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 # 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!

DIVA CHALLENGE #140

Today I took a stab at The Diva's Weekly Challenge #140 .  (It's my first Diva Challenge!!!)  The challenge was to tangle using pointillism; which I must admit, I was super stoked about.  Pointillism is probably one of my very favorite techniques, as well as one that I haven't used in quite a while.

SOOOOOO, without further ado, here it is!

Diva Challenge #140

If you open the image to see it larger, it shows up HUGE.  The down side is that you can see my cheating.  I say cheating, because there is no way I could have drawn this using dots without guide-lines.  However; the up side of seeing it huge, is that you can more clearly see the range of different colors I used in each section to obtain shading effects.  I am very, very, VERY happy with how bitten turned out, & almost as happy with huggins.

As always, it would be awesome to hear any feedback - good, bad, indifferent.