Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Diva Challenge#354, Joey #206 & IAST #233 duo challenge

Use My Tangle Monday
Siri by Simone Menzel

It was great to see Simone's pattern "Siri" featured this week! Simone and I have shared some Travelling Tangles swaps so I'm fortunate to have some of her original art of  my very own and I find her work so inspiring. I don't think I've ever used this pattern beyond playing around with it a little when she first published it on her blog. It's pretty high focus. My approach to something like this is to go big and go slow.

My background options

I find myself  falling down the rabbit hole of multi media art journaling. I bought a Dylusions ink starter set last week and played around with the sprays and stencils. "Siri" felt like it would be a good fit on one of these and after a lengthy stare-down, I decided to scatter fragments of Siri using my Platinum Preppy blue fountain pen and Staedtler Triplus Fineliners.

Duo Challenge


Joey started us off with an untitled wave pattern  (bottom left corner) she found on Pinterest.  I laid in the corner line work on Monday, then once I saw the IAST challenge I drew the Pi string on a separate piece of paper and then turned it around and around to decide which direction felt right, then carried a string line over to Joey's side.

I've been doing these in a multi media sketchbook using only my fountain pens and graphite (sometimes a Tombow grey marker). The only thing that keeps me going with this is how much I love using the fountain pens and the sense of accomplishment I feel when I finish. This is an exercise in problem solving! Composing these pages are mostly Zen, but there are several moments throughout the long process where I get frustrated because I don't like the way it's going. It has ALWAYS worked out in the end and that always surprises me, but it doesn't come easy by any means.

I added "Mosi", a new to me pattern featured this week on Square One: Purely Zentangle (as if  this wasn't hard enough;-) I felt like the Joey side needed something organic to balance out Frunky and though "Mosi" wasn't really gelling with me, I loved how the challenge artist, Tomas Padros added sort of an  "Icanthis" component to it and because I'm into botanicals lately, I went for it. I hated it! I took a break and later went in with a black brush pen to add some weight and little leaf tips. Better.


The required patterns in place:
Mystery Waves (untitled)
Frunky
Soluna
Keeko




More drippy watercolor circles
&
Botanical studies
in my DIY sketchbook/journal


One of my creative goals is to draw botanicals. I like the whimsical styles of a few of my YouTube faves at Authentic by Frani and Shayda Campbell and have been following their tutorials.



I want to work on more intricate, detailed studies and alternatively do some fun abstractions. I'm also still having fun with the drippy watercolor circles. I had a palette with some remnants of dried up, cheap, Daiso watercolors that I was about to rinse off when it occurred to me to set up a few more pages of miscellaneous watercolor splashes to inspire future drawings. The flowers above came about a few days later.
I have always preferred a muted color palette and am only now breaking out of my comfort zone into brighter, more vibrant colors. I mentioned in an earlier post that I bought a Daniel Smith starter set plus a few bright tubes and have been having fun playing with the florals. But, you know what?, I prefer these silly Daiso watercolors. Everything is still practice at this point.

She is so camera ready!



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



28 comments:

  1. Lovely colored tiles!!! I like what you did with Siri, in those little frames.

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    1. Thank you Annemarie! My thought was that I might cut them out and put them in my art journal...maybe😉

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  2. Wonderful work, Michele! My favorites are the double challenge and your botanical studies. Your SIRI tile is great, and of course Aimee.

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    1. Many thanks Margarete! Although the duo-challenges vex me constantly, I look forward to my Wednesday morning ritual. Maybe I need to dial back on the coffee 😉

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  3. Lovely reading and looking as always. The way you've worked Joey and IAST together is seamless. Well done - very hard to do that well!

    Interesting to see the progress of your botanicals quest. I'm working on something similar - trying to find my own style within it. It will be interesting to see where we both travel to.

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    1. Thanks so much Jem! I'm glad I keep pushing myself to finish the duos each week, because it can really be a struggle sometimes, but as they say " nothing worthwhile comes easy".
      I'm enjoying the botanical journey. So far I've been just been doing the YouTube tutorials and using saved photos from the internet as reference. Last night I started drawing some dried flowers and pods I have at home and I'll start bringing home fresh, discarded stems from the market I work at.

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  4. I love seeing your thinking on these and it's so good to see someone else who starts a dozen projects and visits them on an irregular basis until satisfied. I like the water colour blobs and I have a palette to clean that has had various mixes of Brusho inks so that's my next task. I just don't have the skills/talent for the botanical stuff but I like the whimsical ones so may "borrow" your idea on that one. And I can't believe you have so many journals on the go... how do you ever decide what to do?

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    1. Thanks Margaret! I'm so ADD with all the projects I've got going. I've got 5 Artjournal/sketchbooks going right now😛 I'm trying to get in the habit of just randomly taking one to the cafe with me and committing to spend one hour with it.
      Those 2 YouTube channels have really easy tutorials 😉

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  5. Again a wonderful post, full of beauties.
    Your tile for Laura shows a lovely interpretation of Siri. The combination of Joey's and Adele's challenge is stunning and my favorite of the week but I always like your paintings in watercolours, so fragile and beautiful.
    We also have now a little panther but she is not so fond of camera's as Aimée, she is a real professianal! (LOL)

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    1. Thank so much Ria! Siri was such a fun challenge this week and thank you for your part in Simone's inspiration 😉🐾😻

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  6. Yum yummy! I am SO digging your duo challenges. They just look so amazing! and I love your Siri...You make it look just lovely. And of course the other pieces...that watercolor botanical series is a treat! And just so you know, a fountain pen. I've got a gift certificate to Blick and I think I know what I'm going to be getting :) thanks, Michele!

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    1. Thanks Heidi! Your sketchbook inspires me every time I see it😉

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  7. I love all of these, Michelle. I am particularly drawn to the watecolor work you did in your journal of the flowers. Thanks for the links to the two artists you follow for their work. I had the fortune to attend one of Sharla Hicks' botanical retreats and have been practicing and studying botanical. I will definitely pay attention to the artists you mention. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  8. These are all so unique and creative - I love them all, Michele. I especially like the siri squares and the way you did the background.

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  9. I feel like such a slacker when I see the great stuff you have been up to this week! Just lovely work Michele.

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  10. Dear Michele, your SIRI tile is just sooo beautiful! Thank you so much, also for your lovely words. I am glad to have met you on my Zentangle journey and love every single blogpost of you! And I am so happy to see many beautiful Siris this week! Thank you!!

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    1. Thanks so much Simone! It was such a treat to see Siri show up this week and I'm loving how everyone is interpreting it;-)

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  11. Love the way you used Siri, and, of course, the married couple. I am looking forward to your new aim of fun abstractions as I am not sure how that will look like.

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    1. Thanks Susie! I am enjoying the botanical practice, where it goes is anybody's guess 😉

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  12. Again a wonderful and very inspiring post, dear Michele! I really like Siri interpretation on that lovely background. And I do love the Duo challenge with its great movement.
    Aimee is very photogenic, isn´t she?

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    1. Thank you so much Annette! My sister says that Aimee has to be the most photographed cat in the world😻

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  13. I love the tile you've created using Siri! They would make fantastic kitchen tiles! Your combo challenges are terrific. Great that Amiee sits still for photos😻... my Lilu won't.... she always needs to see what I'm doing!

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    1. Thanks Deanne! Aimee is always getting up in my business when I've got a project going. That's usually when I get the best pictures;-)

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  14. I like the way you used Siri - striking! And your duo tangles - lovely!

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