AEDM Day 16 (...12...)

Well, I didn't actually skip a day of arting, just posting. Day 11's project was a black Zentangle tile, of which I don't have official 'tiles' so I simply tangled on an old black notebook page with my white Gelly Roll pen and I was rather disappointed with the results, so I didn't bother with taking pictures or posting about it. Blah. Not all arting comes out victorious but at least the practice makes one better, smarter having learned from mistakes made, and eager to strive for more successful results, right?

So yesterday morning I stayed with my mother-in-law so sister-in-law could go grocery shopping, run errands, and stop to visit father-in-law at the nursing home. I can't even begin to imagine being in her shoes. Everything heaped on her shoulders...Mostly mornings spent there are quiet and uneventful, save for the cat coming up from the basement to demand some attention. I typically see more of her than of Mom, who spends most of her day sleeping anymore. But Mom actually did get up for a little while yesterday, and sat in the kitchen with me to eat her breakfast. She wasn't feeling well, dizzy and headachey, and soon headed back to bed. I carried on with my Zentangle a Day and this is yesterday's (not official) tile:

 

Patterns of the day were Echoism, Finery, and Flukes. I love the soft feathery-ness of Finery paired with the harder, scaliness of Flukes and the rippling flow of Echoism...

Today once again I'll be playing catch up at home. This whole week seems to have gotten away from me and we have a full weekend ahead with bowling, and the church's Christmas Fair on Saturday, then a Thanksgiving service Sunday afternoon at the Seaman's Bethel -a historic chapel, nearly two hundred years old and the 'Whaleman's Chapel' of Melville's Moby Dick--how super cool is that?? Next week is Thanksgiving break already and I have no idea what we're actually doing for the holiday...I don't dare blink, otherwise it'll be Christmas!

Click here to see more artists in action or to join in the challenge: AEDM

AEDM Day 14 (...10...)

Well, most of yesterday was spent dealing with my Lack of Phone issues...I bounced from the Verizon store to an AT&T store and ended up on the phone with Verizon's customer service (always the way to go!) who've kept me from jumping ship at the exhoribitant cost of almost $300 for early termination of my contract--yikes!! Sorry AT&T...I told the guys who waited on me that I'd be back. I won't. At least not for two more years...But I am happy with Verizon (when they give me what I want--I truly am a brat, I confess...) I'm getting a super cool phone--a Droid Razr M and all is right with the world once more. Like anyone really cares about my phone issues, right? I know--it just took all of my morning to get that sorted out and after spending all of Monday playing, I'm way behind house-wise and I didn't get much caught up after lunch but I will jump on all of that today. Projects are piling up!

I did sit down after dinner to do the day's Zentangle project. Patterns for the day were Vega and Purk (one of my favorites!) And I did a little fill with Tippled Hollibaugh for this result:

 

I was worried the Tipple might muddle the effect of the Purk, but my only issue with this is that it's hard to discern the smalled Purk sitting on top of the larger. It's a little eyeball bendy and I like that!

 

Today, as I said, is playing catch up on finishing the laundry and housework since tomorrow I'll be at my sister-in-law's for a good chunk of the morning--a good time to catch up on reading! I'm trying to finish Fevre Dream so I can at least start 11/22/63 before we go see Stephen King speak in Lowell! Too many irons in the fire! Aaahhh! Haha--it's good to be busy with so many happy things! Thanks for stopping by and have a great Wednesday!

AEDM Day 12 (...8...) and Zendala Dare 31

Running a day ahead somehow! I even spent a couple hours raking leaves after church this morning, but got my Zendala dare done in no time...I did know exactly what I wanted to do once I saw the template-it just screamed Cubine to me. So sat myself down and ta da!! The template also kind of seems like a kalidescope, which could be really pretty in color...if I can get around to a second shot...but for now, here's my Cubine zendala:

 

Cubine with a Gneiss star in the middle

And this is Day Six of the One Zentangle A Day course--patterns given were Amaze, Mooka, and Flux...added a little Printemps in the corner. It feels too light, no depth or contrast. Ah well, we'll have to see what tomorrow brings, right?

 

So, off to feed the pups and round up Bug from wherever he got to this afternoon. Heading to visit Grampa at rehab for a little while tonight. No school tomorrow and the weather is supposed to be gorgeous! I'm thinking we might head to the beach for a little seashell scouting after a stop at the library to see what kinds of goodies we can find there! Thanks for stopping by!

AEDM Day 11 (...7...)

Woohoo!! Even in the midst of our busy day yesterday, I still managed to find time to squeak out the day's zentangle! Okay, granted, that's not how you're supposed to do zentangle...it's supposed to be a quieter, meditative process, hence the 'zen'...But, I had a little time before Bug's tournament to go over and sketch out the day's exercise, even managed to ink it in and start coloring some before the bowling got under way (the boys had a great day and fun was had by all, I believe!) Then later in the day I finished coloring and shading...and here ya' go!

 

I like yesterday's tile much better than this one...The day's patterns (only two) were Isochor and Printemps, with the added 'sparkle' technique, which I hadn't tried before. Isochor still confounds me. I had been drawing it a completely different way than the step out in the book (One Zentangle a Day), and I think I like my way better than this way (but does that make it something other than Isochor??) Anyway, I do love the sparkle (should've sparkled my Crescent Moon, I think...)

So this morning is church and then yard clean up for a good portion of the afternoon. I have Erin's weekly zendala dare printed out and ready to go and I'm pretty sure what I plan to do with it (though those weeks I seem to change completely and do something altogether different than what started out in my head...) and I will do my best to do Day Six of One Zentangle a Day--and I didn't think I'd get any arting done all weekend! If I didn't have the challenge, I would've skipped it though, so a great big Thank You to Leah over at Creative Every Day for helping me (make) take the time to tangle and create!

AEDM Day 10 (um, 6)



I took a little 'Creativity Date' yesterday and went exploring at our new Michaels store in Dartmouth. It's pretty big and, sadly, the shelving is so high, it's really hard to see around the store to find where everything is at. I almost felt a little claustrophobic...But we also have an AC Moore as well that I really like, so I should be good on art supply shopping opportunities, either way! After Michaels, I thought I'd stop for a latte at another new-to-me place, Mirasol's Cafe. What a great little shop! It's so cute, inside and out, the windows are all painted bright and cheery! And along with coffee and lattes and chai and smoothies, they also offer quite a list of sandwiches and pastries, monster cookies--oh my!! I just ordered my latte and headed home, having such a small window for play time with school letting out early. It was yum! I'll definitely have to head back sometime for lunch and other, hopefully longer Creative Date excursions!

 

So this is Day Four of One Zentangle a Day. The patterns of the day are Shattuck, Nipa, and Jonqual, and below is my tile:

 

 

I'm really enjoying this book and highly recommend it for anyone looking for a well stocked Zentangle pattern book--there's so many that aren't available online. Get it, get it, get it!

The next three days look pretty busy...I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up with AEDM, but I'm really going to try and in the very least, I will certainly jump back on board by Tuesday when life returns to what passes for normal here! Haha! Hope everyone has a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

AEDM-Day 9 (er, 5...)

 Continuing on with AEDM--we should do this every month! Of course, there is a Creativity Every Day challenge...Just somedays it's hard to find the time to sit and play. And looking at the long weekend coming up so quickly here, I'm wondering just how much art I'll be able to accomplish over the next three days. Saturday we have the Father/Son bowling tournament then family adventuring after. Sunday, weather permitting, is more yard clean up from these storms that have dumped leaves and branches all over, and Monday Bugga's home from school for Veteran's Day. So he'll either be gone all day or I'll have a houseful of boys crammed in the office playing video games on the computer and eating everything in the fridge and snack cupboard...Then next weekend's Thanksgiving already! How can that possibly be?? I really need to get cracking on wrapping for Christmas... and baking! This time of year always flies by too fast....

 

Anyway, I wasn't completely happy with my first tile response to the Diva's Weekly Challenge #94-UMT Socc and something in the auras made me think of Mi2, so I wanted to play with a combo of the patterns...and, I don't know, maybe I need more practice with Socc...it's still not quite what I was thinking of...

Then for Day Three of One Zentangle A Day, the patterns we were given were Poke Root (yes, I mislabled my sample as Poke Leaf but fixed it this morning after I saw it in the picture...my brain stops working after, well, it's not really worked all that well since Michael was born??...), Festune, and Hollibaugh. And my tile, with a little Tipple thrown in as well:

Ta-daaa! I do like this!

So, time for breakfast and some quality time on the treadmill before I get on with the day. Oh, I did make some great progress on the pet portrait as well yesterday (it was a good, good day!! And aren't you curious to see?? Haha!) Happy Friday everyone!! Thanks for stopping by and hopefully I'll have more to share tomorrow!

 

Art Every Day Month (Technically Day 8, for me Day 4...always been a late bloomer...)

So I'm jumping on board the AEDM train a little late because I didn't really find out about it until it was well under way-but I'm playing along anyway. Day One would've been my PIE zendala, Day Two the Diva challenge Socc zentangle, Day Three I started a new six week course called One Zentangle A Day, which should carry me well through AEDM and almost up to Christmas! Yay! These are the pics for Days Three and Four:

You are given three patterns a day to work with to create a Zentangle. Using an old leftover sketchbook--figure this will be a great reference piece when the course is finished.

 

I'm really excited about the next six weeks of zentangle as I work through this course. I've been playing with this since April and am totally in love with the art and the process. There's an amazing online community of incredibly talented artists who share their work and techniques, along with being a constant source of inspiration! I enjoy learning from them but I also hope to attend a certification course next year and then be able to teach Zentangle to others. Too much fun!

 

(On a side note for AEDM-I'm also working on an acrylic painting of a pet portrait and got the background completed yesterday. Not posting pics every day, but will update progress reports as it comes along...Nothing like a teaser!)

 



And, completely unrelated:

Things You Can Do With A Bassett:

She really does have eyeballs!

People can be so annoying....