Monday, October 26, 2015

Challenge #241 Stones

I had a day off today, so it was fun to be able to do this challenge today.  I loved the theme of the challenge (here), and remember being in awe of an artist who balances stones in the most unbelievable ways in incredibly beautiful places.  

Rather than copy someone's work, since I had the day off :) I tried to balance my own pebbles.  It was hard!!... but when it worked, it was so much fun :)  See the pictures below of some of the ones I was able to capture (before they tumbled down) and my submission tile from one of them.  I do need to work on my shading :(









Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Challenge #240 from a Gel Print

The Diva Challenge for this week (here) was to be inspired by the season.  Since it is Fall here in New England, I had to go with leaves.

As you know, I've been playing around with gel prints, and have created a few books with them.  The idea is to use them as art journals, and go back to each one of those prints and play with them.  So... I looked for one of the prints with leaves, and tangled away.  I also used Inktense, colored pencils, and black and white pens to transform this print.
This is the "AFTER" version


The "BEFORE" version is the 6x6 inch gel print on the right.
If you are interested in seeing more unfinished prints from this art journal, you can see them in the video below.  I have actually added a lot more pages after I created the video, but have not redone it.  Maybe I will do another in a few months, when I have a few more pages already transformed.


Friday, October 16, 2015

Challenge 239

This week, this was all the art I had time for.  Hopefully I will find a bit more time next week :)

The challenge this week (here) was to watch the video about how to draw Munchin, and then use it.  My tile is a bit bla, but... that's how it turned out :)



Friday, October 9, 2015

Challenge 238 and Tree Stencil / Mask

Challenge 238

This week's challenge was to learn and use the tangle Tri-bee created by Beate Winkler.  You can see the instructions and the challenge here.

I probably should have practiced it before I grabbed the tile, but... that's the way it goes :).  I did have fun with it.

Tree Stencil / Mask


I have been thinking for a while that I would like a tree stencil, mainly to play around on the Gel plate.  I felt really courageous one afternoon and cut it with an X-acto knife.  I wanted to end up with a stencil and a mask, but... when I picked up the stencil, 2 big pieces just fell from it :(.  OK, so now I have a tree mask :).  Next time I have to be a bit smarter with my design, and not get so close to the other branches.  

Still... here are a couple of gel prints I got from a quick session last Sunday.


 

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Challenge 237 and Published in 500 Tangled Artworks

Challenge # 237

This week's Diva Challenge (here) was to use a stencil with a natural dye to create your string.  I used one of my own stencils and passion tea on watercolor paper.  The tea comes out pink, but it turned to very light purple on the watercolor paper once dry.  I will try it on other kinds of paper later and see if it stays pink on any of them.  I'm not sure you can actually see any of the color in the picture below; you just have to trust me it is there :)



Published in 500 Tangled Artworks

I found out a few weeks ago that some of my work had been published in Beckah Krahula's "500 Tangled Artworks" book (here).


I was thrilled!  I finally got the book and am really enjoying looking through all the amazing artwork.  I'm very flattered that some of my work was selected to be in the book. 

I posted before about all the 6 pieces I have in the book:

Zentangle workshop - Week 13
For a project, I created these mountains with tangles.  What is special about them is that they connect on all 4 sides so you can have a continuous pattern - as you can see in the bottom picture.

Zendalas - top painted with Inktense pencils, bottom with watercolor pencils
Earth Day
Because the challenge [DIVA'S CHALLENGE #164] was for Earth Day, I decided to use recycled paper - used tea bags - and because the Earth is round, I went with the round tea bags.  I used Sakura gel pens, Inktense, and colored pencils.
Tangled Panda
My son's birthday was on the 2nd [MAY] and I wanted to make something for him.  Since he loves pandas (how could you not?!!), I went for a tangled panda :).  I think this was my first non-abstract Zentangle Inspired Art.  I know I have a lot to learn to become good at this, but it didn't turn out terrible, so... that's great!  Of course, I had to go over the really black areas with a black colored pencil because it just did not look black enough.
I have been playing with block carving and decided to try one of the grid tangles: Well.  I then printed the carved block on ATCs, and finished each one differently.