coffee & creativity: Little Zen Menu

Showing posts with label Little Zen Menu. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Diva Challenge #343 and Sketchbooks

Diva Challenge #343

"Dewd"

The eco-print I started with

I had a feeling this one would appear sooner rather than later. I played around with Dewd a bit when the video first appeared a few weeks back. It's not as easy as it looks. I figured Dewd would be a great addition to my eco-printed series. I also had another go at Paradox. This was really fun to draw. After the first row of Dewd, I thought it might be better to just do straight up stalks, but I was already invested.

Sketchbook stuff:

After days of deliberating how to start the new DIY sketchbook I shared last week, pondering themes and whatnot, I just dove in with a prompt I saw on Draw Tip Tuesday earlier this week. It seemed like a bit of a train wreck as I moved through it and that was the intent. It took the pressure off of any thoughts of perfection. In the end the black background really pulled it together.

The first page of my new sketchbook
Gratitude with Attitude

I'm working through my first attempt at a handmade bound book:

Little Zen Menu November prompt mash-up

Zendala string #103, Less is More (in my world) and a little Betweed

This is the Fearless, Fun & Funky sketchbook. It's a hot mess. The pages are all wonky because my punched holes are off-alignment, the spine is too wide so the whole thing lies crookedly and the thread work was really clumsy (hence the washi tape)...but, it's all good. I decided to really have fun with it because there is nothing I can do to mess it up any more than it is.

First I threw a bunch of watercolor at it, using some cheap paint I got at Daiso for $1.50 for 8 tubes. I had fun swirling around the colors and then closing the page to get a mirror imprint. Then noodled around with lettering and using various black liner pens. I had a bit of a scare when I clogged up my new Lamy fountain pen. I should have known better because the cheap paint was very chalky. I did have great success with a really inexpensive Pentel Stylo.

I'm getting back into the Little Zen Menu prompts from the Facebook group Tangled & Journaled Too.

LZM: FeatherFall/Mooka

LZM: It starts with one small circle within another circle

This was a mash-up of several prompts including:

watercolor, Zendala String #116, Huggins and Printemps, Joki, Cruffle and Dark

YogaCat
🐾😼❤

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

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Diva Challenge #334, Joey's Challenge #184 and more...

Diva Challenge #334

"Crazy 'Nzeppel"

additionally: Pixioze, Beadlines and fanning Fescu

Earlier this week, Sakura published a video of Molly drawing Crazy 'Nzeppel. I'm crazy about 'Nzeppel so awaaaayyyyy we go!
I'm also in a back-to-basics mode after making myself a nice stack of white tiles.

Joey's Weekly Challenge #184

9 piece ensemble series: tile #7

Featuring: whaaat?!?..."Nzeppel"

additionally: Baton, Striping, Flux & Tripoli

More Crazy 'Nzeppel. Love it! I think this is one of everyone's Mac 'n Cheese patterns. I could keep drawing it all week.

We're two weeks short of completing this ensemble. I'm so anxious to see everyone's finished creation. Mine included.

I've been deliberate about NOT showing the group until it's done, only because I'm trying hard not to make it look like an Opus that's been divided into 9 sections.

This is what I started with. It's 2 different sets of ATC's colored with art tissue. My goal was to make 9 individual and self-contained pieces tied together with a string and a color story. With the exception of checking to make sure the string is still lining up, I don't cross tiles with the same pattern. I honestly don't know how it's all gonna relate in the end.

beginning another play with 'Nzeppel.

I figured this week was the perfect opportunity to focus on one of my faves. This one started with the crossing line work using my Rapidograph technical pen (waterproof) and water-soluble Staedtler Triplus Fineliner for the orbs, then...

...a few sprays of water....

A couple of weeks ago, Adele Bruno's "It's a String Thing" Challenge was Ampersand inspired. I Googled images of ampersand's and was fascinated by what cool strings they'd be, so I made a few. I never ended up creating anything for the challenge but these are fun to play with.

This was my string for this week's Diva Challenge:

...another ampersand start...

...using Eni Oken's Echo-lines

I love Echo lines

I haven't shaded this one yet, but here's another one that I did:

There's an ampersand in there somewhere.

For Square One: Purely Zentangle

African Artist and Pixioze

For the FB group Tangled and Journaled: Too!

The Little Zen Menu weekly prompts

Zendala #66, "Ta-da", Spirals and red/violet

Aimee talking to a crow

She was making a sound I've never heard from her before. When ever the crow cawed, she'd respond with a sort of a staccato meow. It made me think of a baby velociraptor;-) She is such a trip!

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

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Diva Challenge # 332, Joey Challenge #182 etc...

Diva Challenge #332

"2 Squared"

Ha-krall, Abukas and Printemps

The Diva is back from her Summer hiatus. The challenge is to create a string using 2 squares.

Joey's Weekly Challenge #182

9 piece ensemble series

ATC #5

Featuring: "Muscari"

Additionally: Pixioze, Batumber, Striping, Paisley Boa and Fescu

The "92 Days" Summer prompts are complete and now we're moving on to a series of prompts called "The Little Zen Menu" from the Facebook group Tangled and Journaled Too! 5 or 6 prompts are posted every Saturday to choose from. I have one last pocket journal to complete so I decided to start with the weekly zendala template (selected from Erin Olsen's "Weekly Zendala Dare challenge from her blog "The Bright Owl") and incorporate as many of the other prompts as makes sense.