Saturday, December 10, 2011

Friday, December 2, 2011

Art on Television



Check out the following link to a segment on a local city show, Newport News in Review. Aaron Pritchett did a fantastic job with the piece on 3G Art, an exhibition featuring artwork by my mom, my god daughter and myself. Our art includes beadwork (of course), quilting, zentangle, and zentangle inspired art!!! The exhibit is on display through January 7, 2012 at The Newsome House and Cultural Center, a historic site that was the home of Joseph and Ann Newsome.

My god daughter's mom and sister look at her quilted wall hangings

Joseph Newsome, the son of former slaves, was one of a handful of black attorneys on the Virginia Peninsula in 1900 and was one of the first black lawyers to successfully plead cases before the state supreme court. The house where he lived with his wife and daughter (pictured above) is listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register as well as the National Register of Historic Places and was the first structure owned by an African-American to receive a National Historic Preservation Award.
zentangle inspired art, 4' x 4' oil on canvas

psychedelic shack by Delilah Armstrong

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Biggify - Challenge #50

This week's challenge from the diva was to biggify, or enlarge, our tangle patterns. So often we make our patterns small since we are working on such a small space (3 1/2 x 3 1/2). So the diva asked us to use the same size space we usually use and make our patterns bigger. I thought it was going to be difficult, but I whipped this out in no time when I woke up early this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. I like it! Hope you do, too.


Saturday, November 26, 2011

Red Thread Challenge



Guest challenger Chris Letournea, CZT at Tangled Up in Art provided this week's challenge. To raise awareness of The Red Thread Promise, an organization dedicated to changing lives- whether it's helping orphans, disabled kids or people without basic medical care, we were to create a traditional black and white tile using one red "thread" running through it. 

Friday, November 18, 2011

String Theory 7: Tri-Shapes

CZT Sue Clark sat in for the diva this week, issuing this challenge: create a tangle using a circle, square and triangle for a string. Also, use three tangles that you've never used before. I had so much fun with this one! I've never used any of the tangles in this piece. I used rose, fern, click clack and krli-q's.



Thursday, November 17, 2011

Kiss My Grids

I love the title for this challenge! And I love grid-based tangles. I'm not really happy with these, but I had a good time making them.

 

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Better Than a Pair of Ducks

This week's challenge from the diva was to use the tangle paradox. I don't use this one that often, so I was happy for the challenge and the practice. I remember that I did these quickly while I was waiting for a prescription at the pharmacy.



Love is all you need


Drawing a blank for what to do for this theme, so I did some wedding rings.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Pinwheels for Peace

String Theory 6 celebrated the International Day of Peace. Every year since 2005 Pinwheels for Peace has encouraged people around the world to create and display pinwheels, a symbol of childhood, on September 21 in order to "make a public visual statement about...war / peace / tolerance / cooperation / harmony / unity." In 2010, they estimated that there were more than 3.5 million pinwheels spinning for peace! Schools, clubs and families can join online and then post pictures of their displays on the Pinwheels for Peace website. They provide a template for the pinwheels as well.


Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Lest We Forget

This week's challenge - remember...the poppy is a symbol of remembrance, based on the poem In Flanders Field by Canadian Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae.



In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we live
in Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

DuoTangle: Jonqual & Opus

Challenge #41, combine two specific tangles - jonqual and opus.


Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Hope

October is breast cancer awareness month, so our first theme of the month is hope. I did one simple tangle with the word "hope" that I really like because it's light and airy. I tried another one with the ribbon, but it ended up very heavy, sort of looks like legs walking. lol.



Monday, November 7, 2011

Sunflower Fun

Challenge #43 was provided courtesy of Pennyb: In Republic of South Africa, on 12 October we have Bandana Day, which is run by the Sunflower Fund. This is an organization founded in 1999 in support of the SA Bone Marrow Registry for people suffering from leukemia. Every year our local retailer (Pick n Pay) sells Sunflower bandanas and the proceeds go towards the Sunflower Fund...everyone wears a Bandana, somehow somewhere on this day!

The diva posted their logo so we could draw a pattern and we got busy! I was brain dead at the time, so I looked to the diva's tiles for inspiration and unfortunately, mine came out very similar. I hope you take it as a compliment, Laura! :)




Sunday, November 6, 2011

Sharing Zentangle with Family & Friends

I had a chance to show some family and friends how to do zentangle this weekend. I worked with about 14 kids and adults, and I had the BEST time! Here are some card samples from my mom, my 12-year-old god daughter and my 9-year-old nephew.



the 9-year-old writes his name as Mr. E! :)


My god daughter has been  learning to zentangle with me for a little while now, and she wanted to teach volcano, one of her favorites. This is my nephews first try. I think she did a great job teaching and he did a great job, too! He added his own touches to decorate his card. :)



Tangled on the Inside...string theory 7

How about a tangle within a tangle? Only the diva would think to do something this cool. Use one tangle as your string and tangle within it! I made two - Mooka as the string and various tangles inside and bales as the string with various tangles inside.

Mooka with various  tangles

bales with various tangles

Saturday, November 5, 2011

New Tangle...Punzel

Rick and Maria released a new official zentangle a few weeks ago called punzel. It is a variation on the "chainging" tangle. So challenge #45 was to use punzel. I really liked this one and plan to use it a lot! Here's my challenge tangle...


Friday, November 4, 2011

Challenge...All Hallow's Eve

I know I haven't posted in a couple of months and I apologize to my followers. :) I've been doing the challenges; but I haven't been taking the time to post. So I will be adding all the missing challenges over the next few days. This week's challenge was to tangle All Hallow's Eve


Sunday, August 28, 2011

New Tangle: Assunta

Rick and Maria released a new tangle, Assunta, which you can see here, and The diva's challenge was to use the new tangle.



Thursday, August 18, 2011

Tile on a Tile

Margaret Bremner aka the Enthusiastic Artist, filled in for the diva this week. The challenge was to create a tile within a tile, make a tile in the center of your space and then tangle around it to make the tile larger. Use shading to differentiate the two and get the tile within a tile look. On the first one I framed the inner tile with pendrills and then drew a string. On the second one, I focused on lightening up the tile.



Friday, August 12, 2011

Opposites Attract


Christina, a.k.a. stART, filled in for the diva this week, offering this challenge: make a string with straight lines and fill it with tangles made from curved lines or make a string with curved lines and fill it with tangles created with straight lines. I did one of each. My challenge to myself for the next few weeks is to leave some space for my designs to breathe instead of filling them in so tightly.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

New Tangle: Pendrills

Rick and Maria have posted a new official tangle and the diva's challenge for this week is to learn and use it. Here's my try:



Thursday, July 28, 2011

Zentangle is for Everyone - challenge #32

Carole Ohl , this week's guest challenger for the diva, provided us with a challenge and an opportunity! The challenge: use any string you want with these four tangles -  Pais (by Mikee Huber), Zedbra (by Laura Harms and Margaret Bremner), Keenees (by Donna Hornsby) and Baton (by Carole Ohl). The opportunity: if you create your zentangle on a 3 1/2 by 3 1/2 card in black ink only, you can mail it to Carole to be included in her show as Artist of the Month at Amicis, a new restaurant in her area.



first try in my book

second try on a tile

Friday, July 22, 2011

Fairyland - Challenge #31

Carol Bailey Floyd, guest blogger for Laura Harms, challenged us to create a Zentangle environment where fairies would feel at home. Here are my tries...




Saturday, July 16, 2011

String Theory V - Initials

Christina, aka stART, filled in for the diva this week and gave us String Theory V: Initialize. Draw your first and last initials, either in cursive or block letters, and overlap them and use that as your string. I did both, but for some reason, the photos are not showing up on my phone. All I have access to is this thumbnail of the cursive one. 


Monday, July 11, 2011

Back to Beading...my first love

It's been a long time since I beaded something. I missed it, but my desire to hold a needle and deal with tiny little seed beads was not there partly because my craft space had turned into storage. Well, I have purged my apartment (am still purging my apartment) and my craft room is now suitable for working. And wouldn't you know it; my fingers itch for a needle and some beads!

For the month of July, I am seriously working on UFOs and doing things for myself. I have to prepare for the art show in October. I've never been a featured artist before so I need more pieces! I will be working with my goddaughter to complete some of her art for the show this weekend. My mom is working on hers as well. Three generations in one show. :)

The end of June and first few days of July, I finished most of the favors and projects I promised to other people. I still have a few to do, but my mind is resting easier with the majority of them completed and delivered. I can focus on the show and enjoying the process.

The daisy chain necklace below was a thank you gift to a friend who did a huge favor for me. What you can't see in the photo is a tiny orange daisy button that is the clasp.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Random Tangles IV

 Recent random tangles...


Thursday, July 7, 2011

String Theory IV - Creative Genesis

Sue Jacobs sat in for the diva, Laura Harms, this week and her challenge is to take a piece of string, ribbon, yarn, etc., attach it to a weight and drop it on your paper to make your string. You can drop it as many times as you want to get a string you like. Since drawing the string is difficult for me and mine tend to look similar, I really liked this challenge. I'll be using this technique!



Saturday, July 2, 2011

Challenge #28 - Trip to Tripoli

Tripoli is a lot of fun. Didn't have a lot of time to play with it this week, but I can see using it with a lot of other tangles. Check out links to other tangles using tripoli at Laura Harms' blog here.