Fresh Snow

While most of the States have had incredible cold and massive amounts of snow, we've been spared all of that here in the desert. Which is good as I'm not good at all that (that's why I moved from New England). But there's still something to be said for that first, sparkly snow that makes everything look like it's sprinkled with jewels. (I love to drive up to Flagstaff, see snow and turn around and plop into the jacuzzi by dinner).
Why I say all this is it's what came to mind working on the IAST 68 today.

Fresh Snow

I've also been having some fun with Krishna's Mandala Monday. Here's my first response for MM004 and another one for MM003:

I'm working on more as I can print a bunch of them at a time. I'm not really happy drawing on basic printer paper, but I can work out ideas and just all around have a good time.

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone! And when I'm all done our festivities, come back for my recipe for turkey sandwiches. My daughter can't wait--she doesn't mind that she's not going to be here for the big bird tomorrow. Word of warming: it is NOT dietetic. 

And if you're looking for something "interesting," check out the blog of the "World's Best Twinchies" scoped on Flickr. I dont' know how I found it, but I've gone back to look for inspiration and lo! and behold! Three of mine are on there. How weird is that?

Embracing the...Gratitude

This week's Zentangle challenges could not have come from more polar opposites, but I've already begun to appreciate from whence they came and to wither they may goest.
The Diva lined up guest posts this month to concentrate on her family; much better time spent than managing the likes of all us tangly people. This week's really threw me for a loop and at first I was going to pass on it, but then I thought why should this one get the better of me? Elisa Murphy created the challenge to use our non-dominant hand to complete the task, or as she referred to it as, "Embrace the Yuck." While I'm not quite feeling the love yet, I did get a feel for why I really don't use my left hand and perhaps I should give it a better chance.

Diva Challenge 194

I used the random string generator at Tanglepatterns.com and it selected 098, which was a good start and Nipa had to naturally go in as it's already pretty jiggy. I won't get rich off the likes of this, but it was a good lesson in creativity. It's not terrible yucky. (segue to: that's what we call some Chinese food, instead of teriyaki...even though we really, really like it.).
OK!
The other challenge, IAST 67 used string 070 and just drawing that out was giving me fits (yes, I could just print the template, but where's the fun in that?). I had pondered the contents in my sleep so I was good to go this morning. And here enters unconditional love. I have surrounded myself--the "c"--with my significant other and my two children.

Thanks for Three People

It's not the prettiest exhibition of true love ever created, but what it represents to me goes beyond gratitude and so much joy, it brings me to tears. (and a segue to yesterday's post...)
With many thanks to you for taking the time to view my work and for the occasional comment. I appreciate you telling me what you like (or don't) so that I can add it to my body of knowledge.

It's a Stretch

If I had scoped out the Inchie for this week in advance, I may have saved the one I did a couple weeks ago. The word prompt is "weapon." Alas, I used my pistol a couple posts back [click here to rewind]. I scratched my head for a minute and asked myself what is my chief weaponry? And what came back out my grey matter is this form of subterfuge. It may not save me in battle, but it depends on the opponent, I guess, and what the fight is all about.

My friend Corinne suggested something else that totally confounds men: a BRA. Although I don't seem to have that problem, it gives me a lot of ideas to work with.
The twinchie word this week is "magic." Back in college, I had to write a paper on a level of Hell as described by Dante in his "Inferno." I drew a very intense image to accompany the essay with a wizard's hand holding a crystal ball and a fiery Earth within. It won me a lot of brownie points and the professor asked to save my work. I've been meaning to recreate it ever since. For now, this will have to do:

Be sure to check out the Inchie responses this week, which will certainly lead you to some very talented artists and their work. That's where I'm headed now!

M M M M M

Do any of you crazy people remember a cartoon on Sesame Street with Margaret; she ran around saying, "M. M. M. M. M. M. M."
No? Then, I'm sure that I'm a LOT older than you are. If you DO, lie about your age, please?!
Well, that's what's bouncing around in my head while I've been working on some mandala challenges. Krishna of Her Sketches blog took up the challenge of creating weekly templates from which to draw. Here are a few from the first two weeks and then my response to this week's MM3.

 Okay, this one I indulged in a little Photoshop action, including dropping in a full moon!

This one reminds me of a lotus flower

Check out Krishna's blog and see what she and others are doing and join in the fun. I've been having my share; don't want you to miss out!

All the Posts fit to Print. Maybe

Thank you so much to all you tangly and artistic people around the globe who have been leaving some sparkling comments in this space. I can't tell you how wonderful you all make me feel. And a special thanks to Zoe, who seems to share a peculiar and twisted mind!

It's been a crazy busy week. First, I helped out H2ohphoto.com with a photo session at Aqua-Tots Swim School (North Phoenix) Sunday. That's a cool thing I help with, being part-owner, mostly for post-processing of the images. Keeps my hands busy. Alas,keeps me away from my doodles.

It's a lot of fun, really.

Then my daughter wanted to try some wine. She's a recent graduate into adulthood, so it's a rite of passage, I guess. And there are some decent wines to drink here in the desert. Really! We ventured to Oak Creek Winery in Page Springs. Seeing her face crunch up was priceless! We know she doesn't like dry sherry, that's for sure! Lunch was in Cottonwood at the Tavern Grille. They keep "Plungerhead" available, and that's a good thing. It's the official wine of plumbers everywhere!

In between all that I've been trying to keep up with this week's challenges. So, here goes!
First up, "wheat" at EIM:

Health and Happiness

 Semolina

The first one is utilizing folk patterns from One Zentangle a Day, Day 41. The second is a pattern in Zentangle 8. 

Next, the Diva Challenge. I chose String 109 by David Rae at Tanglepatterns.com and I think I followed all the instructions (which can be found here).

THX

I got very frustrated with the IAST, for whatever reason. It could be trying to do it when I really should be sleeping. I was kind of fighting with the string, which I thought should be an "e," to go with the theme there. Thus, my contribution for this week's IAST is a modified string to make an "e." (My daughter regularly just signs, "e," lower case like e.e.cummings, so I'll get back to this another day) With all due respect for Anne Marks who created the original string--

"e"

Lastly the twinchie thing. The word of the week is "home." I really wanted to paste this up with lots of glitter, but that just didn't happen. Like the "e," I'll get back to that!

That pretty much covers what I've accomplished so far this week. There's some oddball stuff, but I'm just going to launch those to my Flickr feed as they don't need much explanation. Back to the photo processing....Have a brilliant day!

Post Number 50

What fun I've been having creating mini-masterpieces of art--inchies, twinchies, Zentangles--paper, paint, markers and glue have been my almost constant companions for the past three months. (And a strong smattering of yarn, but that story will still have to wait!). And to share my efforts with a new-found community of friends who are AMAZINGLY talented.
One of the talents I've "met" is Adele Bruno at Tickled to Tangle. She posts challenges of strings with a prereq list of tangles and boy! Challenging!
I had fun with this weeks IAST. At first glance I was intimidated by the three tangles chosen; they seemed so dissimilar. But once I got going, they all played together nicely.

Last week I was the first to respond with my spider web, so I freaked when I saw my art as the lead-in to her post of responses! How cool is that?
There's a huge collection of tangly people that visit the Diva, who has created a fabulous weekly challenge. And that's how I found Mandala Monday by Krishna. This is her first of what I hope are many, as I like working in the round and the concept of mandala. This is my first response:

I thank these talented and committed individuals that are putting in a lot of effort to help all of us create a huge body of work. Sometime I hope I can return the favor, perhaps throw out a challenge of my own?
Thanks for checking out my art. Be sure to see how others have responded!

Onomato Pea Yeah!

This week has been one long, strange stream of consciousness. It's hard to jump in and find where it all started, but see if you can follow some of my reasoning.
I started the weekend working on Paizel. it's kind of a paisley pattern on Day 31 of my imprisonment...er, ah, of "One Zentangle a Day." I keep trying to get through that book! It is a fabulous reference on zentangly things, but I'd be broke if I tried all the different media. Thus, I'm trying to stick to the methods, not the materials. This is a square using "paizel:"

On one of the other days, the direction was to mix up the strings a little bit to bring fresh air to my style. I woke up that day telling myself that I hadn't used "Hollibaugh" in a while (ever have days like that?!), so I knew that was a prerequisite for that day's tangling. So I scribbled a string that had straight lines, sharp angles as well as curves and drew in the "hollibaugh" on some of the string lines. This is what I accomplished on Sunday:

I carried over the B'tweed from last week and got a very art deco feel for this one. I like how the "Onomato" gives the piece contrast and movement. I looked at it and thought that part looks like peas-in-a-pod, and then it hit me: onomato-pea-yah...ononmatopoeia. It was like I figured out a joke someone told me months ago and I finally got the punch line. [And THAT lent itself to my twinchie for "fire" as a VERB on yesterday's post]
Then I woke up Monday morning to the Diva Challenge for the week with guest artist Cris Letourneau. Her illustration of her tangle "Seton" had lots of onomato in peapods. (Another book I'm using for Zentangle, #9 by Suzanne McNeill has other patterns quite similar to Seton--Poin and Quartered). I immediately saw the pattern as a string (gotta bring some fresh air to my style!) and wanted a very high-contrast result. Since onomato gave me a lot of contrast, I was going for more.

That's how my teenie art brain traveled through the past week. WOW! What a ride! Now to get back to my regularly scheduled life. But before I do, I'll be checking out some of the great artwork in response to this week's Diva Challenge. You should too!

Two Weeks of Inchies

Somehow, the easier the subject matter, the tougher it gets to wrap my head around it. The Inchie word last week was "vegetable." How hard could that be? Making a living won out, so I passed on it until today. Doing a little de-cluttering of my to-do list.
For the vegetable, I chose to take a photograph of the last harvest from my garden. While other Arizona gardeners are gearing up for a fine season of cool vegetables, I have to put mine to rest. Shade and gophers are my enemies. Thus, these hot, hot, hot! peppers!

This week's inchie is "violet." I saw that another artist chose a perfect little violet  from her house and this is mine. It's a houseplant I acquired with my house and it likes to be outside, surviving through the heat of an Arizona summer. Every part of it is purple. I found a seed company calling it "Purple Heart," while the botanical name is Tradescantia pallida. What a mouthful for a tiny little flower:

OK, those weren't so hard, right?! Well, then there's the twinchies. I went a little farther afield with these. Last week was "pumpkin." Follow me here...there's pumpkin and then there's...

Oh, boy! That's a stretch, huh?! 

This week it's "fire." Right this minute I think a cozy blanket, coffee, a good book and some logs burning in a fireplace would make a great combination (We're having a bit of a chill here in AZ today and I'll be dipped if I turn on the heat!). But that's not what my teenie art brain had in mind at all. I've had onomatopoeia on my mind (that'll be my next post...but I'm getting ahead of myself), so this roughly translated into:

I think gets me all caught up on these things. Until next week....

Check out all the inchie ladies; they are a diverse crew with talents that spread the galaxy. Beads, thread, paper, paint, oh, my!