List of the Week #2

I'm catching up on all my blog reading and came across Bad Hausfrau's weekly list which reminded me to make my own - top 5 things I'm lovin' this week....hmmmm.

1.  I'm reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  I'm about half way through and thoroughly enjoying it.  Finally finished my 900 page tome Shantaram last week.  It was fabulous and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to capture the feeling of India and her people.

2.  My nephew is a fabulous artist and has just completed some new works for a gallery showing.  Check out the art of Michael Whitlark.  This is one from his newest series.

3.  I love playing with tangles - good activity to relax and keep my hands busy while "watching" TV.

4.  Love getting Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine - it's SO full of creative ideas....

5.  Beautiful photography.  This by G. Corrow, one of my fave flickr photogs.



Happy Friday!

zentangle: paradox

Can I just say, I LOVE this tangle!  I love the complexity of the finished tangle, I love the concentration needed for me to complete it, I love exploring how to purposefully create a twisted column or fan shape.  Laura's Zentangle challenge this week (suggested by Maria I think) was to do a monotangle with paradox.  Here's my efforts...

I also love how just a little touch of shading can make such a difference and make the shapes just jump off the page.  I made a fairly major mistake in both drawings by losing my place in the turning of the lines, but because there's so much to see, they're hard to find.

Then, in my ongoing efforts to practice, I'm going back to the beginning of the challenges - here's #6, Breathe.  If you haven't tried tangling yet, this is a fun week to start - and don't be intimidated by the pattern; there's a complete and comprehensive and well written tutorial to help out!

Although maybe not filled with lots of recognizable tangles, this challenge was about breathing - slowly and deeply - and relaxing while playing with pen and paper.  I tried to keep focused on the breathing part, but my concentration kept kicking in - I like this looser style....

Happy H

I know, many people will highlight or hatch articles about Happy H today.  How can you not?  Hot off the press, my digi montage honors the letter H.

This holiday weekend I'm back to my grid format instead of the goofy collages.  I happened upon lots more H photos from my stash than I thought.  Then, I was still hounded by the creative urge so I tried my hand at a little doodling.

First I painted my hand with watercolor paints and made a handprint, then used Zentangle patterns to fill in.  Pretty fun and lots of happiness!  To tie back in to the title, happy actually is integral to lots of phrases like:
happy go lucky
happy as a clam
happy as a lark (think I'd rather be a lark than a clam :)
happy is as happy does
don't worry, be happy
happy birthday; happy holidays, etc.
you can have a "happy accident"

Or, try on a few of my favorite Happy quotes:
"People are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."  Abraham Lincoln
"The purpose of our lives is to be happy."  Dalai Lama
"Happiness is not a goal, it's a by-product."  Eleanor Roosevelt

If you want to see more wonderful H displays, visit ABC Wednesday.

zentangle: ixorus

Still catching up..... working on the challenges from I am the Diva for Zentangle.  Week 6 (back in Feb!) was a new tangle - Ixorus.  I found I really liked working with this pattern - it's easy and perfectly even/mirror images aren't important (which I find hard to do) and in fact a little aberration is a good thing.

Obviously, the main pattern used in both is Ixorus but in the top tile I also used chain and florz (a tangelation of it).  The bottom used ixorus and a modified dex and weave tangles.  I don't really like the bottom - the background pattern didn't enhance the patterns and became too busy, but I'm pleased with the top one.

You can try Zentangles or controlled doodles yourself by exploring the official Zentangle site or Google it and you'll find tons of talented doodlers.  I'm new to the process and still learning and experimenting with the patterns, so you'll be amazed at what's possible.  See my sidebar for some of my fave Zentangle sites.

inspiration ave: beach treasure

It wasn't busy at work today so all day I mulled about the idea "beach treasures".  I had a vague idea a couple days ago but couldn't visualize how it would come together.  When I got home from work and got to my art room, my muse kicked into overdrive because my hands seemed to know just what to do!

 Working on a 12x12 canvas, I started with lots of crumpled tissue paper.  Then I added acrylic paints in the yellow/gold/umber range to represent the sand and sunny days that I think of at the beach.  I started my dark rectangles a little low but actually like the addition of the circle for balance/contrast.  Added some drips (love my drips).

Then I added my treasures - seashells and a piece of teal seaglass.  I used copper jewelry wire to hold everything on.  I'm very pleased with my muse this afternoon! :)

Be sure to visit Inspiration Avenue to see even more beachy treasures.  I'm also posting this to Artists in Blogland where Marcia is starting a new "roundup" site serving as a collection point for artists of all kinds.  Check it out!

zentangle: orbs

Here's challenge #5 (in my efforts to play catch up and do each of the past challenges).  Orbs was easy and fun - the additional challenge I set for myself was to keep it more open, less dense in design.  

The second one sort of looks jewelry-like to me. :)  Happy tangling!

zentangle: kiss my grids

Challenge #37 from I am the Diva is to fill the tile with only grid patterns.

I think I probably cheated a little in the bottom one cuz shattuck (the center filler) is actually kinda curvy.  Oh well.  The gal at Enthusiastic Artist does something I think is great - she shares the names of each of the tangles she uses - that's been so helpful to me as a beginner because if I see one I want to try, I can look up by name and try to find the 'how-to'.  So, the patterns I used (that I know the name of) are - top:  background is cubine, facets, knightsbridge (checkerboard), demi, up & across, bales; bottom:  background is dex, carres, beeline, shattuck.

goofy collage

For "G" week I had the goal of creating a gracious and attention grabbing digi collage, but instead ended up with ....hmmmm  It feels a little like "where's Waldo" on some other planet..... :)  Instead of using the grid as I have been, I decided to try something different.

This green grassy meadow is host to a group of grasshoppers, George the groundhog complete with glasses, a lovely bunch of gerbera daisies and gladiola.  Through the gate the gorilla is gazing longingly.  While there's no glitter or glamour, there's plenty of "G"!  I don't know that it's very good, but it's certainly goofy.

I also wanted to represent G in Zentangle so strained my brain trying to think of what I could fill with great tangles.  Finally!  Gifts!

These gorgeous packages sure must hold some grand goodies!  To better grasp the excellent exploits of this group of bloggers, visit ABC Wednesday and check it out!

ideal coffee break

Over at Creative Tuesday the theme for the current challenge is - Ideal Coffee Break and it had to include a cuppa coffee/tea.  I actually don't drink coffee, but somehow the idea of an "ideal" break appealed to me.  I created a page in my fledgling art journal (I've almost filled my first one!) and then I used my camera to show a different take on the perfect coffee break.

I used a page from a recycled address book for the body of the mug and only glued the edges so I was left with a little pocket.  The "steam" from my coffee is from scraps of scrapbooking papers; the background is watercolor; my steam tendrils say Read, Feet up, Quiet, Tangle, Friend, Daydream for the elements of a perfect break!

The first photo is as taken and then I added a little vignetting texture to the next one .....  I'm sitting right there, feet up, daydreaming away!

Be sure to check out all the other entries for Ideal Coffee Break over at Creative Tuesday.  ED to add:  Also discovered a new artist sharing site Artists in Blogland which is serving as a directory of artist blogs and she has a Saturday sharing where you can share whatever you've been working on that week.  So, I'm sharing.

zentangle: starry eyed

I'm still playing catch up and practicing my tangles by playing along with the I am Diva Zentangle challenges.  Week #4 was Starry Eyed so here's my efforts:

Tomorrow is a new challenge (#37 I think) so I have a ways to go to do the past ones....I'm figuring I'll manage a couple a week.  It helps me focus and practice when there's a theme or prompt...... Surely you've figured that out when you see how many different challenge sites I participate in.  I love the community, the friendly folks who comment and share helpful advice, the fun of creating something and putting it out there for others to see (it's my baby steps toward calling myself an .... (whisper) 'artist').  Whether I'm photographing, painting, doodling, stitching, attempting to sketch or whatever - I love the sense of completeness and satisfaction of accomplishment when I finish a project!