Challenge #254 - Valentangle, Beet Juice is Yummy, and colorful too

Valentangle 1 - with Gourdgeous-like Hearts, Flowers, Molygons,
Mooka, Tipple, Spirals, Paradox, and lot's of Rounding, Shading 
and Auras, added the beet juice, and water color pencils

This weeks Diva Challenge #254 is a "Valentangle" challenge, just in time for Valentine's day. Laura asks us to create a a piece with a Valentine's Day Flair. I chose to honor this day with hearts, flowers, and the beautiful blush color that beets bring to this piece.  Someone else in this challenge shared about using leftover beets for her background, this inspired me. Sorry, I didn't bookmark it, but I had to try it. I applied the beet juice (pickled beets are my preference), splattered juice on my paper with a toothbrush. I then blew dry my paper and ironed it to set the color. Ironing/ heating the paper gave a wonderful quality to the surface which was even better for my microns pens and pencils.

My sister is a jeweler and she Anneals metal (heats it) to strengthen and harden the final metal pieces. This same process must work with paper. I used a heavy/toothy velum bond. so I was pleased it accepted being painted and heated so well.

I did use red watercolor pencil to enhance the beet juice coloring but I did use the beet juice as my flow medium with a brush for the watercolor pencils. I also added a little wash of coffee to the center portion this morning.  This is a result of many layers of media and washes.

I taught a wonderful Zendala class this past week and this piece was a result of the snowflake Mandala template creation process. This was the result of my snowflake tracing example which grew and modified as I worked on it this week. I really didn't like the way it was going but I kept at it all week. I added hearts and let the tangles talk to me and tell me what to do next. The result is something that I am happy with but the process was so much fun.

Here are some process pictures.
The original snowflake cutout I created as an example in class which gave me my layout and
string to trace for the Zendala. I let my string guide me, not rule me.

As you can see, changes were made, but that's all part of the process.

Snowflake template overlaid, then  
trace the cutout areas  your string
to your create

Initial development of
the Valentangle / Zendala

Valentangle 2 - String #131

I created a second Valentangle based on It's a String Thing #131, third in the series of heart shaped challenges. I continued my food stain coloration experiments by using spring lettuce to create my green background. I julienned a few leaves, then rubbed them into my paper, then ironed it. I also added touches of beet juice accents but found it turned a brownish color when I ironed it (the iron was set too high). I added watercolor pencil over the applied food coloring.

I used a Mooka / Hollibaugh Heart tangleation and continued my gourdeous-heart enhancements. Some stippling, highlights and shading.

Check out all the other submissions for this weeks Diva Challenge #254.