Zentagles a form of "cheating?"

I love the idea of Zentangles.

A structured form of doodling!

Perfect for people like me who's mind goes blank when trying to doodle.

I have never been a doodler, but when I ran across the

Zentangle website, I was awed. 

These were intricate pieces of artwork, and were structured!

The thing is, I feel guilty.

I would love to be able to let my mind go and make beautiful

doodles, like Eden or Lori or Dawn.

To me these are super-creative forces.

I have to think, plan for any sort of design.

With both of these Mandalas, much of it was Zentangle inspired,

or inspired by other doodlers around Flickr.

I like the end result, but it feels like cheating
What do you think?

On another note, I received War of Art by Debra!

Woohoo!

I have made partially through the first chapter.

I have to read it in slow, small doses...Resistance at its finest!

Check out the lovely gifts Debra sent me!!

I have always coveted her handpainted papers, but to see them in person..

pure joy and happiness. 

And check out the awesome stitching!

The blue bookmark is this really cool plasticy material.

I hope that I can really take in the book.

Still slow going around here

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.

A Thank You Note

All the wonderful comments I get on this blog

make me smile.

Every single time.

I may not comment back on everyone,

but know that when I get that e-mail

I grin, knowing that someone cared enough

to respond to my art.

You all have helped me get through

some tough times,

and helped me keep going when I have

not felt like I could, or should.

I can't thank you enough.

You all help me

keep on keepin' on

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

Just feel like doodling

My poor, poor art desk.

It has gotten no love in so long.

I sunk into a depression hole,

and when I started climbing out of it,

my uncle passed away.

It has been a rough few months,

but I think and hope that I am out of the worst of it.

I still don't have much energy for sitting down

at my desk and really working on a painting.

But, I have been trying to play

with my watercolors

(I can lay on the living room floor with those!)

and just doodling.

I really really loved this one...until I marked in the black

rain/tear drops.

Oh well, I still like it...I like the colors

and drips.

Just trying to get a feel on how to use

my watercolors.

Such a different beast than acrylics!

Created tonight in honor of my Uncle

The colors are a little washed out in this photos.

All I did was put the paint down, let it dry

and found shapes for the drawing.

These were fun! I babysit for a family on Sundays,

and a few Sundays ago I brought in an art project for them to do.

You put down masking tape on a piece of paper

and color around it.

Simple and easy.

I can see how this could turn into fun exploration

of negative space.

Experimenting with Watercolors

First off: Thank you so much for your support

I took everyone's advice and just created.

I surrounded myself with my favorite supplies

(that can be done in front of the tv...not ready to paint yet)

I was inspired by Daisy Yellow 

GO!

Check out her blog!

Its awesome!

(Seriously)

and her Cityscapes, so I decided to just doodle.

I created some rectangles and tried to free my mind.

I am making a concerted effort to try and doodle more,

because I suck at it! 

 It is getting easier to just draw whatever comes to mind

I didn't think it would

I scoffed that I could let myself just go.

Well, I was wrong :)

It does get easier the more you do it

Next, I experimented with my watercolors

I've had them for awhile, but always went to the acrylic paint.

Truth be told, watercolors intimidate me

Last night I decided (with everyone's kind words in my mind)

to just put the paint to the paper.

I have much to learn, but it was FUN

Yay :)