My Sonshine

We seem to have jumped from a cold, wet, dark early Spring into full-fledged, fiery Summer up here in southern Ontario.  In keeping with this, and as my finish example from last week's challenge, "With A Little Help From My Friends", I am sharing the string and resulting tile from a collaboration with my 22 year old son.  My son is an artist, too, although I don't know that he recognizes this himself yet.  He writes the most amazing lyrics and poetry with a depth of understanding WAYYYYYYYYYY beyond his few years.  He also makes the most incredible art.  From early on he always processed his life through writing and drawing and by his early teens had developed a really singular design aesthetic to his work.  He created little characters that made repeated appearances in his artwork and developed a really unique and proficient style of pen work.  He is the third person I asked to draw a string for me; my parents also participated and their strings have already been shared.  I only asked for a single, continuous line that could be as long or short, curved or angular, open-worked or crossed-over as he chose.  This is what he drew:

And this is what I made of it:

Happy Sunday!

Here We Go Loopy-Loo...

Yeah, I know... now you have the same earworm I have!!! *G*  I had so much fun yesterday I thought I'd try it again today; combining this week's challenge with the tangles that I found from the wedding of William and Catherine.  As I mentioned yesterday, I found the hats of the lady guests quite entrancing.  There was so much to see - texture, materials, unusual shapes, all kinds of design rules respected and broken - that I find myself poring over the photos of the guests quite as much as the bride and groom!  There was one particularly interesting hat in a deep blue that I just loved, and found it evoked a tangle I had just used recently, but not drawn up and shared.  So here it is! *G*

Today's string was drawn by my father:

And this is what I made of it:

And here's the step-out of the new tangle, LUPE:

Happy Wednesday!

Life's a Frill !

I started to say "thrill", then had a second look at the image I am posting today and realized that Life Is A FRILL (*wink*). 

I had a fabulous day today - my buddy owns the best bead shop in the world and I spent the day teaching interesting, fun people to do Viking Knit with fine wire; a day of good company, surrounded by beads and creativity - yahoo!  Another buddy was sweet to note my loss of voice in the morning and managed to restore it in time for the first class.  She then had me over this evening for tea and doctoring (Ruth is not only a gifted artist but a Homeopathic Practitioner as well - check her out at http://www.schedulewellnessnow.com/) and I think I may actually be able to get to the office in the AM.  Don't I have the best of friends?

We did some Zentangling this evening as well and I'm going to post a drawing I finished last fall.  It's not in my regular Zentangle journal, it's in a little square orange journal Ruth gifted to me last Christmas and I reserve for my "experimentation".  If I'm not sure of a new technique or how something will work, I like to test it out privately and see how it works for me before adding it to a known repertoire or body of work.  I had just begun to loosen up with my Zentangle patterns and shading.  I'm pretty happy with the tactile / textile effect of the patterns and the looping (again! - no giggles, Shelly!) string.  What do you think of the balance?

Happy Sunday!

The Challenge of Being Without A Challenge

Since my first two posts dealt with responding to an existing challenge, and catching it up to date (note to self and others - being late as a way of life, why save it for a pregnant day?), I thought I'd show a peek at a more "traditional" Zentangle today.  Even without an overt challenge, a Zentangle has many opportunities to stretch your creative self, from the shape of the square (vary it - why limit yourself to a square with four right angles EVERY time, anyway? or straight sides? can't 'square' simply be a descriptor?) to the string to the tangles to the shading.....

I can't say that I'm executing the Zentangle in a way that's an accurate reflection of the method designed by Maria and Rick Thomas as I haven't had my class yet (February is just a few weeks away - hooray!).  As far as I can tell, however, this one is pretty close to the originators' plan.  It was done before I'd really become comfortable with the art form and wasn't venturing too far out of the box just yet.

I start by free-handing a square, then adding a string.  From that point I fill up the space using whatever tangle patterns seem appropriate.  I try to let the shape of the space or curve of the string dictate the choice of tangle and then allow it to flow from my pen in all its tangled glory.  There's a wonderful sense of peace and timelessness while tangling; it seems to suspend all the pending worries and concerns and allow for a window of serenity in a crazy day.  The pen nib virtually walks itself across the paper, scribing elegance in its wake while I simply allow it to flow. Ahhhhhh....... *smile*

At this point it can be hard to go on as it's often so pretty in its unshaded state, but onward I bravely plunge!  Once again I submit to the flow, allowing the shapes and patterns to dictate their own dimensional appearances as they will, ignoring all learned techniques of directional lighting, turning the tile at will or whim, until - TA DA!  It tells me it's done, demands a signature of me and a chance to rest.  I sit, sipping tea and resting my eyes on happy artwork, in a perfect and peaceful place.

Happy Thursday!

Day Two and Already Playing Catch-Up!

I was thrilled, shocked and delighted to log in today (love that lunch break!) and see that I already have four followers (thank you!) and umpteen views... how do y'all find me, anyhow?  Since the short period spent responding to Laura Harms' Challenge #3, "Eyes Wide Shut", was such a delicious break in my day yesterday, I decided I might as well take a few minutes to respond to Challenge #1, "Simplicity", and Challenge #2, "Double Strung", and be all nicely up to date!  Collections of things are always a delight and keeping up with each weekly challenge should also be quite inspirational, so voila!  Here are the fruits of today's labours.

First up is my take on Challenge #1, "Simplicity":

I found I really enjoyed this.  I've always worked with diagonally curving flourishes (some atavistic symbol must be calling to me) and I chose to tangle it with only one, repetitive yet free-form element.  Rather than shade the tangle, I also made the choice to simply lay the "shadow" on the "ground" of the illustration.

I like the open airiness of the finished piece and yes, it did please me with what I view as its simplicity.

What do you think?  Did I interpret the challenge well or would you advise something different?  What does simplicity mean to you in your own artwork?  Do you find it a positive or negative descriptor?  Do you respond or back away from it as a challenge?  Do you know why you react the way you do?

Always food for thought.....

Next up is my response to Challenge #2, "Double Strung":

By drawing the string with two pencils, you "double your pleasure, double your fun!" (with apologies to Doublemint gum!).

I used to do this for calligraphy and illustration purposes years ago and had managed to forget just how much fun it can be!  I liked being able to use more patterns and adaptive shading.

Have you tried double stringing yet?  I do recommend it as a wonderfully fun way to shake up your art.

You can check out the challenges on Laura's website at http://www.iamthedivaczt.com/ where so many talented artists have shared their work.  It's both inspiring AND challenging - a double-header, Laura; way to go!

Again I apologize for the poor quality of the materials used and the photos.  I hope to improve both shortly.

Happy Wednesday!