Art into the World...

"Niuroda November"

black gesso on white watercolor paper

black ink, white gel pen, grey watercolor pencil, white Prismacolor pencil

for the ZATC Swap group

Several months ago I embarked on another Zentangle journey. I began participating in the Facebook  Zentangle Artists Trading Card Swap Group and just this month in the Zentangle: Tangled &  Journaled, Too group. For the last 18 months I'd been hoarding my little pieces of art, much of it stashed away and forgotten entirely. It was scary at first, sending my art out into the world, but I quickly became addicted to it.

There are so many layers of satisfaction in this process, from deciding on a theme (based on parameters set by the group administrators) to executing variations several times over, becoming more and more solid in my technique with each piece, then wrapping it all up and finding that perfect card to protect my piece while adding to it's presentation. It's so pleasing to create a piece of "Happy Mail" that will hopefully make opening the mailbox a joyful experience for my swap-mates. Then there's the joy of opening my mailbox to find a hand addressed envelope. I love holding original art in my hands.

It amazes me how my work has developed over these few months. I challenge myself with each swap.

My approach to the black and white set above was inspired by one of the weekly challenges over at I am the Diva where she swiped black gesso over a standard tile. White on black was previously uncharted territory for me so I challenged myself to get comfortable with it. 

The parameters of this particular swap was to use black & white only (with grey shading) and to use only patterns that began with the letter N. White on black was not required. I decided to go with one pattern, Niuroda, and  refine the hell out of it. These came out pretty cool. 

"Humanity"

for the ZATC swap group December swap

watercolor, watercolor pencil, white gel pen, blue Rollerball pen

The announcement of the ZATC December swap coincided with the tragic events in Paris. The theme was to represent support for the city of Paris. The parameters were to use Blue, White, Red and Silver and the use of Parisian themes was optional. I'm not a particularly politically charged person in my art, but I wanted to create something that represented Humanity to me, not solely a focus on Paris, but for all victims of terrorist violence. 

This concluded in pieces that were multi-layered and inter-woven. 

I started with the watercolor washed ATC then using watercolor pencils drew spirals and dots, then outlining them with white gel pen. The top layer is a blue Rollerball pen with watercolor pencil shading then finished with white Prismacolor pencil highlight. I love the way these turned out.

"Blue Renaissance"

watercolor, sepia and brown Micron pens, watercolor pencil and Prismacolor pencil

These 9 ATC's went out a few weeks ago to the Facebook Group Zentangle: Tangled & Journaled, Too. There were no parameters for this swap except the ATC format. I was in the midst of my black and white Niuroda November and was detoured by work I'd been seeing on renaissance tiles with brown tone inks and pencils. More uncharted territory so I made a set of renaissance inspired watercolor ATC's and started some more Niuroda's working in browns and blues.

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Diva Challenge #233~Zenith

The Diva is back from her much deserved vaycay and we are challenged to use the new pattern "Zenith".  This one came up in last weeks String Thing Challenge. I didn't manage to complete that challenge and wasn't all that woeful about it. I couldn't tell you why, but this was the part of that challenge that stumped me. I couldn't make Zenith fit...then...sigh... life got in the way and as much as I hate to be bested by a challenge, I let this one go.

Early this morning, I sat down at my favorite cafe table with my pint of coffee, read the challenge, delighted by Laura's return, cursed this pattern for a minute, noodled around on the internet for longer than was necessary, pulled out my dwindling stack of watercolor ATC's and got to work.

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Diva Challenge #230 and More...

Diva Challenge #230

Zendala 

by guest blogger Erin Olson

Yesterday I was noodling around on Pinterest when I came across a video from the Diva's 100th challenge post of Laura drawing "Diva Dance". I watched it over and over because I loved the music and it all finally clicked. I rarely used Diva Dance even though I love how I've seen it done by Maria Thomas and Helen Williams and other more capable pens. I just couldn't get the rhythm of it so I never bothered.
I had also just picked up 2 new watercolor tablets at a 2 for 1 sale at Aaron Brothers. Ready with a fresh stack of watercolor ATC's and the video playing in my head, I started practicing "Diva Dance" and ended up with several versions of this:

 

After reading the challenge this morning and getting the template down, I stared at it for quite a while pondering all manner of patterns that might work. Zendala's aren't really in my toolbox yet and though I wanted to go for something more...uhmnnn....zendala (ish), Diva Dance was still dancing around in my head.

That's New to Me #32

"A" pattern(s)~Abundies

artist focus: Karry Heun's "Landgirlz" & "Stitch"

These are all new patterns for me. I'm finding the ATC sizes to be perfect for many of the challenges. Less space to fill. This is one of the new watercolor backgrounds I made yesterday. I used a Prismacolor pencil for the shading.

Made by Joey #73

"Jemz" monotangle

Watercolor ATC

Prismacolor pencil shading

I picked this watercolor ATC because it had colors that were gemtone, though it's not represented very well by my idiotphone camera. I'm not a fan of grid based patterns in a monotangle. I am a big fan of  Margaret Bremner's "Flying Birds" string though.  

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I am the Diva Challenge #225 & That's New to Me #27

I am the Diva Challenge #225

"Color"

ATC using "Frost Flower" & "Soo Flowers"

The Diva is enjoying some much deserved vacay. This week's guest host~blogger, Jen Crutchfield's prompt is to go forth with some color, not a rainbow but 2 or 3. 

I'm currently working on some ATC's for the Facebook group, Zentangle Artists Trading Card Swap. The theme is watercolor. So I'm directing these two challenges into my ATC's today.

That's New to Me Week #27

a new "H" pattern and artist focus on 

Michele Beauchamp (aka Shelly Beauch)

Mak-rah-mee & Heartbeat

I decided it was time to learn Mak-rah-mee. I've made a few clumsy attempts at this pattern in my sketchbook in the past and it vexes me every time and I give up. Shelly's work is nothing short of amazing... so delicate and elegant. I had a hard time searching for an "H" pattern to go with it. I ended up going with "Heartbeat" and tried using it as a fill first. Not successful, but once I tried it as a border I loved it. I'm definitely keeping it in the repertoire. 

It was gorgeous today so I headed to the park to draw. More "Mak-rah-mee":

These are all works-in-progress that I will be sending out into the world within the next couple of months. I'm a little OCD, but each one got a little bit less crappy.


Thanks for stopping by. Your generous comments always make my day.