A Few More Pages from My Sketchbook

I have been working on some more Zentangle patterns in my sketchbook. Again, if you want to try these, check out the videos on Youtube.

ZentangleI really like the woven patterns and they really aren’t hard to draw.

Close Up of Zentangle

 

The ribbons on the edges are fairly simple too. The middle pattern is called Betweed and is the same pattern as in the star shape that I showed you last week.

Sketchbook Sunset

This page started as a way to use up some extra paint I had. It started looking like a sunset so it worked out pretty good for a last minute page.

Orange Brown Sketchbook Page

This is a page I did a while ago but I don’t think I have shown it yet. It has a base layer of paint, then it was screen printed with the dark brown. Then I added sepia toned pen work and added in some watercolor paint to liven up the colors.

Close Up Orange Brown Page

The silk screen I used was originally supposed to be ginkgo leaves but now it looks more like peeling paint. What have you been working on lately?

 

Playing in my Sketchbook

I had a little time this week to play in my sketchbook and try out my new high flow acrylic paints. I also watched a few Youtube videos about making zentangle patterns here.

Sketchbook Orange and Blue

I tried the high flow acrylics in my new pen and got the blue/violet lines. And then I added red and yellow. These are so much more vivid than adding water to the regular acrylics.

Sketchbook Purple Frost

This one is actually the back of a page I painted but I really like it. It reminds me of frost on a window. The patterns are made from the paper being wet to start and lying on plastic.

Sketchbook Green Tangle

Here’s the first zentangle pattern. It looks complex but was fairly simple to draw except for all those circles.

Sketchbook Yellow Tangle

And here’s another one. You start with two parallel rows of circles and then connect them from there. You should check out the Youtube link above if you want to learn how these complex patterns are drawn. They really aren’t that hard to draw once you know the tricks.

Sketchbook Blue Green Space Bubbles

And this last one is my attempt to be a bit more abstract. So when I do that I always seem to end up back to drawing circles. But I like it. What have you been up to this week? I hope you have a good weekend and thanks for stopping by.

 

A Little Hand Stitching

I printed this piece of felted wool blanket with thickened dye and cut pomegranates a long time ago. It was white at the time and I over dyed it at some point. I decided I wanted to start a hand stitching project as I haven’t done one for quite some time. It’s nice to have a project going that’s easy to pick up and stitch for a few minutes when I get time.

Pomegranate Printed

It is really hard to see in the photo of the entire piece, you can barely see the stitching I have done. It’s pretty subtle.

Seed Stitching

I am using tiny seed stitches to denote (of course) the seeds.

Close Up of Surface

I am using wool thread that I hand dyed and I am thinking of making the piece into a notebook cover but I haven’t decided yet. Hope you have a good weekend!

Merry Christmas to Me!

I got a gift card from Dick Blick from my husband’s son and his family. I hadn’t decided what I wanted to get so I was savoring the anticipation of ordering. But I finally ordered my new goodies.

Goodies from Dick Blick

I got a couple of my favorite sketch books, a pencil case for my colored pencils (I already had the pencils), a set of High Flow Golden Acrylics and a couple of empty pens that you can put the acrylics in and then make marks.

Colored Pencil Case

I love the pencil case, it holds all 72 pencils easily. I had a tin for them but the pencils were always falling out and it was hard to travel with the pencils that way. So usually I just haven’t been taking them with me. Now they are all together and easy to get to without having all the other pencils roll around everywhere.

High Flow Acrylic Paints

And I’ve wanted to try the high flow acrylics for a while now. Of course, since I made two videos today for online classes, I didn’t get to try them yet. But soon. Thanks Chris, Andie, Ashley and Connor for the wonderful Christmas present!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Painting Party

Last week when my local group got together we had a painting party. We started with a 4 yard white piece of cotton and then went a little wild. First we added Dye-Na-Flow paints to cover all the white.

Once the paint was on, then we dried the fabric with hair dryers and heat guns plus a little ironing. After that we used a combination of oil paint sticks, metallic paints and markers to add more detail. Throughout the process, we all kept moving around the table never staying in one place for too long. That way everyone added their own touches to the entire piece.

Once we had the fabric covered, we ripped it into six pieces and everyone took a piece home. We are supposed to make something from the fabric. I haven’t decided what I’m going to make yet. Last time we did this several years ago I ended up making a book and some cards.

I am working away on my online class and got another video completed today. Hopefully, I will have the first module ready to go in another month. I’m hoping to start the first class “Paper Fabric Lamination in Nuno Felting” in May. I’ll let you know when it’s ready to go.