Busy as a Bee

Hard to believe that the last time I posted was early September.  I haven’t been idol.  I discovered a number of Zentangle groups on Facebook and have been engrossed in creating Artist Trading Cards to swap, as well as, posting my work at the various pages to share with the group members.  Between drawing the ATC’s, scanning and posting as well as, keeping up on viewing all the wonderful art posted by others, I’ve had little time to post on my own blog.  I even thought about deleting my blog since I don’t seem to have enough time to keep up with writing and posting on it.

I spend my time participating in Erin’s blog posts at The Bright Owl.  She manages to create and post a beautiful Zendala  (a mixture of Mandala and Zentangle) template every week.  I enjoy drawing tangles on the Zendala every week and posting on her blog.  These templates are her designs.  In addition she works full time and has a busy social life.  Another favorite of mine is I Am The Diva’s blog.  She issues a challenge each week which makes creating the Zentangle a challenge and a joy.  This woman has two children, one of whom is often being treated in the hospital or needing medical care, and until recently had a full time job.  I am amazed and wonder how they both have time to keep up with a blog.

I really shouldn’t be so hard on myself.  I just went back and counted the number of art pieces I’ve created since I last posted and believe it or not, there are approximately 120 pieces I’ve posted on Flicker.  A great many of them are ATCs which come together quickly, but I’ve also done a number of pieces on 8″x12″ cardstock.  The larger ones can take up to two days to complete.  If you care to look at them, feel free to click on this link:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/80288200@N03/  Flickr seems to be the place that I, for sure, post what I’ve drawn.

My previous post, titled “As Promised” showed the large (27″ x 21″) colored Zentangle which I framed and hung in my home.  In addition, I recently completed another framed piece (17″ x 17″) which is posted below:

[Before color]

[The finished product complete with color]

I do hope I’m forgiven for neglecting my blog.  I’m not quite ready to delete it.  I do have the intention to keep on blogging.  We’ll see how it goes.  Thanks so much for viewing.  You know I would love to hear your comments.

As Promised

If you can believe it, I still haven’t gotten my printer/scanner to work.  I’ve tried every which way to get it to either print or scan.  No success!  Well, I just couldn’t not do my artwork, so I figured a way to use my Iphone to take pictures and download them onto my computer.  I don’t think the picture quality is as good, but it will have to do.

I have a daughter-in-law who is a computer whiz.  In fact she works at fixing people’s computers all day long.  All I need to do is give her a call and she’ll get me straightened out.  I’ve procrastinated calling her because she’s been so very busy lately, but I do intend to put out a call for help soon.

Meanwhile, I promised to post the process of making my large (25″w x 31″h) picture.  I’m happy to say that it is framed and hanging on a wall in my home.  I’m pleased with the outcome.  I’d love to do another, but I need more wall space.  I would have nowhere to hang another large picture.

As you can see, the bristol board is almost as big as my dining table.  I must admit that my antique table is not as large as they make them today.  Here you can see my tools and the first tangle on the board.

A day’s work complete.  I really don’t recall how long I worked to achieve this stage.  The time just seems to fly by and I lose track of it.  The pencil sketch is a tube-like, intertwining tangle that runs throughout the picture.  It creates spaces for me to fill with tangles.

The spaces are starting to fill.

I apologize for the fruzzy quality of some of the pictures, but as I said before, it is really hard to get a sharp, clear shot on my Iphone.  Here’s the finished Zentangle Inspired Drawing.

A closer look at the finished picture.  You may notice that I started to color it before I realized I wanted to take a picture of the finished piece.

Here the work in color progress.

The finished piece before framing.

Here’s the finished picture in a black wood frame hanging on my wall.  Sorry, about the reflection from the flash on the glass, but you get the idea.

It’s really difficult to see and appreciate the detail in these photos.  But I am glad that I documented it.  From start to finish I think this project took about two weeks.  I did other projects in between and didn’t work on it every day.  I’d love to read what you think of it.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Looking forward to your comments.

Like It Or Not

I’ve missed a couple of the Diva’s Challenges.  Just seems I’ve been busy lately and didn’t have time to get them done.  I did, however, find time to do this week’s Challenge, a monotangle of Dex, a tangle created by Maria Roberts.

I found this tangle a bit daunting. I had a hard time coming up with enough variations to fill the entire page.  I found myself peeking at the other drawings posted on the Diva’s blog (Iamthediva).  I don’t usually do that.  I try to come up with my own interpretation, but this one just threw me and I had to seek inspiration from the already posted drawings.

I drew this monotangle on a 7″ x 7″ beige card stock using Micron .01 and .005 pens.  It is shaded with graphite pencil.

Overall, I’m okay with how this one turned out.  Don’t think I’ll be doing any other monotangles of this tangle.  I wouldn’t mind using it in a drawing, but trying to come up with lots of variations was not particularly fun for me.

Hoping the rest of your week goes well.  Thanks for your visit.  I always appreciate when you leave a comment.

The Weekly Dare

The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude. – Friedrich Nietzsche

It was a welcome break from my special project to do the weekly Zendala Dare #69.  Here is the template before any changes have been made.

Looking at the rough draft, I had my doubts about how this Zendala would turn out.

To my surprise, I am quite pleased with the final image.

This Zendala is drawn on white card stock with Micron .01 and .005 pens; it’s shaded with graphite pencil.

Thanks so much for viewing.  I appreciate your comments.  Have a great week.