Diva Challenge #138: Borders

This week's Diva Challenge is to create borders by drawing what you see around you. Sitting at my desk, I saw a woven basket, wrapping paper, the wood grain on my desk, and the handle on a lint remover, which have been drawn in that order starting on the outside.

Diva Challenge #137: Knights over Tipple

Zendala Dare #73, Lamp Inspiration, and Back to Work for Me!

Zendala Dare #73

Here is my first of two submissions for the Zendala Dare #73. I bought some gel pens and was really excited to use them. It's a bit overboard . Colour can be great, but it's another dimension to consider. My husband calls this the "Flower Power" Zendala.

Using my iPhone I changed the colours to Sepia and then to Black. The simpler basic colours create a nicer end product.

Here is my second submission for the Zendala dare. There was a lot I liked about my first Zendala that I tried to recreate in this one using black and silver gel pens. This one has a tribal feel to it that I tried to preserve throughout the whole piece.

Other ZIA

This drawing is based on the lamp in my living room.

Winds of Change

This is my last week of my maternity leave! I start work October 1, and I'm also going to be studying for my registration exams. Possibly I'm spending extra time on Zentangle this week knowing I'll not have the time to dedicate to Zentangle as I have over the past ten months. It's going to be an interesting change. I'll be learning to be a working mother and to find balance in my new role. I hope I also stop feeling guilty for dropping my son off at daycare!

Here's my little monster with his own form of art entitled "Spaghetti and Meatballs Extravaganza."

Diva Challenge #136: A Whole Lotta Pokeroot

The Diva challenge this week was to use colour in a tangle. I combined this challenge with another project I'm working in right now. I'm reading One Zentangle a Day by Beckah Krahula and the below assignment was to practice pokeroot until I felt comfortable drawing it and then to practice shading and drawing it to create depth.  Pokeroot always reminds me of cherries so I used red and green for colour. I drew it to create layers of pokeroot growing over each other, then coloured the top layer is red whereas the bottom layer remains unshaded (except in the top left corner which I shaded red before making this decision). This is drawn in two pages if my sketchbook, resulting in the crease in the middle.

I find pokeroot really hard to draw so decided to practice lots, resulting in a whole lotta pokeroot. The first picture below was my first practice session with pokeroot, and the second picture was the next day after sleeping on it. My final strategy is to slow right down and be very mindful of my strokes. Also, I have to draw the circles the same way I draw tipple by being mindful of drawing an orb. Otherwise, my circles in pokeroot end up long and oval, which I don't like. Whenever my circles become oval I'm getting hasty. I also struggle with making pokeroot look like it's bursting out in clumps; instead I end up with rows of pokeroot each growing out of each other,which is less natural. I worked left to right on this drawing and got better at bursting as I went on. 

I broke two micron pens doing this exercise by pushing too hard, driving the nub up to the pen. Very frustrating, and a sign I'm not yet very zen yet with this pattern. More mindfulness required. I like it a lot better though. 

Zendala Dare #73 and Finished Tangle Box!!

I must really have my sh*t together this week because I managed to complete two different challenges, totaling three tiles. It's really impressive to me that one of them was a Zendala because I find Zendala's so much harder, although so much more beautiful. I'm taking a Zendala class in a few weeks, which I'm hoping will help me feel more comfortable with Zendalas. The hardest part for me is getting the outline onto a piece of paper for me to use. I'm curious about how other people do this. Here is my submission for Bright Owl's Zendala Dare #73:

Meanwhile, I have finally finished my tangle box to help me pick patterns for my tangles! This project has been going on for two months. My tangle box is my version of Sandy Hunter's (CZT) tangle jar, but I put the papers in a box rather than a jar. The box, which looks like a book, fits on my bookshelf more easily than a jar would have. I would have preferred a jar, but surface space is limited in our house. Things that can be piled on top of each other work a lot better. Here are the pictures of the box. I just love it, and I used it to pick out the patterns for my zendala above. I've been working on it steadily for weeks, so I'm excited to be able to dedicate that time to drawing now!

Diva challenge #135

This week's Diva challenge was the use the new official Zentangle pattern, Well. I was also inspired by the Challenge 131 slide show the Diva sent out this week. Here are my two submissions, which each use three of the same patterns.

I'm not sure what the striped pattern is on the second tile below henna drum (maybe it's striping), but it was inspired by this tile by LeeAnn Denzer's second tile here.

Diva Challenge #134

Even though my Diva submission is late, I had to post it. This was a hard one or me, and I never did come up with anything good. I tried all sorts if different sketches, bad this is my final product.

Life is getting busy again. I've enjoyed being on maternity leave, which has allowed me lots of time to spend time with my son, finish my dissertation, and discover art again. I think I'm going to have less time for art for awhile, especially now that I'm studying for my EPPPs. This is probably one of my last pieces for awhile where I'll be able to spend lots if time trying different things. 

Watercolor, bales, and tipple

Regular watercolor