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!

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. 

Zentangle Inspired Sun for Mommala

Forgot to scan this one before I gave it to my mom - & almost forgot to even take a picture!  That being said, this photo was taken on the steering wheel of my jeep in the parking lot at the marina. 

ZENDALA DARE #75

 I've been lurking The Bright Owl's  Zendala dare's for a while now.  So, I figured since I had some free time this morning, I'd finally submit one of my own.

Now... it's rough.  & sorta ehhhh...  but here goes.

tangles used: footlights, sonnenband, co2, clothesline, ragz, waves

apparently there is a thumbprint on my scanner.  oh well, such are the problems that come with pastels!