Newport News Fall Festival!

I know I've been MIA for a while but it's because WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!! So this summer was all about purging old junk and moving to our new place.  As soon as the boys went back to school I told myself that I really needed to buckle down and get ready for this year's fall festival.  So here are a few pictures from this weekend:

One of my new items this fall was my zendoodle notecards.  Here's a better picture I took before the festival:

My booth may look totally different next year because as I was sitting there assessing what people were buying (and not buying) and what creative endeavor I like to spend my time doing now... I think I'm "reinventing" myself.  

I probably won't shut this blog down but I will be devoting more time to my newer blog over here: Timeless Tangles Thanks for looking!

Decorating and zentangles

     We are moving in just two short weeks!  I'm not that much of an interior decorator but one of the bathrooms in our new-but-old house needs some TLC.  We currently have a glass door on our shower but in the new house I get to pick out a shower curtain... which then entails picking out the rugs and any other accents.  I have had so much fun with this!
     It took me a while to decide on the perfect shower curtain (which I'll probably change out six months after we move in, because I'm like that). This is the shower curtain and it looks like it has a white background but it's really a cream color.  I'm thinking of hand sewing beads onto it because it just feels like it needs beads, plus I love to hand sew.

     I bought it from Target online.  It's made by Boho Boutique and the name is Utopia.  This picture is from their website and it's even more gorgeous in person, the red and orange really pop.  I bought two rugs (one orange and one cream color) locally.  I bought fabric from JoAnn's to eventually make curtains but I need to take measurements first.  And finally I decided to do a few zentangles for the walls.
     I probably only needed to do one or two but I've done three so far.  There is light blue and olive green in the shower curtain also that doesn't show up to well in Target's picture.

     I can't wait to move in and get this bathroom all set up so you can see the final product.

What I've been up to

     We are moving in June!  My husband is a Methodist pastor and if you know anything about us Methodists it's that the pastors move often.  Since we are in the Virginia Conference we will stay within this state.  When we got married we were assigned to a quaint little town on the Rappahannock river called Urbanna, Va.  Six years and two kids later we moved to Portsmouth, Va.  We have been here five years and are now moving to Lexington, Va.
     So, needless to say, this is what's been going on in my life for the past few months: helping the kids transition, packing and purging, starting to change our address on bills and looking for new doctors, etc.
     I am still working on my two young adult fantasy fiction stories but yesterday I revisited one of my other passions, zentangles!

So if you don't hear from me for another month or two it's because I'm knee deep in boxes.

Revisiting an old friend

Zentangles!!

I have two sketch books full of my zentangles.  You can check out some of my previous posts here and here and here.  My mom borrowed my books for a while and when she gave them back to me it reawakened my love for drawing them.  When I sat down to do another one I realized that I was "doodling" the same designs as before, I needed inspiration, I needed new ideas.  I looked at Pinterest for new ideas.  I already had a board full of inspiration here.  But I was looking for something different.

I went to Barnes and Noble and found two amazing books full of inspiration!  The first one is called Zen Doodle Tons of Tangles by Tonia Jenny and Amy Jones.  And the second one is entitled The Beauty of Zentangle by Suzanne McNeill and Cindy Shepard.  I have added color to my tangles before but these two books have inspired me to try color again.  I want to be more intentional about the things I draw, like wildlife, buildings, etc.  So now my third sketch book will be "all about color"!

Page 1 When Seahorses Play
(I need to adjust the color on my computer because this is much more vibrant in person)

 Then yesterday morning while the boys were in handbell practice I started my second one:

Last night I finished my second one:

I love to sew but I also love zentangles!

New ideas for my fabric bowls...

New fabric bowls that will debut at the Newport News Fall Festival held the first weekend in October.

I am now painting pedestals and attaching my fabric bowls to them.  If you are hosting a Christmas party and need more room on the table you could use this one to 1. give height to your table and 2. create more space on the table (mints could go in this basket)

But before Christmas let's talk about Halloween!   Here are two of my newest creations:

(I still haven't decided yet if I'm going to paint eyes on this cat, I kinda like it without eyes.  Can't you just imagine this on your dining room table with Snickers bars in it!)

You can't see the spiders legs too well from this photo but I made them out of wire and painted the eyes with a toothpick.

I have also come up with a new spin on the old jewelry box.  With this one I have incorporated my love of Zentangles.  In the bowl you can store your necklaces and watch and then on the hooks beneath you can hang your rings and bracelets:

 And with this one you can hang jewelry from the hooks at the top and store them in the basket below:

Here are a few more every day whimsical bowls I've created:

I have a lot more that will debut at the Newport News Fall Festival in Newport News, VA the first weekend (Saturday and Sunday) in NN Park so please come out and see me!

More Zentangles

These two statements were taken from a website devoted to teaching people about zentangles: The Theory of Zentangles

Deliberate Stroke
In our Zentangle way, you draw each stroke consciously and deliberately. We are always making "strokes" (thoughts, words, deeds) in our life. By practicing the Zentangle Method's suggestion to make each stroke deliberate, you understand how those apparently small and insignificant "strokes" of our moment to moment lives contribute to an overall life pattern. This is another reason that we say that life is an artform and everyone is an artist. Indeed, everyone draws.


Deliberate Focus
As you make a deliberate pen stroke on your Zentangle tile without concerning yourself of what it will look like when you are done, that very act of putting your pen to paper focuses your attention in a special way. As your eye follows your pen strokes your attention shifts to a state that allows fresh thoughts, new perspectives, and creative insights to flow unhindered by anxiety or effort.

So with that here are my latest Zentangles:

And because my 5 year old was so fascinated when watching me that he asked for a piece of paper to create his own zentangle:

To see my previous posts on my zentangles the link is Zentangles

Revisiting ZENTANGLES

Since the weather is getting nice my boys are playing outside more and more and since they are still too little to leave alone I sit outside with them.  Well if you are a crafter you know there is no such thing as "just sitting".  I have to always be doing something with my hands, whether it's watching my boys outside or watching tv inside, it just drives me nuts to sit still.  So I think that's how I got back into zentangling.  It's extremely portable... just my drawing pad and a pen.  Here are my latest creations:

I started this one a long time ago but didn't finish because I started knitting again.  I had to finish it before I took the picture! It is untitled.

This one I did while I was outside watching the boys.  It's almost too ridged for me, I like them a little more free flowing but it was an experiment.

This one is called DANCING TREES:

My latest two that I haven't named yet:

I should by stock in Sharpie Markers!

An artistic rut

I've been in an artistic rut lately.  I've had a lot of things going on in my life and they have taken precedence over my creativity.  One thing that I've found that gives me immediate gratification is drawing zentangles.  This is something that relaxes me and I can immediately see art emerging from my doodles.  Since I have two small children I usually cannot start on a big project (such as quilting) during the day while they are awake.  But then at night after they go to bed I head right for my own bed!  Zentangles are now my art of choice.  I love to pick up my fine point black Sharpie marker and just start doodling.  It is something I can work on for five minutes or 50 minutes.

I have described and given examples of zentangles in previous posts but today I wanted to share with you a deviation I've started working on.  It's a little different and I'm not sure I "love" it or not.  It definitely gives the work a different slant.  I have started using colored pencils in my black and white doodles.  I will no longer call them zentangles as there is a specific definition for zentangle and I don't think color applies.  I have finished two so far.  The third one I'm currently working on I like the best.  I'll post a picture as soon as I'm finished but I wanted to post something so you all don't think I've totally abandoned my blog.

I have tried to stick to about four colors for now.  To me it looks a little more cohesive but we'll see what tomorrow brings!  Happy doodling everyone.

New obsession: ZENTANGLES

FAIRY RINGS

 

RING AROUND THE ROSIE

MOONBEAMS

WORLD'S COLLIDE

TUMBLING DOWN

No eraser in zentangles

Definition taken from
http://www.zentangle.com/about-theory.php 
"There is no eraser in life and there is no eraser in Zentangle. However, in Zentangle (and in life), you discover that even if you make what seems to be a mistake, you can then build on that event as a new pattern and go in unexpected and exciting new directions."


I am in love with creating zentangles.  The "flower" was supposed to resemble the sun but that didn't happen.  But as with the definition above, there was no eraser to go back and "redraw" it but I built on it to create a new pattern...

 I have been admiring other zendoodles on http://www.flickr.com/ and there are some that resemble the shape of a turtle, or a dolphin, or mushrooms.  I find myself wanting to have a mushroom patch of my own so the title of my #4 zentangle is All Mushrooms Aren't Ugly...

For my fifth one I had a very fague idea of the "ice cream cone" and the "flower ribbon behind the cone" because I was in a very juvenile girlie girl mode.  I didn't know how anything else was going to turn out.  When I ended up drawing the "grid pattern with the dots" it looked like the floor of the ice cream parlor, hence the name Ice Cream Parlor...

Zentangles have opened yet another creative outlet for me plus they have shown me a meditative side that I never knew I had.

As you are reading this pick up a black pen and just start doodling, you may be surprised at what transpires onto paper.

Another new endeavor

ZENTANGLES

A zentangle is an easy to learn method of creating beautiful images from repetitive patterns.

"Zentangle is an artistic meditation that supports relaxation, focus and inspiration and can be a wonderful daily ritual.  Zentangles philosophy, symbolism and metaphor is elegant and profound.  There is so much to discover about life and one's self through this simple act".  Taken from www.zentangle.com  And if you want to read more about this art please visit this website, it is wonderful!

I have always doodled but now someone has actually come up with a name for it... what do you know I've been creating zentangles or zendoodles!  (I wish I could find the one I did in high school, 24 years ago).  The one I did in high school was drawn with a #2 pencil.  Now-a-days people use micron pens, sharpies, etc. and the result is simply stunning. 

I was inspired to try this a few days ago when I was cleaning up my Flickr profile (and deciding if I want to continue with Flickr for another year).  I decided to look up zentangle to see what exactly other people's artwork looked like.  It was then that I rummaged through all of my papers and found an old sketch book.  I sat down and designs started flowing. 

This was my first attempt ever and I LOVE how it turned out.

I actually started a second one before I finished my first one because I was inspired again.  I have been listening to The Shack by William P. Young on CD and if you haven't read it or heard of it I encourage everyone to pick up a copy.  Anyway, I was truly in a meditative state while drawing this zentangle and reflecting on the words from this book...

What a beautiful expression of art and myself.