Cover Page

This is the first page of my new 9x12 sketchbook. Yes, it wasn't a quick sketch, but I certainly enjoyed the process. Finished it as I was watching the women win the World Cup. Congrats to them!!

 

Micron and intense pencils were the tools of choice.

Zentangle on Watercolor

During the World Cup games, I've been doing zentangles on a piece of watercolor that I had in my "someday I'll doing something with this" drawer. But, I didn't get much done during the USA vs Portugal games. Up and down emotions with sports.

One rule that zentangles seem to be teaching me is to balance a drawing. 

A technique that I can use in all my compositions.

Zentangles on Red

To settle myself, I decided to do some zentangles. In one of my drawers I found this discarded watercolor practice sheet. Perfect for zentangle play. The design just grew and grew.

The piece is 12 x 12".

Figure drawing

Figure drawing sessions have resumed after the Christmas break. The Sacramento Fine Arts Center has space for our weekly 3 hour gathering. Many of the artists are really good and I am always learning from them. Here are a few of my pieces from two different sessions.

Oh, here is zentangle that I did in my new Stillman & Birn sketchbook. I've heard so many nice comments about the product that I had to try it. It's relatively smooth even though it says that it has a rough finish. i.e. it nicely handles both watercolor and pen.

A Mixed Bag

Recently I took a painting on fabric workshop with Judy Coates Perez. Well, my world was enriched once again! She uses Tsukeniko Inks that are applied with a pencil shaped tool or with a paint brush. Her work is stunning. Here is a mushroom that I did in the afternoon part of the class. The background was hand dyed fabric. The outline and the painting were done with a brush. The mushroom is about 7" tall, so one can spend a long time perfecting each painting. So many choices!

OK, I did watch the 49er game, but one can get a lot done during the action. Here is my goat, a happy zentangle face.                                                                           Good day!

Home again

On my trip to Ohio I did more reading than drawing, but here is a zentangle that I drew 

while on the airplane. Oh there were some sketches of people, 

but none were interesting enough to share.

There are more family pictures, but this one of the 3 year old twins is just plain fun!

Snowflake zentangle

There was a need to do a powerful zentangle with strong color. So, I created this piece that is done with watercolors in the background and black ink. The layout was a snowflake cut from tracing paper and used as a guideline. Inner connections were added in my freehand style. I plan to enter it in December for a show that begins January 2. 

We'll see if it is even accepted.

A new grand baby is due this month. Of course, the child will need a quilt! This dragon quilt is a panel (a design already printed) surrounded by 1 1/4 inch squares that I pieced.

Below you can see close ups which show how zentangle designs can be used in quilting.

Zentangles

I was roaming the internet and came upon See Jane Run by Jane Eileen. Her biography says that she Nona of 2 A+mazing grandwonderfuls. She won my heart even before I attempted the zentangle. This design is quite a challenge, as you can see below.

Confusion, a little idea, better understanding and then more practice to get a better grasp of the design. Yet, I think that it's worth the effort.

Today I mailed a card to my dear 99 year old friend, Esther, using this zentangle.

This type of drawing has helped me to settle down today. I seemed to have to much energy to settle on any one project.There is just so much to do!!!

Zentangle and figure drawing

This week I did another zentangle mandala. I cut a snowflake from tissue paper, traced it with a pencil and then connected points with my ink pen. This approach means that if I traced it a second time, I would most likely have a different design. I've used ink and colored pencil.

Figure drawing still draws my interest. One of my big hang ups is making the head to skinny. Oh well, I'll keep trying.

Zentangle ladies

These ladies present the next pages of my zentangle moleskin book. 

They are done with Micron pens and colored pencils. Such elegant gowns!

By the way, I'm having trouble locating more of these accordion fold moleskin journals. 

Think that they are also called Japanese fold. The size is 5 1/2" by 3 3/4". 

If you have a clue where to find them, please let me know.

Last week, my husband and I went to Jamestown and Sonora, CA. 

These towns are part of the gold country and now survive on tourist trade. The Rim fire had only been burning for about two days, but we could see smoke from the Yosemite area which was about 25 miles away. Each day the fire has exploded in size and is now among the top 12 big fires that have ever burned in California. 

We wish the best to all the fire fighters and residents of the area.

Snowflake Mandalas

The next lesson that I decided to follow in The Art of Zentangle included this pattern that was provided, a snowflake that had been cut and traced.

The next step was to connect any points that I wished and then fill in the spaces.

Well, apparently one did not satisfy my need to zentangle so I complete a second version and this time I added a bit of shading with a graphite pencil and colored pencils.

The difference surprised and pleased me!

The Art of Zentangle

Apparently I can't seem to get enough of doing zentangles. I found a workbook on Amazon, THE ART OF ZENTANGLE 50 inspiring drawings, designs & ideas for the meditative artist. Margaret Bremmer has a blog Enthusiastic Artist that is very inspirational. I thought that she was the author. Well, there are three other contributors, each with a different perspective. The first action, however, was to take the book and have it spiral bound. I need flat pages for drawing.

This silly page shows three examples with my creation in the box on the lower left.

Again, there is an example at the top of the page with my hummingbird in the lower section.

The hippo is reverse zentangle and I deliberately left if unfinished so that you could realize the need to fill the entire page. What a delight to see the image emerge.

There is a step by step description of how to complete the fairy.

The mandalas are actually part of Margaret's lessons. I've complete about 50 of the 140 pages, so there is much to practice!

Zentangle mandala

A New Year's Resolution was to do a mandala each month. Oops! I missed April. However, one was finished by May 31. Sharpie pens were the tool of choice.



Now, the above mandala is just fine, but I decided to push the envelope just a bit. So, I took a light blue watercolor and filled in the circle. Well, as you can see below, the red ink smeared (the sample piece stayed true).



OK, I could hand the pink glow. Then I decided to do the area outside of the circle in a darker blue. Now I know how to do an even wash, but it just wasn't happening. So, I cut out the mandala and glued it to this gorgeous paper.

Is there a right or wrong? Does it matter?

A gift for me!

Recently I went to a neighbors to wish him well after surgery. But I'm the one who came away with a gift. Becky, his wife, was doing zentangles on rocks! She used a Sharpie and other black markers to completely cover this river rock. Then she added a varnish to seal the piece.



Here is the "bottom" of the rock.



This just shows that we cannot use the excuse of running out of art supplies! I'm so pleased to receive this piece.

Trying Something New

I had been checking the links that other EDMers list on their blogs and found the use of watercolor crayons on canvas. Just had to try this technique. LOVE IT!



The zentangle was done with various pens. I found that some of the smaller pens seemed to quickly refuse to work. I wonder if the the wax in the crayons was the reason? This tangle is a bit "tight" when it should have shown more joy as my grandson was released from the hospital on the sixth day. A new alertness has come to the family with the diagnosis of asthma.

After a break, I did add to my zentangle moleskin. This is done with ink and colored pencils.



Well, I see that blogger has decided to place my pictures to the left. I'll have to figure out how to center them----later.

Sharing love

Sometimes your actions and thoughts come together. My hairdresser's younger brother (age 28) passed away and the cause may not be know for a year when testing is done. Obviously, she and the family were quite upset. My heart aches for her and knew that she was grieving, big time. So I made the following card design with a split heart and a ribbon to express that love and time will heal a broken heart. I can only hope that it helps.

A variation from my red, white and blue quilts. I made this smaller turquoise, black and silver quilt for a veteran who is in his 80's. The pattern is Winding Ways found in a book by Nancy Elliot MacDonald.

Tomorrow is figure drawing and a visit to a quilt show. Also, I am playing with colored pencils. There are some terrific examples in the books that I purchased as a gift to me!

A special thought: Oliver, my 5 year old grandson has been in the hospital all week and two of those days in ICU. Seems that he was diagnosed with asthma and contacted a common cold. The combination created the "perfect storm" and he has been fighting to regain his health all week. Hopefully, he will be able to go home tomorrow. Your good thoughts and prayers are appreciated.

Journey

Currently my journey through art has taken me to zentangle mandalas. For some years I did a mandala a month and then I seemed to fall away from that. This year I decided to challenge myself to do it again. Because I had been given a portfolio, I established that I would do a mandala that is 7" in diameter on 10" paper. Certainly, there were variations as some were done on painted canvases.

This pieces has been framed so that the finished size, including the mat, is 14" by 14". I let the watercolors flow and then I cut a snowflake out of tissue paper. With a light pencil I traced the snowflake and then drew lines to connect points. There was no set rule, I could connect any points-hey, it's my piece!

One technique that I have learned is to draw the same mark between two points in all the places it appears, then repeat the next line until all of those connections are made. Hope that this makes sense. Rotate your paper and do the same mark over and over. This is both meditative and art wise successful.

There is a show for aspiring artists at the Sacramento Fine Art Center that I plan to enter. I must submit my piece on Saturday. That was a good motivation to get it framed. One disappointment is that the plexiglass reflects light. I looked into a non glare acrylic and that would cost $44. Guess that I'll go with what I have. Well, I could leave the the plexiglass off. Any suggestions are welcome.

OK, now I'm working on a quilt and arranging my crafty projects so that I have just the right piece to do while the 49ers are playing American football or, for the Europeans, it will be a tape delayed of a Manchester United football game.

Snowflake Zentangles

A dear friend asked me what book I would recommend for zentangles. She had sent me Zen Mandalas Sacred Circles inspired by Zentangle by Suzanna McNeill, CZT and I told her that it seemed very helpful. Of course,this inquiry made me want to look at this book again. I discovered a exercise that is a terrific starting point for this type of drawing. Cut out a snowflake! I could handle that task. So, out of tissue paper I cut out an design.

Next, you lightly outline the spaces with a pencil. Then you take a pen and connect points. The choice is totally yours. There is no set "must do". for this step. You add the zentangles for a meditative project.

Of course, I had to try this technique again. This time I added watercolors in a random style. Later I filled in some specific spaces with more watercolor.

Needless to say, this was really fun for me and I hope that you are inspired!

Quilt of Honor & Zentangles

My Mixed Bag has another quilt. Since I gave the last quilt directly to a wounded soldier (who has just driven his family to Georgia from California), I wanted to do another for the Quilt of Honor program. This time I used a light blue as well as the stronger red, white and blue colors.

It really is a square quilt, about 62" by 62".

The layout of blocks can create many variations. I decided that the rows worked best for this quilt. As with painting pictures, you don't always know what your final decision until after you get to the end of a project.

I've included this close up (a bit hard to see the detail, sorry) because I wanted to convey the idea of using zentangles in other art forms. The sewing machine was set to "free motion" which allows me to move the quilt in any direction that I chose instead of a straight line. This method demands that I draw a design that will be interesting and certainly achieve the goal of holding the fabric layers together. I think that you can click on any picture to get a larger view.

It's all packaged and will soon be in the mail as a thank you to a service man or woman.

Zentangles play

A while back I had taken a watercolor workshop and we did color studies. So, I decided to play with the page and this is the result.

Funny how I can find time to do this during the rush of the season. I must have needed this "time out".