Tagh, You're It!

Oh, these Zentangle jokes are just coming at ya, aren't they?
If you just think I forgot how to spell, which is highly unlikely considering my highly-functioning OCD or a comfortable reliance on spell-check, then start here. There isn't much on how-to-do "Tagh," considering it's an "official" Zentangle tangle. In fact, while trying to find out what a Tagh is, I mostly found WHERE Tagh is. here or here.
Cool stuff that was good for many minutes lost in the weird wide spidey web, but failing to help my goal-oriented brain from drawing seed-like pods of "Tagh" for last week's String Thing.
Sigh.
I sat down to draw. And draw. And draw some more.
And toss out a bunch of drawings.
Eventually I settled on a couple worthy of the light of day. And submitted one to the keeper of the IAST before the official deadline passed.

I also practiced "Chillon," which I never use as it seems unfinished or something. But here, it looks like quilting and I like that.

This week's IAST:

I have blown through a few Diva "globes" while waiting in waiting rooms for appointments. The charge this week was to create grids in the round and I've been meaning to do something a little Op-Art, so now is the time! In Zentanglish the pattern is called Knightsbridge, perhaps in reference to marble castle floors? The only things missing are the heraldic banners on the wall.

The EIM word for the week is fish. It wasn't that long ago that I was playing with fish for the 2x2, so I only did one. Tuesday was National Grilled Cheese Sandwich day and what goes with that better than tomato soup and...?

Go Fish!

I've been feeling well; therapy is allowing me greater range of motion. I can drive, which is a plus considering how far to the doctor's office. (Honestly, anywhere from here is far). The doctors prognosis is good, making me happy.

My physician asked about the sketching journal I carry with me everywhere and I was able to share with her the joy of Zentangle and other artful pursuits that allow me to be focused, and as a result feel less pain, for a time. I like non-medical (and non-medicinal) interventions and that I have something to show for the time spent. She saw the value in it and wants to share the concept with her patients, one in particular suffering from immobilizing depression.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, I wrote a thesis paper on behavioral management of depression. You know the NIKE ads? "Just do it." Well, my thesis was essentially: "Just do SOMETHING." In that regard, artistic endeavors are at their very least mindful distractions and can become conduits to therapy and recovery.

My daughter is finding that making potholders is just the right amount of distraction to work on a broken heart. It pains me to see her so disconnected, but there are glimpses of happiness when she shows me her new work.

And one of our own is having challenges. She wants to take control of her circumstances and infuse her life, particularly an upcoming birthday, with more artful joy. She put the call out to obtain some supplies to make that happen and she was able to happily inform me that a patron has graciously stepped forward in answer. That doesn't mean there couldn't be more happy in her Happy Birthday. Pop on over and say so.

Tag you're it!

Sunrise, Sunset

This week is ridiculously busy. Running here and there, putting hundreds of miles on my car every day. That's not a difficult thing when you live out in the country and to get to town is 50 miles. It also means that precious hours are gobbled up on the freeway.
If only I could drive and draw!
(And don't get me started on the idiots that seem to be doing just that while hurtling their steel bombs at 80 mph).
So forgive me if I kinda cheesed out on the EIM this week. I selected an image that happily greets me every day and makes me quite happy in return. As the advertising jingle used to sing: "The best part of waking up is Folger's in your cup." Oh, yeah!

So, what you have here are (clockwise from upper left), a) from an advertisement for a coffee syrup, b) Folger's foil liner with the sun peeking over the mountains, c) a sun rise peeking out over the mountains in Tahoe, Nevada from a tourist brochure and d) the silver foil liner from the coffee can.
Plenty of fodder for the inchie collection and some twinchies, too, I'm sure.
Inspired? Hardly, but art is where you find it, yes?
I thought I could post more, but like I said, run, run, run. If you're looking for my goldfish, or wondering why I would have goldfish, check this post out.
Thank for stopping by. And thanks for the fish.

This Fish is a Gold Mine!

Here are some variations on "Goldfish," for the TwobyTwo art blog. I didn't want to do just one and I had the luxury of trying different media. Indeed, I want to tackle each word this year from various perspectives. We'll see how successful THAT is!

I like the look of watercolor but have no formal training in it and my results can best be described as elementary. This one was done with Staedtler watercolor pencils:

He looks quite mean, doesn't he? You should see my other attempts, but I'm not showing them. This guy should be happy he's the best of the bunch.

Then there's a pencil sketch. While he already outgrew his fishbowl, I used it to contain the composition, unlike the first guy's blank canvas:

I really wanted to try to draw a koi in a fish pond, but he looked more like a drowned rat getting gobbled up by lily pads that resembled Pac Man, so forget about seeing THAT.
To try to just get to know some colored pencil colors, I downloaded a coloring page of Cleo from Disney's "Pinocchio."

The colors are all wrong, the yellow in the scan is too dark. I have no delusions that I own the copyright to that image, since Pinocchio came out in 1940 and Disney's lawyers are everywhere. I colored it, I'll take the blame.
This one is a photocollage of several digital images. As I was playing in Photoshop, I wanted to create a sense of movement, which is why some of it is blurry. It was intentional! Do you think it worked out?

The tangly woman at Tickled to Tangle is up to challenge #126. I haven't done one of those in a while and this one worked out better than okay. Thanks, Adele!

IAST 126
Phroz, 4Fun and Pop Clouds

As per usual I had one idea on how I wanted it to end up and it had its mind made up on how it wanted to go. Some of the geometry is off, but it's not a real distraction to none other than myself.

So that was soooooo last week. Now to work on THIS week!