Christmas Fun Continued...

I had some scraps left over torn scraps of muslin and decided to play with some Inktense pencils on cloth. I created this owl ornament for a friend who has just moved back to Michigan. This owl was inspired by Ashley Percival's Blue Night Owl Children's Illustration.

Owl created on muslin scraps using micron pens and Inktense pencils for color.
I then brushed on water to liquify the pencil colors. When completed the piece
was ironed to set color.

This is the image from the back, I love the mysterious watercolor look
on the reverse side.

 

 

I then laid down some strips of color, and roughly tore "feathers" for the crest.

Completed owl, partially sewn. I enhanced the piece by adding touches of white and more texture
and pattern. I topped the piece with the frayed muslin plumage crown. I will stuff it and add a message on the back with a rustic wire loop on the back for hanging.

Christmas Fun

Playing around with some little dolls, ornaments for Christmas. This is Iris, she's still a work in progress, but I'm enjoying playing.

Front of Iris: legs not finished or attached

Back of Iris: legs not finished or attached

 

Completed doll: Iris has legs with striped tights, 
red mary janes with buttons, and arms!

 

I used muslin, acrylic pen, pens, hair is embroidery floss of painted muslin. She is embellished with pearls and some metallic paint. 

 

Completed doll now has legs, with striped tights, red mary janes, and arms.

Challenge #328 - Guest Hosted by Suzanne Florz

Aloha is embedded in lot's of Aura's with Hollibaugh,
Mooka tendrils, Allium inspired leaves, nestled in Zenplosion Folds

Dame Diva has taken some well deserved time off with family this summer and several guest bloggers have stepped up to the Diva Challenge plate. This week Suzanne Fluhr feature her tangle pattern Aloha. I really enjoyed this pattern when I first saw it featured on her blog, this week gave me the perfect opportunity to try it.

It sort of has a "Where's Waldo" feel to Aloha, can you find it? Really enjoyed the process, thanks for the opportunity Suzanne.

Challenge #307 - Zingo - Kitchen Table Tangles with Indy and Mazzy

Zingo inspired by Mazzy and Indy's
Kitchen Table Tangles Video

This weeks Diva Challenge #307 features a Kitchen Table Tangles Video with Indy and Mazzy, Maria and Rick's granddaughters. These two taught us Zingo during their Video filmed in Maria and Rick's kitchen. These two cuties are amazing budding CZT's. They are fearless and brave and tangle beautifully.

I chose to add some Knightsbridge striping, and touches of Sepia and lot's of shading. How great to learn from these two little Zentangle Zealots!

Check out the other wonderful submissions this week at Diva Central.

Challenge #304 - New Official Tangle Waybop

Waybop with Printemp, Mooka, Tipple
Lot's of texture and grey with Sepia accents

Diva Challenge #301 - DuoTangle (Sort of) - Paradox vs Diva Dance

DuoTangle (Sort of) - Paradox, Diva Dance,
and a little Lumpi,

The Diva features Rick and Maria's video "Kitchen Table Tangles" with Rick doing his Paradox with Diva Dance. He does it with such patience and structure, love watching his process and listening to both he and Maria.

I really love Paradox, but we were not always friends, with persistence, and lot's of practice, we became very close. I enjoy the way this tangle takes on different forms depending on the original shape / structure that encases Paradox. I chose to begin with a square and let it build from there.

I always feature this tangle in my Beyond Basics class. I feel it's one of the tangles that takes complete concentration, it makes you pay attention. I also enjoy the fact that is can really morph into such a beautiful organic, curvy delight. I tried to show the variation of form, line weight, the difference adjusting spacing of each line makes in the look of Paradox.

Lumpi is a tangle by Natalie Plechova that I just came across on YouTube and I had to incorporate it. I TRIED to keep this a DuoTangle, but I am WEAK...

I tucked my chop in the same fashion as Rick's, inspiration by our fearless leaders :)

Check out all the other great submissions this week at Diva Central.

Diva Challenge #300 - Moebius Awareness Day

Moebius Syndrome Awarness - version1
Dancers, Smiles, Hearts, Mooka, Tipple, and Printemps

Moebius Syndrome Awarness - version 2
Moebius Awareness logo with Tripoli, some Hearts and Purple!

The Diva Reached her 300th Challenge this week, congratulations to her. For this week's challenge we revisit the Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day. Her son Artoo has this syndrome and through her blog we have seen his progress and amazing development.

This is the fifth Moebius Syndrome Awareness Challenge I've had the honor to participated in: Challenge #55, #103, #151, #251.  I chose to use a 3Z tile size and shape. The slogan "Smile With Your Heart" is a wonderful uplifting message so I used that as my inspiration.

Check out the other wonderful tiles for this week's 300th Diva Challenge.

 

 

 

   

 

 Challenge #299 - Drawings and Triangle Exploration

Combined Triangle Tiles, Common String, with touches of blue

triangle tiles 1-5

triangle tiles 6-8

Last week I decided to try my hand at triangle tiles. Mine are not equilateral (only 2 sides are 3.5") since I cut them out of a divided circle. but it gave me the basic feel. I created a template and I cutout my in the "fashion of" the official Zentangle® 3Z triangle tiles.This was more of an exploration in sections. I used the Zentangle blog Twelve Days of 3Zs Christmas Challenge as inspiration. Things got way out of hand and I couldn't stop myself. I finished up my pieces Sunday night.

Lot's of tangles and techniques for these pieces:

1. Shattuck, Cresent Moon, Drawings, Tripoli,
2. Lolliwhop, Knightsbridge, Mac-Ra-Me, Gourdeous
3. ICanThis, Poke Berry, Knightsbridge,
4. Drawings, Tipple,
5. Marasu, Poke Leaf, Molygons, Printemps, with Bijou's cousin
6. Tripoli, Crescent Moon, Moowa,     Knightsbridge, Purk beadz
7. Tripoli, Hollibaugh, Tipple
8. Drawings, Diva Dance

This is over the top for me but what the heck!

Challenge #298 - UMT - Orbs-la-Dee by Anneke van Dam

Mooka, MI2, Knightsbridge, Orbs-la-Dee, Pressedwood, Printemps,
Betweed, Baublz, Dancers, Leaves, Crescent Moonisms, Munchin, and more...

Challenge #293 - Keeko, you know!

Keeko is one of my go to tangles and I too, always, include it in my Basics class. Fun challenge and I tried to push the envelope a bit with this one, do a little rounding, lot's of shading and movement. Fun time with Keeko, thanks Diva!

Challenge #286 - Straight To It - "Pipe Town"

Pipe Town: W2, Square Tipple, Pipz, Flukes, Cubine,
and a little town

The Diva's Challenge #286 asks us to use only straight lines. I'm not a straight line tangler, curves are my thing, so I did the best I could. I kept my string square, just a couple of boxes and went from there. Began with a loose W2 and let it grow organicly from there. Loose W2 with square tipple background elongated into pipz, a small town grew out of the top, Flukes triangles and Cubine with pipes peeping out all over.

I have some classes coming up in a new space in Saline. Two Twelve Arts was my class home for the last 6 years, it closed this September. Two Twelve was a wonderful space to teach with a great group of people all supporting the arts community in this area. Margie Bovee was the founder and supporter of this wonderful adventure. Margie was a director of the Cowan Slavin Foundation, a 501 C 3 non-profit corporation, which was managed by her father, Albert Slavin. That Massachusetts based foundation funded the Two Twelve Arts Center for the last ten years.The Two Twelve will be missed, a wonderful home and a great group of people.

Now there is a new space that has been offered to the artists of Saline for teaching, community development and lot's of art. Classes offered in the space are advertised through Saline Community Ed, so it's an exciting beginning of something new in Saline. The group that will be administering the space and classes in the new venue is known as Spring Valley Arts. Look for more updates. 

Challenge #282 - Spill It!

Beets, and Blue food coloring enhanced with
some colored pencils - Abeko, Fengle tendrils,
Sanibelle, Some leaves and Tipple, Yum!

Look who appeared...
Mister coffee head sporting some Fescu hair

This week the Diva asks us to spill something on our tile and draw inspiration from that process. Loved this, I'm quite a spiller anyway so I enjoyed being asked to do it on purpose! I chose beets (eat them in my salads everyday), coffee and Almond milk (my daily jolt), some old Sangria in the fridge, old rusty bolts, and some blueberries smashed and mushed around.I also put a few wet, rusty washers and screws on the watercolor paper and let them sit.

The watercolor paper was an Archette (Arches) pad of rough paper. I didn't find it easy to work with. Once I applied my spills, my micron pens did not play well with this paper or the surfaces created by my spills. I had to use my thickest microns and it was hit or miss especially with the coffee/almond milk spill.

I chose the beets and coffee stains for my final tiles. I love the color the wonderful vibrant color the beet stains left and I chose to add some blue food coloring and enhance the tile with some watercolor pencils.

The coffee stain morphed itself into a funny little Fescu-topped creature, I also used soy sauce to enhance certain areas. It has the feel of the fat blueberry boy in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. This must have appeared as a nod to Gene Wilder who died this week. I was also just delighted with the fanciful creatures Margaret Bremmer discovered in her spills exploration this week. Mine is not as sophisticated or beautiful but he was fun to discover, I bet Bijou is a friend of his!

The blueberry pulp colors were beautiful but the mashed up pulp became part of the paper as it dried, so it was a bit challenging to work on. I think I'll be working with my spills and exploring them in the future.

Check out the other wonderful submissions for this week's Diva Spill Challenge.

Blueberry Study in process...

.

Original spills (Top Left to Bottom Right)
Smashed Blueberries, Beet Juice, Coffee with Almond Milk,
Sangria, and some rusty bolts in the center

Challenge #281 - Tangle ING

ING with Knightsbridge, Zenplosion Folds, Hollibaugh and Fracus

The Diva's challenge this week revisits the tangle ING. This is an official Zentangle pattern that was introduced by Molly Hollybaugh during CZT training 15. This tangle lends itself to lot's of variations, it works well as a straight laced,  structured tangle, but also works as a loosey goosey (my fave), organic tangle.

Check out some of the other submissions for this week's Diva Challenge #281.

Here's a link to my 2014 challenge piece using ING.

Challenge #280 - Rio Olympics

2016 Rio Olympics - Hollibaugh, Mooka, Cubine
Knightsbridge, Floatfest, Printemps, MI2, Tipple,
Crescent Moon, Zinger, Baubles and beads

This week the Diva asked us to use the 2016 Olympics in Rio as our inspiration. I have been watching the Olympics and enjoy a reprieve from all the bad news and crazy politics the US is experiencing.

I chose to focus on the Rio logo as my string and Knightsbridge, checker board pattern throughout to represent the duality of the Olympics. I tried to express the celebratory feel of the Olympics. I added touches of Gold, Silver, and Bronze metallic, of course!

Challenge #279 - Duotangle (almost) with Meer vs Auraknot

The Diva's Challenge this week asked us to do a Duotangle using Meer and Auraknot. Two old favorites that were fun to go revisit. I especially enjoyed checking out the Youtube Auraknot video with Rick and Maria. I tried to push the envelope a bit with my "star" shape, curves add a pleasant addition to Auraknot. Thanks Rick, Maria, and of course the lovely Diva!

Challenge #277 - Running Round in Circles

Orbs / Circles: Tipple, Mooka, MI2, Sanibelle, Crescent Moon tangleations, Stripes

Circles, circles, circles... what a fun challenge. I obviously used no template just my own wonky hand. I really enjoyed this challenge and the look of my pencil orbs/string overlapping my "tile". It has the feel of an architectural drawing / sketch.

Laura ask us to do a string using circles and tangle!! I chose to overlap my circle string and did a larger tile (6x6). Like the Diva, circles are a wonderful relaxing process for me. I don't try to make them perfect I just enjoy each and every orb and revel in the weebles and wobbles my hand creates.

Challenge #266 - UMT - Crux by Henrike Bratz

Crux with some W2, Knightsbridge, Leaves, and Beadz

Challenge #263 - Globular Grid

Fassett, Crescent Moon (Raptors),  Purkisms, Knightsbridge stripes, Auras, and Daizies

Challenge #262 - UMT - Fassett by Lynn Mead

Fassett, Pearlz, Crescent Moon, Purkisms

The Diva's Challenge #262 is a UMT (Use My Tangle) Fassett by Lynn Mead. I've seen this tangle used often but never tried it. It's a great tangle that I will definitely be added to my mac and cheese go to's. Very versatile and the easy to do, has the feel of a structured / grid tangle but lends itself beautifully to the loosey goosey style I prefer.

I decided to go the monotangle route incorporating embellishments of Cresent Moon, lot's of Auras, Rounding, and some Purkisms. I like the balance of the the organic spheres within the architectural feel of Fassett. Fun, fun, fun!

I tried a second version today using Fassett with very different results. I left it ebb and flow and do as it wished... Blooming and growing with a few Mooka thrown in.

Version 2 - Blooming Fassett with Mooka adding the sepia pen

My second is much more delicate, not enough contrast. I used the sepia / brown Sakura 01 with the black micron. I think this would be fun to explore on a Renaissance tile and bump up the contrast.  I want to explore this further.

Thanks Lynn and Laura! Check out the other entries in this week's Diva Challenge.

Challenge #260 - Monotangle: Shattuck, Zendala breakout!

Shattuck breaking out of the box / Zendala

The Diva's Challenge #260 asks us to create a Monotangle using the tangle Shattuck.   A Monotangle is a term the Diva, Laura Harms, coined on her blog for a tile or piece created using only ONE tangle and it's variations.

I chose to go simple and let the little Shattucks curve off the Zendala, breaking free, extending the Shattuck with little Mooka tendrils and a few purk-like embellishments. This piece is not perfect, but I do like the general vibe.

Happy Bunny Day to you.

Challenge #259 - Touch of Irish - Celtic Flower

N'Zeppel, Tipple, Celtic designs, Punzel, Tipple, Leaves, Aura's
and a touch of green

This Diva challenge Laura asks us to bring a touch of Irish to our tile.  Whatever that means to us. I find the Celtic images and designs fascinating so I did a little research and found a great Celtic Flower and chose to use if for inspiration on this challenge.

I used a N'Zeppel, Tipple, Celtic designs, Punzel, Tipple, Leaves, Aura's and a touch of green to nestle this ornate little devil. I think I'm going to try adding some liquid gold leaf at some point, we found out a few weeks ago that metallic doesn't scan well, so, I'll play with that addition later for my own edification.

So Happy St. Pat's Day to you all this week. Check out the Diva's site for other Irish Inspired works.