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!