Relax, breathe and Zentangle

We have been trying to make the most of the lovely weather we are having here in Wales, we have mainly been lazing around the garden and in the hot tub. Playing a bit of badminton or basketball or just running around with the dog.

It was our 19th Wedding Anniversary yesterday so after a Buck Fizz Brunch we packed a picnic ans set to Clun Castle for a few hours.

Apart from loads of eating and drinking, we have done little else so far, just loads of time together relaxing-bliss.

I have tried to keep myself occupied with some Zentangle, but as much as I enjoy the actual basics of drawing the various "tangles" I do struggle and severly lack confidence when it comes to composing a design. Hopefully, I will gain more confidence with a bit more practice.

This also feels very self indulgent, I am not making anything of any purpose or use, just me doodling in a note book! How selfish!

xXx

It's holiday time, Wales, the chaos has arrived

We started our journey on Friday morning, expecting a very long and stressful journey. The children don't get along well at the best of times but being stuck in the back of a car together for several hours is normally a recipe for disaster. This time we also had our little, fluffy, four-legged friend sat between the children on the back seat in his new doggy seatbelt/harness!

Well, things really could not have gone any smoother, the children slept on and off and little Brucie Boy must have had such a positive influence on them. Considering it was his first ever long car journey he behaved amazingly.

The cottage is lovely, very quiet and relaxing but I have struggled to keep myself occupied. Yesterday I decided it was time to do a bit of Zentangle and I was ashamed to say I opened up my drawing book only to discover it has been almost a year since I have done any! But who wouldn't find inspiration and motivation in this little haven.

It was hard to just pick up and carry on with One Zentangle a Day after so long but I soon got into the swing of it again. I lack confidence in my ability, but that's something I have never really had so I don't miss it! LOL

I still have a long way to go, but enjoying the journey. 

xXx

DIY Birthday Banners!

I am such a bad blogger, it's been a LOOOONG time since I posted last. As usual, life just gets in the way and all my inspiration flies out the window.

Well, I am full of optimism that I can change. My health has really taken a bit of a nose dive at the moment but doctors say there is nothing wrong with me. After 2 appointments Rheumatology have discharged me and I am now being referred to a Pain Management Clinic. I have given up on the prescribes painkillers as all they did was make me groggy and I think I'd rather try to cope with the pain rather than feel like a zombie constantly. 

Enough of that! 

Well, I had a rather ermm....large birthday last week and I am preparing for a party booked for next month. Despite my pain, my stupid brain keeps coming up with all these mad ideas and yesterday I put one of them into action. Not content with buying ready made banners, I thought it would be good to make my own!!!!!!! Should I just print out, or stamp.....you know something quick and easy?

Oh no, I had this mad idea to Zentangle each letter individually! 

Whose mad idea was that again? Oh yes, that would be ME!

One and a half lettres later......

Very time consuming but fun. 

Paper mache meets Zentangle??????

Now several years ago, when Amelia was back in Infant School, part of a school project was to make an animal that was over 1 metre tall. She chose to make a giraffe but due to some of her delayed development and sensory issues, it was me that ended up doing most of the work.

Here is the "story" of our giraffe;

(it was funny looking back at these especially as Jack turns 16 today!)

Amelia called him "Hula Hoop" which were one of her favourite treats at the time and over the years he has been moved around the house and garden. A couple of years ago, after decorating our dining room I felt that I would like to give Hula Hoop a bit of a re-vamp. Now this never happened, and it may never ever happen as there will always be other things that will be put first. lets face it, when I can prioritise decorating a 5ft paper mache giraffe, my life will need to be pretty relaxed.

I did have visions of tidying up a few places, reinforcing here and there, giving him some better eyes and eyelashes, possibly decoupaging him in wacky colours (well wacky colours for a giraffe!) and giving him a pretty beaded mane and tail.............pie in the sky? Maybe but who knows.

Recently old Hula Hoop was moved out into the garden where we have been trying to tidy up and make a little covered seating area. Work is still in progress and I still have a little list of crafty ideas to try. But, here is Hula Hoop in situ on the patio.

Out of the blue the other day, Amelia was cuddled up on the sofa next to me, she turned and asked "Mummy, are you going to Zentangle Hula Hoop?"

WOW, now that wouldn't that be a great idea!!!!!!!!!!!

Adele

xXx

Yeah, Day 11 Zentangle complete.

Well, I've finished. Not 100% sure of it, especially about the white spaces, but over all I am quite pleased considering I threw myself out of my depth with this, my first A5 piece of work.

Here is the piece before shading.

 

And a few comparisons.

Ok, it's not perfect. I have a lot to learn

It's funny how I seem to have changed. On the first few days I was more comfortable about the Tangle Patterns and unsure of the shading but now, when it comes down to actually using creativity, my confidence flies out the window .......but I feel happier with my shading!

I am looking forward to moving on to day 12 on a more positive note. 

Thank you for looking.

See you soon,

Adele

xXx

Still working on Day 11, One Zentangle a Day

Now yesterday I was just about ready to throw my Zentangle Book into the hidden depths of my craft room but I am glad to say I stuck with it. As unsure as I am, I just went with it, not sure of how it "flows" or what artistic composition it has as I know nothing about those. I was also unsure of the big white space I'd left! Should I have filled it in? If so with what pattern? 

I bit the bullet and left the space, if it doesn't work I will take a "so what" attitiude and try to learn from the experience.

I MUST remember that this whole journey should be enjoyable and relaxing and not have me ready to cast off my feeble attempt by Day 11. Get a grip Adele!!!! LOL

I am actually looking forward to shading this now.

Onwards and upwards!

Adele

xXx

Day 11 Zentangle. Auras and Rounding!

Oh my, feeling more and more out of my depth here but I will continue plodding along in the hope that practice will make perfect better!

In my utter stupidity, rather than sticking to something I would have been more "comfortable" with to help my confidence I have thrown myself, head first into some mad mixture of Tangle patterns on an A5 sheet! Considering all but one of my practice attempts have only been approximately 2 inch squares, I was immediately out of the tiny comfort zone I have.

Not sure where this is going (apart from in the bin!) but I will attempt to do some more today in the hope that a bit of shading with help "bring it all together!"

One thing I have discovered  is that I love using FLUX!

....and I have a regret making my attempt at MOOKA so big! LOL

I feel mine is going to be less of a learning curve and more of a learning spiral or roller coaster.

Adele

xXx

One Zentangle a Day, Day 10

Yes, I know, I skipped a page! I didn't have everything I needed for Day 9 so I went straight on to Day 10! Sorry!

Now I know I am not a confident person, especially when it comes to doing something out of my comfort zone (not sure I actually have one of those any more!) but once again I found these quite daunting and I am very critical of my work. I did the designs quite quickly, one after the other and I don't think I put the care and attention into them as I would have liked, but Amelia was bouncing around the room on the Wii and getting stressed out and puppy Bruce was having one of his mad moments....chasing his tail, attacking cushions, pulling throws off of the sofa.......puppy madness in general. It was absolutely pouring down with rain and looking back although my heart was into it perhaps my head wasn't.

I do feel however, it came out quite natural, messy but perhaps more relaxed in some ways.

Now I had up to this point been blending with my finger, and using an eraser to rub out small areas I wanted to highlight. BUT I braved the chaos of my craft room, clambered over boxes and furniture  that were dumped in there as we are sorting Jack's room, and recovered my box of Prismacolor Pencils, half a bottle of Sansodor  and some tortillions. Now these haven't seen the light of day since my Copic craze began several years ago!

I used a tortillion to shade on these Tangle patterns and I took the leap into the unknown and TRIED some colour work. Really not happy with the results and I am surprised as I loved the look of these tangles!

Perhaps I made too many changes to my "normal" way of working.

Today has been a rather busy, stressful day but fingers crossed, this afternoon I can move on to the next page, Day 11 in an attempt to stay positive.

Adele

xXx

My Zentangle Journey, Day 8 complete

Oh yeah!!! I am SO enjoying this. In fact I am enjoying it so much I have ordered myself a few pens, a 4B pencil to try out for my shading....and a new pencil case to hold all my new goodies. I may well need to put a padlock on it to stop Amelia from"borrowing" them!

Here is my finished attempt at Day 8's patterns. I wasn't sure of them at first but as I worked on the twirly "thing" at the bottom I became a bit more confident with it all.

I don't know whether digital photography is a good thing or not but it was interesting to blow up the image and see the detail (or lack of it) in my work. I do think I will need to invest in a better light and  it may well be time for me to go to the Opticians as I do think I am starting to struggle with detailed, close up work.....and reading the cooking instructions on some small packaging! LOL

As much as I am loving my new pastime I keep telling myself how self indulgent it is and wondering  "of what use it will be?"

Does everything in life need a purpose? 

Who knows!

My sketch book is calling me.

love

Adele

xXx

One Zentangle a Day, Day 8

I haven't managed to sit down with my Zentangle book all week, so when I actually MADE time yesterday evening, I really enjoyed my "me time!"

I did struggle with the two new Tangle patterns and I don't think my attempts are true to the examples given in the book. With PURK in particular I really don't think I have the dimensions and perspectives right....but I am not sure they actually need to be "true to life!" That's my excuse and I am sticking to it!

Here is my latest attempts in progress, the lower example shows my basic guideline sketch, the outlines only and some parts complete with shading. I am concerned that my shading is always too heavy, they say if that happens you can end up with a dull, flat, grey design!

hey ho, it's a large learning curve for me and I am well out of my comfort zone but enjoying the journey.

Once I have become more confident with the actual basic concepts, then I think I need to concentrate on the shading and even bring in some colour....that will be both scary and fun.

Bye for now.

Adele

xXx

Zentangle a day- catch up!

It was our 18th Wedding Anniversary yesterday and we managed to have a last minute break . It was great to just relax for a few days and do absolutely nothing, well apart from eat, drink and walk the dog!

I opened the curtains to this view on Saturday morning and it was inviting me out there to sip my morning tea and "doodle" in the sunshine as I listened to the breeze in the trees, the birds singing and the sounds of the water in the pond.....what a difference to hearing the children constantly squabbling!

I hadn't worked from my "One Zentangle a Day" book for a few days so I decided it was the perfect opportunity to pay catch up as I sat in the sunshine.

(Spot the error!)

I worked through Day 4 and 5 but felt I struggled with the shading.

I continued onto Day 6 with 3 more new patterns then sort of flowed into Day 7 where I tried combining a few different variations, It was great fun but I look at what I feel are true Zentangle creations and feel I have such a long way to go.

BUT, isn't there a saying about Life is a journey and not a destination? 

I will keep telling myself that anyway.

Bye for now.

Adele

xXx

One Zentangle a day, Day 3

I was a naughty girl yesterday and didn't get around to doing Day 3 on my Zentangle book, I did however have a little play around with some of the tangle patterns I have already covered. This little attempt is quite angular and I am not sure at all about it, I think I am more of a softer, swirly sort of person but it was good to try.

Today I had a try of the patterns for day 3,  not sure about my shading, whether it's too light or too dark but I am just trying to go with the flow.

Still feel this is very self indulgent but hey ho.

Yesterday I was asked about the pens I am using, and as you can see I am such a newbie please don't take my word as gospel but I chose a slightly cheaper option of a set of Uni-Ball Pin Drawing pens, I got a pack of assorted nib sizes (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5 & 0.8) for under £5 with free delivery so for now they will do fine....I may need to put some more on my wishlist soon as well as dusting off my Copics and Prismacolor Pencils! 

Right, I may even have a chance to start Day 4 this evening, play a bit of catch up.

Bye for now,

Adele

xXx

Zentangle day 2

Yesterday I continued to work through my "One Zentangle a day" book covering another 3 different Zentangle patterns.

Knightsbridge was quite daunting at first, the blocks of colour seemed very bold at first but great fun to do, I can see me using this pattern a lot.

 I found Nekton rather tricky, I think it was the randomness of it and my little attempts came out rather messy looking.

Fescu was quite quick and simple but it still took me time to actually have the confidence to put pen to paper and go with the flow. 

Here is a close up of my first attempt mixing up these patterns, my sample tangles are only 2 inches square so blowing them up on screen really highlights my errors-sorry. 

I started with the Knightsbridge "O" as I had seen some example with holes in patterns and liked the effect. Then I built up the tangles behind, even drawing the Fescu twirls before the Tipple behind it! Why I worked this way I don't know, it's just the way it evolved!

PS. Note the error in Nekton where I had been using a wider tipped pen and went back to filling in a few gaps I didn't like! Oops.

Not sure if I will get a chance to work on Day 3 of my book today, I have another mad idea to try out first!

Bye for now.

Adele

xXx

A Zentangle a day keeps the doctor away.....

LOL. IF ONLY but I can try.

I had this mad idea a short while ago and I thought that a bit of creative "doodling" might be a good activity for me to try with Amelia.......and they do say it's yoga for the mind!

I treated myself to a book called "One Zentangle a day" and a few new pens, and yesterday I succumbed to my first "proper" little sketch book. It was nothing fancy but I have warned Amelia "HANDS OFF!"

I sat down yesterday afternoon and started my Zentangle journey, I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed it but it did feel VERY self indulgent, it's one thing to sit and create a card or a piece of jewellery but just sitting doodling seemed to have no real purpose at all and I did feel rather guilty when I have so many other things to do.

My self guilt is not going to stop me, I hope to move on to Day 2 of my book today but long term what I plan to do with my attempts at Zentangle is a mystery!

Here are my pathetic attempts for Day 1 where the "Tangles" of STATIC, TIPPLE and CRESCENT MOON were covered. The top row of Tangles are taken from the book, the lower row is my vague interpretation of them! Please be gentle, I am really out of my comfort zone here!

As they say:

Things can only get better! LOL

Bye for now,

Adele

xXx