Doodling…
I’ve been creating fine pen doodles, sometimes known as zentangles, for years now and have sketchbooks full of them. When I started creating these, the originals were always black and white and if I added colour I did it digitally after I’d scanned the originals. I was very precious with those originals – too frightened to experiment in case I ruined them. But just recently I’ve started adding them into some of my mixed media work…
…and I’m quite pleased with how they’re turning out.
This one was created using a collage of book pages, followed by a watercolour wash and clear gesso glaze. The doodling came next. I don’t plan this, its totally spontaneous and I’m always surprised by the end result! Lastly I added some colour to the doodling using pitt pens and a bit of shading with a water soluble graphite stick.
Quirky Bird Bug!
Yes, I have definitely got the Quirky Bird Bug – I can’t seem to stop drawing them!
This time I decided to try painting one on material. I primed the material using clear gesso then painted the bird using a mixture of acrylic paint and neocolour crayons exactly the same way I did on the paper. I’m really pleased with how it turned out – I love the way the pattern on the material shows through in places under the paint.
Drawing birds has kept me from finishing my latest zentangle canvas, but today I finally finished it – number five in the series!
I decided to try drawing with some Pitt artist pens as the unipin pen nibs were wearing out so quickly! The Pitt pens are lovely and very waterproof, but I think it must be drawing on the canvas – they’re wearing down too! As before, I used the luscious Twinkling H2O’s to add colour to the image.
Maybe some mixed media paint splashing will cure me of the Quirky Bird Bug – keep watching this space!
Zentangle Star
Today I finally got around to finishing my latest zentangle canvas! I drew it at the beginning of the month but didn’t get round to colouring it till today.
This was the original, drawn on a canvas board using a unipin fine line pen…
… and this is the final version, coloured using Twinkling H2O’s.
Zentangling again!
I’ve been zentangling again! Only this time I forgot to scan before I started painting.
I chose an Ankh as my central image – said to represent eternal life, dating back to Egyptian times. As with the others, I drew it using a unipin fine line pen and coloured it using Twinkling H2O’s. I added a small gem stone to the centre which made it impossible to scan! No matter how hard I try to capture it, the image is a pale shadow of the original!
More Zentangles!
I’ve rather got hooked on these Zentangle doodles – looks like I’m going for a series!
I chose to use the sun as my central image this time. Everything is drawn freehand, which is why the box is not quite square to the page on this one – just call it artistic license!
Once again I used my Unipin Fine Line pen – I think I’m going to have to bulk buy these if I do many more of these zentangles!
I just wish the scan could show the wonderful shimmer that the Twinkling H2O’s add to the image!
Doodling and H2O’s!
Still inspired by Jodi Ohl’s Just do it – Free Art Friday post, I decided to create another stained glass image, but to cover it in doodles in the style of my zentangle drawings. I used a 5″x7″ canvas board to draw it on.
I doodled using a Unipin fine line pen which claims to be ‘water and fade proof’. “Hmmm, we’ll see about that!” … I thought. My record with so called waterproof pens is not very good!
Wow – I’m impressed! Not a smudge or a smear anywhere! These pens are good! I used Twinkling H2O’s to add the colour, so the ink got verrry wet! Now that it’s finished, I think it looks kind of mandala-ish – the way it pulls your eyes in to focus on the heart. It wasn’t intentional, but I rather like it. What do you think?
Just Doodling…
Continuing on from yesterday, I thought I’d stay with the small size and doodle some zentangles. The inspiration for this came from the latest issue of Craft Stamper Magazine.
I created the border round the edges first, then stamped the mouse and text (very old freebies from a magazine), then filled the remaining space with doodles. I used my trusty Rotring Rapidograph pen for the doodling and a black Staz-on ink pad for the the stamping. I finished it off by colouring the mouse using neocolour crayons. I like the contrast the colour makes with the black and white of the doodles.
New Identity
As part of re-creating my identity back here at Artimess, I decided to design myself some business cards. The front was no trouble, but I thought I’d like to put some of my artwork on the back.
I started by creating this Artimess zentangle:
I used A6(105mm x 148mm) white art board and drew with my trusty Rotring Rapidograph .25 Pen.
Then I found this photoshop tutorial from 10 Steps and thought it looked like fun – I love digital blending! So I gave it a go:
I love the result – mainly because it makes me look a lot younger than the original! So now I have 2 backs for my business card. Which do you think I should use?