Thursday, October 4, 2018

Diva Challenge #370 and Inktober

Diva Challenge #370
UMT "Mezzanine"
by Heidi Sue Whitney

For the first Monday of the month, it's a "Use My Tangle" challenge where The Diva chooses a pattern submitted by another Zentangle enthusiast. Heidi is one of my Travelling Tangles swap mates so it's always fun when one of my tangle peeps is featured in a challenge. I love patterns like this, sort of free form organics. I knew right away that it would make a good companion page to last weeks challenge. I'm coming close to finishing off my second Trainwreck Journal. It's a handmade journal where I go at it with watercolor and inks to create backgrounds that will inspire future art. I generally make a big ol' mess and just have fun.

Zendala Monday
fun with botanicals
Inktober Day 2
"Tranquil"

Inktober is here. It's a month long challenge to do a drawing a day. This year I've challenged myself to focus on botanicals, both detailed studies and simpler, more whimsical pieces as well. I love drawing flowers and I've always been of the mind (well, what was drilled into me at art school) was that in order to abstract something you have to study the real thing.
Inktober Day 1-"Poisonous"
Hydrangea

 I'm going to try to follow the prompts if I can relate them to botanicals. I had brought some hydrangeas home from work (I sell cheese in a small specialty food market that has gorgeous flowers we get to take home once they've lost their vivacity). I googled poisonous flowers and Hydrangeas were the first on the list. It was an ambitious challenge to start with something so complicated but what the heck.


Inktober Day 3
Waterlily

I had intended this to be "Tranquil", but I got a bit frustrated when it got to drawing the reflection. In the meantime I'd started the Zendala which was proving to be a much more tranquil drawing experience. What was great was that having studied the Hydrangea the day before, the petal shapes inspired the flowers I created on the Zendala;-)
Yesterday, I had the epiphany to use a dried out brush pen to do the reflection and water.

Inktober Day 4
a free-form day 

 The eco-print on this sheet of paper was the two large Eucalypus leaves. The Zinnia was just made up in the moment.  The Hotel Flora stationary was unplanned serendipity;-)

I used  several pieces of hotel stationary I collected from my travels abroad
in my last batch of eco-printing

I encased some flowers and leaves in tea bags.
Held up to the light the detailed veining
is super clear

I mailed off another Flow-ish Journal to a swap partner on Friday. This is the Facebook group I follow. A Flow-ish journal is a collection of papers, cards, images and other bits of ephemera that is used in art journaling and mixed media art. It's a way to exchange bits of our stash with each other. Nothing is permantly bound or glued so that the recipient can easily remove things to use in their own journals and mixed media art.

The cover is made from a colored file folder that had these weird wavy tabs across the top. I glued a bunch of paper scraps all over it, then painted and stenciled it, did some machine stitching and added a button/elastic loop closure to it.

I have a large collection of postcards and images, books and pictoral research from years of being a student of theatre design and then free-lance costume designer.

I also have a ton of stickers I collect from cheese delivery at the market.
 I paint and stencil over them.


Magazine pages stenciled and lined with a gold paint pen


Copies of my original butterfly art


And finally a junk journal for another Facebook group challenge where we were asked to construct a journal from one week's worth of junk mail. I painted, stenciled and then decorated with images from an Open Art Studio directory I picked up at my local library.












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










24 comments:

  1. I am so impressed by your journal. I'm hoping to get more "crafty" about the substrate on which I tangle. I'm also going through an "organic" phase, so your flora is most pleasing.

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  2. A wonderful weekly artwork, Michele! Your Mezzanine tile is very beautiful and your journals very inspiring and impressing. But my absolutly favorites are your Inktober drawings. It is a wonderful idea to draw botanicals. I am looking forward your next weeks drawings.

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  3. Wow! you've been busy...your art journals are so cool. Love the way you treated Mezzanine...that color combination is delicious! And the Inktober pieces are terrific, too. Your creativity shines!

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    1. Thanks Heidi! I love The possibilities with Mezzanine 😉

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  4. An overload of eye candy as always!

    I'm still loving the blue / pink images - I need to try that tangle and that colour combination.

    I've seen a few of your Inktober images on FB but seeing them here together is much better - a proper body of work. Each makes me draw in my breath and then let it out a little slower.

    Thank you for sharing!

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    1. Thanks Jem! That train wreck journal is really the most inspiring thing I've ever done 😉

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  5. Rhapsody in Blue. Oh, no, sorry. It is Mezzanine in Blue. All the same for me. Absolutely gorgeous! Also love your Flowertober challenge. Also love your journal. Also love...hey, there is no end to "Also love..." and this week by week. Thanks, Michele, for sharing.

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  6. Wow, all so beautiful. My favorite is the black and white zendala, that one is gorgeous. Our idea's about the Diva challenge was a bit the same, but came out quite differently :-)

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  7. I don't know where to begin; everything you have made is wonderful, especially the Flowertober is absolutely gorgeous but again Michele, I'm impressed by all the artworks you show us every week!!!

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  8. Wow ... what an inspiring post with all the beautiful pieces and journal pages!

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  9. I don't know how you find time to work! The journal stuff is inspiring and I'm very tempted to give it another go, but not yet, Ihave too many unfinished projects at the moment. As always, your line work is gorgeous and your eye for detail astounds me.

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  10. So impressed by your journaling! A lot of inspiring creativity is flowing from your pages! And the UMT-challenge is lovely!

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    1. Thanks so much Anita! There's so much inspiration happening everywhere this month. I love it❤

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  11. Wow, Michele. Your work leaves me in awe. I love your botanicals.. That is a favorite art style for me. You might take a look at my instagram - I am following a list of botanical prompts as well as the Zentangle.

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    1. Thank you Pat! I love your botanicals and Sharla's style has long been my north star of inspiration. This is such a great month 😍

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