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 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 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 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.

Zentangles from Seashells

I was looking at Michele Beauchamp's tutorial on spirals for Zentangles on the Tangle Pattern website. Spirals reminded me of nautilus shells, so I started making a few sea creature zentangles. The first couple,  a nautilus and a scallop, are shown on July 2, 2013's blog. I've created a couple more sea creatures.

Fish Zentangle. 6"x6" on mixed media paper with a pencil and a Sakura 0.1 micron pen.
I used a new tangle, that I call Barscroll, on the front part of the body. Instructions
will be posted in another blog.

With the beginning of fall, I was thinking back to last year when I went to Ohio during the height of the fall colors. I brought back with me a couple of hedge apples, hoping to use them to dye fabric, after finding out that they can be used for that purpose. However, the hedge apples didn't hold up well enough in Arizona's warmer weather and had to be thrown away. But I had made some sketches of their skin, as the texture intrigued me. They were so rough, similar to an orange (another name for a hedge apple is Osage orange), but with greater dimpling. I created a tangle called HedgeApple. Following are the instructions. I apologized for the writing not being blurry. I'm not sure why the red pen isn't showing much contrast from the black one.  I'll try to get a better photo and re-post it.

HedgeApple tangle instructions. This can be made to fit any shape.

Jellyfish. 6"x6" mixed-media paper using pencil and Sakura 0.1

micron pen.  I used the HedgeApple tangle for the tentacles in the

front and several other tangles for the rest of the tentacles.

The umbrella of the jellyfish is done with the Angle Fish tangle.