Love Charcoal!

There's just something about the messiness and feel of holding a charcoal stick in my hand that I love! Maybe the smokey smell too of the vine charcoal...

Recently I picked up a large stick of charcoal at my local Utrecht art supply store and decided to turn it to making a quick Zentangle(tm) sketch using some of the designs found in the new Zentangle 6 book.

Love the smudgy property of the charcoal and used a damp paper towel to smudge in places to get some depth and accents going. After creating this work I found anything that touched it or that it touched ended up with charcoal on it, so 2 coats of workable spray fixative were used to seal in the charcoal.

I find that whenever I am working on an art project, it inspires my 12 year old daughter to work on a project of her own. Here is what she recently created when we were Art Making:

If you get up close at the top of her page, you can see in green the names of famous Creatives like Walt Disney, Einstein, Martin Luther King, Thomas Edison, etc. Very cool!

So in the famous words of a young Creative, "Dream Big, Be Creative, Walk Among the Stars!" ;) Tristina

Get Your Art On!

Hope my readers are having a relaxed Holiday! Enjoying lots of pictures and experiences (and scraps of cool present wrapping paper) to ad to our artwork...

I got "the Cloth Paper Scissors Book" last week...full of INSPIRATION. Editor Barbara Delaney was tasked with selecting an assortment of articles from past issues of the magazine, with some extra tips and resources thrown in for us loyal readers.

So far I have read Jodi Ohl's "beginner's guide to BEGINNING" chapter. An excellent place to start at the New Year with the inspiring words, "Make a commitment to do something, anything, every day to make your creative life a real part of your daily routine." A great reminder to me that no matter where else my life is pulling me - kids school and activities, work, divorce, parents, teaching, etc. - I'm choosing to carve out time each day to be creative for ME (what a concept).

My favorite part of Jodi's chapter is her "TIPS to get you started" column. This includes the idea to enlist some of my creative friends to have a regular art play date, begin an online blog (ala ArtBookBug), take pictures when I have a dry spell (got a new kickass camera for my birthday in Nov - thanks Tim!), and think about working in themes or collections to build a "body of work" (I'm finding this is soooo important), plus a lot more ideas, including "How to start?". Her wise words for us living the creative life, "I only manage doing it all by simply doing." My words...decide SOMETHING to do and (like putting one foot in front of the other) manage at least a small move forward every day!

My creativity takes on many forms; sometimes just being able to take 15 minutes to read an artistic book or magazine to feed my brain, drawing zentangle(r) patterns or pictures that only require a pen and piece of paper, to full out days that I give myself about once a month to spend 4-8 hours straight pulling out all the stops in my studio with my papers/paints/mediums/inks/hard and soft canvases/encaustic wax/colored pencils and markers/and on and on! Please comment with your favorite creativity times/activities/supplies...

Here are my latest Zentangles(r):

 This is done on a watercolor postcard, so can be sent through the mail.

This is done on an Artist Trading Card (ATC).

By the way, thank you to all who gave me gift cards to my favorite Utrecht art supply store this Christmas! :)

Here's to making achievable artistic goals for 2012. ENJOY  THE  PROCESS and APPRECIATE THE AMAZING PEOPLE YOU WILL MEET ALONG THE WAY!!!

HAPPY READING AND CREATING ;)   Tristina

Fuzzy Headed

I was texting a friend of mine in the morning after dropping off the kids at school. She misunderstood something I had said and apologized for "being silly". I assured her that I share her same "early morning child induced intoxication" and am usually quite fuzzy headed myself until about 10am!

That being said, here is another of my recently finished Zentangles. I usually work on these in the morning when I just need to zone out till my body pumps enough blood to my head to be able to think cogently. :)

This Zentangle includes KurlyQ, Dropletts, Sprouts, Bricks, In N Out, River, ChainGang, Spinners, Portholes, Yimkin and a few others I don't remember the names of off the top of my head!

I will be hosting a Zentangle Artist Trading Card (ATC) demonstration at the Utrecht Art Supplies shop on North Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale (next to the Whole Foods) on December 17 (Sat) from 1-3pm. Bring your blank ATC's (Smooth Bristol are best for this project) and Micron pens or purchase them at Utrecht just before the demonstration. Completed ATC's will be put on display in the shop for other customer's viewing pleasure. Should be a very fun and relaxing primer to the holidays!

To learn more about Zentangles, go to Zentangle.com or TanglePatterns.com. I will be going to class to get my "Certified Zentangle Trainer (CZT)" in Rhode Island in February... I'm a Florida girl, what am I thinking???

Cheers to your relaxing this Holiday Season. Happy Turkey - Thanksgiving - Day!  Tristina

Zentangle Works

     Preparing for my Divorce sure takes up a LOT of time! Been focused on pulling paperwork...so haven't had a chance to write, although I have been art-making and book-reading. :)

      Finished up a few Zentangles using designs from the Zentangle 2 and Zentangle 3 books (by Suzanne McNeill, CZT). These are on a Strathmore Mixed Media Visual Journal 3.5in x 5in. This is a great little journal to easily carry with me when I'm packing light. It has nice large spirals so that a Sharpie fine or Micron black pen easily fits inside to keep it close at hand and the paper is absorbent enough so that the ink doesn't smudge.

This sun image is my variation of a stamped and zentangled image in Zentangle 3 (I drew this face).

     Also in Zentangle 3 is a suggestion to make index tabs with the different zentangle designs as a reference, even suggesting just reaching into a jar of these index tabs and drawing whatever designs you pull out! Sounds like fun... Below are a few tags I cut out of Bristol paper (great paper for marker work) using a large punch bought at Michaels.

      When I travel heavy (which is most of the time!) I carry a baggie with me filled with black Micron pens of different nib sizes, a set of colored Micron pens (my favorite is Sanguine brown), Utrecht double ended colored markers, a soft 6B pencil for shading, paper smudging stump (tortillion), pencil sharpener, eraser, and white pen.

     My regular sketch book is a Canson Field Drawing book 7in x 10in, also with big spirals. See below how this book holds 4 micron pens! I usually have the 03, 05 and graphic 1 or brush (for filling in) black nib sizes and have also been carrying the Sanguine color pen. See the work in process using both colors, I love it!

     Zentangle is having their next teacher certification class in Rhode Island in Feb. I know it's crazy to imagine a Florida girl in the NorthEast in the dead of winter, but I'm so excited to go up and get certified to teach Zentangles! Then I'll offer classes in Miami/Dade, Broward and the Palm Beaches. So much to learn and share. :)

     Happy reading and experimenting!  Tristina

Zany for Zentangles!

I'm hooked! After having read an article in Cloth Paper Scissors magazine last year about the meditative qualtiy of working small tiles of white paper with black ink in repetitive patterns - called Zentangles - I tried the technique and fell in lust...

To take my art to the next level, I bought from Amazon.com a Zentangle's Basics book by Suzanne McNeill and have played around with the patterns for the past several months; stealing a few minutes here and there to add to my picture blocks as I could. Here are some of examples of what I created:

Later, when I was well addicted to making Zentangles, I went again to Amazon to peruse other Zentangle books that might be available. To my delight, there were many, many more books and even including colored Zentangles! I immediately bought 8 more Zentangle books, some of which have not even been published yet, so I can get them as soon as they come out. Just looking at the book covers inspired me to make the tangles below:

Now I have begun to work bigger and cram more designs onto a larger page of my sketchbook. Here is one of my Zentangles in process:

Next stop...going to get my Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT) training asap so I can share my entheusiasm for this relaxing and VERY satisfying artform (that anyone can do, "one stroke at a time") by presenting classes in the Miami / Fort Lauderdale / Boca Raton area. :-D

To find out more, go to Zentangle.com. FASCINATING!!!

Happy Reading and Drawing,  Tristina