To Infinity and Beyond!

Since Life as we know it can be weird and coincidental, it really was no surprise that the EIM and the 2X2 had similar themes this week. For the TwobyTwo, the word was "Astronomy."

Since life gets really weird sometimes, I recently received some mail that fit perfectly. 

We're particularly fond of Pluto, even if it was downgraded from full planet status; it was at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff that Pluto's existence was first revealed in 1930. Last year, the New Horizon satellite took close-ups of Pluto before leaving the Solar System and the observatory was in celebration mode all year. (The plastic bead is meant to represent the satellite. Do you think that works? I'm not so sure and haven't committed to it yet!)

The stamp arrived on mail last week for a different celebration. According to my dad's calculations, I'm going to be 37. I could live with that!

Over at the EIM, the word is "Infinity." I had nowhere else to go with this one. I pasted Buzz on a photo of the M33, the Triangulum Galaxy. If you're a geek like me, APOD is one of my favorite blogs, care of NASA, from whence I found the galaxy photograph.

Over at the Diva, the challenge was to step back, relax and just do the tangle. I stepped into the zone slowly. I gathered some "real" art supplies for a change (Faber Castell Pitt Manga markers and Strathmore paper instead of my usual journal and Sharpies), as part of the intent of Zentangle is to honor the method as well as the materials; to place value on the process and the result.
To experience unmitigated JOY!

I said some prayers to Rick and Maria, the founders of all things Zentangle and to Laura, the Diva herself. You know? To instill a feeling of gratefulness. I added Jean next to my list as she was the first CZT I found on-line and how I found the Diva and the EIM. Naturally, I then prayed for Trillian, the leader of the EIM and the entire pack that tackles teenie artworks on a weekly basis. Then back to all the creatives I've met through Laura.

Oh! My heart is full to overflowing!

I poured a cuppa, cleared my desk and was instantly derailed by the antique cuckoo clock that was recently resurrected. The ticking drives me BATTY! (I won't start about the midnight cuckoos)! 

Deep breath. 

I asked the Universe for healing that comes with FOCUS. 

I drew the most complicated string I've ever done because that's the way it wanted to be and the tangles filled the spaces and the world slipped away for just ever so long. 

Then I reproduced that string and did it the old-fashioned way, for me anyway. Just me and my Sharpie (two, actually, as one was destined for the great Dustbin in the Sky).

I drew it in this orientation:

But, when I was done I rotated it and much prefer this direction:

I "do" this with "Knightsbridge"--checkerboard in Zentanglese-- often JFF*, but this was the first time I restrained myself from filling in EVERY. LAST. CORNER.

It had reached its "enough-ness." 

Since you were so kind to stop by, I've posted the string in all its glory on the G2H page. Should you decide to use it, show me your handiwork--I'd love to see it!-- and be so kind to link it back to the page where you found it. 

Thank you for visiting. I hope you have a brilliant day! 

* Just for Fun

Spacey Space Themes

Previously, I mentioned that NASA released new images from the Hubble Telescope of the Eagle Nebula and that I could not find the links again. Well, tada! Here we go:

New!
Pillars of Creation in
Infrared

You can read the information here.  I found it as I was reading the story about how five of our planetary sisters are all going to line up in the sky starting tomorrow. That would be something to see, wouldn't it? I hope to get up to the Lowell Observatory and check it out through their telescopes.

There were also photographs from the ISS of a space zinnia.

I was very glad to find the links again as I had designs on the stars. 

You know you can put images from Hubble to personal use, right? It's a public domain thing, since We-the-People have paid for the space program. Therefore, you get this:

Space Bubble
Photomontage

It wasn't really doing what I wanted it to do, but yet another digital image collage is born (is it really collage if no paper is involved?) in answer to an art challenge. This one is for EIM; the word of the week is, "sofa." I wanted to tackle the thing from the perspective of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," just without the crazy two-headed president. (I'm almost done re-reading the book!!)

A different art challenge I responded to this week is from the Diva. This week is to raise awareness of Moebius Syndrome; her son has this neurological condition. Please read her post and you'll get an understanding of what that all means. Here's my rather simple answer:

MOEBIUS
Staedler Watercolor and
Derwent Metallic Pencils

Remember creating Moebius paper strips in school? Or even better yet, going to the Museum of Science and seeing their massive Moebius sculpture? Or the Van de Graaf generator? COOL!

If you're wearing an infinity scarf, that's a Moebius! If you're a fan of Dune or the Fifth Element, that's a different Moebius. If you're my friend, Mark the sculptor, you have created several stone Moebius. And if you're a little boy nicknamed, "Artoo," that's living with Moebius. 

I thank you for stopping by. If you're in the greater Phoenix area the next few weeks, I'll be hanging out at the Celebration of Fine Arts ("The BIG white tents") weekends through February 7 or thereabouts. Booth 216. FIND OUT WHY! You can email me (1xeritas@gmail dot com) to see when exactly I'm there; I'd love to see you! 

Meanwhile, the twinchie word of the week is, "MONEY!" That's what I'm doing next! How about you?!

What in the World?

While the New Year is already a few days old, this is the first I've been able to do "me" stuff. You know what I mean, right? The obligations of running a household or taking care of or participating in family matters are caught up and you can do....absolutely nothing.
Which is surely an important task on the to-do list: to rest, to contemplate, to consider or resolve. I'm not one for resolutions on the top of the year, they become too overwhelming with guilt when they don't pan out immediately.
But I have my wishes: to be more creative, to be more fiscally mindful. to stretch the grey matter as well as all the rest of my cells....ah, the list is long and not very focused.
To wit, what does more creativity really mean?

I intend to participate more fully in the art challenge blogs I've enjoyed and to put more energy in the one I host. I want to try different media and some new techniques, especially before I buy more goodies from the art or crafts stores. And when the year is up, I'd like to have an organized record of what I've accomplished--whether it's here or in a box or heaven help us, framed and hanging on my walls (OMG!)

To get started, there's the art challenge blog called, "Every Inchie Monday," hosted by Trillian. The objective is to work on inch-sized art with "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" as the governing theme for this year. The word of the day is, appropriately, "galaxy."
I hold the galaxy in my hand every day, a Samsung phone that is smarter than I am. For a long time I desired granite countertops in my kitchen and the color I chose was "galaxy black," which looks very much like the glitter paper I was using last week. So this is where we ended up:

Six Colors of Glitter
Black glitter paper
Glue and goo

I wasn't too amused as I tried desperately to 'set' the glitter with a spray acrylic medium which spewed white ick instead of CLEAR sealant. Not only do I have white splotches on stuff, I STILL have glitter EVERYWHERE!

While I was trying to get my brain wrapped around the stellar concept, I found that there were new images of the Eagle Nebula out last week (but could not find the link again!). This region is called the "Pillars of Creation," as many stars are born here:

Messier Object 16
Hubble Telescope

I think I'll enjoy the space-related art prompts. And I'll have to read the book as I forget some of the story lines.

Moving along, the Diva Challenge this week is a duotangle--two tangles together--of Auraknot and Diva Dance. It's the five-year anniversary of Laura Harm's blog challenge and here's what I did with it:

Can you spot the mistakes? Good! There aren't supposed to be any in the Zentangle mindset, but that doesn't mean they don't exist!
I sooooo need a new stubbie, I lost mine on a flight to New England. I had had it since college, will it take me as long to replace it? Can I put an asterisk on that resolution to not buy a bunch of stuff at the art store?
Won't they miss me?
Won't you come back and visit to see how things are going? How about checking out the art blogs and trying your hand at it? Join in the fun!

Mass De-struction

This week was a helluva ride. It started out peaceful enough--the big agenda item was something innocuous like a haircut. I was breaking in a fairly new stylist--Monty at Carefree Salon. (He's also waitstaff at the Chili's in Tramonto). I was quite pleased by the result and in a peaceful frame of mind.
In short order thereafter, my son landed in the hospital (dehydration. I cannot stress enough: fluids, people! Fluids!) and my car was in serious need of tires, struts and a new battery. Veni, Vidi, VISA!
That kept me busy a good part of last week, with a little daughter drama thrown in for good measure.
In between all that is the kitchen reno. When Sleeping Man gets motoring it's go-go-go! We picked up the cabinetry from our friends at Home Depot, which are now cluttering our patio (the cabinets, not the friends!). They need to be finished, so that's a project for another day. Yesterday, the 42-year old stuff came out, but not without a fight. And, more importantly, where to put the stuff that was cramming a running ten-feet of cabinets?
But still, I kept up my little zinchies!

I'm cutting out little squares from whatevers (and drawing with my trusty Sharpie). Last week it was a soda carton, this week mostly from a waffle box. I don't want to deal with the freak-out factor if I don't have the "right" paper or materials. The Alligator was from a beautiful solicitation from Discover Financial, very fancy. The Chambord label has a star pattern that reminds me of Cathedral Window quilting (and a project I've been planning for, well, as long as my kids have been on the planet...). Which brings me to:

The Inchie word of the week is "Night." I really like Van Gogh's "Starry Night," and wanted to do my take on that, but patience is not on the platter this morning. I did some Googling and found a tutorial on creating this star pattern with vectors. I understand vectors, but for the life of me cannot work with them. And this tutorial just made my head hurt.
Thus, my contribution to this week's Every Inchie Monday is this star pattern. I'm sure there's someone out there that has de-constructed this for the Zentangle method, but I wasn't finding it. If you know of it, please let me know. Meanwhile, head over to EIM for the Night inchies! That's where I'm headed for a good dose of creativity from the brilliant minds that like to do teenie little artworks.

Challenges with a Common Thread

So I'm a good week behind the curve for MadebyJoey. Last week the challenge was out for a five-pointed star and here is what developed there. Next time I'll let all the tangles describe the symbol rather than laying down outlines. At least I think that would be an improvement there.
The patterns I used included Knight's Bridge, Hollibaugh, Crescent Moon, Gingham, Static and N'Zeppel.

Then I moved on to an alphatangle challenge from Beez in the Belfry. The challenge was loosely defined as using a name as a string and only official Zentangle tangles to fill it. I chose a variety of patterns that matched up letter by letter for "TISH," a nickname that I acquired in college. Now, there's a story! Ha! For now, I'll save that for another day. And I have another variation floating in the grey matter for an alphatangle, but that, too, will have to wait.

I got the patterns and descriptions from those lovely people over at TanglePatterns.com. They are in order: Tipple, Tripoli, Tagh, Izorus, Isochor, Sez, Shattuck, Hibred, Hollibaugh and Huggins.

Lastly, I did the tangle tango with the Diva. Her challenge this week was to utilize a tartan plaid. I have a different source for the pattern and have practiced drawing it; the fun part this time was going to be what else to do? I went over to Random.org to generate some numbers and matched them up to the list that Linda Farmer has of official tangles back over at Tangle Patterns.

I drew in order: Locar, Rixty, Drupe (by Sandy Stein Bartholomew over at the Belfry), Nipa and MacDee by Anneke Van Dam. I have it as Kilt from Suzanne McNeill's Zentangle 8, that's where I found it, but I'm not one to challenge originality as I'm new to all this.

 

 

So when I put them all together I realized that there's a common thread running through these three drawings: they each have fabric patterns in them. No surprise, really, as if I'm not at my desk, there's a sewing machine waiting for me. Or three.

 

I could be busy with all these challenges all day, but I best get back to work lest I continue on the path of starving artist.