Challenge #212 and Pattern Inspired by Indian flower

Challenge #212: "UMT: Fanz by Susan Goetter"

This week's challenge was to use the Fanz tangle created by Susan Goetter - you can see step-outs through a link in the Diva's challenge page here.

I loved this tangle (the one on the top right) as it is very forgiving.  I decided to try out a few variations, but you can just have them quite plain and it looks really nice!  I can't wait to see everyone's entry in the challenge - they are always so inspiring!

Pattern Inspired by Indian Flower

When I was in India last month, I had a weekend "free" and visited several temples and palaces near Bangalore.  As my mind has been stuck on patterns recently :), I took some pictures I would hope would inspire me to create new designs. 

I have not yet created anything with the patterns other than sketch some of them, but saw the sculpture of a flower, that inspired me to create this very simple hand-carved stamp. 

When you print it all the way around (4 times) you get this pattern - and you can see the flower in the center.

If you print it again but with the "flower center" towards the outside corners this time, you end up with a very different pattern (I love this one).

I tried it out again, now printing it 4 times across and 4 down, starting with the flower center at the corner.  You can see how different it looks from the one below where the stamp was pointing the other way.  These were finished with colored pencil, pen and ink, and Sakura gel pens 

(to highlight the shapes - cross vs. flower)

This next set is the same, except these were painted with H2Os (shimmering watercolors) and finished with pen and ink.

Challenge #181 and Play with hand carved stamp prints

Challenge #181 Water

This week's challenge was to use water in your tile; either water tangles, watercolors, or... anything else you can think of water related.  You can see the challenge description here. 

I went with another Bijou (trying to get used to the size), a couple of water tangles (Waves and Agua), and a lot of fun :)  Since I didn't get a Summer vacation, this will have to do :)

And here are my first 3 Bijou's so you can see the size:

Play with Hand Carved Stamp Prints

As it is getting closer to our move (a bit over a week) free time is almost non-existent.  So, I just grabbed some of the printed hand-carved stamp patterns I still have around, and played with them.

This is one of the triangle repeat stamps I carved for the workshop.  You can see the original print here.  I added some details with black Micron, white, and purple gel Sakura pens.  The print had already been painted with watercolors.

That's it for today.  I'm working on a couple more, but they are not ready yet.

Have a fun week!!