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.

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 #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.