Challenge #282 - Spill It!

Beets, and Blue food coloring enhanced with
some colored pencils - Abeko, Fengle tendrils,
Sanibelle, Some leaves and Tipple, Yum!

Look who appeared...
Mister coffee head sporting some Fescu hair

This week the Diva asks us to spill something on our tile and draw inspiration from that process. Loved this, I'm quite a spiller anyway so I enjoyed being asked to do it on purpose! I chose beets (eat them in my salads everyday), coffee and Almond milk (my daily jolt), some old Sangria in the fridge, old rusty bolts, and some blueberries smashed and mushed around.I also put a few wet, rusty washers and screws on the watercolor paper and let them sit.

The watercolor paper was an Archette (Arches) pad of rough paper. I didn't find it easy to work with. Once I applied my spills, my micron pens did not play well with this paper or the surfaces created by my spills. I had to use my thickest microns and it was hit or miss especially with the coffee/almond milk spill.

I chose the beets and coffee stains for my final tiles. I love the color the wonderful vibrant color the beet stains left and I chose to add some blue food coloring and enhance the tile with some watercolor pencils.

The coffee stain morphed itself into a funny little Fescu-topped creature, I also used soy sauce to enhance certain areas. It has the feel of the fat blueberry boy in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. This must have appeared as a nod to Gene Wilder who died this week. I was also just delighted with the fanciful creatures Margaret Bremmer discovered in her spills exploration this week. Mine is not as sophisticated or beautiful but he was fun to discover, I bet Bijou is a friend of his!

The blueberry pulp colors were beautiful but the mashed up pulp became part of the paper as it dried, so it was a bit challenging to work on. I think I'll be working with my spills and exploring them in the future.

Check out the other wonderful submissions for this week's Diva Spill Challenge.

Blueberry Study in process...

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Original spills (Top Left to Bottom Right)
Smashed Blueberries, Beet Juice, Coffee with Almond Milk,
Sangria, and some rusty bolts in the center

Challenge #181 - Water

Bijou's cousins? Sanibelle, Printemps, Dansk, using the W string,
lot's of auras and swirls and Emily Dickinson poem
"I could not drink it sweet"

The Diva's challenge #181 asks us to use water as our inspiration. I chose to focus on the letter W as my string and then try and emulate the movement of water, ripples, spirals, transparencies, I added lot's of swirls in the fashion on Printemps, a Dansk variation, auras, and swirls, and the lovely colors of my Inktense watercolor pencils; blue green, purple, and a touch of burgundy.

For my background I tried resist technique using my white gel pen as a resist and layering my pencils and wash over the white pen once dry. The blogs I've read say to leave the gel pens overnight, not happening... I still like the effect. It's subtle and watery but I'm sure if I follow the longer drying time next time it will be more effective, but I'm not a patient tangler.

I added Emily Dickinsons "I could not drink it sweet", as a texture in my swirl, not well done but I love the effect of her swirling words.

Then as I was looking at all the lovely swirls and water I begin seeing Bijou's cousins appearing. Oh those little devils... little antennae peeking throughout, my oh my, that little Bijou's influence is everywhere!

Water: ING tangelation, Sanibelle, Zenplosion Folds,
White gel pen, Inktense watercolor pencils,
and lot's of shading and line work

I'm really into this water challenge so I continued my journey. My second version uses the same process of white gel background for resist, laying color over top. I let this one sit a little longer to dry and that seemed to help the batik effect I was trying to achieve.

I began using the new tangle ING through the center as a beginning, it morphed and changed and turned into a curvy durvy little cone shaped shell/coral that just screamed for some Zenplosion folds growth. Once I added the texture lines I saw beautiful shells so I decided to add the pink just like Conch and scallop shells. Sanibelle was a great enhancement and continued the water theme beautifully. I texturized my background with white gel pen and then added color to my final version.

Bijou's cousin appeared here also, after all it's water and shells what more do I need to say?

3 views, original line drawing, enhanced line and shading added,
Final version color added (which brings out the white gel pen resist in the background)

Challenge #80 - Mi2 Explored

 The Diva's challenge this week asks us to explore MI2 created by created by CZT Mimi Lempart. It is a challenging tangle but lot's of fun. It adds a great sophistication to my arsenal of tangles.

I did 3 variations this week. The first exploring the tendrils and enhancing them and adding a little Florz. The second explores a little more contrast of the black negative space and using my white gel pen for accents. The third incorporates Sanibelle, Flux, and some organic textures and leaves, turned out sort of alien-like bird. Kind of fun, but don't stare at the eyes for too long! A fun exercise and helped me feel more comfortable with this versatile tangle.

Weekly Challenge #57: Use My Tangle (UMT) Version 1 - Sanibelle

This week the Diva's challenge is featuring it's First Monday of the Month "Use My Tangle" Challenge and this month the tangle is Tricia Faraone's Sanibelle. This is a lovely tangle that definitely emulates beautiful flowing sea plants or sea shells, at least that's what it brings up for me.

This little tile just screamed for a sea nymph nestled within the flowing bed of Sanibelle. A large sea pearl, Nipa, Tipple, Tagh. I went the more organic, textured route with this tile. The simplicity of the large pearl against the ornate Sanibelle seems to set them off well.

As a child, I was always drawn to mermaids. I spent my childhood summers at camp and the lake and swimming was a major part of my experience. I never wanted to cut my hair so when I grew up I could become a Weekee Watchee Mermaid with my long flowing hair and wearing the lovely mermaid tail! Quite lofty goals, no?

I never became a WW Mermaid but I was a syncronized swimmer in high school and still love the water (sans tail and long flowing locks!). Not so fond of the bathing suit part any more!