On the Road Again!

After a few months of down time and "takin' care if business", I am eager to start blogging again.

To start, CZT Adele Bruno's "It's a String Thing #108" on her blogspot, Tickled to Tangle is all about me this week!  Check it out!  

Adele is a friend of mine.  She called last night and asked me what my 3 favorite grid based patterns were.  OK, I thought.  My 3 favorite are her pattern, Lanie; Cubine by Maria Thomas, and Chemestry by CZT MaryAnn Scheblein-Dawson.  I really enjoy drawing these grid based patterns.  

Then she explained to me that she was using one of my strings for her challenge this week and wanted to include my favorite grid based patterns!  I also like Primtemps by Maria Thomas very much, but it isn't grid based.  She included it anyway.  I wish her well on this week's entries.  Thank you, Adele, for thinking of me.

This is the tile I entered into the challenge.  Notice it is mounted on one of Adele's frames!  These are the coolest way to show your Zentangle work.  Check them out on her blog.

Happy Tangling!

Easter Surprise!

This week's "It's a String Thing" included a string resembling that of an egg.  The tangles used were Coaster, Well, and CO2.  Of course, an Easter egg is not black and white, so I added some color with inktense pencils.

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted.  I have been relatively busy doing new things and have been concentrating real hard on learning!  It takes me a lot of concentration these days.

I am continuing to art journal.  Although, I am realizing how little I know about mixed media.  I was trying out every new style I read about and realized that just buying the materials doesn't mean the style can be reproduced.  I am in the dark about techniques which are very important.  I decided to quit buying and start practicing with what I have on hand.  Although I am reading about techniques, I really need to see it done to thoroughly understand what to do.

Here are a couple of my journal pages with a brief statement of the prompt and materials used.

1.  Music:  What music inspires you?  Represent.
I love big band music.  I drew a large "Ennies" because it reminded me of bubbles (Lawrence Welk), and couples swinging around the dance floor in their swirly dresses.  I used Twinkling H2O water color and Derwent watercolor pencils.

The next prompt was,"What I know for sure."  The only I really know for sure is the nothing stays the same forever. Here I used Twinkling H2O paints and Derwent watercolor pencils.  I attempted to use some alcohol ink, but oviously, they aren't kidding when it is recommended to use these inks on a non porous surface.  I keep reading about Yupi paper, but I am infamiliar with it.

This week's prompt is really just an activitiy which is to draw stacked tangles.  This is more up my alley.  Here I used a Micron 01 pen, a fine point Sharpie and 

Staedtler ergosoft colored pencils (which I think are wonderful).  In fact, I love all Staedtler products.

Have a great week.

I

All fired up!

I finally did it--fired up my kiln!  I don't know why I was anxious about doing so.  The whole process was easy!
I can't wait to start fusing glass.  I have so many ideas that I want to try.

I have been very busy working on a stained glass (cut and leaded) project that I have not spent a lot of time tangling lately!  My work shows it too.  I am not a natural at drawing, so it takes me a lot of practice to control my strokes.

Anyway, I will post some of my fused glass work as I create it.  I plan on including Zentangle in the glass work, too!

Getting Kozy with Inaura

This week's It's a String Thing challenge included two patterns.
Inaura by CZT Bunny Wright and Kozy by Maricke van Nimwegen.  You may click on the names to see the tangles and step out instructions.

I really had fun drawing Inaura, but had difficulty with Kozy.  The step outs look simple enough, but I just couldn't seem to get it to flow like the example.  I tried a couple of different drawings.  This is the tile I submitted.

Enjoy your week and Happy Tangling!

Art Journaling

I have joined a group to do art journaling throughout the year.  A new prompt to address is given weekly.

I am new to Art Journaling and Mixed Media so this is not only challenging for me, but a great learning experience.  My bank account is suffering though!  I love art supplies and have to try everything out there.  I am learning there is a lot more to mixed media art work than it looks.  For one thing, many of the artists in the group will sometimes have 2 and 3 layers of paint, paper, etc to make just the background!

I have published 2 of my journal entries already..
Here is another.
The prompt was to represent an artist whose work you like and relate to.  Then include a quote that resonates with you.   I chose the artist, Joan Miro.  I love his use of primary colors, black and white designs, and whimsical characters he created.  I drew a Miro inspired page  (of which I saw something similar somewhere).

The quote I chose comes from a Simon and Garfunkel oldies, "The 59th Street Bridge Song" written by Paul Simon.  The lyrics, "Slow down, you move too fast. Got to make the morning last."  are my favorites.  I have very fond memories of singing this song with my girlfriends when we were 16 skipping down Lombardi Street in San Francisco while we were on a Young Life trip out west.  Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I hum these lines to myself and take a deep breath!

Hearts, again!

I drew a couple more tiles and a zendala based on the heart theme.

The first one is drawn on watercolor paper that has been painted with H2O water colors using the saran wrap technique to give it the texture.  I love using these water colors with saran wrap.  Although you can't really tell here, when saran wrap is placed on the red paint and allowed to dry, it picks up the red and leaves the gold mica.  

I tried shading with pencil, but I don't really like the way the paper piled when I used the blending stump.  Maybe shading with a color pencil would have worked better.

In this week's " It's a String Thing,"  I drew two tiles.  I really varied the patterns this week, but I like the results.

 Finally, I drew a Zendala with a heart theme.  I used a prestrung Zendala tile loosely.  In other words, I didn't draw inside the string.  I really enjoy drawing mandalas.

 Happy Valentine's day everyone!