Blue Twig Studio - March Product Review and Projects

Deco-Art Media - black gesso, transparent crackle
glaze, white crackle paste, and white modeling paste

I had fun with the products from Blue Twig Studio for March. As a design team member, I review various products and create a project(s) with them.  The products I'm reviewing this month are:

• Andy Skinner mixed media stencils - 
• 6"x6" "Have Your Say" alphabet stencil 



Andy Skinner Stencils - 6'x6" alphabet and 12"x3" tread

• 12" x 3" Tread Carefully 
•  Deco Art Media
• Black Gesso
• Transparent Crackle Glaze
• White Crackle Paste
• White Modeling Paste
• My own products added to create projects
• Matte medium
• Acrylic paint
• Dylusions Ink Sprays:
• Paper ephemera (magazines, music)
• Tim Holtz Distress Paints
• Luninarte Silks Acrylic Glazes
• Palette knife
• Stencil brush

Projects:  I created two pieces of art using these products. I started both on 8" x 10" canvas boards.

Collage Project:  

 I layered various pictures from magazines, music, and words in a
pleasing arrangement and glued them down using matte medium.  

 Next, I spritzed the board with yellows, pinks and purple Dylusion Ink sprays.

I spread the white modeling paste through the tread stencil 

with a palette knife to various areas of the collage.

I painted the dried white modeling paste with blue, maroon, and gold Luminarte Silk Acrylic Glazes.  I chose the Silk glazes, as they have a sparkle to them when dry. I added a light purple acrylic paint to the white crackle paste and spread that with the palette knife through the alphabet stencil.

Finally, after the paint and crackle paste had dried, I added the transparent crackle glaze over the eye, flowers in the vase, and cheetah heads. Unfortunately, in the photo, the crackle effect from both the purple crackle paste and the transparent crackle glaze do not show up. However, the transparent crackle glaze adds a wonderful sparkle to the collage.


Stenciled ZIA Project:

Initially, I covered the canvas board with the black gesso and let it dry. Next I spritzed copper, gold, blue, and lime green Dylusion Ink sprays using papers to mark off broad lines to spray.

Next, I painted various metallic acrylic paints and a few Tim Holtz distress stains in blue, copper, pink and purple through the Tread Carefully stencil with a stencil brush diagonally across the stripes. I painted a 2nd Tread Carefully diagonal in light blue, fern green, and pinks in the opposite direction.  

Next, I spread the white modeling paste with a palette knife through various 6" x 6" stencils that reminded me of Zentangle tangle patterns. Note: the lime green Dylusions ink bled through the white modeling paste even though it had cured for 24 hours.

Finally, I painted the modeling paste with white acrylic paint where the lime green Dylusion ink had bled through.  Unfortunately, in the photo, the Dylusion ink stripes do not show up very well through the modeling paste like they actually appear. I decided this project was complete, as it reminded me of a Zentangle, but done with stencils, paint, and modeling paste!

Product Review:  

       I enjoyed working with this month's products. The stencils are fun and will be used frequently. I can see the Tread Carefully, not only as a tread, but as animal skin, dragon skin, stones, landscape, and so on. The Alphabet stencil will come in handy for many mixed-media projects.

       Black gesso will be wonderful for making colors pop or to just do something different than using white gesso for a base. 

       The modeling paste spreads very easily with a palette knife through the stencils - even in small openings. It dries semi-transparent, as I could read some of the letters and music after it had dried in the collage project. However, I did find that the lime green Dylusions ink bled completely through the modeling paste in the ZIA project. A bit of the yellow Dylusion ink bled through the modeling paste in the collage paste, but not as dramatically as the lime green bled. None of the other Dylusions ink colors bled at all.

       The white crackle paste worked wonderfully. It mixed easily with paint, so color can be added to the paste. It spread easily with the palette knife through the stencil. Although, once I added paint, it bled a bit under some of the thinner lines in the stencil. I was able to remove the paste with a small paintbrush or toothpick where it had bled under the stencil in many cases.

       The transparent crackle glaze adds a nice sparkle. It is self-leveling, so it does not work under stencils. I tried it with the Tread Carefully stencil and it spread terribly, so I scraped it off with the palette knife before it dried. Therefore, only use the transparent crackle glaze on open areas. Also, I used a toothpick to pop any bubbles. One comment: it was hard to see if I had the areas I wanted covered coated evenly. I wasn't able to tell until it had dried. I did not try to add another layer in thinner areas. 

Thank you for joining me this month. The projects can be seen at Blue Twig Studio in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I hope you will consider trying some of these products. 

Keep creating.

Lynnita

 

January ATC Challenge - Circles

The theme for this month's ATC Challenge from Blue Twig Studio is circles.  I made two cards for this month.

The first one is Zentangle-Inspired-Art or ZIA. I drew 5 circles with a pencil and then started adding various tangles with a 0.005 black Sakura micron pen. I used a 0.05 black Sakura micron pen in the areas filled with black ink. I added shading with a pencil and tortillion. I used fain, flower, dragonair, tipples, and mooka tangle patterns. Zentangles are so very relaxing and fun to create. I never know how the finished piece will turn out until I'm done. It's always a happy surprise. I added this quote to the back:
                 "It's okay to spin around and around in the same place. Just so long as your  
                 singing your heart out. THAT's what life is all about." - Chica Umino

Zen Circles ATC - 2 1/2" x 3 1/2". 0.005 and 0.05 black
Sakura micron pen and pencil on bristol paper.

The second ATC card started with blue watercolor painted in streaks on the bristol paper. Then I added circles of colors in yellow, blue, red, white, green, and purples. With a white paint pen, I added dots and dashes inside a couple of the circles. I embellished three of the circles with flower sequins and a fan-shaped sequin. I added googly eyes and a crystal nose to two of the circles to add whimsy to the whole card. On the back, I added this quote:
               "When in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout." - Laurence J. Peter

Googly Eye Circles ATC - 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" - watercolor on bristol paper.
 Embellished with sequins, googly eyes, and crystals.

This was a fun challenge. I hope you will join us next time!

Keep creating!!
Lynnita

Nov ATC Challenge - Give Thanks

This month's theme for the ATC Challenge by Blue Twig Studio is "Give Thanks."  I had initially planned to make a cornucopia, but couldn't find the materials I wanted to use. I finally decided to create a Zentangle of the words "Give Thanks" for one of the cards.

"Give Thanks" ATC card, 2 1/2" x 3 1/2", on Bristol paper. 

After drawing the words and outlining with a black 0.005 micron Sakura pen, I added tangles with the black micron pen to fill the various letters. It seemed a bit dull, so I used oil pastels and NuPastels by Prismacolor to color the background in fall colors. In need of yet more color, I pulled out my Sakura Moonlight gel pens and Sakura Sonata gel pens. I like the wonky letters full of patterns and colors! I hope whoever wins the ATC challenge enjoys this one, too.

For the second ATC card, I found a magazine page with a roast beef, wine and flowers on a table. After attaching the page onto 140lb watercolor ATC card with matte medium, I added the words "Give Thanks to the Lord" in a hand-written font with a black 0.03 micron Sakura pen. This made me think of Thanksgiving dinner, as I get tired of turkey and like to try other meats - like roast beef, Cornish game hens, ham, etc.

"Give Thanks to the Lord!" ATC card. 2 1/2" x 3 1/2", on 140lb watercolor paper.

I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful and filled with blessings. We went to my son's in-laws and joined their family. We had a great time with family and friends with much laughter. We've decided to make this a new family tradition for our families.

Have a wonderful Holiday season!
Keep creating!
Lynnita

Zen Doodles; Oodles of Doodles book

The book will be in stock and available for purchase soon! Zen Doodle: Oodles of Doodles by North Light Books will be arriving soon!!! The cover page is beautiful!

Zen Doodle: Oodles of Doodles, edited by Tonia Jenny published by North Light Books. 

I can hardly wait to get my advance copy and see my published artwork (see post here) and the the page about me as one of the "spotlight artists" (see post here). This is very exciting, to have my work published in a second book. This book is a followup to the book Zen Doodle: Tons of Tangles that I have work published in (see post here).

I will post all the details for ordering soon! I'm setting up to be an affiliate, so I will get royalties if you purchase either book through my link! So please wait until I can get that set up to order your copy!

Thanks!!


Keep creating!!

Lynnita

Week 34 and 35 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

I'm a week behind with my 365 Days of Art Challenge weekly sketch challenge. I have my sketches done for both weeks, but we've been having problems with our internet connection  and had to have technical help come out. It seems to be working most of the time, now, with a few intermittent outages. I also had 2 quilts that had to be done the past two weeks! Makes it hard to keep up!

The past two weeks I've done some Zentangle-inspired art, (ZIA) as I had a new book from the library:  The Art of Zentangle: 50 inspiring drawings, designs, and ideas for the meditative artist by Margaret Bremner, Norma J. Burnell, Penny Raile, and Lara Williams.

back cover of The Art of Zentangle:
50 inspiring drawings, designs, & ideas
for the meditative artist.

The Art of Zentangle:
50 inspiring drawings, designs, & ideas
for the meditative artist.

The book is divided into 5 sections. Chapter 1 introduces Zentangles. Each author then has a chapter highlighting 3-4 tangles, followed by 3-4 demonstrations using those tangles. It's a workbook with pages to recreate or put your own spin on what the authors are demonstrating. I worked in a journal, since writing or doodling in library books is frowned upon!  I only made it through one author before having to return the book (after waiting 3 months to get the book due to the number of holds  - popular book!!).  I may just have to buy this book and add it to my library of Zentangle books. I really wanted to complete Norma Burnell's chapter with her demo of a fairy ZIA. That will just have to wait for another day.

These are the ZIA that I've done the past two weeks. These were all from the chapter by Penny Raile. These are my own twist on her demonstrations.

Silly Peacock - pencil, 0.1, 0.5, 0.8 micron Prismacolor black pens on

 mixed-media paper, 4" x 6". This section was inspired by Penny Raile's 

section on silly creatures.  Peacocks are another favorite animal.

Aquarium - pencil, 0.1, 0.5, and 0.8 micron Prismacolor black pens on mixed-media paper,
6" x 6". Inspired by Penny's fish templates and aquarium demonstration. Since I was just
playing around using the demonstrations for inspiration, I decided to draw on both sides of
the paper! Oops!! I didn't realize until later that the Prismacolor pens show through the paper. 

Butterfly Garden - pencil, 0.1, 0.5, and 0.8 micron black Prismacolor pens on
mixed-media paper, 6" x 6". Inspired by Penny's fantasy garden demonstrations.
Thankfully, the drawing on the backside doesn't show through so much in this sketch. 

Dragon Silhouette - pencil, 0.1, 0.5, and 0.8 micron Prismacolor black pens
on mixed-media paper, 5" x 6".  Inspired by Penny's silhouettes. I had to do
a dragon, since I didn't do any dragons from Peffer's book for two weeks!  

I really enjoyed these ZIA's and wish I had put a bit more time into them, instead of rushing through them to try to get as much done as possible before having to return the book. Another good reason to buy the book! (No, I'm not trying to talk myself into buying the book. I'm actually trying to come with good reasons to give my husband for spending money on yet another "art" book. Lol!)

Skipping a week and being late a week has made it hard to get in the mood to post! It was definitely easier when I made sure to post every Wed (Thurs at the latest!). I need to get back on schedule!!


Keep Creating!!

August ATC Cards - Circus Theme

The theme for August for the ATC cards for Blue Twig Studio's ATC Swap is "the circus." I really don't remember going to a circus as a child, but I do remember taking my own kids to the circus several times when they were young. I think I enjoyed it as much as they did. So I have fond memories of the circus

In spite of this, I found the circus a tough subject for this small piece of art. It took me most of the month to decide what I wanted to do. I did several searches on circus images and quotes involving the circus to help inspire me.

I finally found a saying that I liked:

      "If you surround yourself with clowns, don't be surprised when life resembles a circus."
             - Steve Maraboli

This made me think of a picture of a bunch of clowns. This is the ATC card that resulted from this saying. I found an image of clowns and used that for inspiration for my collection of clown faces for this ATC card. I used watercolor pencils and Sharpie markers to paint the clown faces.

"Life Resembles a Circus" - 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" Derwent watercolor pencils, Sharpie
 Fine-Point Markers on 140lb watercolor paper. Saying by Steve Maraboli.

The other ATC card was inspired by an image called "Circus, Circus" by Marco Bombach. It reminded me of a 3-ring circus! It was full of color. All the shapes were created by simple geometric lines, curves, and shapes. It was very interesting how he created all the various elements. My version is simplified and doesn't connect all the lines, curves, and shapes like he did to create the various elements. I created the elements and then tried to connect the lines to make them look like they were meant to be created by flowing lines and curves. I also didn't use as much shading as Bombach does.

"Circus" - 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" Derwent watercolor pencils, Sharpie Fine-Point Markers
on 140 lb watercolor paper. Inspired by Marco Bombach's "Circus, Circus". 

I finished these late on Aug 29th and got in the mail on the 30th! Aargh!! I forgot about Monday being a holiday - Labor Day! I hope Deb waits to receive cards till Sept 2, instead of the 1st like normal! Oops! Need to get inspired sooner, next month!!!

Keep creating!!

Week 24 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

This week has just flown by. I'm late posting this week, as I've hardly been home for one reason or another. I did get some sketching done this week, for Deb Prewitt's 365 Days of Art Challenge weekly sketch. I continued with J. "Neon Dragon" Peffer's DragonArt Evolution exercises for drawing dragons (see last week's post for more information).

I'm starting the exercises for dragon limbs. This week I only got the basic limbs completed.

Basic Dragon Arm - graphite on mixed-media paper. 

Basic Dragon Leg - graphite on mixed-media paper.

Dragon with basic limbs - graphite on mixed-media paper. 

I didn't think I had done a very good job getting the basic shapes done, but was surprised how they turned out after photographing and uploading them to my computer. The underlying musculature shows up better than I thought it did. The dragon's stance is a different than any I've tried before. The proportions need some more work, but overall, I'm happy with it.  

I'm looking forward to finishing the rest of the limb exercises, because then Peffer concentrates on the different types of dragons for the rest of the exercises.  I may get out my colored pencils for those exercises. I may also try working in pen, after reading The Busy Mockingbird's blog this week on "Ballpoint Doodling".  She uses a ball-point pen (in various colors) for sketching. Her work is wonderful, if you haven't seen it before. I also love the sketching she does with her young daughter. 

Have a great week!

Week 19 of 365 Days of Art Challenge - Skull Challenge

March/April 2014
Cloth Paper Scissors magazine

I had fun with sketching this week. I even got done early! I created a skull for Cloth Paper Scissors readers' Skull challenge for Dia de los Muertos. This was first posted in the March/April 2014 Cloth Paper Scissors (CPS) mixed-media magazine.  I actually started working on this a few weeks ago with a couple posts (see Feb 27 and Mar 6).

I finally chose a skull shape to work from and added some doodling to it. Then I used Aquarelle watercolors to paint it. I added brighter colors with Prismacolor markers, Sakura Souffle pens, and Sakura glaze pens.

Dia de los Muertos reminds me of my heritage, my ancestors, and where I come from - all combining to make me who I am today. With that in mind, I wanted my skull to be colorful and happy.

Floral Calavera is a 6" x 6" mixed-media Dia de los Muertos skull doodled with flowers and various other patterns using 0.005, 0.01, 0.02, and 0.08 black Sakura micron pens, Prismacolor markers, Sakura Souffle pens, Sakura Glaze pens and Aquarelle watercolors on 140 lb. watercolor paper. 

Cloth Paper Scissors will post the winners on May 16. I hope to find my name listed. The winners' work will be published in the Sept/Oct 2014 issue.

Whether I win or not, this was fun to create and I think I will print it onto fabric to  use as a centerpiece for a Day of the Dead quilt that I've been planning to make.

Week 18 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

It's been a very busy week, so I'm a bit late with this post. I've been getting everything in for the ZenDoodle: Oodles of Doodles challenge. (See info from previous posts here.)  The editors at F&W Media are doing something a bit different with this book, than they did for the Zen Doodles: Tons of Tangle book. They are doing a few "spotlight artist" pages. I was chosen to be one of the artists they are going to spotlight!! Wow! I can hardly believe it!! At any rate, it required me sending in several more doodles or Zentangles or Zentangle-Inspired-Art (ZIA), plus writing up a couple of pages worth of information for them to work from. This took me a few days to write and pull enough ZIA's together (or draw new ones) that I thought would be worthy of publishing.

One of the ZIA's that I sent them was this alphabet that I created. I thought this would be something different than the usual abstract or animal ZIA that I usually do. I have been trying to learn some calligraphy, as well as, working through one of Joanne Sharpe's lettering courses. This doodled alphabet is right in line with that and will be something unique for the Oodles of Doodles book, if they choose this one for my "spotlight artist" page. 

Tangled Alphabet.  5 ½” x 8 ½”

2-ply vellum Bristol paper

0.005, 0.01 and 0.03 black Sakura micron pens and a graphite pencil.

Includes various tangle patterns.

I had so much fun creating this alphabet. Anything was possible!! No rules meant capitals or lower case letters, funky or realistic shapes, and any doodle I could think of,  find, or imagine. I would like to do another one and color it. Bright, bold colors would really make this sparkle!

Have a good week! Happy sketching!!

Week 17 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

Creative Doodling and Beyond
by Stephanie Corfee

This week has just flown by! Since I've been working on doodles this past week, I decided to do a couple following Stephanie Corfee's instructions from her book Creative Doodling and Beyond.  This is a workbook with prompts, ideas, and projects for turning simple doodles into works of art. After giving explanations and examples of a particular idea or technique, there are blank pages on which to practice. It is a fun book and my workbook is turning into an art journal of sorts.

The two doodles that follow are done blindly. You set your pen (or pencil) on the paper, close your eyes and draw a looping, freeform, curvy line without lifting the pen from the paper. After opening your eyes, you fill in the design (string) with tangle patterns and create an interesting abstract work of art!

Abstract Blind Doodle #1, 7" x 5", with 0.01 Sakura black pen and graphite pencil on workbook page

Abstract Blind Doodle #2, 7" x 6", with 0.01 Sakura black pen and graphite pencil on workbook page.
I ran into the beaded lines delineating the margins of the page with this string. Oops! (But, my eyes were closed!)

Sorry about the photography - I was having trouble getting a good photo without shadows. Not sure why one came out with a sepia cast and the other a bluish cast to it. They are on the same workbook page! I really need a better camera! (hint, hint!!)

This was a fun process, as I had no idea how the string would turn out.  It was relaxing, different, and a creative way to do a doodle, especially if you are stuck with starting a string for your Zentangle or doodle.

Zentangles to be published!

F&W Media published a book last fall called: Zen Doodle: Tons of Tangles. I have four Zentangle-Inspired Art (ZIA) pieces published in this book (see post .dated Sept 9 2013).  It was such a success that they decided to followup with a second book, Zen Doodle: Oodles of Doodles.












In mid-January, Create Mixed Media announced a call for entries for the 3.5" x 3.5" Zentangle tiles for this new book.  Yesterday, I received an email telling me that they have accepted 5 of the entries I submitted!!! Whoo-hoo!!!!

These are the tiles that were accepted:

Now the hard work starts. Making step outs and captions for all the tiles! I'm so excited!!

Week 15 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

This has been a very busy week. Tax time!! Wasn't sure I was going to get any sketching done as taxes were taking so long to do. My husband has a handyman business, so have to do the self-employment stuff. I knew I had made a mistake someplace on Schedule C. Took me 3 days to track it down!!  Finally, have them done, and actually got them in a couple days early. Yeah!! Sketching time!

I found a couple photos of people and children on Pinterest that I'd been wanting to sketch. Narrowed it down to an elderly lady and a child. I think children's faces are hard to sketch, because if they're not done properly they look like adults, not children. So I decided to start with the elderly lady's face first. I got as far as getting an outline done. Realized it would take me too long to get it done for this week's challenge. Zentangles - a good standby for sketching something quickly that is still fun to do.

Here is the Zentangle I did this week for Week 15 of the 365 Days of Art Challenge:

6" x 6" Zentangle-Inspired Art on mixed-media paper done with
Sakura 0.005, 0.01, 0.03, and 0.08 micron black pens and pencils.

I drew a series of loops for my string.  I used Ennies, Floatfest, Frickle,  Knightsbridge, Linq, Mooka, Pepper, Sparkle, and Zinger tangles.  I'm pleased with the result. Now if I could get the paper to lay flat so I wouldn't get the shadowing on the bottom of the page when I photographed it, I'd really be pleased.

Week 12 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

Week 12 of the 365 Days of Art Challenge issued by Deb Prewitt of Blue Twig Studio. Another week done! The year is almost 1/4 over already. Time just flies when you're having so much fun!! I am enjoying sketching every week. It's nice to make the time for it, instead of just hoping I can find the time. This is definitely a side benefit of this challenge - learning to make time to sketch! Sometimes I sketch during the day, other times it's at night when I can't sleep. These were at the latter time this week.

I played with Zentangles (or Zentangle-Inspired-Art (ZIA), since they are not on 3 1/2" square tiles) again this week. I started with creating a string of a several circles of various sizes - a couple concentric circles and many overlapping circles. Then I tangled around the circumference of the strings or in the overlapping areas, rather than filling every open spot. It was challenging to find tangles that can be used for a border, rather than a fill. I had fun creating Wheels within Wheels.

Wheels within Wheels - 6"x6" ZIA on mixed-media paper using 0.005, 0.01, 0.05 micron black Sakura pens and pencil. I apologize for the photograph looking yellow - no matter how I changed the lighting
for the photo or the flash on the camera, it came out yellowed looking. This is the best photo I could get.

After creating Wheels within Wheels, I wondered what other geometric shapes- squares, triangles, hearts - might turn out well for a similar ZIA. I chose squares and overlapped squares of various sizes. I created angles in the corners to fill, rather than following the contour of the perimeter, like I did with the circles. This is the result.

Squares within Squares. 6"x6" ZIA on mixed-media paper using 0.005, 0.01, and 0.05 micron
 black Sakura pens and pencils. Thankfully, this photo came out better, without looking so yellow, although
some of my pencil shading doesn't show up very well. Again, changing the lights and/or flash didn't help.

That is all I had time to complete for this week's challenge. I think heart shapes would be fun to do in this style, but not sure if I'll try the triangles. Hexagons are very popular in quilting right now, so maybe they would create an interesting ZIA in a similar design, too. I'll see what I'm inspired to sketch for Week 13! 

Week 10 of 365 Days of Art Challenge: Zentangles

The 10th week of 365 Days of Art Challenge!! Where is the time going!! Hard to believe it's the middle of March already! I'm still sketching! This week, I drew Zentangles for Create Mixed Media's call for entries for the Zen Doodles: Oodles of Doodles challenge. I thought the deadline was March 7, but turned out it is this Friday, Mar 14. Thank goodness, as it gave me more time to work on my entries.

I do most of my doodling in a 6" x 6" notebook. I had a few that I wanted to submit for the challenge, so I needed to re-draw them onto tiles, as the challenge is only accepting work done on the 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" tiles created for Zentangles - no Zentangle-inspired art (ZIA's) this time.

This is a new Zentangle I created for this challenge.

3 1/2" x 3 1/2" Zentangle on mixed-media illustration paper. Sakura 
black pens in sizes 0.005, 0.01, and 0.03 and pencil. 

I created a tangle pattern I call Woven Bridges, as it reminded me of bridges going over and under each other, like weaving.  I found later that it could be considered a variation on W2 (which can be seen here for step out on how to draw it.  My step-out is below, followed by the monotangle Zentangle I created from this design.

Woven Bridges Step Out.  (Can be considered a variation of W2). 

3 1/2" x 3 1/2" Zentangle on mixed-media illustration paper. Sakura black
pens in sizes 0.005, 0.01, and 0.03. Prismacolor 0.005 pen in sepia.

I wanted to try doodling on black paper. I cut my own circular tiles. I had a hard time finding a white pen, pencil, marker, etc. that would make a sharp mark in a bright white. I tried gel pens, white paint pens, corrector-fluid pens, colored pencils, etc. I finally found my white pen I use for marking fabric to make the best white mark on the black paper. This is the only tile that came out with decent lines.

3 1/2" diameter Zendala on black illustration paper. Fine white
pen by Clover and Prismacolor French white colored pencil.

I enjoy doodling and creating Zentangle-Inspired Art. I find it very relaxing, fun, and helpful to keep my hands and fingers working, instead of being stiff with arthritis.

Keep sketching!

Week 9 of 365 Days of Art Challenge: Dia de los Muertos continued

I've continued to work on calaveras. (skulls) for the mixed-media Skull Challenge for Dia de los Muertos sponsored by Cloth, Paper, Scissors this week. (You can check out my blog from last week for more information.)

I googled Dia de los Muertos images for inspiration. I found a couple skull shapes that intrigued me and a couple of faces that were interesting. Unfortunately I only got a couple sketches finished of what I wanted to try. 

6" x 6" Three-quarters profile in Sakura black pen (0.1 micron) and pencil. I had some trouble with the neck vertebrae, clavicles, sternum, and ribs, but wanted to add these to make her more skeletal.

6" x 6" Calevera in Sakura black pen (0.1 micron and 0.8 micron) and pencil. I used a variety of tangle patterns, including ennies, copada,mooka, paisleys, and florz. I like skull shape for this one and had fun with it.

I enjoyed the sketching more this week. I think I was able to relax better while sketching. I started another skull shape, but ran out of time for this blog to add it here. I did sketch another lady skeleton in profile, but was not happy at all with how she was turning out, so did not complete her. I think I'm well on my way for deciding what kind of skull I will do for the challenge. Now I can start experimenting with mixed-media methods.

Also, I will submit this design to F&W Media for their new book, Zen Doodle Oodles of Doodles call for entries. Need to hurry on that one, as the deadline is tomorrow!

Enjoy your week! Happy sketching!

Week 8 of 365 Days of Art Challenge: Dia de los Muertos

March/April CPS mixed-media magazine cover

The week goes by so fast!! Not sure where the time goes. I did get another sketch done, but thought I'd have more than one by now! I received the March/April 2014 Cloth Paper Scissors (CPS) mixed-media magazine this week. (You can find out more about CPS here.) They are having a reader challenge: a mixed-media Skull Challenge for Dia de los Muertos.

For those unfamiliar with Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration, you can read more here on Wikipedia. Briefly, Dia de los Muertos is celebrated throughout Mexico, the American Southwest, and elsewhere. It focuses on gathering to pray for and remember friends and family who have died. The celebration occurs October 31, November 1 and November 2, similar to the Christian All Hallow's Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. Traditionally, altars (called ofrendas) are built, honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these gifts. Possessions of the deceased can also be left at graves. Skulls (calaveras) and skeletons, usually depicted as enjoying life,  appear everywhere during this holiday.

To enter the reader challenge, you need to create a 6" x 6" (or 6" x 6" x 6") mixed-media skull or calavera. Photos need to be submitted by May 9, 2014. CPS will feature some of the finalists' artwork in the Sept/Oct 2014 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors and/or on their website.

So I thought I would practice drawing skulls this week and doodling them. Unfortunately, I only got one completed.

6" x 6" calavera ZIA (Zentangle-Inspired-Art) with tangles, flowers, and doodles.
Sakura micron pen (0.1, 0.5, and 0.8), and pencil on mixed-media paper.

I was happier with it before I added the printemps (spiral) tangle pattern around the eyes, upper cheekbones, and bridge of the nose. This tangle didn't leave enough open space like the rest of the skull has.  My shading doesn't show up as well as I would like, either, and I want to play more with the exact shape of the calavera.  But that's why I want to practice, until I get a design I'm happy with and from which to create a piece of mixed-media.  I also need to experiment with mixed-media techniques to decide what I want to include in creating a mixed-media calavera.

Book Club with Blue Twig Studio

Deb Prewitt of Blue Twig Studio started on online book club this month. The book we read was  Art & Fear by David Bayles & Ted Orland.  Its about our fears about art - both with ourselves and others. Deb has a nice summary on her blog. 

I really enjoyed the book. It was very thought-provoking – making me think about: Why I create art? What are my fears about my art? Is it the process or the end product I’m concerned about? – as well as all the questions Deb mentioned in her blog. I agree with Deb – you have to make art for yourself – you have to forgot about others and what they think of your work and just do it!!

I took a few art classes many years ago in oil painting, colored pencil, and watercolor. I loved them. They made me get out of myself and do something that I grew to love and work on it every week. I participated in a few exhibits with the group I was involved with and even sold a few paintings and received a couple of commissions. Then the group started getting clique-ish and I was no longer welcomed because I didn’t live close enough.  (Looking back, I really think it was because I was one of only a couple people that actually sold anything or got commissions from the exhibits.)  I allowed myself to quit painting and drawing because of their attitude towards me. 

I started quilting, as I had always enjoyed sewing. I love quilting, too, but it took me awhile to get to where I felt comfortable making art quilts. This past year, I took a workshop in painting wholecloth quilts. This combines my drawing and painting background with quilting. Wow!! Who would've thought I could do that? 

But I still missed painting and drawing. A couple years ago, I discovered  Zentangles, They inspired me first as I thought they would be great to use for quilting designs. Once I started creating Zentangles or ZenDoodles, I wanted to get back to painting and drawing. However, now I want to do acrylics, watercolors, colored pencils, pastels, and mixed-media. I enjoyed oil painting, but the fumes are pretty strong.  So I think, for now anyway, that I'll stick with mediums that are more chemical friendly.

I've learned that I love making art because it’s part of me – I have to paint or draw or make an art quilt. I’ve finally gotten over my fears (most of the time! they still haunt me at times! LOL!) and make it for myself. I'm also learning to loosen up and not be so obsessed with perfection or details.  I want to enjoy the process more, not just get the finished product done. I do enter shows (not always accepted, but that’s okay – it’s a learning experience). I'm actually trying to enter more shows or exhibits on a national level, not just the local field. Like having four of my Zentangles accepted into a book - Zen Doodle Tons of Tangles. (see my blog posted Sept 9, 2013).  

All of this, is to let you know where I’m coming from and why this book, Art and Fear, really spoke to me. I had to read sections 2-3 times. I know now, from experience, what the book is trying to get across – just create because you want to and enjoy the process. If people like my work, fine, but if they don’t – that’s okay, too.  Art (and creativity) is a part of me.