREVER! (Example - I have a second piece I did for last week's curvy gridlock challenge that just needs to have the color/fill done, but I can't find it!!!)

What I'd really like is some feedback on this... how should I finish it off?  Any ideas?

I'd like this to end up being the first piece of my own work that I hang in my home - I really am enamored with these 2 patterns mixed together.

Ideas, comments, criticism, smiles, 'you shoulda done this' -es or 'you shouldn't have done that' s are not only welcome, but thoroughly encouraged.

Now I've gotta get on this week's zendala dare... time to make some snowflakes.

DIVA CHALLENGE #156 - 'CURVY GRIDLOCK'

This week's Diva Challenge #156 is to turn a right angle grid tangle into a curvy grid tangle.  As Miss Laura put it - "Who ever said grids need to be straight?"  as well as " Feel the freedom of not being constrained in right angles!!"

SO - I decided to go for an orb.

Let me tell you something - I am soooooooo glad I am done with this one finally.  By the time I was nearing the end, there was not even a drop of zen left in me - it was more like a chore.  Add on top of that the fact that I made several stupid mistakes that forced me to have to change the design a bit, & then I had more pen problems.  The biggest being that a 005 micron I was using decided to die, & I went to another one (not brand new, a little bit of wear,) & the difference in the line width was ridiculous!  Anyway... here it is:

tangles used:  hi-c's, hibred, chainlea

This is another case of the smaller the image, the better it looks.  The real diameter of the circle is 6".  I am having a tiny love affair with the tangle hi-c's right now. 

I'll probably give this dare another go before the week's up - but, I can promise something right now - I am OVER hatching... cross hatching... any tight straight lines grouped together.  I had great control over my lines when I started this piece, but by the end, my hand was wobbly & so were the lines.  So there!

As ever, if you've got something you'd like to say - mean, nice, or indifferent - by all means, please comment away.

DIVA CHALLENGE #155 - "A LITTLE WHITE SPACE"

This week's Diva Challenge #155 is to attempt to do one of those things that a lot of us seem to have some trouble with - leaving a large white space on our work.  Us pattern lovers just want to fill the paper up to the brim - & then some! 

I've got two for this week's challenge - one that I spit out in about an hour on copy paper at my desk at work using whatever pens & markers were hanging around, & a ZIA that I have been torturing myself with day & night for the past 4 days.

Here's the one that has haunted me for a few days:

tangles used: bloom, chainlea

 I must have made a dozen sketches of different fill & layout & colors before finally making a decision.  This is done on a 6.5" x 4.5" piece of mixed media paper.  The outlining was done in various sizes of Micron's, & the color is LUKAS opaque watercolor.  I'm not happy how the large single bloom in the center that I filled by using chainlea turned out.  It is SO FRUSTRATING when your pens decide they don't want to behave.  In case you ever wondered, Microns do NOT like being used over these opaque watercolors.  Otherwise, I'm pretty darned satisfied with this one.

Here's my quickie - & yes, I love green.

tangles used: sproxy, coil

This one is a tad messy for my taste, but from a distance/when shrunk I think it looks pretty neat.

I actually did last weeks Diva Challenge #154 - Valentangle, I just never got around to scanning them... then when I did, I thought they looked really messy on my computer screen.  But whatevvvvs, I'm going to post them anyway...  Here goes:

 These were all pretty much just intended to live in my sketch book, but the ones on white paper were on the same page as something I wanted to cut out, so out they came too.

In other news, it's beautiful outside right now.  A week ago we were hovering around the low 30's, & today it's 70-some-odd degrees outside.  I want spring to be NOW! 

As always, critiques, criticism & cryptic messages (?) are always welcome, & if you just want to say hi, that's cool too!

ZENDALA DARE #92

... it's been a while -

FIRST thing FIRST, I've jumped back into the saddle with The Bright Owl's Zendala Dare #92.

tangles used: drack, hastate

I gotta say, I'm pretty happy with this - especially since I went through a virtual creative desert for a few months.  I just... couldn't do anything.  Since the beginning of February I have been picking up pen & pencil every day, & it's finally started to flow again.

I can't ever say enough just how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE Miss Helen Williams.  Seriously.  I gladly purchased her e-book Flips, folds, ribbon and string (if you haven't gotten this, I HIGHLY recommend it!) & have been fillings pages & pages with her neat little tricks.  I missed out on the complete pattern folio that she put out at the end of last year, but Helen is issuing links to the folio with purchase of the e-book - so that was a huge bonus.  THE POINT of this is, I love her patterns/tangles, yet there were a few I just couldn't get a hold of.  Drack is one of them... but I thiiiiiiink I've got it now!

I haven't seen the tangle Hastate used by anyone before, I just came across it going through boards on Pinterest.  If you haven't seen this, here it is:

Hastate by Lizzie Mayne

I really love this tangle, but never knew where to use it.  Instead of drawing the tangle in a linear manner as shown, I broke it into individual pieces & made them face each other.  I think it turned out pretty neat.
_____________________________________________________

So, things were going pretty well when I last posted/did any challenges (mid November).  Then...

 BOOM

things got crazy.

A pipe in the walls between my bathroom & my master closet busted.  Of course, I didn't realize it (because it was between the walls) until much later when it had migrated along the concrete slab under the barely year old wood laminate flooring through my whole house.  I had to have a restoration company come in & rip ALL of my flooring in the whole house out - including base boards & some door casings.  All needed to be replaced.  I had huge noisy machines in my house - blowers & dehumidifiers - to dry out the walls.  None of this happened quickly & my home was a disaster area.

The day after I noticed the water damage, while dealing with my insurance agent & the manager at the restoration company & having a lot of workers in & out of my house - I had to put my cat down.

Chedder Kitty Pie - 2003-2013

my favorite picture of me & mistuh cheddycat

You know how if you live with someone - see them everyday - you don't really notice gradual changes?  Even if it's become quite drastic & quite obvious to someone who has been removed from it for a long time?  See, I knew he was sick.  He was having tummy problems & not digesting his food right.  He was hungry all the time but it would run right through him.  Sometimes he wouldn't make it to the litter box.  He had lost a lot of weight & his hair was thin & dull.  I was aware that he wasn't feeling well, but he seemed happy (if a cat can be happy) & I just didn't notice the physical changes.  In all the panic to get things done the day before, my mom came by to see if she could help me out any.  I had been telling her that I thought cheddy was doing kinda crappy, but when she SAW him, she got choked up immediately.  While workers moved in & out of the house, we took him to the vet.  There was really nothing to be done for him... some things that might, maybe work, but he was just too far gone.  I was a complete & total wreck.  It was the hardest decision I've ever had to make in my life, & the sadness & pain of the decision & the loss was & has been one of the hardest emotional things I've ever had to deal with in my life.

In the ensuing months, more damage was discovered in my home, & just this week the last of the workers finished.  I now get to recover my space for myself... & with no one coming & going anymore, there has been a VERY noticeable difference between being single living alone WITH a cat, & being single living alone... well, alone.  I'm getting used to it.

I don't like to say that anything good has come out of this, but I DO get to completely make over my spare room... & I'm going to fashion it as an office/art space/jewelry studio.  It's not a large space, but it's not exactly a small one either.  I want it to be highly functional, & I want everything to be visible & easily accessible.  I want a big table.  I want to be able to display finished/in-progress pieces & things that inspire me.  & I don't want to face a wall.  SO, if anyone has any studio space ideas that have worked for them, or that they heard/saw & liked, I'd love to hear about them.

That's about it for now.  It's weird, this is the first time I've written about everything that has happened in the past few months... it's not just the drawing that's slipped off, but written journaling completely stopped as well. 

Lets hope I'm finally back in the saddle again.  (gene autry <3 )

DIVA CHALLENGE #144 & I'M TOTALLY BUGGIN OUT!

I love drawing bugs.  Always have.  I don't necessarily like most bugs on the loose in my immediate proximity, but I can't deny that these little arthropods are tiny jewels on this big blue & green earth.  This week's Diva Challenge #144 was to use or hide bugs within colored tangles.

If you haven't yet done this challenge & are looking for inspiration, you should check out the work done by Eugène Séguy here & here. Heck, even if you've done it already, you should have a look.  You'll never look at insects the same way again.

Here's 2 pieces I've done for the challenge; a ZIA & a zendala:

tangles used: decostar (modified), fiddler, diva dance

tangles used: tipple, fishnet, all about v's

These were super fun.  

The first one is done with Sakura Microns, Prismacolor Premier Soft Core Colored Pencils & Derwent Inktense Pencils on cold press wc paper.  When I was looking at some of the butterflies, I noticed that the support structure that runs through their wings looks a lot like Diva Dance...  I hadn't yet decided I was going to draw butterflies, but that sealed it for me.  I've got a couple other favorites in that one as well - my modified Decostar flower, & fiddler.  (Fiddle head ferns are one of my favorite plants ever... I'm pretty sure they are magical.)

The second one, my beetle zendala, sort of just threw itself together.  I had drawn a beetle on tracing paper, then made a copy of it.  I left it on my desk for a while, came back, & the one on the tracing paper was on top of the copy, slightly askew, & I realized that if I put 5 of these together they would make a perfect circle!  This one was done on white 90lb Strathmore mixed media paper with brush tip markers & microns.

Unfortunately, I only own one Sakura JellyRoll pen - a white one, so I couldn't use them for this challenge, but I really think that even though in pictures & scans the glittery or metallic finishes don't show well, both of these would look great with some shine.

That's all for now, folks!  Don't forget to go check out Seguy's work!  
Please critique the mess outta my work below!  Really give me some constructive criticism!  

Or just say "HI!" that's cool too.

ZENDALA DARE #80

If you can label days as either hit or miss; my last 2 days have certainly been misses... at least as far as my attempts at The Bright Owl's Zendala Dare # 80 have been concerned.

I'm just... not very happy with how anything turned out.  I forced myself to finish each of these because I have a tendency to want to just trash things once I feel the first inkling that they are starting to go wrong.  Everyone wants their visions to turn out perfectly on the page, I'm no different.  But there are bits & pieces of each of the following that I do like.  & we can't get any better if we can't accept our mistakes & either learn from them or just plain move forward.  I was going to keep going at Dare #80 until I had something I was satisfied with, but I'm fairly certain it's the template that I'm finding so challenging.  My head just isn't wrapping around it! 

so here goes nothin'!!!

tangles used: hollibaugh, kandy snake, poke leaf, poke root

tangles used: decomonds

tangles used: ona

I've also had an issue of just being messy... wobbly lines, not staying inside the lines when I applied color, and being super smudgy on everything!  I hate smudges!! 

In other news, I turned 33 on the 9th.  I'll be celebrating with my family on the 23rd - everyone has been super busy - but that's fine with me!  I'm blessed to be able to gather with all my loved ones whatever chance I get.  SO, I got to have this past weekend entirely for myself, & I gotta say, it was awesome.  I took a couple naps, went & had brunch both mornings with a book (most people think it's weird to go out to eat by themselves, but I enjoy it wholeheartedly,) but the BEST part was having tons of free time to PLAY!!!!

Here's a sampling of my experimenting: 
First - colored pencils.  I bought this 75th anniversary set of Prismacolor Premier Soft Core Colored Pencils, & I've gotta say, I will never use another colored pencil AGAIN.

Prismacolor Premier Soft Core Colored Pencils - 75th Anniversary Set

     Here are 2 pages from my sketchbook from my colored pencil playtime

blending fun in greens & yellows

blending fun in blues & purples

The quality of these pencils is so amazing it's almost absurd.  The set came with both blending pencils & blending markers.  I could just sit around all day & fill page after page with just color & blender.

I've also been having quite the love affair with Derwent Inktense Pencils for quite some time now.  The intensity of color you can get with them is ridiculous!  Often, when I can't think of something specific to draw or paint, I'll just play with my initials.  

initial fun with Derwent Inktense Pencils

Well, that's all I've got for now.  This week's Diva's Challenge #144 is already floating around inside my head... & I LOVE DRAWING BUGS!, so this is going to be fun!

DIVA CHALLENGE #143 - UMT v. XXII - CRUZE

This morning I had my first Root Canal.  The good news is, the Endodontist numbed me up 'real good,' worked quickly, & there were no complications.  He said I should have no pain - from the actual procedure.  The bad news is that the technician cut the bajeebers out of my gums, & now that I'm getting the feeling back in my face it is REALLY SORE.  Bummer.

Anywhoooooo... on to the important stuff...

First week of the month & that means not just a new challenge from the diva, but also a UMT prompt.  This weeks Diva Challenge #143 was to use the tangle "Cruze" by CZT Caren Mlot.  I've been playing with this one since it showed up on TanglePatterns.com.  It's really deceptive - on first glance I was kinda like... whoaaaaa... but just like a ton of other folks who have done this challenge, once I saw the step-outs I breezed right through it.  It's really a fantastic tangle, & I've had a lot of fun in my sketch journal with it.  I did, however, have a really hard time figuring out what to do with it - not because I didn't have an idea, but because I had a MILLION of them.

I've done two ZIA's, & here they are:

tangles used: cruze

tangles used: cruze, torchon lace

Two very different pieces.  I've been playing with the idea of drawing Christmas cards for my loved ones this year to match the ornaments I've been planning on tangling (glass ornaments tangled using refillable acrylic paint pens.)  Thus, my inspiration for the first piece.  Another thing I have been really drawn to lately is drawing lace patterns.  I had this tiny 3x5 piece of blue canson, & decided to go at it with a white jellyroll pen for the second piece.

Overall, this was a fun challenge for me!

On a final note, Saturday is my 33rd birthday.  Which is awesome.  Wanna know what I got myself for my birthday???  A $995 buck root canal.  Which is not very awesome.  Although, a little birdie has told me that I'm getting a ton of Tria Markers.  & that is awesomeness times a bajillion!

I hope everyone's having a great week!  As alllllways, comments - critiques, criticism, & maybe a compliment or 2 - are totally welcome.  Please leave a message after the beep.

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ZENDALA DARE #79 & A LITTLE RAINBOW OVERLOAD

For some reason... (I mean, there has to be a reason for everything, right?)  For some reason, November has thus far been full of taking color to absolutely unreasonable distances.  By that I mean... I think I am channeling LISA FRANK!  Full on - I'm talking unicorn vomit & psychedelic tiger farts.   I managed to get it under control enough to finish The Bright Owl's Zendala Dare #79... well... that is... on my second try...

I think that a lot of people wouldn't put out for public viewing & ridicule a work that they themselves laugh at & consider a complete mess.  However, I enjoy being able to laugh at myself, as well as make others laugh with me / at me.  Now, this is all a matter of taste.  Some people, (such as my lovely 9 year old niece Hannah,) probably wouldn't look at the following zendala as an example of just how excellently carried away far beyond all reason one can get.  For me... I found myself taking a break from it, & when I came back & actually looked at it, cracked up & realized that it had been embellished by the 10 year old girl I sometimes pretend to be.

tangles used: cayke, co2, footlights, japan diamond, paradox

This started out really well... I began with Derwent Inktense pencils to create a wash around the center ovals.  It looked really cool.  Next I dove in with my brand spankin' new set of Prismacolor Premier colored pencils for the outside.  Here's how it looked:

This is how it looked after the initial application of colored pencil

After blending with a wonderful Derwent Blending Pencil







Then things started to get really crazy once I busied it up with tangles & colored pens.  I can say it has grown on me.  The more I look at it, the better I like it.  I just seem to always move towards using an entire rainbow of colors when there are 6 or more elements to something.  It just happens.

I finished this first one just for the fun of it - because once you take something a bit over the line, it's kinda fun to push it even further - I pulled on my grown up pants, & sat down for a second go.

I'm pretty happy with this one, & I think I restrained myself appropriately:

tangles used: coil, hollibaugh, por-fin

The paper I used for this is Strathmore 400 series toned gray sketch.  It's my favorite for graphite work, & besides just being beautiful - it's excellent for shading.  You can get a deep scale of gray on it with a simple 2B pencil that can be gradually enhanced for greater dimension with white graphite.  The blue is from my new set of Prismacolors.

OH- I almost forgot - big up's to Mr. Rick & Miss Maria.  Thanks!

If you made your way through reading all this meaningless text - congratulations! you get a gold star!  Know that you're real swell & I appreciate your attention to my ramblings.  Comments & Criticism are always super, so if you are thus inclined, you know what to do.

I hope everyone is having a super-fantastic-awesome day!

DIVA CHALLENGE #142 -or- THE DANGER ZONE!!

OK - this week's Diva Challenge #142 was to step outside of our comfort zones & into the DANGER ZONE.

I thought long & hard about the kinds of things I avoid, or don't like doing.  I made a list:
* I never really use organic, non-repetitive/tight patterned tangles
* I don't like to use only b&w/gray scale
* I have a hard time using strings
* I generally like to work with paper or board cut in perfect squares
* I find it difficult to throw symmetry out the window.
* I always sketch, sketch & re-sketch new tangles I'm learning before I ever put them down on paper
* I can always find a use for a ruler, compass & protractor - which is a Zentangle No-No.

I could go on further, but instead I'll just show you what I came up with.

tangles used: fern, zinger, decostar (modified into flower)

This first one is much looser & organic than anything I think I've done before.  I did this in gray-scale. Both fern & zinger are tangles I've never used.  I also have a tendency to not tangle with flowers at all (don't get me wrong, I can draw flowers for days - it's my favorite subject in any medium or style... but for some reason I just don't tangle with them.) 

next up:

tangles used: kandy ribnz, clothesline, fescu, por-fin, yew-dee, frillee, drack, asian fans, thumbprintz

First off - the paper.  This is a marbling that I did a few months back when experimenting with Mr. Sketch Scented Water Color Markers.  I know you all remember these things from when you were little.  I saw them in the store one day & snatched them up out of pure nostalgia.  Second, it's all done with black micron's.  Third (& most importantly,) each of these tangles are ones I've never even attempted before (excluding clothesline).  I didn't try them out in my sketch book on grids, I didn't use a pencil, ruler, compass, etc. to lay them out, & I started with a freehand string that I outlined in thick black lines to accentuate the use of the strings.  I really jumped in head first, & you know what, I really enjoyed doing this.  PLUS, it didn't turn out half bad!

I'd love to hear any comments, suggestions, criticisms... or anything else any of you'd like to say.

Have a happy, safe, & spooky Halloween!  I'll see you all once I'm done stuffing all the goblins back in the closet!

Zendala Dare # 78

HAPPY MISCHIEF NIGHT / DEVILS NIGHT / NIGHT BEFORE HALLOWEEN!

Yep... tomorrow is the most awesome day of the year...

SO - this week's Zendala Dare #78 from The Bright Owl was a bit of a doozy for me.  All I could do for 2 whole days was look at it & think spider web, spider web, spider web..., my mind was firmly stuck in that box.  Eventually I came up with something, & even used one of the new tangles on TanglePatterns.com (bumpkins.)

I do need a bit of help here.  Look at my zendala.  Top right hand 1/4, to the right of paradox... someone, PLEASE tell me what this tangle is called.  I can't find it anywhere... & it's a pattern I've been using since before I ever knew what Zentangle was... but it has to have a name, right?  Help a gal out!

tangles used: bumpkins, hypnotic, paradox, persian cat & ???

Also - I want to thank all of those who have commented before, & all of those who will comment in the future.  You all seem like really gosh darn swell folks!

ZENDALA DARE #77 No. 2 + MURPHY'S LAW

You all know how these sort of days go... if it can go wrong, it WILL go wrong.

Well, I've been having a whole week like that - at least as far as The Bright Owl's Zendala Dare #77 is concerned.  See, I love this template.  Love it.  LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT.  My first go took like 25 minutes & was just something for fun, but my jittery hands kept me from doing anything even close to serious with it.

I recently found a flickr page full of tangles by Neil Burley.  Holy rollin moly, how good is he?!?!  I have a deep, ingrained love for the Craftsman, Art Nouveau, Art Deco & Organic Modernism movements, & he has created quite a few tangles that just seem to sing to me.  I found his Deco Star pattern first, & I knew that I was going to use it for dare #77.  Then everything just went wrong wrong wrong & I made things terribly over difficult trying to get perfection.

Art Deco isn't forgiving.  The straight lines are perfectly straight, the curves & circles have perfect proportions & the angles are razor sharp.  I drew this over & over & over & over again trying to get that perfection; resorted to using rulers (!) & a compass (!!) & a drafting circle template (!!!) & a 30-60-90 drafting triangle (!!!!)  & I STILL COULDN'T GET IT RIGHT! 

I'm telling you... Murphy's Law...

SO, I eventually had to just make myself finish.  & I have 5 copies exact same thing.  I left one b&w, then colored the rest in a sort of theme-like way.

DECOdala - tangles used: DECOSTAR, co2

 

DECOdala -New York

 

DECOdala - Hollywood

DECOdala - South West

DECOdala - Miami

 I've studied Art Deco quite a bit, & it's always stood out to me how different the colors used by different regions in the country were.  These are the color schemes that I seem to associate with each of these areas.  The most classical stuff always came from NY, Hollywood Deco to me doesn't seem to use as much gold as silver, & the more modern blue/blue-green/green's are prevalent.  The South West imbued their Deco with the colors of the desert, & the great, cutting-edge hot spot of the deco movement, Miami, was splashed with bright pastels & neon lights.

I had far more fun coloring these than I did drawing them. 

DIVA CHALLENGE #141

This week's Diva Challenge #141 is DuoTangle - Fengle/Quandry 

Here's what I came up with:

tangles used: fengle, quandry

I can't help it, I'm having a serious love affair with my pastel pencils at the moment... even though I always seem to end up with some sort of smudge problem. 

In other news, did you know that if you tweet "beetlejuice beetlejuice beetlejuice," he'll tweet you back?  IT'S SHOWTIME!!!

ZENDALA DARE #77

Ever had a morning when your hands were just... shakey?  Perhaps it's just too much caffeine.  Actually, that's probably exactly what it is.

My first go at The Bright Owl's Zendala Dare #77 with the "Random Act of Zentangle" added challenge, I must admit, was completely, 100% for my own enjoyment.  I love Halloween, & anything that has anything to do with spooky fun.  On top of that, I'm of the opinion that Tim Burton can do no wrong.  I've been wanting to use the tangle BTL JOOS for something halloween-ie, & the template for this dare just screamed SAND WORMS! at me.  (Also, beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, BEETLEJUICE!!!)

So here it is, Zendala Dare #77 No.1

tangles used: BTL JOOS, bitten, hypnotic

Like I said, shakey hands this morning.  I think I did an ok job hiding it with the tangles I chose.  I think I'm going to leave this in the Party City store by my house inside one of the sand worm costumes that I saw this weekend.  I figure, if you're awesome enough to want to be a sand worm for halloween, then you must be a pretty rad person who deserves my beetlejuice Zendala.

This was tons of fun for me, but I can't say that it's all that serious.  I'm certainly going to be taking a second go at this template once my hands calm down & I can draw a straight line. 

ALSO, I'd like to share with you the following:

nice spider

A very nice (albeit slightly misguided in terms of placement) spider has been kind enough to help me decorate my front door for halloween.  I've been very careful not to mess up his work over the past few days - but it's hard.  I have a storm door in front of the main door that he keeps connecting to, & every time I open my door, it tears the web. 

Yes, I am very, VERY stoked on halloween!  BOO!

DIVA CHALLENGE #140 No. 2

You wouldn't believe how irritated I've been since I realized that I didn't do my first Diva Challenge correctly.  Somehow I just missed the word "monotangle." 

I spent a good deal of time yesterday trying to draw perfect Fibonacci Spirals.  Then watched this very cool video about them (if your interested, I highly suggest you check it out, I'll post the video at the end of this entry.)

Then... I had a magical dream last night about spiral-y things, pointillism and pastel pencils (& luckily this morning work has been slow slow slooowww); SO, in less than an hour I came up with this:

Diva Challenge #140

It's not perfect (it's certainly not a Fibonacci,) but the colors are what make it so darn fun.  The white parts were done with a white woodless graphite pencil, & all the rest is done with CarbOthello Pastel Pencils.  Pastels are so great for pointillism.  Overlaying the dots sort of smudge the colors very slightly together.  Also, how great do they look on black Canson board?  (Am I right, or am I right?)  Click on the picture to see it larger... just to look at all the little dots & layers. 

I really love color.

Now that I actually have completed the challenge correctly, I can be satisfied.  Not perfect or particularly good, but hey - I took a stab at it, & trying is the only way to learn!

Now... if you wanna see that video, here it is

Doodling in Math Class: Spirals, Fibonacci, and Being a Plant

Happy Friday Everyone!