Thursday, September 27, 2018

Diva Challenge #369 and then some...

Orb-tastic

After drawing straight lines, drawing orbs is my next favorite thing. I can't draw a decent circle to save my life, but somehow, in my mind, the word "orb" implies a little more latitude.
I saw a drawing on Pinterest that reminded me of Helen Williams elegant swirls and curls. I can only aspire to such grace with my pen, but that doesn't mean I ain't gonna try;-)

In my trainwreck journal

I thought you might get a kick out of this handy little tool I found awhile back at Mai Do, my favorite pen store in Japantown. The handy-dandy pencil extender. Look at that crazy little nub. I saw them being used by an illustrator on YouTube.

More orbs and Travelling Tangles:

My finish...

...to this start by Beth Bentz

A Two-fer
Zendala Monday
&
Travelling Tangle

...from another Beth Bentz start

another finish...
...to a Beth Bentz start

This little pile of fun came from Connie Kennekens in The Netherlands quite awhile ago. Somehow I managed to delete the starter photos from my camera.

I made signatures from my eco-printed papers in preparation for Inktober. My idea is to focus on botanicals. Stay tuned😉

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












Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Chasing Down My Diva Groove...

Diva Challenge #367
N'zeppel
There was quite a lot of art going on last week, but not much in the way of Zentangle. I got the the N'zeppel challenge done but the Duo-Challenge was another bust. I did dust off the old DIY journal to get back into my Diva groove. There are still a good bunch of pages to be arted but I'm about to start on creating a new one.
I'm pondering what theme, if any, I want to pursue for Inktober and I've been getting my fountain pens cleaned and inked up.
Back in my DIY/Trainwreck journal

Straight Lines

I love this challenge. I've actually done several straight line pieces since Monday. This was the first one I finished. Soooooo very Zen.

Zendala Monday

I started this last week and only just finished it. I was inspired by something I saw on Pinterest.

"Wishy Washi"
for the FB Group Anything Goes: Tangled Art for Everyone

This is an ATC I had from an old watercolor batch. The prompt was to use washi tape on your tile and I had this little piece that I'd received in a swap.
 
Painted stickers for my art journals and swaps

I spent a lot of time making bits and pieces for my next Flow-ish Journal swap for this FB group I've been quite obsessed with. Basically we swap stuff from our stash of art journaling papers and ephemera. I do a lot of handmade stuff.

Acrylic and plastic wrap on junk paper and packaging

I've been watching a lot of videos from Cat Hand. She has a series called Mixed Media Morsels where she demonstrates various techniques in a small format so you can have these little morsels of inspiration when you want to create larger art. I made a several of the plastic wrap treated bits on random pieces of junk mail and packaging that I'll turn into tags and ATC's for future journals and swaps.

Eco-Printed papers

I did another batch of Eco-printing on a wide assortment of papers and envelopes.  I'm thinking of making these into signatures for an Inktober sketchbook focusing on botanical illustration.
Diva Challenge part 2
more straight lines

I finished this one over my morning coffee today while binge watching YouTube videos at the cafe;-) I was in my happy place.


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






Friday, September 7, 2018

Diva Challenge #365 and other stuff

Back to Basics

The Diva is back after her Summer hiatus and boy, was I ready for this. Simple. Back to Basics? Uhmnnn...well, it started off that way😛
I did this in my mixed media sketchbook, using a 4" coaster as my template. I got the string from Adele's IAST challenge this week and didn't really intend to bring the string out of the box like I did, nor did I intend to fill in each section but that's just the way I roll.

Throwback Square One: "Cuke"
additionally: "PeelD"
and 
It's a String Thing Challenge #258
featuring: "Antidots", "Apacore" and "Afterglo"
in an A string in honor of Aretha Franklin

This was a fun one, though quite time consuming. I randomly chose a throwback Square One challenge this week and was quite inspired by this weeks featured pattern "PeelD". I love how this one came out.

Zendala Monday
This week was a pre-strung Zendala (I've been alternating each week). Awhile back, Jem (The Ragged Ray) and I had a comment convo regarding the limitations of the pre-strung Zendala and my aversion to sustaining symmetry within those boundaries. She had posted a pic of how she'd colored over a pre-strung zendala that left only a suggestion of the string. I jumped on that train as soon as the opportunity presented itself. You can barely see the string that I started with below. I liked the elegant S curves, but not so much the resolve around the border. I went with a Yin/Yang idea: dark vs light, structured vs organic.


I'm way behind on my Travelling Tangles:

my finish...
...to this start by Connie Kennekens
traveling all the way from The Netherlands

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