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!

More Hearts and Tangles

My curiosity got the better of me. I had to again try String # 77 with the heart tangles mentioned in the early post.

The second tile I tangled looks similar to the first tile.  I just can's get the paisley shape out of my mind.   I used Heartstrings, Heartvine, and Luv-a as well on this tile.

The hearts looked so small and busy together, I felt like I needed to add color to differentiate the designs.  I don't think the color made a difference.

I was determined to tangle this string without focusing on the paisley look.  On this tile, I used Heartrope as well as the other 3 tangles.  I also stuck with the traditional black, white, and gray drawing.

Come back next week for more heart tangles.

Hearts and Tangles

There are several tangles centered around hearts. With Valentine just around the corner, it's time to bring them out and play!
Here of four of them.

This week's It's a String Thing #77 is all about heart tangles.
  Heartrope by Bunny Wright
  Heartstrings by Helen Williams
  Heartvine by Lori Howe
  Luv-a by CZT Sharon Coforio


In this tile, I used Heartstrings (one of my favorites) and Luv-a to tangle inside the string line (String #77 by Barabara Finwall). The string line reminded me of paisley, so I drew it using only the insides of the string line I liked the drawing and I wanted to color it. I used Sakura gel pens to do so. I outlined the patterns using a Fabrico grey marker.

 

Here is the same tile from a different perspective

As you can see, I drew a very simple version of Luv a and only one column of Heartstrings.  I think it would be nice with a love quote written around the paisley figures.

Art Journaling

Recently, I joined a facebook group to do art journaling.  We get a journal prompt with an activity weekly.  I have several journals, but they contain Zentangle drawings.
I love to play with art supplies.  My background as an elementary teacher always had me using tempera paints, Crayola markers and colored pencils, but I was totally unaware of the wonderful world of art materials.  I marvel at the choices available and have spent a fortune trying many of them out.  What a difference quality makes!
However, just because I try them out, I don't necessary know how to use them to get their best results.  So, I am in a learning phase and art journaling is taking me on this journey.

This entry was created with a "snowflake" pattern made out of my first name initial, lower case "j".  On the left, I colored it in with watercolor pencils, and I tangled the pattern on the right.

In the next entry, we were to do something we aren't entirely comfortable with.  I love word art, but am not very good at calligraphy, so I did some word art.  The page is watercolored and collaged with a ZIA I had in another journal.

 Try it!  It's fun.

Happy 2015!

I hope the holidays were as charming for you as they were for me.
We had beautiful weather in Florida throughout the holiday season.  It has been wonderful.  The neighbors next door were visiting from up North and even went swimming over Christmas.  Being native Floridian, the water temperature was a bit on the chill side for me.  In fact, I usually give it all summer for the sun to warm the water and dive in around August! I think August is the best time to visit the beach.  It is hot for sure, but with umbrellas, sea breeze and delightful water temperatures, you can't beat it.

This week, It's a string thing included 3 new tangles: Kiss by Katie Booth, Twizted by Terri Brown, and Lealand by Lily Moon using string 074 created by Melodie Hampshire.

Here is my interpretation of this challenge:

I 

I ended up working only within the string.  I started out by combining Lealand and Kiss in the large oval, then I tied it up with a Kiss and added Twizted.  As I looked at it, I simply added the ribbon to the string line and let it be.

I haven't been tangling a lot lately.  Instead, I have been working on stained glass.  I have made a couple of windchimes and am working on another window.  Look for the post later on this week. 

I am working on an idea using glass and Zentangle. When I have finished the project, I will also post it.

Happy Tangling and have a great week!