Map and zentangles

Zentangled hand

I’ve recently completed two very different swaps in Swap-Bot.

The first entailed drawing around my hand before filling it with zentangles. I used a textured paper from an acrylic pad as the paper needed to be thick enough not to get bent in the post and this was the thickest white paper that I had available. It made some of the drawing more difficult but I love the effect on the shadowing around the hand itself. Fun to do – I’m doing a lot of zentangles and doodles lately, this was a nice challenge.

For the second swap, I had to draw a fantasy map with certain elements included: at least 3 geographical features, a compass, names of cities and/or town, and a name for the land itself. I chose to draw Neriadeem, an island nation in my land of Rohinval. It’s one of the few areas of ‘my world’ that I know a fair bit about and so it seemed obvious to me to use that. I was pleased with the result – I used pen, inktense pencils and some acrylic inks. Again, fun to do, and useful – I’ll be using this map (or the scan I have) in the new map that I’m currently making (see my Rohinval blog for more info).

Neriadeem, an island nation in Rohinval.

sketchbooks…

As promised, some scans from my two new sketchbooks… first, from my textiles notebook:

Brainstorming my windows theme plus some embroidery and a design...

Photos and notes, again exploring windows.

Yet more photos plus an exploratory piece of fabric - threads and scraps and paper between tissue and organza.

And now for my other new sketchbook – no title as yet, just sketchbook, lol!!!

Benches in Weston Park, Sheffield plus zentangle

Blue zentangle plus photo of bandstand

Close up photo of bandstand window and a green zentangle.

Quick 5 minute sketch of mirror in pub whilst waiting for my friend.

Ryan - the latest teddy in my collection, lol.

And finally, yet another zentangle - I do love playing around with these

And the get-your-art-on challenge continues…

Background in heArt journal

Although I’m not updating my blog every day, I AM still continuing with the challenge to be creative every day in September. When I first started I was unsure as to whether I would be able to. But here I am, 23 days later, and still going strong. Only 7 more days of the challenge left. But hopefully it has got me into good habits, lol. So that once October rolls in I’ll carry on in the same vein.

Since my last posting, I’ve written another episode on Zentara’s Journey. ‘Taking Stock’ is not just about the character; it’s also about how I stand now, seeing the final line of the year’s project approaching. Zentara will continue. Either within the project if it goes into a second year, or as a solo project. I have plans. I want to expand my knowledge of the world I created. To see it through others eyes. To write more. Perhaps to even take it into the realms of a novel.

No promises though – a novel is a very, very different undertaking to the year’s journey. I tried it once before so I’m no stranger to the process. I got as far as probably 6 or 7 chapters from the end when I stopped. I’d suddenly seen a shift. Not just in the way the story was unfolding but in my whole concept of how the story should be told. And having shifted I couldn’t return to continuing the novel as it stood.

I worked on the new ideas, shaped a new novel chapter by chapter so that I wouldn’t have any more surprises when I came to rewrite. But by the time I came to the end of that, the love of the story had ended and the feel of the exploration expired and the spur that drove me had been snuffed out. I never wrote another word on that tale, and know I never will. So, I know exactly how fragile the story-telling can be. If I ever get to rework Zentara’s world, I’m sure I’ll be more amazed than anyone, lol!!!

Torn tissue background.

Back to the art challenge. I also made two backgrounds in my HeArt journal as I felt like doing something with paint, lol. Although one was done with watercolour pencils and pen. The other, though, is torn dressmaking tissue and acrylic inks. Both done before the next prompt became known – which I now learn is for torn papers. So I’ll be using that as my background for my next spread. I also read more about lace-making and had another little practice. I have new bobbins, and they are much more to my liking than the plastic ones. They just ‘feel’ right in my hands. Hopefully I’ll have a longer play with them soon.

More writing + cutting & pasting.

Week 9 of the HeArt Journal challenge

Yesterday saw me writing another episode for Zentara’s Journey. My character has now returned to the Travelling Artist’s Guild, as all of us active within the Guild will by the end of September. However, for Zentara there is more of her story to tell. This will, at least for this month, be told within the Guild Halls, with perhaps a bit of retrospection thrown in as she (hopefully) looks back and produces some visual images. That’s the plan, anyway!!!

I also worked on my HeArt Journal, producing the spread shown to the right. The prompt for this week was ‘Cut&Paste’ using a magazine face as a focus, and the image shown to inspire us was one by Teesha Moore. I’ve been meaning to play with her ‘style’ for a while so enjoyed doing the spread.

So much so, that this morning, virtually shut away in the front room whilst an engineer sorted out our heating system, I produced 3 more pages in her style within my Arty Journal. One has already had text filled in; the other two will be written on in due course.

First 'play' in my Arty Journal...

...and a double spread, ready to write on later.

Zentangle ATCs

Zentangle B

For SwapBot. A series of alphabet ATC swaps, so expect to see more. I missed ‘A’ so at some point I’ll make one of my own for that – I could enter a ‘make-up’ swap but think it would be nice to have at least one in the series that is mine.

Done using staedtler pens. The C ATC coloured with Inktense pencils.

Zentangle C

Purple zentangle

Purple Zentangle

For the Summer of Colour challenge. Inktense pencils, staedtler pens and sharpie in my arty journal. One more colour to go – next week is orange

Heart Journaling – week 1

Another new project!!! This one organised by the Greeting Farm. The idea is that everyone follows weekly prompts to do a spread in their journal and then publish the results by Thursday noon CST in the Heart journal gallery.

The prompt for the first spread is wings and free spirit. As you can see, I’m using an old book as my journal – it’s been a while since I’ve altered a book, even though I have a large box full of suitable tomes. I thought it was time to start using them!

My ‘free spirit’ spread was done using Inktense pencils and staedtler pens, with floral stamps, whilst in a hotel room: my mother-in-law lost her battle with Alzheimer’s Disease two weeks ago and we went down to help and attend the funeral earlier this week. Due to the circumstances, it’s not my best spread but having signed up, I wanted to take part. And the creativity was a useful way to relax in between visits to the in-laws.

Loving the Blues

And here are my journal pages for the Blue Summer of Colour challenge (see link on sidebar and previous post for more details). I love listening to the Blues, so this seemed appropriate. I included the summer of colour text as a reminder to me when browsing through my journal in later years as to why I did this spread. Collage, pens and watercolour pencils.

Loving the Blues.

Sketchbook 2012- p7

Page 7. Inktense pencils. These poppies self-seeded in our yard. Originally there were just a couple. Now there must be a dozen or more!

Catching up…

I hadn’t realised it was so long since my last post. Possibly because I’ve been busy, balancing my time between surfing, playing, housework, socialising and, of course, creativity. At least, trying to, lol.

My main creative focus has been on the TAG project. I’ve posted four new episodes about Zentara’s journey since I last wrote here, two including art – well, one drawing and one photo. I’m currently working on the next piece of art and have drafted the writing for it. But it may take a while to finish as, after an initial sketch, I’ve decided to do a larger painting using acrylic inks. It’s been a while since I did a painting larger than about 7×5″ but I feel I need to try and do the fantasy scene justice. I’ve also been inspired by a new book that I treated myself to: “Otherworlds: how to imagine, paint and create scenes of fantasy” (or similar, lol!).

I’m thoroughly enjoying the story telling and the art for the project. There is something very satisfying about creating a whole fantasy world, although it can be a bit like a huge puzzle, fitting in the pieces and making sure that new pieces don’t contradict previous ones. I’ve also tried to make a language for the shay, my created race of beings that are central to the story. The language is not just new words but has grammatical rules that cover the basics – simplified compared to our own complex language, yet enough to give me a good grounding to make the language appear real. At least, that’s the hope!

Anshiani-kuftir - The Life-Giver - features strongly in the latest episodes of my story.

The drawing of the ‘monolith’ was done in Zentara’s journal, using Inktense pencils. I found that the verbal description and the artwork complement each other in that the writing helps me visualise the artwork, but that the art also informs my writing. An intriguing process. My current art is working the same way: my initial vision was formed during the writing process but now that I’ve done a sketch and have started painting a more detailed image, my writing needs to be updated.

As for other creative activities, I’m working on a small flower picture using the Inktense pencils, gradually building up layers of colour. It may take a while as the TAG work is my prime interest at the moment.

And I also made 3 needle-felted ATCs for a swap via the MMATC group.

3 needle-felted ATCs

So, all in all, I’m pleased with the amount of creativity that I’ve been doing