Thursday, September 29, 2016

art.again.

Highlights and shadows on midtone Strathmore Artagain paper, ink & watercolor. This isn't for a challenge or anything; I just happened to rediscover a stack of precut midtone paper I'd forgotten about (and I broke my no-coffee-after-three rule today). :oD





•  •  •  •  •  •  •


Thanks for stopping by... 
feel free to visit me here!



Saturday, September 17, 2016

a tangle well-traveled + tripoli monotangle

Hi, friends!

You may have noticed that my tangling has slowed down a little this year, and it's partly due to thumb pain. The Very Expensive Specialist said, "Well, you don't have arthritis, so..." (*shrug*)"... here, have some knee meds"! I can still draw ok, but my thumb often aches afterward. I should have expected this, to be honest. George Clooney warned me this would happen when he said, "After forty, it's all about pluggin' the holes in the boat." How true, Mr. Clooney. He knows me so well.

Anyway... onward! It's been way too long since I jumped in on a Diva challenge. I've always liked Tripoli. I liked it more once I figured out that drawing it successfully, like many other patterns, is more about drawing the spaces in between the shapes than the shapes themselves. Keeping parallel lines the same distance apart as much as possible = magic. My unsolicited advice for the day. :oD

My mind went in different directions while I was drawing, so there are a couple of variations here. Monotangles really take discipline for me because I like to throw a lot at my tiles. It's a good exercise to rein it in once in a while and find ways to make an old dog do new tricks, though. Once it was done, I tried rotating it in different directions and saw a variety of things with each rotation. I have chosen PegLeg Chef Tossing Pizza Dough for your viewing pleasure. 




Remember being a kid, when it was actually fun to get mail? Well, if you're missing those days, hop onto the Traveling Tangles bandwagon to spruce up your mailbox. Nothing good ever arrives in a window envelope, after all... and getting mail from all over the world is exciting. No pressure though- if you're not sure about jumping in, lurking in the shadows is perfectly acceptable. I love the ones where the artistic style of the participants is vastly different and yet the tiles are just come together. Just another example of how this art community brings people together.

The following are all tiles that were partially tangled and snail-mailed to me for finishing. I debated posting before-and-after scans but it's more fun to guess who did what. It's been a few days anyway, so even I'm not completely sure.

I'll keep all the Diva-ness together... the next three tiles were started by Laura (Canada) and finished by me. Somebody remind me to ask her what she used for color- my micron skated over that sparkly, glorious sunset mishmash like an olympian. I'd like to tell you that if you show up on my doorstep I'll let you see it in person, but I really don't want you to. You can just take my word for it.

so... Seussy.




This one's probably my favorite. 



This was a very satisfying collaboration for me. All three tiles are so happy.



This one was started by Alice Hendon (Maine) and finished by me. She's got a pattern called All Boxed Up that I love to play with... I could monotangle that sucker til the cows come home and go out again. I love it so hard.



Emily Classen (Massachusetts) sent me this black tile to finish. It was a surprise, actually... I went a little bonkers over the pic when she showed it to me, and the real deal landed in my mailbox a few days later. My mailbox is a magnet for good things lately, y'all! So grateful for good friends.



Glenys Sykes (UK) sent me this lovely Renaissance (tan) tile.  It was so unbelievably pretty as is that I was afraid I'd ruin it, so I just added a few touches of white. There have been many tiles on the TT page that I wouldn't change... they were already perfect. This is definitely one of those. 



Barb Mavraganis (Pennsylvania) sent me this one. It took me a while to figure out what to do with it... I saw another tile with chainging on it and it made me want to play with the pattern. The gold highlights Barb added are my favorite part. It's a perfect gold... not too green and not too orange. 




Last but not least (I did this one first, actually) is this one from Sue Olsen (Ohio). I maybe should have stopped drawing (way) before I did, but it was really fun to finish! 




Edit: adding on a couple of older ones that I never got around to posting....  this one was started by Margaret Bremner (Canada). I love how she sneaked in her initials.




This one came from Lynn Mead (Washington) and is a good example of one that was already perfect upon arrival. I just added the raindotty variation and the gold touches, but let's be honest, it didn't really need either one!




Thanks to all my trading buddies!











•  •  •  •  •  •  •



Thanks for stopping by... 

feel free to visit me here!