Playing Catch Up!

Ok...the rush of finals is over, and I am off school until January 24th.  Grade have not yet been reported, but so far I know of 5 of my 6 classes I got A's.

It is a Good News/Bad News situation. Good News is the Spring is my last semester; I graduate in May. Bad News is I have class 4 days a week (including my precious Quilts of Valor Fridays.)

I realize I have been lax in posting, and lax in my participation in the Diva Challenges, so I am making to rectify that. I left off with #193, which was Veterans Day, and the challenge was THX (Trio, Huggins, and XYP.)  Worked it on a watercolor post card, with Micron and Derwent Metallic watercolor pencil. I went over the gold watercolor with a gold UM-153 from Signo, because it seemed like it needed it.

I am setting a goal of being completely caught up before school starts again, so I need to get crackin! I started doing the Diva challenge at #160, so I think this year I will go back and start at #1...thought that would be lofty goal and give me a prompt when I need one.

Ciao for now. Happy New Year!

I am Alive...Diva #192: Use My Tangle - Seton

First off, I am alive. I know I've said repeatedly that I have 6 classes (I am attending) this semester, and subsequently, being that I will graduate in May, they have gotten increasingly difficult on the homework scale.

I have been trying to fit in some tangle time (mostly in class) and trying to keep up with at least a few challenges (mostly Diva and Square One on Facebook.)

So this week's Diva Challenge was with guest CZT Cris Letourneau, with a Use My Tangle (UMT) for her tangle, Seton. If you haven't checked out her book (with Sonya Yencer, CZT) called Pattern Play, I highly recommend it.

Seton is a grid pattern, that rather reminds me of a quilt, so I had a little fun with it.

And this week, on Square One, the focus was on Punzel. I have never done this one before, but I think I really like it.

One of my classes this semester is on Stress Management (I am majoring in Kinesiology) and we had to split into groups and do a review of literature and demonstrations of different techniques being used in Stress Management. My group was lucky enough to grab Art Therapy for our topic, and I was able to do a Zentangle demo with the class (interactive, of course.) I pre-string tiles for larger groups, to cut out some time (we only had 20 minutes) and found after this trial of the demo, I need to re-do one of my strings...it looks too much like boobs...but he did a really nice job on it...(sorry if this offends anyone....Tyler is an established artist already, and this was his first tile...so I was rather impressed.)

Anyway...back to homework!

Catching Up on Mid Terms...And Slipping in a Few Divas!

I know....excuses excuses!

But, this has been a really trying past 2 weeks. Last Tuesday, we lost our dear Marie (sister-in-law)  to cancer. It derailed me a little, and I actually forgot a lot of things for the week. I ran on school only autopilot. It was difficult for Tuna, but he, his mother, and his other siblings were there with her. My final take on this....cancer sucks.

And...in the midst of this I am having mid terms at school. Studying for my last 2 tests now. Whew...semester is half over.

I did so the Blind String last week (#187) but I gave it to someone that admired it in class, so I forgot to post it...so here that is. Black tile with all the metallic Gelly Rolls I could grab at the moment.

And on to #188...This one I really lamented over. To have a 12 year old who is so aware of the world and the inequities in it, is really amazing. So it is to him, and all my friends and family in the LBGTQA community that I dedicate this tile (if you don't recognize that last bit, it's Queer and Ally, and I also added a C tangle to my tile for myself!)  I wish the scan would show how sparkly it is!

And this is me....back to studying!

Stay Crazy My Friends,

CharKat

Diva #186: Leaves of Fall

How fortunate this coincided with my Sunday get together at Susan Bowden's for the San Diego-Temecula Zentangle Group! (Thanks Janet Masey for coordinating me to be there and I love how Susan added me - Temecula - makes me feel rather special!)  Susan's aunt was visiting from Canada, so she had prepared some lovely white tiles in fall-ish watercolor pencil with the maple leaf traced on it.

I did mine in sepia Micron with brown artist lead shading and a little Glitter Pen and Copper Gelly Roll.

To see a mosaic of everyone's tiles, click here!

I also worked up this cute ornament from Michaels. Sprayed with a few coats of low-odor matte acrylic first, then I tangled on it with Permawriter II pen and painted the top in silver acrylic ink. Sealed it again with a nice coat of matte acrylic. I have a few more to do to...later maybe....

For now, back to writing about cocaine...

Stay Crazy My Friends!

Char

Diva #185: Duo Tangle Phicops vs. Diva Dance...who won?

We are having a heat wave (and I don't feel very tropical!)

It is OMG hot in Southern California right now. So what better to do than stay inside and tangle...opps...I meant do homework!

So this week, our lovely Laura the Diva had us do a duo tangle with her tangles Phicops and Diva Dance, in celebration of her and B-rads anniversary. They are a lovely couple...and this pair of tangles are a lovely couple as well. This was a first time for Phicops for me...I did find it a little challenging at first.

Renaissance Tan tile, with sepia micron, brown artist lead, and white Gelly Roll pen.

I am trying to stay up with getting at least a few tiles a week done. I spent all last week prepping my demos for my first live demonstration yesterday (it was fabulous) so I didn't really have time to get to last weeks Tickled to Tangle tile, but I did get this weeks done today as well. The tangles are Girlande, Girdy, and my almost oops variation of Gingham.

Black micron, graphite, Inktense Pencils, and a Niji brush.

ok...off to read stress management homework...write papers...and dream of ebola...ack!

Stay Crazy My Friends!

Diva #184: ING-ing Around in Circles

Thank you Diva for giving me an excuse to not do some homework today!

I was in the CZT class (14) where ING was introduced, and I have been tearING up a log of my tanglING ever since. I decided to take a slightly different approach this time, and made my zig zag curvy, and spiraled it out. Of course I am still on my "black on tan" period, so that played into it as well. And that little Auraknot in the middle? it just  happened. I think its rather plain, but bold, it has a beat, and I can dance to it.

As part of my Stress Management class this semester, I am supposed to be journaling. I posted the beginnings of my art journal (covers) previously, and have now tackled the inside front cover. Not to give away too much, but the first actual page is a piece of mono print in greens, that kind of reminded me of the Emerald City, so I went with a bit of a Wizard of Oz theme here. I am still learning some painting techniques, and I sure wish I had more time to play with it. (chant with me...9 more months...9 more months...)

And...lastly...I am giving my first demo as a CZT this week. So anyone in San Diego area that wants to drop by, I will be at the Sew Hut on Balboa from 2 until about 5 ish. I think my demo is actually at 3, but since I am driving down there, I thought I would stay a while and try to miss traffic coming back. We are gearing up to possibly teach some free motion quilting with Zentangle...and I am a little excited!

ok...back to Epidemiology...fun fun!

Stay Crazy My Friends!
Char

Diva #183 -Xing my way through...and some tidbits...

Ok...I have to be honest. I wasn't going to do this weeks Diva Challenge. I started it once on a tan tile, and ended up ripping it up. I just didn't like it. I wasn't me. But then I pulled out an ATC at school today and tried it again. Kept it a little simpler, and that worked out ok. Put in a little Shattuck, Printemps, and Meer.

School is back in session, full swing. I have been trying to tangle as I can, but mostly it seems I do this in class whilst listening to lectures. I am starting a collection of ATC's to start leaving as RAZ (Random Acts of Zentangle) but I have yet to be brave enough to part with any of them.

I really do listen to the lectures...really. I get more out of them when I am tangling, I think, because I am more focused.

Oh, and I'm sure you noticed the black blobs on the last one....that is a technique we like to call Black Out. :-) used when something doesn't quite turn out the way you planned it.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

So I've also been playing around in the studio this week, and came up with some cool stuff. In my Stress Management class, my group is doing a presentation on Art Therapy (with a brief Zentangle demo/class) and I am going to start working in an Art Journal a bit. So far, I have the cover done.

My idea here was to start taking the cards I've gotten (birthday, anniversary, Valentines) and making keepsake pages out of them. The cover was from my birthday card from last year from my BFF, Lori. I cut chip board to the size I wanted, primed it with gesso, painted with acrylics and distress inks, applied embellishments from my die cut machine, and added a ribbon. The back matches the front, except for the card. I put a black Zentangle tile on the back to label it when I am done.

I put all kinds of cool paper in it, including a piece of mono print. I will post pictures from time to time, so you can see what I do with it...

Ok...back to homework. 

Stay Crazy My Friends,

Char

Diva Challenge #182 - A Study in Stripes X2

First off, I would like to thank everyone for their kind words last week.

Second, keep the well wishes coming, because school started today. Six classes, 17 semester hours, five days a week. So far, so good, as my Monday classes are Chemistry (which I really enjoy.)

I have two entries for this week's Diva Challenge of Stripes. The first one I actually did last week while I was at the Tangled Expressions Group meeting up in Anaheim with Sharla Hicks. She has been doing a lot of black on tan tiles, and I thought I would like to play with them.

I really like the way it looks, although it seems rather stark with my tendency toward more angular line. The second one I did today, going alone the same stripe lines. While the lines are pretty regular, I think it has a bit of a different look.

The pearl effect is done by laying down a little graphite and blending it, then burnishing over it with the Zenstone. Neato, eh?

Ok...I have to read for tomorrows class (haha...I am always last minute.)

Stay Crazy My Friends,

Char

Catching Up...Diva 181, 179, and a Peek at the Second 176

ok, I am a bit behind. Admittedly, it has been a rough last couple of weeks. Another trip to Florida to see my sister-in-law, Marie, as she continues her brave battle with cancer. Dealing with the suicide of Robin Williams. And to top it all off, one of my Army buddies and her husband (also a veteran) were killed in a freak motorcycle accident, leaving behind 2 small children.

This would be enough to get anyone down, but dealing with, and living with, depression is a tough roads sometimes. It can greatly interfere with your desire to do anything, much less anything creative. But, I have found that if I can get started, especially on a tile, I can get out of it a little. That's where the prompts from the Diva, Adele Bruno, and Square One (on FaceBook) have been a godsend. I don't have to think about what to start (the hard part) and can get into the mindfulness.

So with that being said, I've made a lot of effort on a few projects that required minimal mental effort. I am almost done "up cycling" our dart board case (icky old Miller Lite thing,)  which, of course, I had to add some tangles to. I'll post the finished product next week.

I got out this week's Diva Challenge #181, with the theme of Water. I went to the beach yesterday, and it was rather soothing listening to the sound of the waves crashing. I hope you can see some watery-ness in my Mooka.  Signo UM-153 pen in blue, Signo Angellic in light blue, and General's Chalk Pastels (white, light blue and indigo) on Renaissance Tan tile.

I did get some Bijoux done, but I was on the road when I did them, so I didn't get them posted. But...here they are!

I really love doing these. I will often draw Bijou on several tiles in different positions with my dip pen, and after they dry I tangle him into someplace. I love that these have given me the impetus to try some tangles I don't normally use as well.

Speaking of Bijou, since he sends us tiles in these adorable little tins, I found one at JoAnn that fits 3.5 inch tiles perfectly...check it out.

I had "colored" 2 tiles to use for Diva's Challenge 176: BYOB, but I only finished one in time for posting that week. I have now finished the 2nd one. Here is the before pic again:

So this is the wine stain on the left on Renaissance Tan.

I think it came out pretty cool. I was on a Cadent-esque tangent that week, after doing this one for Square One:

And contenting off my Initials from Diva #178: Duo of my initials, I did this cute frame from Michael's dollar rack with all C and K tangles:

Whew...I think that catches me up for now!

Stay crazy!

Char

Diva Challenge #178: DuoTangle of Initial Quality!

Ok...highs and lows of this week aside, I finally set myself down to attend to my initials!

This weeks Diva Challenge was to create a Duo Tangle (2 patterns only) that start with your initials. I rarely use CC, as I have adopted CK for all things, so I set out do CharKat-ize. I picked Cadent and Kathy's Dilemma (one I had not tried before!)

I have been using my Tombow 6B pencil for shading this week. I like how soft it is, but it tends to be a bit darker overall. I bought them when I got deployed to Japan in 2011, and tossed them in the pencil drawer when I got home. Just found them recently...lol...go figure. 

And I got on an initial tangent this week. A trip to Michael's last weekend was a treasure hunt, and I found these cool frames in the dollar bins. they have a 3.7 inch square opening and tiles fit in them perfectly.  My work in progress...

AND...before you dash off to Michael's to pick these up...pick up something to seal them with prior to tangling on them. I only did one coat of sealer and a light sand, and now I wish I had done a 2nd coat with a 2nd light sand to make it not bleed at all. I'm using PermaWriter Pens and I edged it in black Sharpie (yuck, major headache after breathing Sharpie fumes.) The shading is coming out great with a regular soft pencil, and I do plan to seal it again when I finish tangling it.

Whew...Time Flies...Diva Challenges #176 & 177, Rock Fest, and Random Travels...

Oh my goodness this has turned into a busy summer! We just got home from the 2nd trip (This one was only 8 days, and included our annual sojourn to Wisconsin for Rock Fest.)

I was without internet access for a week, and it was almost rather pleasant. On the other hand, I didn't get as much tangling done as I had hoped. I did leave a few random tangles as autographs...this was on a tent that was shaped like a VW van.

I did finish one of my two planned out tiles for Diva's guest challenge #176, which was entitled BYOB. The object was to paint/stain your tiles with whatever you were drinking. I hit a white tile with coffee, and tangled it in sepia pen. I did stain a 2nd tile with red wine, but I haven't had a chance to do anything with it yet.

These are my "before" tiles...

And the white tile after...I'll post the other one when I finish it.

For Diva's guest challenge #177, the task was to use Truffle, by Caroline Broady, CZT. About the time I was looking at this, I made a trip to the Georgia Aquarium. Truffle rather reminded me of the jelly fish, so I pulled out some blue grey charcoal paper and went a little ocean themed with white Gelly Roll pen, Blue Stardust, and chalk pastel pencils. It's a little weird...and its 6 x 6.

Well...back to laundry, my Spanish final, and puttering around the studio. My summer is nearing the end, I had to register for school a few days ago. 5 classes, one with lab (chemistry) and I am already feeling the strain. 

Stay Crazy My Friends!

CharKat

Diva Challenge #175: UMT: Crux

Ok...so I made it through a week with my mother, and I'm not in jail for killing her (at least until they find the body.)

After dropping her at the airport in San Diego, I went to one of my happy places, Dick Blick Art Supply in Little Italy. Ah...paper...ah....ink...ah....zen....

So I did stock up on some cool papers (more to come on what I'm doing with that to come) and got a fountain pen, and some ink for my dip pen I found in one of my drawers. On Sunday, I picked up a really cool journal at the Hotel Del Coronado gift shop. It's a Jane Austen Novel Journal, with blank pages and Jane Austen quotes sprinkled throughout. I am going to use it to practice writing with the fountain pen, and the pages feel to be of sufficient weight to add some tangles to as well. (yeah...rough and tumble me is a HUGE Jane Austen fan. I had to make a trip to Bath when I was in the UK, and I watch the original BBC mini series of Pride and Prejudice at least once a year.)

I've notices some of my friends and relatives (including me) having some difficulties this week, so when I saw the heart cut outs leftover from some dies I had cut earlier in the week, I thought they needed to be a string. I guess I took that as an omen. And since I had bought new ink for my dip pen, I thought I would pull out the 15 year old acrylic ink that has been in the drawer and in storage and well travelled, only to find that it would not work with the pen. So...I painted in the gold with a tiny, tiny paint brush.  Oh, and I also worked on a Zendala tile, which was a first for me.

So here is the final piece. Black Micron, Red Gelly Roll, Gold Acrylic Ink. Tangles are Hurry, Fracas,  and Crux. oh, and some Derwent Inktense in Chili Red and blended with a Niji water brush. (Just got the Derwent's in the mail yesterday, had to try them out.)

Now I'm off to do my Spanish homework, and play with a couple things I have started on my workbench.

¡Hasta Luego!

Diva Challenge #174: Double String Theory

Ok...lets start out by saying...I am simply not myself this week. My mother is visiting from Arizona, and we have a rather...tumultuous...relationship. She is 70...I am 52. We have never been close, and have absolutely nothing in common. So tangling this week for me has been a bit difficult. She makes me...tense. I actually had to put my pen down a few times because I was gripping it too tightly.

But...I am trying to get into my "state of Zen."

For this week's challenge, we were instructed to double our string. Two strings instead of one. Interesting concept for me, when I don't use a string much at all. I often let my tangles just grow organically. That, added to my increased tension level, made for a daunting challenge. So....

I handed a tile, a pencil, and my book of tangles to my precious Tuna (better known as Mike to most people.) I instructed him (the engineer dude) to place the dots in the corner...connect the dots for a border...then draw a string...then another string. I also had him write the names of 4 tangles he liked on the back of the tile. And I used those 4 (Fescue, Frondous, XYP, and N'zepple.) This has to be my weirdest tile to date...but I don't dislike it. I did go old school, with just black and white.

Diva Challenge #173 - Redux

Whew!

It has been a busy week. Since coming back from Providence, I have been cleaning and purging the studio, and OCD'ing on some YouTube Videos for Faux Leather Journals I have so man ideas and things swimming around in my head, its been difficult to wrap my brain around any one thing for very long, making it *VERY* difficult to sit down and tangle.

This week's challenge from the Diva came from guest poster, Sharla Hicks. This initially struck fear in me, as Sharla is my mentor, my idol, and such a wonderful artist. Her tasking was to take your "go-to" tangle and rethink it. Re-imagine it. Use it some way you have not.

I have a couple favorites that do intimate themselves in a few things. When I am pressed and just want to color, I squiggle a line and Stripe away at it. I've only used Stripes as a focal, usually a monotangle. So here, I used it as a border. It came out...interesting. For the inside, I did a bit of a study in ING, Hollibaugh Style. While working that out, I found that if you start both sides from the same end, it makes a completely different pattern than starting from opposite ends.

For a different angle on tan, I worked on the Strathmore Toned Tan, but instead of brown, I used blue, and the Indigo chalk pastel. The N'zepple pearls that kind of glow? pencil shaded then colored in with Zenstone. Neat shading technique...makes it shiny.

Oh...and lastly, I always work pretty small...even on bigger paper (this is 9 x 6 isn) so I went big here...Bigified it!

Here is the Stripes I did while I was recently in the San Antonio Airport for 8 hours (gotta love flying standby.)

Still working on re-doing my blog page. I guess I'm going to have to go in and edit it by hand to get what I really want.

Stay Crazy my Friends!

Diva #172...and a taste of CZT 14!

Argh!

We got home from Providence late last night, and I had to meet with my Quilts of Valor group this morning since I missed the last meeting while I was on holiday. That being said, I still need to do my Spanish homework and decompress a little before I can get much on the blog.

While I was at the CZT course, we learned Auraknot, so I tossed some Mooka's on it and called it a Diva!

I promise to post much more about CZT next week. It was such an overwhelming experience, and I met a plethora of totally cool people (and even got help with my Spanish from Anna and Maria!)

Here's a little tidbit...Flyboy went with me, so we got our picture with Rick and Maria in the ultra cool Zentangle Frame.

Diva Challenge #171 - Beads of Courage/Marie Strong!

So...this post finds me in Central Florida (Sarasota) visiting my sister-in-law, Marie, on my way to CZT on Sunday.

Laura's challenge this week was almost fortuitous. Marie is dealing with a serious illness, and she is the strongest person I have ever met. Her attitude is so good. For everything she has been through, and is going through, she is always upbeat and positive. She loves her Red Sox (I'll forgive her for that) and recently got to meet David Ortiz when they were here for Spring Training.

So this week, I dedicate my "Beads of Courage" to Marie.

I used my Derwent Metallic pencils, and of course, the famous glitter pen.

Diva #170: UMT - a BUGLEsplosion

EEk...some tangles just don't talk to me like others until they are on the paper! I was so sure about this one...seemed a bit too ...griddy...for me after a week of a lot of knightsbridge.

But...here it is...

Busy busy busy this week. Getting ready to leave on vacation and then heading to Providence for CZT.

Diva #169: Wheels in the Sky and a Few String Things...

Whew...for school being out, this has been a busy week!

First, I'll give you what you came here for: The Diva. This week, Laura said to use circles for the string. Still being a bit...stringaphobic...I opted to do a bit of creative watercoloring using some pretty pearlescent water color paint and...wait for it...a spool of thread.

On a watercolor paper postcard...I spattered and stamped and tangled. Think the Diva dancing in circles...and diva dance and knightsbridge and sharla-rella (Sharla Hicks' variation of Indy-rella.)

Fun, eh?

So now for some String Things. I kinda blew it for getting #41 in on time.  I was OCD-ing on those Van's from last Saturday. (Check out this post if you missed them.) So here is my pretty from that week that didn't make it on the web listing.

Of course, this week I am on time, but I am going to post it here anyway. #42 is a mono-tangle of Knightsbridge. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. Not pleased that my scanner isn't working at the moment and I had to photo it and my Diva this week...

And yes, I am stuck on cycle fill this week...

It's Gotta Be the Shoes...

So today I finished what I at first thought to be a daunting task. I did my first tangles in 3D.
And not just any 3D. I did SHOES. (Go big or go home I guess.)

So a little background first. I have been tangling for precisely a year this week. I am going to CZT in a couple weeks (Certified Zentangle Teacher course.) I have been pretty doubtful of my skills in this area at times, but I keep on keeping on.

I have a friend who works at the local Van's store at the mall here, and he gave me a coupon when they had their friends and family deal. So I thought to myself...self...Vans are pretty cool shoes...but pretty expensive...are you sure you want to tangle a pair? And being myself...I answered...SURE! (at already on sale and some percentage off anyway!)

So I pick out a pair in denim blue with white stars (think...pre-strung!) When I got them home, I took out the laces, and took a good picture of them:

I used that picture to try out some tangles on...and test some pens...

And then...they sat on my workbench for, oh, a month. 

But, I had done a few small our of the way spaces from time to time to test out my design and the pen width. I had to order some pens, so they sat there a while longer. And after one such little test, I forgot to click the cap on my Permawriter, and it dried out (fortunately, I ordered several.)

Today, I got a wild hair, and just started on them. Before I knew it, most of one shoe was done.

And then the rest of that ONE shoe...

And I'll be darned if BOTH shoes aren't done now!

I am so totally impressed with myself now!

The particulars: I used both Permawriter 03 and Sakura Identi-pen in red and black. Are they the "right" ones? I'm not sure yet. All the information I found said so. And in all my research I did find that Sharpies fade funny and yellow, and I certainly didn't want that. So I guess only time will tell. 

I am going to let them thoroughly dry before I re-lace them, and I probably won't wear them for a while.

And that, is all the excitement I can handle for a Saturday.

Diva #168 - Making it Rain

FINALS ARE OVER! DONE! YAY!!!!!!!

And on a brighter note than that, while they did close the campus and cancel graduation (which was rescheduled to this weekend,) everything is back open and semi to normal this week. Camp Pendleton saw more than 21,000 acres burned (that's 18% of the base) and there were quite a few homes lost in this round of fires. The sad part was that some of them were man-made.

Because I was so stressed out about finals last week, I didn't tangle (boy, should I have) all week. I'm back on my game now, with Laura's challenge this week of Rain. (I wished for Rain all last week, and here it is finally!) I wanted to try out the Zenstone wash on a black tile, so this seemed like a good opportunity.

I don't know about you, but I really like it. I put down a cloudy wash of Zenstone, then tangled over it with black Gelly Roll pen. The color spots are General's Chalk Pastels. 

I also did a little tangling over the weekend trying out some map paper I have. I have been using it as wrapping paper, but I wanted to see if it would bleed through at all with a Micron. It didn't bleed at all. These are air route maps the airline pilots used to get before everything went digital, and I have a stack of them. I didn't completely tangle this one, but you get the idea. (and Laura, if you see this, that's Canadian air space!)

Still decompressing from finals, so I will be more active in the coming weeks. Only one class for me over the summer, Spanish 102, and of course, in less than a month now, CZT!