This and That: Dream

I took a break from the series of challenge journals I’m finishing up for Nevermore Creations Marketplace (see the last pic below) feeling a need to do something with the pile of stuff that didn’t make its way into those books. I switched gears and decided to make this Catch-All.

There was another method to my madness. I wanted to see how long it would take to complete one journal from start to finish. I usually work on several books at a time, completing each phase on all journals before moving on to the next. 

So. No overthinking. No theme. No distraction. No stash shopping. Use what’s already been pulled out.

I figured it would go pretty quickly since I already had both cover and the image plate made, they just hadn’t met yet😉 

I made two fat signatures determined to not re-file anything and find good spots for my extra pockets. I anchored each signature with some gelli printed card stock.

I made some floating pockets and envelopes

The detailing of the “Frankenpaper...

This is a fattie. 172 pages front and back (that’s 43 sheets of paper so 21-22 sheets per signature). The time drain was trimming down the pages.

The up-side to the fattie was that I was able to use a lot of the printed ephemera I’ve been hoarding that I usually find too one dimensional. I love it but find it hard to use on its own. Anyhoo...I was so happy to get it in this book. Staying true to my challenge, my ephemera books were already out😉

These cut apart postcards were from the first paper stack I ever bought from my first trip to Tuesday Morning. So happy they finally found a home. 

A belly band made from a beer box. I bought it because I loved the graphics.

Gelli plate play.

So how long did this take me? Somewhere between 13-15 hours. All day yesterday and about 3 hours this morning.

These are the journals I’m finishing up.

String Challenge #85 & More

It's a String Thing Challenge #85 with Mumsy, Kelp and Printemps

This was a relaxing challenge. I love drawing Printemps, It's my go-to filler but I rarely use it in larger chunks of space.

Mooka for Square One Purely Zentangle

This week's challenge at the Facebook group Square One: Purely Zentangle was Mooka. I have a love-hate relationship with Mooka. I love how it looks when drawn by the folks who get it and of course, and most especially, the elegance and beauty of Maria's work (creator of Mooka and co-founder of Zentangle). I've hated every single attempt I've made at it...until finally, I think I've got it! I still can't go at a blank tile without warming up first. The most important lesson I've learned with mooka is the shading and fill space really makes a difference.

 

That's New to Me Challenge week 12

O patterns: Orbs-la-dee and O-zone 

Here are a couple of new patterns I was playing around with at the museum today. I'd packed up all my gear and pedaled off. I like to sit in the beautiful cafe, sip on some tea and draw. I got myself all settled in and realized I forgot my bag of pens. All I had were two red/orange Microns and my little watercolor set that I'd tucked in my backpack at the last minute.  Anyhoo, I just made do with what I had. Today's sketch plan:

I just happened to come across O-zone this morning whilst making note of the challenges I wanted to catch up on at Jane Monk's One Tangle Facebook Group. At the museum I literally just started doodling a bunch of sketchy circles then filling in the gaps, so this is a bit fussier than Jane's original step-out. I had been practicing "Oof" this morning for catch-up on last week's Square One: Purely Zentangle Challenge. 

Update 3/27:

Made by Joey Weekly Challenge #53

Tangle a border print

I came up with this border pattern riff on the O pattern challenge from the other day whilst pondering this week's Made by Joey challenge. It reminded me of a futon bedspread I used to have waaayy back in college.

Thanks for stopping by. Your comments always brighten my day!

for Joey's week 47 challenge

string 39 

Luv-A, Hugs and Kisses and Marasu

This is the weirdest tile I've ever created because it started off with a very intentional direction then totally veered out of control...which is why I love it and hate it at the same time. It's definitely got its flaws but I embrace it because upon reflection, I feel like it truly embodies the Zentangle journey. It went something like this:

The parameters were to start with this string...

...oh cool! I'm still obsessed with the spiral pattern "Marasu", so I knew exactly what I was going to do first~ go rogue by not using any of the prescribed patterns...yet. I did the spiral- color, highlight, shadow, then pondered my pattern options;

Luv-A, Loveline, Hugs & Kisses and Kiss

By this point I was familiar with all but one of the patterns-"Hugs & Kisses". Upon investigation I was not keen on it and had no intention of using it. I ixnayed "Loveline" from the get-go because no matter how I've played it over the last several challenges, I can't get it to look good. I was going with "Luv-A" and "Kiss". 

I discovered "Kiss" awhile back while pursuing another string challenge. It's the background pattern behind the feather. I like this pattern a lot and had every intention of using it again.

As the tile moved along, "Kiss" disappeared and "Hugs and Kisses" clumsily worked it's way in, I considered abandoning it more than once but kept at it. I purchased my first white gel pen yesterday and figured it would at least make a good practice ground, so I kept going.
I thought it was finished more than once, but something kept me going with it. When I finally called it finished, I considered not posting it and had a fleeting thought to start a new one, but decided it was noteworthy whether I begin again or not. We shall see.
Anyhoo, thanks to all of you who take the time to read these musings and many thanks to those who take the time to comment. I truly appreciate all of you.

That's New to Me & It's a String Thing~ TangleBomb Saturday

Vano, Verve, Voxter, Vigne & Veezley

This tile is for "That's New to Me". Each week we are given the perameter of  a letter of the alphabet and seek out a pattern that starts with that letter that we have never used before. This was a fun challenge but it took a while to get here. From the get-go I wanted to used Vano as my string. I love the shapes. 

We are only required to use one pattern. I get ambitious and over-do and as usual I spend a great deal of time noodling around on the internet looking for ideas and inspiration but mostly I'm just procrastinating. I love all of the different challenges there are out there, focusing on different themes and pulling me out of my comfort zone. I'm also a bit OCD/ADD so I will keep at something and if I make what I believe to be some egregious mistake (that no one else would even notice) I will start again. Other times I've got 2 or 3 things going on at the same time and bounce around without giving each one the attention it deserves.

I don't have internet at home for a very good reason: I'd never leave the house. So, I come around the corner to my favorite cafe, fuel up with coffee and surf the net, draw, write and edit pics.

Currently, the challenge within the challenges is to get each one completed, blogged and submitted. Saturday is a deadline for a few, so here I am playing beat the clock. This is the second time I've done this. Maybe I should call this TangleBomb Saturday.

This is my submission for this week's "It's a String Thing" Challenge:

string #76 

patterns used: Fjord, Trumpits & Oolo

oohhhhh this challenge really vexed me. Once again yanked out of my comfort zone with a string I had the most difficult time wrapping my brain around with these patterns, none of which I've ever used before. It's all good though.

Diva Challenge #201 for Moebius Syndrome Awareness

The Moebius Syndrome Foundation logo

decorated with "Wud" "Heartstrings" & "N'zeppel"

This weeks challenge from I am the Diva is to raise awareness of Moebius Syndrome, a rare disorder that affects 1 in a million people. The Diva, Laura Harms has a young son with Moebius Syndrome.
She describes his condition as a congenital nerve disorder that effects cranial VI & VII nerves that control the lateral movement of the face. There are delayed developmental milestones that include eating & feeding, low muscle tone, club feet and low tolerance/resistence to virus, among others.

Moebius Awareness Day is January 24 and we're using the Moebius Syndrome foundation logo as the string for this weeks submission.

Tea at the Museum & Motley "Joy"

I had a leisurely afternoon at the museum cafe today so I got busy with "joy", the pattern of the week for the Made by Joey challenge. I'd never seen this pattern before and this is my first time posting to her challenges.
I'd just intended this piece as an exercise when I started it, practicing on a throwaway piece of textured cardstock, trying out different variations within the given string.  I started turning the tile around and the string reminded me of a motley pattern, the patchwork pattern from the Commedia del'arte Harlequin costume.

Then the textured paper seemed to be in need of color. Such is the journey of Zentangle...you never know where it's going to lead you.

Happy (and not so happy) Accidents

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Square One: Purely Zentangle

Pattern of the Week: BB

Other patterns used: Pots 'n Pans and Zinger

This was an oddly successful doodle and the best example of why these challenges are so inspiring.

I was not too thrilled with the pattern of the week. I've seen it here and there but I don't think it gets used much. With so many great patterns out there, it seems pretty boring.

When the challenge appeared last week I was so impressed to see so many great takes on this pattern. My first attempt:

I though it was ok. Not great. I was about half way through it when I got a really nasty cut right down the back of my middle finger of my right hand from the jagged edge of a broken heavy glass tumbler that was left in what was apparently a recycling basket at a house I'd just started dog sitting at. I'd already gotten the "BB" part of the tile drawn and was planning to fill in the remaining space but then my finger was all bandaged up and all I could manage was a clumsy attempt at shading.

In the meantime, I perused all of the other submissions.

There were so many fantastic pieces out there and several that added vine or leaf patterns and that's what gave me the idea of a potted plant on top of a stack of books. I could not wait any longer and it all materialized quickly. 

Pots 'n Pans just happened to be the first step out (found at tanglepatterns.com ) I'd drawn in the new pattern journal I'd started a couple of weeks ago:

Zinger seemed like the natural companion to the goofy look the tile was taking on. I used a Rapidograph technical pen to fill the black areas on the pots 'n pans and proceeded to smear ink all over when I was nearly finished, hence the stippling.
Anyhoo, I hesitated posting it because it was so messy but decided what-the-heck.
It got over 200 likes and many wonderful comments.
That's what I love about Zentangle. There are no mistakes and many happy accidents.

Another Diva BiZentennial Offering

Diva Challenge 200 number 2

Celebrating I am the Diva's 200th weekly Challenge

'nzeppel 

and a petal-y pattern I can't remember the name of but thought was 'nzeppel when I first saw it.

I pulled this tile from my reject pile to practice some water color, then whilst dog-sitting at a friends house this weekend I found this placemat that I'm loving as a background. I kinda like it now so decided to submit it even though the Diva has surpassed her goal of 200 responses to the challenge.

It's a String Thing Challenge #75

string #75 using patterns: pokeleaf, ennies, echoism & bales

They don't call these challenges for nothing. This weeks submission was particularly challenging for me as there were 4 patterns to work into a curvy string. This was my third attempt. I'm not totally crazy about this one but I had a couple of rejects already and time was running out.
It's all good though. This is the beauty of the challenge as you learn more from your mistakes than you do from success. I find that trying to get just the right balance of tone, structure and organic within the confines of a string the most satisfying part of the journey when I get a piece that's an improvement over the last one. This was my second attempt:

The only thing I liked about this was the Echoism. My first attempt was pretty dreadful and disappeared somewhere.

It's all part of the journey. I've been having a bit of fun working on my shading and while digging through my old art box I came across a tool called a Colour Shaper. I have no idea where I got it (I was in art school 20+ years ago), but along with a super soft 6B graphite pencil I've managed to step away from the smelly Prismacolor colorless blender for a while.

The color shaper (on top) has a soft rubber tip that allows much better control of the soft graphite and produces a feathery edge when you drag the tip outward as seen at the outer edge of the flower template and along the aura of the pokeleaf on the tile. I was inspired by a really cool drawing I found on the Zentangle Facebook page and sorta copied the template to practice on. 

I like using the 6B pencils as you can vary the pressure as you draw to get a heavier deposit of graphite in corners you want in darker shadow.

I've only been at this blog for a couple of weeks now and I just want to thank you all for stopping by and taking the time to leave your comments. 

Diva Challenge #199

This week's challenge from I am the Diva is to use the pattern "Hitched" . I've been lurking around that blog for months now and  have yet to submit anything. So I'm gonna give this a shot. 

Once a month the Diva issues a challenge she calls Use My Tangle or UMT for short. She picks a pattern submitted by one of her many followers and fellow CZT's (Certified Zentangle Teacher). This pattern comes from HeidiSue. Here's a link to the steps:

This pattern proved to be much more challenging than I thought (which is always a good thing) as it forced me to slooooow the heck down. I tend to get a bit ADD and restless. The steps are very simple but the composition can get out of whack quickly if you're not deliberate. 

Other patterns I used are "Arukas" and a little "Printemps".

I used a Sakura 01 pen and the shading is done with a 90% warm grey Prismacolor pencil and smudged with a clear Prismacolor marker blender.

I find that I like to photograph my tiles on the cover of my sketchbook. I took this pic around 8am and liked the way the sun reflected off of the surface of the book. My photography is super low tech. I have a crappy cell phone cam and send my pics to Photobucket. The only editing I do is crop and sharpen the crappy cam blur.

Here's tile #2:

This was actually a rejected tile I'd started for this challenge. I'd screwed it up at the overlap. Meanwhile, I was inspired by one of Lily's Tangles and rescued this to practice some color. Not great but I figured it was at least a keeper. 

I used Prismacolor pencils and a white paint pen.

Square One Challenge: Nzeppel

Nzeppel with Tropicana & Wud

This weeks challenge was fun. Nzeppel is one of my favorite patterns. I love it's simplicity and dimension as well as its versatility-grid or no grid.

I had already started a string for this tile, exploring my current obsession with "Tropicana"...

.., a pattern I came across while pursuing T patterns for the "That's New to Me" challenge. 

I was also inspired by Lily Tangles sharing her steps to a gorgeous piece that started with the pattern "Wud".

This piece sort of complicates the perameters of the Square One challenges which is to focus on one pattern in a simple format but this is how I roll.

"That's New to Me" ~The First Challenge

Challenge #1-T tangles

I chose:

Tropicana, Tripoli, Telis & Tortuca

This begins a new tangling journey and what fun it is! "That's New to Me" is the new weekly challenge put forth by Suzy Mosh Creations. The objective is to try something new given the perameters of each challenge. I got a little ambitious here by trying not just one but 4 new patterns. 

Tropicana was a great discovery. I already had Telis and Tripoli stepped out in my pattern journal but I've never used either in a finished piece. I love using swirls and spirals as fill ins but I've never used them in a grid pattern before (Tortuca).

It's a String Thing Challenge #74

Lealad, Twizted & Kiss

This was a wayward start to this weeks "It's a String Thing" challenge.
I've had all three of these patterns in my sketchbook yet I've never explored them beyond my step-out pages. I started a tile last night but I was having trouble arranging them into the string so I finally gave it a rest and went to bed.
At the cafe this morning I pulled out my sketchbook and practiced the patterns some more then I felt ready to have a go at a tile (I'd finished my first cup of coffee). I'd forgotten which challenge I was doing and forgot the string. It's a little overworked in places and I wasn't very happy with it at first but it's sort of grown on me.
Then this came about...

 "It's a String Thing~Challenge #74: string 74 with Lealad, Twizted & Kiss

I recently unearthed a set of Rapidiograph technical pens I've had since grad school. I got one working and I find the larger nib sizes to be great for nice solid fills but the ink needs a minute to dry. I ended up with an ink blob in the middle of everything, hence the dark shadow as my attempt to hide it. It's all part of the journey.