Diva Challenge #273, Made by Joey #119 and more Travelling Tangles

Diva Challenge #273

Tangle Remix: Spiff up an old tile

before

This weeks challenge is to scare up an old tile that was either left unfinished or in need of a refresh. I found several. In light of my recent postings and obsession with swaps I chose this.

This ATC was a leftover from the very first swap I did after joining the Facebook group Zentangle Artists Trading Card Swap. The date on the card is 07/07/15. I was a little a-scared about sending my art out into the world and I wanted them to be super pretty. The theme of the swap was Watercolor. This is where the watercolor backgrounds were born. I had decided from the get-go that I would use the repetition as a means to study and refine a particular pattern or technique I wanted to explore.

I chose to Mak-rah-mee them and work on finessing Mooka-ish pods. I did it over and over and over again creating 10 for the swap plus several extras. I was soooo happy with the way these came out. I wasn't a big shader back then, Now, this original piece seems a little washed out (maybe it faded a bit-not sure) and with the exception of a little dark rounding, there was zero contrast. 

I went in with grey markers to deepen the shadows then added a little blue and green colored pencil to intensify the colors a bit, then white pencil and white gel pen highlights to finish.

Made by Joey #119

Circle String series using coffee rings

pattern: Gnarly (with tipple)

It's a String Thing Challenge #151

Patterns: Floatfest & Ahh

on a watercolor/salt ATC

Adele provided a string with two stacked curves in the right corner choosing patterns that . 

reflect a 4th of July celebration. I'm working on some swap tiles with a patriotic theme. Since my birthday is on the 4th of July, I chose to go with: Fireworks! as my theme, using patterns that could look like fireworks so Adele's challenge was a no brainer this week (thank goodness). 

and now for a little swap fun:

This Traveling Tangle originated from Down Under.  Thanks to Anne Marks who sent me this:

The tile she used seemed similar to the official tiles-such a dream to draw on so I kept it to black ink, I've got my Fave 5 patterns on the brain now as I prepare for a group swap at Tangled and Journaled: too. I made the leap and tapped into the resources in my own noggin to complete Anne's tile. I could have drawn "Sandswirl" forever.

These next two are Travelling Tangles I'm sending out to Michele Beauchamp and Jo Flaherty (there's a photo of Jo's finishing touches below):

Watercolor and salt background

These collaborations are very exciting. I'm a huge admirer of both Michele's and Jo's work so the opportunity to swap with them is super cool. Still wrapping my brain around restraint. It's hard for me to know when to stop because I find a pattern looks clumsy until it's shaded and highlighted. I also feel a little self-conscious about imposing my shading on the recipient.  I use a somewhat cumbersome layering method of colored pencils blended out with light and medium grey markers. Then I say to myself "This is the exact reason we're all doing this, silly!" to have a play with the techniques of others and get out of our comfort zone.
Look how Jo finished our piece! Isn't it wonderful?

Here's the other side of that swap:

This was a collaboration with Jo Flaherty who sent me this:

Jo's line work is so clean and graphic. I don't have the steady hand she does but I wanted to challenge myself to try. I chose two patterns by Julie Beland, "Eureka" and "Gooberz" using the watermark as a string. You can sort of see it in this picture above. (sorry about the inferior pics-my idiotphone doesn't like incandescent lighting or close-ups) Once I got the line work down I debated whether or not to shade. Jo had started the prompt to color with the blue corner and Julie's patterns lend themselves to that as well. I'm not comfortable with graphic coloring (yet) so I took this picture thinking I was finished as I was pretty pleased with my line work:

I put it away and the next day I picked up the marker and went for it, thinking that if I screwed it up no one would be the wiser. The shading got muddy in spots because the marker smeared the ink, but this is how I roll;-)

Anyhoo, thanks so much for visiting my blog. Your thoughtful and generous comments delight and inspire me:-D