It's a Revival!

It's a revival of blogs!




Thought I should revive this art blog, too, while I am at it.




Here is one piece that I don't think I have posted before. It's a 'tangled' piece I did last year as a gift for my son, who has a much-loved pug named Slater. I am working on a full-body drawing of Slater for a gift this Christmas. I'll post it when it's done. It's very difficult to find a gift for someone who has everything!

It's not the greatest photo, and it looks much better from a distance, hanging on a wall.
Son seems to like it, anyway. I think this year's effort will be better!

I must get some other finished works out of storage and post them also. That's it for now!

Me....ambitious??

Not normally could I be considered an ambitious person. So when I embarked on this project, it was with fear and trembling -- well, not exactly; but definitely with a fear of failure.

'They' say that when you are 'tangling' (which is what this art form is called, by me anyway), there really are no mistakes. The patterns are very forgiving and because this is your own design, you can take great liberty in turning a mistake into a new pattern...and no one but you would be any the wiser!  And I have done that many times...but I have also made horrible messes that could not be redeemed and resulted in my effort going in the garbage. That's not so bad, if you are working on a small design. But I ambitiously decided to work on an 8.5 x 11 page for the first time ever. Early mistakes can be redeemed by beginning again, if necessary, but as the design progresses and begins to fill the page -- well, let's just say that it would be heartbreaking to make an unredeemable mistake.

(there is a sermon here: how grateful I am that there are no unredeemable mistakes in God's eyes - He is all-forgiving!)

So, being the cautious creature I am, at certain points in the design I took photocopies, so if I did make a horrendous mess, I could continue to work using the photocopy. Amazing!  I really didn't need to do that...no unredeemable mistakes!  But the photocopies did come in handy for practising new or more complicated tangles.

This actually only took me a few hours spread over two days, and having the photocopies completely relieved any anxiety and made it such  pleasant pastime.

For those who might wonder where I find the time for this, if we calculate how much time many people spend watching TV, this comes in way under the radar! It doesn't deaden the mind and has something beautiful to show for all its efforts. Perhaps it even helps to stave off Alzheimers...we'll see!

click on the picture to enlarge

Tangled Circles and Christmas in May!

Been far too busy to post these, so have been saving them to post all at once!

Lots of work here...but lots of fun, too!

the two above....practising for Christmas!

Practising some new tangle patterns

Finally, dedicated to the one my cousin loves!

Catching Up....Again!

I have given up on Inchies for while...just too busy. The art below I have been working on for a good few weeks now and just didn't have time to post them. My favourite is the very first one. The heart (and the green diamond in one following) is a cutout, altho you can hardly tell, on the original. Just wanted to do something different. I like the heart, not so much the green diamond:

For Love

(I also wanted to try adding a Scripture verse ...will probably do some more along these lines)

Butterfly

Initial Practice

 Trumpets

 Cross
(there is a bit of symbolism in this one...can you see it?!)

That's it for now!

Still in Circles

I continue to enjoy tangling in circles.

Here are two more I finished recently. I am finding that although it takes some thought to do these, it is also very relaxing...takes my mind off of other, less joyful things!

Grassy Flowers

These are both about the size of a CD

Peace

I didn't draw the dove. He came on a Christmas card and I thought he was lovely, so I cut him out. Then I got the idea to phtocopy him, reducing the size by 50%.  Then I cut him out again and glued him to the card. I did decorate him myself.

EVERY MONDAY INCHIE, JANUARY 14, 2013

Posting my inchie here as well, this week, as blogger seems to have messed up on me. This was one of my favourite toys, as a child, but I never learned how to make it work very well!

Girl

Loving the fact that so many new artists have joined us for this years inchie challenge. You can find my past inchies at

http://kaybee-patchworkquilt.blogspot.ca

Still in a Whirl!

I only took about a half-hour to do this one...just really needed to rest my mind from a busy day...

but it shows that I didn't take my time.

Never mind...every  piece of art is a learning experience!

My daughter, on looking at this one, asked, "Do you use a ruler?"

I don't, as a rule (no pun intended) -- but I think I need to, from now on!!

Going 'round in Circles

This was a lot of fun. Black ink on a blank, round, white greeting card:

Cones 'n' Flowers

And this was a little different as I used a blank, black template for it, with white pen.

It's simple, but elegant, I think.

Pretty in Purple...and Other Colours

I've been busy tangling...but neglecting to post the results. These I have completed over the last couple of months.Some of them look better when you click to enlarge...others don't!!

So here goes....

 First some experiments in colour:

 Flowers 'n' Stuff

Colour Tangles

Sunflower

Pretty in Purple

Tangled in Colour
(using some new Micron coloured ink pens)

And now some miscellaneous:

 Over the Garden Fence

White on Green
 (with some outlines in black)

Silvery Scene

Daisy Chain

 
And finally, a favourite:

Shades of Kauai



Tangles and ....??

I am not really sure what kind of art this is - I don't think it can be classified as a tangle....

probably no name for it!

It was a bit of an experiment, as I am still learning how to shade:

Flutter-by 

And some people wouild classify this as a mandala,

but I call it "learning to zentangle with circles" !

I really enjoyed working on this, and plan to do some more.

Turkeys and Tangles....

I bought some gold and silver markers the other day - "Pilot, Extra-fine metallic Ink Marker."

Less than $5 and lots of fun, plus some free Air Miles, too!

So I have been experimenting. I am ahead of myself with my inchie for this week. The theme is 'silver' and you can find my  'silver' inchie here. Stay tuned for all the other wonderful 'silver' interpretations, at the same location. I was really pleased that the silver showed up well even after scanning, and I am loving the silver on black effect. Going to do some more of these.

But I can't say the same about the gold. This was an experiment of gold on blue, and in reality it is quite beautiful. The gold is rich and shiny. But the scanned effect is less than pleasing. At the same time that I bought the silver and gold pens, I also found a white marker: "Pentel Sunburst Gel."  I absolutely love this one too - you can see the white on blue effect, at least, in what is going to be a bookmark when it's completed. I bought the white marker at Michaels, but when I went back to get another, they were all gone. Guess I am not the only one who loves them!

Regal

I am so sorry the gold doesn't show, but at least you get the idea. Everything that looks brown, is actually a stunning, shiny gold. The letters are white with the gold embellishments.


This one is just white on black:

white on black tangle

Love this, especially as a change from the black on white.

I am getting a bit obsessed with my art these days, so I need some self-discipline.

But I do I have one more to show you. I got this idea from this book

Creative Doodling and Beyond, by Staphanie Corfee.

It is such a great book; so entertaining just to leaf through it, but also so helpful for someone like me, who needs a lot of prompting when it comes to art. She calls these doodles, and I guess they are, but I am finding there is a fine line between doodles and tangles.

One of her ideas is to take a medium point marker and a piece of paper. Close your eyes and begin to draw "a looping, free form curvy line without lifting the pen from the page. Stop whenever it feels right to stop..." and then take a look at it and begin to create an interesting design by adding embellishments and color - just like we do with a tangle.

This is my creation:

Turkey Trot!

This really was a lot of fun, and I will probably do another one sometime.

There are tons of ideas in Stephanie's book and I will make my way (slowly!) through it, trying out most of them.

I am getting such a kick out of creating, and I had the thought recently -- what fun God must have had when He created the world and everything in it. I mean, really -- how much fun would it have been to create a giraffe, a hippo, a zebra, -- an elephant!!  And all that amazing and colorful flora, fauna and sea creatures near the bottom of the ocean, that we are only just beginning to discover. Even each one of us humans are so unique. He could have made everything dull and boring, but look at the colors He created and how He used them - patches on giraffes, stripes on zebras, spots on cheetahs.... !!  I honestly believe it's because He made us in His image, that we get to share in the joy of creating, too - wow!! 

Heading off to do some more creating...well, maybe not tonight; more important things are calling -- but very soon!



All Caught Up!

So this is my latest tangle

in black and white:

Fall

and in colour:

Fall

I took a photocopy of the black and white one 

(these are ATC size, by the way)

and coloured in the copy, just to see what it would look like.

I think I like the coloured one best.

Still Catching Up

Sunflower Tangle

Pretty Purple Tangle

UK Tangle

 

Seashell Tangle

Kay Tangle

Angry Bird Tangle!

Underwater Tangle

Celtic Knot

Celtic Knot

Catching up on postings....

Well, I finally solved the problem of not being able to post my photos. I switched to Firefox.

I have no idea why that makes a difference, but it did! 

So here are some more of my drawings, done a couple or more years ago.
 

From a Christmas card

 From a book

Another Christmas card

From a greeting card

Lots more to come - just need to scan them!