Artful Halloween

In spite of Hurricane (what??) Sandy, I still managed to get a couple projects done this week. Not my zendala yet--yet!! It's hard to find time when hubby and kiddo are both home with school and work being closed, then the power and lights go out...*sigh* The house should clear out again tomorrow so planning a little zendala and Holly portrait time--yay!

And here we go:

 

The Diva's Weekly Challenge was to use the brandy new pattern, Bunzo (the swirly cone-ish bits in the center of the left side and the far right corner). I've also been wanting to play with a combo of Fife, Bales, and Suzanne McNeill's new pattern, Snood, and threw in a little 'Flord'. Not 100% happy with how this turned out but considering most of it was done with no light, well...hoping for better results with the week's zendala...

Then, I had signed up for a bookmark swap on Facebook and finally got that finished and ready to mail:

Front: Helen William's Leaflet pattern

Back: Eye-wa, Bales, Tripoli, 'Nzeppel

Wanna do more of these!! But....too many other projects waiting in the wings and Christmas swaps coming up...Christmas! Shopping and baking and presents to wrap--I'm already in the mood for my stash of Christmas dvd's and cd's!! Aaahhh, love this time of year!!

And speaking of things I love, we spent a good chunk of the day beach adventuring today! We couldn't get back down to Horseneck as the road had been washed out from Sandy, but stopped to take some harbor pics, play with a couple super cute dogs, and agitate an already hurricane agitated crabby--poor guy!

That's actually downtown New Bedford in the background, taken from Fort Phoenix beach. I love lighthouses!

Love New England, love living here, very thankful we didn't get hit worse from Sandy....Hope everyone has a happy Halloween! Trick-or-treat!!

Weekly Challenges

Having another great week of zentangle fun! I was up until after nine finishing the Diva Challenge last night (way past my usual bedtime of 7:30--definitely not a night owl! Haha!) But once I'm in that mode, it's hard to stop. I would've lain there awake obsessing about finishing, so it only made sense to stick with it and get 'er done!

First, the Bright Owl's Zendala Dare #28 I loved this template but I wasn't happy with the progress of my design until it was shaded in, then I was a bit happier. Still feels heavy and clunky to me...

 

And I don't know why the background appears so blue, other than poor lighting...Felt very 'Queen of Hearts' but not sure if I managed to capture that...At least I got some color in this week!

Then the Diva's Weekly Challenge #92, a little string theory challenge to use stripes for your string. I decided to go a little 'Hollibaugh' with my stripes:

I could totally play with this striped string theory a lot more--so many ideas floating in my head but there's only so much time in the week and new challenges come out tomorrow...Plus! This is the sweet baby girl I get to paint a portrait of:

 

Those ears!! And her cute little nose...miss our precious baby Holly!! But getting cracking on that--basecoated the slate, have to pull paints yet (I love thinking of colors!) And I keep looking at my stash of pens and markers and colored pencils...so much fun stuff to play with, if only there were more hours in the day!!

Oh! I've entered a couple more swaps: a Christmas Secret Santa swap for the Zia Yahoo group, and a zentangle bookmark swap on Facebook! Need to start thinking about those as well...fun, fun, fun!

As always, thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a fantastic weekend! See you next week! (Watching the weather reports on Frankenstorm...and off to Walmart to stock up this morning! Yikes!!)

Did it!

Whew!! Laura's Diva Challenge this week was to tangle some beads for Beads of Courage. (Click on either link for more information about this touching program for kids with serious illnesses) I honestly didn't think I'd get this challenge completed in time even though I knew in my head what I wanted to do. So I sat myself down and drew it out, shaded and colored all in maybe half an hour? I so love tangling and completing a project in such a short amount of time!

I wanted my string to be a heart for these precious kids who are so brave and then when I'd sketched in my beads, I realized I had a bead for each letter of the word Courage, so each tangle pattern begins with these letters (Cack, Ojo, Unyun, Rose, Aah, Gewurtz, Efilys) and the heart is just for love.

TaDa!

Zendala Dare #27

Well, I managed to finish a dare on time this week-Erin's Zendala #27 from over at the Bright Owl. I spent some time yesterday morning at my sister-in-law's while she took her father to a doctor's appointment. I hung out just in case Mom woke up. I addressed all our Christmas cards and then tackled the Zendala dare. A very productive morning. Brought it home to fill it in and shade and viola! Here it is:

 



 

I'm missing color. I really want to play with my Tombows and Aquamarkers...I know I should be thankful to have the time and state of mind to be creative but, still...I want to do more!! I'm hoping to get Laura's Diva challenge done today or tomorrow (wishful thinking since it's not even started...)

The good news is that I received my first commission this week-a pet portrait of a sweet little dog I used to pet sit back in PA who sadly crossed over the Rainbow Bridge recently. I'm excited to break out my acrylics, brushes, and slates again, though a bittersweet memorial...Miss Holly was such a love. I'm hoping I can capture her sweet spirit.

I'm also hoping to make it to a pumpkin patch today or tomorrow--Halloween is knocking on the door already and we have no pumpkins! I learned I'm dreadfully low on our stock of candy according to the bus stop moms (actually two grandmas and a dad...) They say they go through a good fifteen to twenty bags of candy every year and I don't even have half of that...Seriously?? Craziness....

So, time to scrounge up some breakfast and start working on Laura's challenge while the house is still quiet...Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!

Artful Wednesday from New Bedford!

Well, I certainly didn't expect to be posting anything this soon after our move, but I had a great day yesterday and managed to get quite a bit done art-wise! I'm still behind schedule with the weekly challenges, but definitely on my way to catching up and that feels pretty good. First is my Zendala from the Bright Owl's Dare #26. It was to have a fall or Halloween theme to it and that really threw me off for some reason--I LOVE fall and Halloween but for the life of me, I really struggled with getting this one finished:

I confess the 'Nzeppel in the middle was a cop out just to get this finished...had no idea what to do with all those little spaces!! Then I knocked my water bottle over on it-lid shut but it still dripped a wee bit and blurred a spot...grrrr!! So, glad this one is finally done!
 

Then the Diva's Weekly Challenge #90 was to use String 001 from TanglePatterns. Fortunately, I had already started this triptych before we left PA, playing with the scrolled feather patterns from Helen Williams at a little lime when I realized I had String 001 already drawn in for the center tile--talk about perfect timing....

The dragonfly was inspired by my sister-in-law, Cindy...think this could use a little color...

And the piece that got me really moving this week was sitting myself down and doing my Idea Journal page. These have been so simple but bright, cheery, and fun to do and look at, it really helped get the creative juices flowing again:

A little autumn tree and squirrely contemplating those tempting acorns....done with my lovely set of Inktense watercolor pencils--sweet joy!!
 

A few more quick pics....

These little beauties are the Halloween ATC's I received from our Zentangle group swap--love them!

This is my view overlooking our patio, the leaves just starting to change but they don't stay up for long after they turn here.

Tucker's new couch and he loves his new view out the front window!

We were given this gorgeous Tiffany lampshade by Bill's sister, Cindy--looks perfect in the kitchen nook!

So, there you have it...Hoping to get this week's challenges done before the weekend...if I can keep on this roll, I just might get myself all caught up! I'm also starting to plan some slate paintings to try and sell here--some lighthouse, aquatic themed pieces...obvious touristy sorts of stuff--when in Rome, right?? Thanks for stopping by! Have a great rest of the week!