Challenge #298 - UMT - Orbs-la-Dee by Anneke van Dam

Mooka, MI2, Knightsbridge, Orbs-la-Dee, Pressedwood, Printemps,
Betweed, Baublz, Dancers, Leaves, Crescent Moonisms, Munchin, and more...

Challenge #293 - Keeko, you know!

Keeko is one of my go to tangles and I too, always, include it in my Basics class. Fun challenge and I tried to push the envelope a bit with this one, do a little rounding, lot's of shading and movement. Fun time with Keeko, thanks Diva!

Challenge #286 - Straight To It - "Pipe Town"

Pipe Town: W2, Square Tipple, Pipz, Flukes, Cubine,
and a little town

The Diva's Challenge #286 asks us to use only straight lines. I'm not a straight line tangler, curves are my thing, so I did the best I could. I kept my string square, just a couple of boxes and went from there. Began with a loose W2 and let it grow organicly from there. Loose W2 with square tipple background elongated into pipz, a small town grew out of the top, Flukes triangles and Cubine with pipes peeping out all over.

I have some classes coming up in a new space in Saline. Two Twelve Arts was my class home for the last 6 years, it closed this September. Two Twelve was a wonderful space to teach with a great group of people all supporting the arts community in this area. Margie Bovee was the founder and supporter of this wonderful adventure. Margie was a director of the Cowan Slavin Foundation, a 501 C 3 non-profit corporation, which was managed by her father, Albert Slavin. That Massachusetts based foundation funded the Two Twelve Arts Center for the last ten years.The Two Twelve will be missed, a wonderful home and a great group of people.

Now there is a new space that has been offered to the artists of Saline for teaching, community development and lot's of art. Classes offered in the space are advertised through Saline Community Ed, so it's an exciting beginning of something new in Saline. The group that will be administering the space and classes in the new venue is known as Spring Valley Arts. Look for more updates. 

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 #281 - Tangle ING

ING with Knightsbridge, Zenplosion Folds, Hollibaugh and Fracus

The Diva's challenge this week revisits the tangle ING. This is an official Zentangle pattern that was introduced by Molly Hollybaugh during CZT training 15. This tangle lends itself to lot's of variations, it works well as a straight laced,  structured tangle, but also works as a loosey goosey (my fave), organic tangle.

Check out some of the other submissions for this week's Diva Challenge #281.

Here's a link to my 2014 challenge piece using ING.

Challenge #280 - Rio Olympics

2016 Rio Olympics - Hollibaugh, Mooka, Cubine
Knightsbridge, Floatfest, Printemps, MI2, Tipple,
Crescent Moon, Zinger, Baubles and beads

This week the Diva asked us to use the 2016 Olympics in Rio as our inspiration. I have been watching the Olympics and enjoy a reprieve from all the bad news and crazy politics the US is experiencing.

I chose to focus on the Rio logo as my string and Knightsbridge, checker board pattern throughout to represent the duality of the Olympics. I tried to express the celebratory feel of the Olympics. I added touches of Gold, Silver, and Bronze metallic, of course!

Challenge #279 - Duotangle (almost) with Meer vs Auraknot

The Diva's Challenge this week asked us to do a Duotangle using Meer and Auraknot. Two old favorites that were fun to go revisit. I especially enjoyed checking out the Youtube Auraknot video with Rick and Maria. I tried to push the envelope a bit with my "star" shape, curves add a pleasant addition to Auraknot. Thanks Rick, Maria, and of course the lovely Diva!