Ballpoint Pen Mandala

This one was worked in spurts, 

sometimes going a week without touching it.

I painted the background with watercolors,

and did the mandala in two different ballpoint pens.

I feel like I may never ever feel very creative again.

Some of the spark is back, but it is sloowww,

and it is not linear.

Work is FINALLY going well, after over a year of 

crises. You know what happens when external

problems are over? You are stuck with yourself.

I'm not liking it very much, but the one saving grace

are the 2 year olds I work with every day.

They are frustrating at times, but oh so charming

and cute and loving.

I'm hanging in there, and keep on hoping maybe

I will consistently do some art.

All over the place

Over the past week or two,

I've had no desire to pick up the paintbrush.

I kinda feel guilty about it,

but the call to draw mandalas

and doodle,

and experiment with different medias

have been too much fun.

I can't ignore that, can I?

Want to take a look at what I've been doing?

I have been practicing my drawing (there are so many great step by step tutorials online!)
in my moleskine...pen for size.

The beginning stages of a zebra.
Definitely the hardest thing I've tried.
Go to www.drawspace.com for free drawing lessons.

I've had fun trying out random shapes
and doodles,
playing with my sparkly gel pens;
revived from the dead!

 I just bought a UniBall Signo white pen...
and oh, people were NOT lying when they
ranted and raved about how awesome it is.
It flows spectacularly,
is bright and just POPS against dark color.
Love.

Next up was my BIG journal.
I painted the background black,
and at first tried to use colored pencils.
I don't think they are supposed to color over shiny, acrylic paint.
Ok.
I tried my Neocolor Crayons.
YES.
I doodled some mandalas.

So I went out to Michael's,
 and bought some black cardstock.
Oh, colored pencils worked on that!
I got bored and kinda gave up on it though :)

Should I settle down and find my niche?
I think, eventually.
But this is all along the journey of finding myself,
and for the first time...ever...
I can say that it feels good.

Michelle Ward's Crusade and another mandala!

Hey folks!

I'm glad to be back on with electricity.

Yesterday afternoon a insane thunder storm

came whipping through town,

knocking 45,000 people out of power.

It has been in the mid 90s (before the heat index),

so the lack of Air-Conditioning wasn't fun.

But the power came back on today and I am back

to basking in light and internet and AC.

I have been working steadily over the past

few days on a new BIGGER mandala.

I have been trying them out in my tiny moleskine,

but decided to try it out in my big journal.

The first one was a disaster,

so for the second one I decided to bust out 

my compass and ruler.

I am a fan of symmetry.

I punched it up with some watercolor.

There really is something so soothing in the repetitive

drawing of simple shapes, and so far I really love the outcome!

Its one of those things that looks harder than it is.

Seriously, I can't draw AT ALL.

On a different note, I decided to jump back into 

Michelle's Crusades. I love her ideas and techniques,

and I'm glad to have the inspiration back.

Her challenge this month was simple: Gridlock

Make a grid in your art journal.

This goes along with my analytical/linear mind.

I love grids and tiny details.

For this challenge, I cut up some of my

spray-painted papers that I have been hoarding.

Why is it that when you cut up papers to smaller sizes

they seem more fascinating and awesome?

I like the end result, but it sat for a few days.

It needs something else, but that something else

never came to me.

Maybe one day! 

More Mandala Happiness

I am in Mandala-creating mode lately!

I like parts of this mandala...and parts I am "meh" about.

It is all part of the learning process, right?

I really like this one.

I used a compass to make it more symmetrical

and really like the result.

I am also working on Michelle Ward's Crusade #40:

Gridlocked. I feel like I am starting to 

jump back in the world of art making,

and boy it does feel nice.

It is also fun to see inspiration everywhere!

Stay tuned for my next post on Michelle's Crusade!

Mandala Happiness

I have long been inspired by people

who can draw the most gorgeous mandalas

(check out this flickr group)

I have been researching them over the past few weeks,

as I haven't wanted to create art 

except on my couch.

I figured a pen and this cute little moleskine I just bought

would probably be ok to do on the couch.

As pretty as they can be,

it seems many people were going on about how

soothing it was to make them.

Therapeutic, even.

I need as much therapy as I can get! haha

I also am a "struggling" doodler.

It doesn't come all that naturally to me,

and I figured that if I keep trying to draw

mandalas, maybe it will loosen me up.

So, here is my first serious one I tried.

See? Tiny!

At first I just felt frustrated that I suck at trying to think

about what to draw next. 

My mind is amazing at going blank when I 

force it to think about the next step.

After awhile, I realized that it IS

soothing to create a shape and 

just go around in a circle and repeat it.

I think I am a believer