A Very Refreshing Breath of Creativity

I was recently introduced to a new artist, her blog and books, that has stirred up my imagination and caused my childhood happiness to skip a beat.  Her name is Carla Sonheim. You can find her blog here which will lead you to her thoughts, her books, her tutorials and online classes!  I cannot tell you how much fun I have had since visiting her site.

One of the first things I tried out was drawing Tombow Rabbits. After watching her free tutorial I got right to work and did some bunnies then tried out my dog, Frankie both looking at me and away from me and just had the best fun and really liked the results.

From one of her books, "The Art of Silliness," her first excersise is to draw a bird a zillion times.  It is suggested you use your left hand, close your eyes or do both.  There was such a freedom in doing this and when you finally open your eyes you have a zillion birds with amazingly different personalities.  Some of them don't quite look like birds but when you add an eye, a feather or a hat to it's head you have one unique bird after the other. (I will have to add my picture at a later date, because I don't currently have it with me).

Two more things I thought were fun is her instruction on blob hunting and watercolor birds.  Blob hunting or looking for cracks in the sidewalk that can lead your imagination to draw an animal or something that resembles an animal is a lot of fun.  So now I have a camera full of patterns (for tangles), sidewalk cracks and blobs. Some of my attempts below, the dog came from a crack and the others are watercolor birds.

drawn with Inktense Watercolor Pencils 

Prang Watercolors

Challenge #100 "Viva la Diva"

This weeks challenge is the diva's 100th and it is brought to us by Maria Thomas introducing a new tangle Diva-Dance.

I cannot thank Maria and Rick enough for giving me the tools I needed to relax and create and the Diva for caring enough about our Zentangle community to offer us weekly challenges which brings us together like a warm fuzzy family.

I want to share with you a portion of a newsletter from the Clean CEO & Team Founder, Dhru Purohit.

What's the difference between a struggle and a challenge?


A struggle is a burden.
A challenge is an opportunity.

A struggle is, "I can't wait for this to be done."
A challenge is, "I can't wait to see where this goes."

A struggle is being in one place, but needing to be in another.
A challenge is fully being where you are, not needing to be anywhere else.

A struggle is, "How can I get out?"
A challenge is, "What more can I give?"

A struggle is resistance.
A challenge is acceptance.




I hope in the New Year to make my "struggles" into "challenges."

The Sketchbook Project

                                      http://www.arthousecoop.com

I signed up in April to complete a sketchbook for the Brooklyn Art Library.  I got involved in this project primarily because I have a fear of writing/or drawing in books as some of you already know.  I have always thought "If you are going to put it in a book, everything must be perfect."  Well, nothing is ever perfect and I am trying to free myself from that thought pattern, my brain just has to catch up with my heart.

So today, I have finally finished the book.  I think I may be to late to send it into the project BUT I FINISHED IT!!!!!!!  Better to finish late then never start right?

So here are a few pictures from my sketchbook.

Challenge #99 Looped Border String


I should have taken a picture of the "string" before I filled it in but, you can see the creator of our challenge this week, Margaret Bremner's string here.

I don't go for busy designs so I chose a monotangle of Fife and practiced my magnification skills.  It needs more practice but I think it was a good start.

Challenge #98 "Keenees"

This is my first time using this tangle and on first inspection it reminded me of a tangleation of tripoli.  So what I ended up with was what looks like a pollen pod from another world! Ha, one never knows where you will go when you put pen to paper, fun!

Challenge #97 "No Strings Attached"

Our challenge this week from the Diva was to produce a tile or ZIA using no string what so ever and just go for it.  Well, I did just that with a tangle I have not yet introduced or named and I chose to practice with color more as it just seemed appropriate.  I had fun, hope you enjoy!

Challenge #96 Zinger

This is a mature tangle whose name was lost, but now has been found.  We are celebrating the wonderful "zinger" tangle in this weeks challenge.  This is a beautiful addition to any tile and so much fun to draw!

Sunny Sunday Tangle

Looks like the holidays are on my mind.  Happy Thanksgiving!

8 1/2" x 11"

This ZIA is a token of my thoughts to my second cousin, who is the second young male in my small family to be struggling with cancer.

Challenge #94   Socc


Socc is a very relaxing tangle.  This is the first time I have used it I am excited to have learned a new tangle.  Not sure I like the end result but I did enjoy the journey.

Bunzo Challenge #93


Bunzo appeared to me to be an alien because it can keep growing and multiplying.  So I drew it busting through a screen just in time for halloween.  Look out, here comes Bunzo!

Circles of Happiness


For some reason I feel very happy and comforted when drawing circles.

Lokta Natural Paper 15" x 20"
Brown Pigma Micron
Sepia Pigma Micron
Black Pigma Micron

Starfish

This tile has sat on my desk for months.  Reading about newly discovered techniques lately helped me to finish this ZIA up.

Pigma Micron
Fabrico Cool Gray
Gelly Roll Med White

Challenge #92 Stripes

Stripes as a string.  I am much more comfortable with circles.

Ganesha

Dilip Patel who is a new CZT and it being customary under Hindu Life style to seek the blessings of Lord Ganesha (the elephant  headed God) before embarking on any new activity he has challenged himself (and asked others to help) to complete 100 Zentangled Ganesha before December 31st.

From Dilip's blog here is the story of the elephant headed boy.


As a kid, Ganesha was a very brave and committed child. When his mother, Goddess Parvati, once wanted to go for her bath, she installed Ganesha to guard the home. Lord Shiva, Ganesha's father visited home at this point of time, only to find Ganesha not letting him in as per his mother's instructions. Also, both, father and son did not know/recognize each other, and hence a duel became inevitable. Coming back from the bath, Goddess Parvati was a wee bit late, and witnessed the father cutting off the head of the son.

Wailing Parvati ordered her husband to bring her son back to life by installing the first head that they could find facing north. An elephant facing north was sighted first, and hence the men sent for the task brought the head of the elephant!

Thank you for the fascinating tale from your culture Dilip.  For me this was a wonderful exercise and here is my contribution to you.

Weekly Challenge #90 String Theory: String 001

The Importance of strings.  Read Linda Farmers site here to understand how very important strings are and what our string challenge looks like for this week.

I don't typically like a grid pattern but, today was obviously a day for a grid.  Happy Tangling!

"Sankegg"

Sankegg is the name given to the tangle that was derived from the giant Pysanka Egg the Diva spotted on a trip this past summer.  You can see her post here.

This immediately reminded me of big wind turbines that produce power without amazingly flying apart.  I didn't like how flat they looked, so after a little play and seeing an extra little triangle in the middle it brought to mind  "fohbraid".  

                           This was a fun tangle and I can see using it again.

Italy

I just returned from a 10 day visit to Rome, Naples and Venice Italy with my husband and son. It has been some time since we have been able to "get away" and have some fun, so it was a very special trip.

Italy is spectacular and I took so many pictures, but I thought I would share some "pattern" pictures here with you.  I did not tangle much while there, although I did pick up a coaster or two and tangled a simple pattern then left it behind for someone to find. I also managed to tangle all the way home in the plane which was very relaxing.  Here are some pattern pictures:

and here are my airplane tangles:

Thank you for stopping by.

"Break Free"

That is this weeks Challenge from the Diva.  The meaning behind this is pertaining to the pencil string and border that is typically drawn on the tile before you start to tangle.  Her Challenge to us is let our tangles go beyond the "borders" of your string.

My string is definitely buried in this tile so I think I have succeeded.

Discoveries, Challenge #85

When a string goes onto a drawing surface, for me, there is this moment (or sometimes passages of very long moments) that I think, "What am I going to do with THAT?"

Today was such a day.  Margaret Bremner has inspired this weeks challenge from the Diva with her tangle Copada.  It reminds me of Russian architecture and for some reason I was having difficulty incorporating it into my tile.  So in Zentangle fashion, I just drew a string and had a go at it without thinking.  Well, if I say so myself , this ZIA is one that I needed to go back and look at again and again as the progression happened. What a beautiful thing.

I had no preconceptions for this work.  As a matter of fact, I had thrown up my hands and was not going to continue trying.  Not only did I finish with a ZIA I feel good about but, I noticed when I was done that the stormy days colors had also creeped in.  I spent a gloomy afternoon creating.  Happy.

Margaret, I had hoped that your tangle would have had a more prominent part in this ZIA but, it has made a fabulous frame.  Thank you Margaret Bremner and the Diva for this enlightening Challenge.

Secret of Kells Inspired Tangle

The Secret of Kells is an animated film which inspired Sandy Bartholomew to develop an ebook of the patterns found within the movie.

This is my inspired tangle.
Paper Source Eco White Paper 5" x 8"
Pigma Micron 01 and 005
Faber - Castell Pitt pen

Blind String

For those of you new To Zentangle all our drawings start with a light pencil "string."  It is sort of a guide line for your eye, your mind, your creativity and fades into the background as you draw over and around it.

This weeks challenge to those who wanted to partake, was to draw a string with your eyes closed.  This to me was genius because my strings always come out the same but, with my eyes closed it actually came out a bit different.  Maybe here lies my answer to strings!

This is my string and what happened with it.  I had some fun with this and I will try another.

Thank you Diva!

One more, turned upside down.

Study in Black & Brown

I have been spending much of my time drawing on shells using monotangles taken from Sandy Hunter's beautiful tangle jar.  I have discovered tangles I have never used and tangles I was not even aware of existing.  The Tangle jar has been such a fun item to use I would highly recommend that you purchase one if you can from her.

Since I have not put pen to paper in a long time I thought I would do just that and use the black and 

brown pens that I have been using on the shells.  There is also some red ink used on the shells but I will save that for another tangle.  This is my tile for the week.     

Thank you for stopping by, enjoy your week. 

Snail Mail

Many of us have become accustomed to blasting off an email when we want to communicate with one another.  The art of actually mailing a letter has become lost to so many of us.  I have a friend who is with a group called The World Needs More Love Letters and it got me thinking about our tangle practice.

As many of you know I have been spreading my very small space with tangled shells to get the word out about Zentangle and to also give the finder a "surprise."  Lately I have found that a tangled note lets you practice your breathing, your tangles and your writing.  A letter means so much more to the recipient then a quick email.  It is deliberate and it takes thought and patience.  In the end you have enjoyed some beautiful down time and when done you can send off a beautiful piece of art to someone who might just need a smile today.

Below are a couple of my recents notes. One sent to the fabulous friend who writes love letters to unknown people who may just need some help getting through a difficult situation.  Tangle and Write on!

The challenge this week (Monday August 13th, I'm a bit late) from the Diva was to use Mooka and Assunta, both of which I don't use that often.  I could not seem to "marry" the two together on my first two tiles and tried a different approach on my last one.  I looked at other entries and I have learned a lot from what others have done.  I will have to try and use these two a little more in the future.

Check out the Diva link to really see what can be done with these beautiful tangles.

I collected loads of shells, rocks and sea glass and even an intact glass bottle last week and I have been busy making "calling cards" to leave back at the beach.

While I was tangling on the shells it occurred to me that I might find a bigger audience if I left them on Main Street, at the local diner, on the library steps.  I plan to go on a bike ride with my bag packed and spread the love.

Challenge UMT (use my tangle) Brayd

Brayd comes to us from the very talented Michele Beauchamp.

I am the youngest of four girls.  The sister closest in age to me was three years older.  While young we spent a lot of time together.  When she hit teenager hood and I still a tomboy, that ended.  But back in the day when we were hanging out, one day after getting into some mischief in the basement of our house I ascended the stairs first and was out the door into the kitchen where there hung a chalkboard.  My sister, who happened to be in braids that day came up to discover a drawing I had just completed of her braids sticking straight up from her head. Maybe I caught her at the right time, but she found this so funny she wet her pants which sent me into fits of laughter that made me cry.

Ahh, those days when things were much simpler and a belly laugh was easy to find.  This story is what I think about whenever I draw Brayds.