Thursday, January 11, 2018

Diva Challenge #346 and other stuff...

Diva Challenge #346
Duo-Tangle: Phicops & Huggins

Yaaaay! The Diva is back and to start a new year of new challenges, Laura gave us...uhmnnn...me quite a challenge. Very Yin/Yang because Phicops is one of those patterns I've managed to avoid, whereas I can't get enough Huggins.
It's taking me a while to make friends with Phicops and I'm still not quite there yet. I had many ideas going on and frustratingly pursued several clumsy attempts at it in my sketchbook and finally started this first tile as more of a warm up, casually executed on a 4" x 4" scrap of card stock I rescued from the recycle bin at work.

Duotangle #2
Cosmic Garden

I like how this one turned out. I knew these two patterns would be a nice fit in the Cosmic Garden series, even though I thought I was done with that. I guess not. 
I spent some time looking at Phicops from the Diva's archive challenges and there were some real beauties. I was inspired to play some more with it in my Trainwreck journal. I'll share that next week.

Other stuff:
During the Diva's holiday hiatus, I challenged myself with daily drawings inspired by many different sources. I've mentioned that I do spend waaay too much time noodling around the internet and watching YouTube videos. One of my creative goals is to strive for more balance. I tend to bombard myself with images and ideas and then step back and see what sticks. From time to time I'll share the stuff that sticks.
During my recent organizing binge, I found an old, large, spiral bound sketchbook and re-purposed the remaining pages into a smaller hand-made sketchbook using a watercolor practice sheet for the cover. I call this the sketchbook of "Everything Else", inspired by an Alphonso Dunn video where he talks about looking at student sketchbooks of one polished/pretty/finished page after another and asking "Where's everything else?"
The paper is not conducive to any wet media including many of my ink pens so I decided to use it for colored pencils...mostly.
 I was breaking in the cheap Daiso watercolor set and practicing layering.

One of my early sources of inspiration, long before I ever heard of Zentangle is "They Draw and Cook". It's a collection of illustrated recipes curated by artists Salli Swindell and her brother Nate Padivick. I follow Salli on Instagram and I love her whimsical and seemingly simplistic style. It's the antithesis of mine. I tend to get caught up in too much realistic (and labor intensive) detail whenever I draw "real life" and though I enjoy that and get a lot of satisfaction from it when I have the time, one of my creative goals this year is to achieve a simpler balance to that.

Playing with my Prismacolor pencils sallistyle


9 x 12 ZIA
mixed media

I was doing some cleaning and organizing of my art closet last week and found this work-in-progress ZIA I had forgotten about under a stack of watercolor pads. The line work was done on the water-colored background, so I spent the rest of the day finishing it with the shading, highlight and colored pencil. I can't remember when I started this, but I was clearly influenced and inspired by the work of Sharla Hicks. I love her organics.

A few pages from finishing the Trainwreck journal
dip pen and ink

Aimee takes a break to let me draw
She's usually trying to sit on top of whatever I'm doing
It's always a bit precarious when the pen and ink are out


Thanks so much for stopping by. Your thoughtful and generous comments delight and inspire me!






24 comments:

  1. Ohhhhhhhh.....
    Ohhhhhhhh............ again. And some more
    Ohhhhhhhhs
    MIchele, you did a fantastic job with the cosmic garden tile and the mixed media. Wonderful transition from Huggins to the many Phicops and the little dots in the other tile look like dusty pearls, shining through delicately only. I love that tile and wished you had made a bigger image. So much is going on it is hard to see it all.

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    1. Thanks Susie! You are so sweet;-) I think if you click the image you can enlarge it. I know the file itself is pretty massive;-)

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    2. Nope, still small and clicking it just jumps to the next image. But when I downloaded it, I could enlarge it. WOW, there is really a lot going on in the smallest of details. Glad you found and revived this very special Sharla inspired tile and shared with us. Thanks, Michele.

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  2. Wonderful work, Michele! The colouring of your first Phicops tile looks cool like a knights armor. The cosmic garden is very beautiful. Maybe my favorites are the mixed media and the athmospheric drawings and, of course, your cat in the box!

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    1. Many thanks Margarete! I do want to play around with these two patterns more. I see something mechanical;-)

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  3. I can only agree with Susie and Margarethe, you have made a gorgeous Zentanglestart into 2018, beautiful tiles, all of them, but my absolute favorite is the mixed media!!! Indeed, as Susie wrote, there is so much to explore on that work, love it. Aimée and you are a wonderful team!!!

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    1. Thanks so much Ria! Aimee and I had some productive days stuck home in the rain on my days off;-)

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  4. Beautiful tiles! I especially love the Phicops feather. <3

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  5. Oh Michele! Thank´s for sharing so much inspiring work here! Love your efforts with Phicops, it came out very beautifully!

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    1. Thanks Anita! Phicops was a great challenge. I'm still seeing potential in my head. It's getting my pen to cooperate is the bigger challenge;-)

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  6. As always, you inspire me. I haven't been jumping in with comments and posts lately, but I still look every time! This week, I couldn't help but comment because it seems we are in a similar plane of thought. I have a photo of the exterior of the Civic Opera House in Chicago as my screensaver. There are lots of carved motifs, including one that looks like a Zentangle border design, but one I haven't seen used. I was scribbling it on paper this morning, when I saw your rendition of Phicops. It is so similar! Your work always looks like carved stone to me, so that is not surprising. Wish I could attach the photo, but I may just need to do a post on my long neglected blog. Happy New Year, and thanks for your ongoing inspiring work. You're the best!

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  7. Many thanks on so many levels Antonine! I truly appreciate your comments and sweet words. I've missed your blog and YOU!!!!

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  8. I only use Phicops when I really have to like now. I think you did quite well, my favorite is the 2nd one.

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    1. Thanks so much Annemarie! That's my favorite too;-)

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  9. Wow.... so much creative art. It's so gorgeous, Michele. Thank you for sharing with us....

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  10. Lovely work as always. Thanks for including Aimee.

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    1. Thank you Susan! I've come to realize that Aimee is the real star of my posts;-)

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  11. All are so beautiful! Thank you for sharing your lovely art. Wishing you all good things for the New Year!

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    1. Thanks so much Nathalie! Here's to a year of amazing art adventures;-)

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  12. Love your Diva Dance tiles! Thank you for sharing your art. You are such an inspiration.

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  13. Thank you Pat! I truly appreciate your kind and encouraging words;-)

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  14. I think the first time through I missed the mixed media piece with Sharla's influence. This is awesome.

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