A Zen Art card for no reason what so ever....

It has been a week since I started this card. I am doing it in spare minutes. I enjoyed the process and I think I am getting back to where I was before winter froze the inspiration out of my bones. I will be doing a couple of short art classes for the homeschool kiddos again, so I am starting to feel good about my pens and my hands. sigh.

I am going to participate in an ATC swap. I haven't done one in a while and I still have one to send that fills me with guilt. I keep losing the third card for the swap that is 3 months late. I told myself that I would not do another swap unless the cards were done before I signed up. So the cards are done and I have signed on the dotted line. I like one more than the other, but I won't tell which.

Rend: an opening made by rending or tearing; slit; fissure.

I thought that my creativity had taken leave of me. Gone on to greener pastures as it were. But I had to make some ATC's for swaps that I had signed up for. So I kept trying. I have thrown away much of what I have made lately, but yesterday I had what I consider to be a bit of success. It just goes to show, never give up. I call it "Rent" as in torn asunder....

While the kids are away, the mom will play

The kids have gone to the S.H.I.N.E. get together at a campground managed by a friend. It is too far for me to go on a workday, so they are there and I am here. I gave myself permission to not be productive for these last couple of hours. By productive, I mean doing dishes or laundry or something else that sorely needs doing. Instead, I played. I am still working at trying to get 6 art trading cards that have a southwest theme done. Here is another in the series.....

Experimental Idea

My daughter suggested that we do some of the cartooning techniques that we learned while working through Mark Kistler's book, Draw Squad. This is the result. I call it: Plumber's NightmareThe light was not the best when I drew it, which means that I can't really see the fine lines. In poor light, every thing is a little blurred to me. The scan has kind of muted the colors even more than they are in real life. Oh well. I had fun doing it.

What I did today instead of folding laundry...

Ok, now. I will go fold laundry. I just had to get this out of my system!

A few more doodles...

I have been so busy with family and other things lately, I haven't had much time for drawing. I have done a few things though. The Southwest style pots were done for a Southwest swap. I have four more cards to do for this swap.




This odd little drawing I just did today to see if I could still draw something. It has been over a week, I think, since I have picked up my pen. It is interesting at least. (update: someone actually requested that I trade this one with her. How cool! And so is the card she is sending me.)




This drawing was just another practice that I did last week. Wierd, but I kind of like it. Hopefully, I will have a real chance to draw on my next day off. The school year is looming and it will absorb all the time that I am not at work on workdays. I can almost wrap my mind around the start of school now. I was afraid for a while that I would not have the umph to get going. I am trusting the Father for the means this year.....

Starting on a set of Southwest cards

This is the first of six cards I will be doing for the Southwest Swap at DoodlersHaven. I used acrylic paints in the background over dark blue paper. Doodles are done with pitt pens.

My Cards for the Quilt Exchange

These are the cards that I have done for the quilt exchange at DoodlersHaven . The exchange is 2/2, but I kept thinking that the Sue card wasn't going anywhere. Couldn't get the effect I was looking for, but in the end, I think it is ok. I will send it as a hostess gift.

All Wrapped Up

This drawing started out as an experiment with masking fluid. Thus the white dots littered here and there. It ended up to be a sort of sci fi thing. I kind of like it. It is done with Pitt pens and watercolor pencil.

The Pineapple

This was fun to do. My daughter and I drew a squiggle on an ATC and then traded. This picture developed from a random line that my daughter drew. I had lots of fun figuring it out. It is done with Pitt pens, gel ink pens and sharpies. The the second picture, I have erased out the line that my daughter drew for me. Just so you know, I am left handed and I was erasing with my right hand on the mouse -- thus the jagged line. To see the card my daughter made go to the link for Just stARTing Out.

Another, better card for Watermelon Days

This is a better (in my opinion) ATC for Watermelon Days. The little people on the other card were just too distracting and, well....just plain annoying. I have no agenda for this card. Mostly I did it to prove that I could do a halfway decent checkered table cloth. But Watermelon Days is (are?) coming up so it was on my mind. I also would like some nice cold watermelon!!

A Nod To Our Town's Yearly Festival

In rural America every town has its annual fair or festival. It is a lot of fun for most of us. My girls and their families will be here for it this year. I am excited more about that than the goings on. I will be involved in the parade this year with our community puppet group. That should be a bunch of fun. I know the grand kids will be enthralled by the puppets. There is also free watermelon and a seed spitting contest (gross). The University has had carnival-type games for everyone on their campus. One year they had "Human Bowling" where they strapped you into a big metal ball and rolled you towards fluffy bowling pins. Another time they had a game where you were attached to a flexible cord. You were supposed to run as far as you could away from your point of origin and set down a marker where upon you were snapped back to where you started by the cord. I think the participants were being cheered on by the local chiropractors.
This is the last WC card I have done and the fourth one in my set to send in for the trade. It didn't take nearly as long as the watermelon picture to do but I like it better and it fits in more with the traditional Zentangle-type art. So now I have four cards ready to go. Hoping to mail tomorrow!

Rapunzel

This is a drawing that I started last night and pretty much thought I would toss. I fussed with it a little today and I like it a little better. I may continue to fuss with it, who knows? I have always liked the idea of doing something based on a fairy tale. Can you find Rapunzel? I know she is not in a tower, she is in the Keep. An evil wizard did not put her there, her dad did. And he is going to keep an eye on her until she is atleast 30!

Random Watercolor

This is my most recent finished ATC for the watercolor swap. I didn't like it at first, but after coming back to it several times, I think it worked out. It was almost a disaster, though. The drafting tape that I used to secure it to a hard surface while I worked on it didn't want to release it. My daughter got it loose, though. I was worried. After all that time spent, I didn't want to ruin it when I had just started to like it.

A First Attempt....

Here are my first attempts at Zentangles. The first one is done with Pitt pens. It looks to me like Dr. Seuss meets MC Escher. The second one is for a watercolor exchange. I don't think I am brave enough to send that one. It didn't turn out the way I had hoped. But I have time to make something else. These are just for practice.

What happens when you don't get enough sleep...

I knew I should have gone to bed last night. I was tired all day. But I didn't go to bed. I kept coming back to this silly card. It is done with sharpie markers, pitt pens and watercolor pencils. There are some places that you can really tell that I should have put it away. My hand was none too steady and it is difficult for me to see what I am doing in artificial light. And believe me, the sun was waaayyy gone!