Rainy Wednesday

Diva Challenge #264-Stripes

patterns: Maeby, Oybey, Snails, Wud, Kisses and Golven

This is the latest set of watercolor ATC's I made. I started with a brown and rust wash then splattered with blue. Here's the link to my watercolor tutorial from a previous post. These are some of my favorite ribbon patterns along with a new one, "Maeby" by Julie Beland. I love Julie's patterns, they're so whimsical. Snails came up in this weeks Square One challenge.

Made by Joey #110

Roman Numeral Series: X

patterns: Diva Dance, Ticking, Showgirl, Wedge and Snookums

This one was a bit of a challenge as I wasn't too crazy about the string-it was too symmetrical for my taste but that's why they call these challenges;-) I like the way it turned out even though I'm much too reliant on the crutch of color.

Organic swap

for the Facebook group Zentangle Artists Trading Card Swap group

This is a swap I just finished. I was so inspired that I completed these first 4 ATC's in one evening. The parameters were just to create Spring themed ATC's using organic patterns. I started the page below in my sketchbook a few weeks ago on one of the several watercolor sheets I dashed off before heading out on a road trip with my sister and nephew to Newport Beach. I started a few organic patterns in the top left corner. We stopped in Pismo Beach for some cave kayaking and I was inspired by the kelp beds we were paddling around in.

I've talked about my love of swaps in previous posts. I always try to teach myself something new by studying the work of artists I admire. The repetition of creating 7-10 ATC's or tiles secures those new techniques in my toolbox. 

When the word Organic came up I immediately thought of the work of Sharla Hicks. She's the queen of organic ZIA's. The rest just developed from there. I had also seen some examples of works called Tints on Tan on Cris Letourneau's blog, in which she reviewed a kit and tutorial on adding color to tan Renaissance tiles. I don't really know what that kit involves but by looking at the work on Cris' blog I played around with colored pencils and grey tone Prismacolor markers. I have the colorless marker blender which works beautifully on the Prismacolor pencils. As you can see, I borrowed quite liberally from Cris' work. Thanks Cris!

Sketchbook-playing with organic patterns

Eventually, I will give this to my nephew as a birthday present. The cave kayaking was my sisters birthday gift to him so I thought he'd appreciate the inspiration.

I started writing this post whilst having my morning coffee at the cafe, when a burst of rain and a sketchy internet inspired my burst creativity to attack this week's It's a String Thing challenge.

The challenge was to use Quib as the string and fill with variations of Echoism. I only meant to practice in the sketch book then go at a regular tile. I may still do that. Maybe.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Your thoughtful and generous comments inspire and delight me. 

Diva Challenge #264 & Made by Joey #109

Diva Challenge #264

String Theory-Spring String

patterns: Striping, Pokeleaf, Beadlines, Tipple and Whyz

This weeks challenge was to create a spring string. Last month I'd created a series of tiles for a swap based on this same idea, calling it my Loopy Series. I already had some of my hand painted "Renaissance" tiles on hand.  I never did make an extra one for myself so this mornings challenge presented me with that opportunity. 

What I really like about doing these angled coil strings is that it creates nice spaces for combining grid and organic patterns and these go really fast (now that I've done 11 of them). For another upcoming swap the theme is Back to Basics and we're to use one of our initials to create a string and then use patterns starting with that letter. I've been adding more M and W patterns to my library and just this morning I discovered Whyz and started playing around with it. I love how it came out.

Made by Joey #109

Roman Numeral Series IX

patterns: Mooka, Zinger, Gingham, Betweed, Ragz, Mei and Demi

Joey continues on with the Roman Numeral String Series and presented us with 7 patterns (using as many or as few as we like). She presents her strings on a standard tile format but I've been using ATC's...so getting all of those patterns (because that's how I roll) in this smaller space was tricky but...there it is;-)

Thank you for visiting my blog. Your thoughtful and generous comments inspire and delight me!

Diva Challenge #263 & Made by Joey Challenge #108

The Diva's challenge this week is to create a globular grid within a sphere and then tangle away. This was not an easy task for me and had many failed attempts at creating a grid that wasn't too wonky or too small. I traced my circle from a 4" coaster in my sketchbook. I liked that it gave me a little extra room so I decided not to use an actual zendala tile and just chose to keep it simple with black pen and graphite.

Made by Joey's Roman Numeral String Series continues with VIII and the patterns: 'Nzeppel, Crescent Moon, Fandango & Marnie. I did this on a pink watercolor ATC using brown calligraphy ink, black pen, grey marker and white Prismacolor pencil with a touch of white gel pen.

Later that day:

Happy Peaches

I created this ATC prompted by a new feature at the Facebook group Zentangle Artists Trading Card Swap. One of the new admins, Sarah Kitty Harrison, created a new pattern called "Rainbow Bridge" to kick-off "Fortnightly Friday Fun".

Much later that night or very early this morning:

It's a String Thing Challenge #140

Patterns: Hollibaugh, Copada and Pokeleaf

I started this late last night after I got home from work. I was assembling my drawing tools to bring with me to the cafe this morning and was pondering what I might need for Adele's challenge. I started to draw a few lines and before I knew it, it was 1:00 am...




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Diva Challenge #262 & Made by Joey #170

Diva Challenge #262: Use My Tangle~"Fassett" by Lynn Mead

I managed to get an early shot at a couple of challenges this week. I've got a lot going on in the next several days so I figured it was now or never so I kept it pretty simple. I just created a couple of new sets of watercolor ATC's for an upcoming swap celebrating Spring. I messed up on one of the strips as I cut them down and ended up with 4 cards that were 1/4" short on the length so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to use them. 

The Diva challenge is to use the pattern "Fassett". I've had problems with this pattern in the past because I made the mistake of working too small. This worked out pretty great.

Made by Joey #170

Roman Numeral String Series: VII

Patterns: Queen's Crown, Nipa, Gotcha & Zails

Joey's challenge provided the string and 4 patterns that we were asked to use at least one. HA! Well I always challenge myself to use them all, for better or worse. I'm not super crazy about this one...it got a little overworked but that's how I roll;-)


As ever, thanks so much for visiting my blog. Your thoughtful and generous comments always make my day!