Life is a Circus

This is monsoon season. It's hot and steamy and I'm not used to it. Lived plenty of years near the shore with plenty of humidity, but it's not what the desert is usually like. Except for this time of year. This is what "siestas" are for--work early in the day or late at night and rest in the middle.
Otherwise, you have no energy.
Funny that the word of the week for  EIM is "energy."
The first thing that I thought of was the notation, "NRG." It litters my science notebooks from school, a shorthand of sorts from the seventies. From there my brain went to the Kreb's cycle, or how we generate energy on a sub-cellular level. I wasn't going to try to cram that diagram into a square-inch or even try to wrap my way-past-academia brain around it. (I'll leave that to my sister, the Professor--she gets paid to do that).
I have a bunch of other ideas, instead:

Solar Flare from pcmag.com, Turning water and sunlight into food and oxygen from science.jrank.org and
"IVY MIKE," the first successful hydrogen bomb, 1952 from CTBTO

No original work amongst the choices thus far, so I reached little further...

I've been reading about solar power. In Arizona we have a wealth of it (330 sunny days per year!); it's just a matter of turning it into usable power. It would be fabulous to live off-grid! However, the electric company has instituted a nasty surcharge on homes with solar panels and solar companies are not keen on mobile-home installations. Federal tax incentives have expired and the value of solar homes is less than comparable homes without it. I found this in the venerable Arizona Republic Saturday (Valley and State, p. 1F, "Rooftop Solar: Does it add Value to your Home?" by Ryan Randazzo and Catherine Reagor).
The accompanying photograph was a riot of patterns just waiting for me! (You just never know from whence inspiration may come!) Now we're getting somewhere!

Solar Roof Installation
Rachael Le Goubin/The Arizona Republic

Let's start with some zinchies!

Then move along to a bunch of twinchies!

SOLAR

Still have that SOLAR theme going on!
Then on to other ideas....

Lavender Fields
My first set of four Somethings
Found papers, 
Acrylic paint and beads

Based on an idea from
EIM and ICAD

And onto all the Zentangly choices I can muster:

TM3 No. 005

Singing in the Rain
DIVA 226

Fried Eggs
IAST 102

I was still trying to muster that "enoughness" idea from last week. It took everything I had to NOT fill in that white space for the "String Thing." In fact, in disclosure the Diva art is my second attempt. The first one was so absolutely crazy it was a real circus. I may post that over on Flickr, but this has been a week and I'm done for now!
Thanks so much for dropping by! I appreciate the company as much as I appreciate the individuals that put the effort into creating the various challenges and prompts to get the creative juices flowing.
Have a brilliant day!

Day 21 Repetitive Patterns

I've been working on the daily exercises in Beckah Krahula's book, One Zentangle a Day, and today is for transforming repetitive patterns. At first, I was a little intimidated by the patterns for the day, but I just took my time with it. And I was going to cram a lot more drawing into this one, but left a swath of white space as it was getting too busy. I drew circles to help tone down the angles. The end result has an Art Deco feel to it, don't you think?

This is also on my Flickr page here. Thanks for taking a look!

I need to get busy as we have guests for dinner, the always entertaining Robert and his lovely wife, Michele with one "L." He's usually busy managing his gallery and painting his landscapes, but in summer the pace is a lot slower (as in, open by appointment only). So, we can relax on the patio with snacks and frosty beverages and perhaps, just perhaps, watch the rain. If we're lucky.

Brand new blog!

I have been thoroughly enjoying being engaged to the Zentangle community and the many permutations and off-shoots I have found. I have found much joy and collective creative spirit that has overflowed into all spaces of my life. Thus a new blog is born!

There are also my other pursuits that will hopefully show up: photography, gardening, needlework of all flavors, travel and family. I will extoll those who are virtuous by protecting the identity of the innocents and blatantly flaunt those who make me proud!
[Disclamer: wait until I become a grandmother! I'll be unbearable.]

I've posted some art here:

My Flickr Doodle Gallery

and some great artists and tanglers have already found me there. I thank everyone for taking time to view and critique my work. I hope to channel some of that creative energy for bettering my crafts and inspiring others (now there's a tall order!)

Have a brilliant day!
c