Sunday, April 29, 2012

Diva's Challenge #8

Diva's Challenge #8 is called Hearts for Artoo. Artoo is Diva's baby son. He was ill at the time and he needed some positive energy, so the challenge was to make hearts for him. The challenge came with a twist - a requirement to use two of the previous 7 challenges together.

I used challenge #2 - two pencil string and challenge #4 starry eyed surprised. I added some color, flowers and strings to make it more fun in a way I think a baby would enjoy.


Saturday, April 28, 2012

Illustration Friday - Jump

Illustration Friday topic for this week is Jump. I was indecisive on what to do with the topic. Ballerina, parachute, athlete... When in a dilemma I usually end up with an animal and this challenge was no exception. So, here it is, my quick sketch of a dog in mid-jump:

Friday, April 27, 2012

Diva's Challenge #7

Diva's Challenge #7 is called Breathe and the challenge is to relax, breathe and smile while working on the piece for the challenge.

I followed the rules and here's what I got:


I am afraid it might be a bit scary, kind of the opposite of what was required to create the challenge. But, what can ya do, I got what I got.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Diva's Challenge #6

Diva's Challenge #6 is called Ixorus and it's a fairly simple one. Use the tangle named Ixorus.

My way was to completely focus on the ixorus. I made it big and I modified it by adding colors, swirls and strings. It's not much but I enjoyed making it and that's all that counts as far as I am concerned.



Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Cats

Two new watercolor pencil cat portraits. I love how they turned out, but I didn't really enjoy making them. Making these requires a lot of time and concentration for me. Sometimes I am fine with it, but most times I am not, so I rarely do them.




After I finished the second one I noticed it looks fine when it's turned up side down. I think it might even look better the other way around. See:


What do you say? Which orientation is your favorite?

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Diva's Challenge #5

Diva's Challenge #5 - Orbs

I did this one late at night, I was sleepy, my concentration was not the greatest and it shows. My orbs are actually balls. Close, but not actually the same thing, the way I understand it. Very dark and very basic. I came this close to tearing that page out and starting from scratch, but I decided to leave it in after all.


Monday, April 23, 2012

Diva's Challenge - Earth

In honor of Earth Day, this week's Diva's Challenge is to use the prompt of the Earth. I did this:


I used simple repeating flowers and leaves and then added the background that I made up on the spot. Perhaps someone already created a similar tangle, but I don't remember seeing it. It's completely colored because I can't imagine the Earth without all the beautiful colors of the nature.

I know, it's not much Zentangle like, but I still think it qualifies as Zentangle inspired.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Beautiful Blog #1

I go around art and craft blogs a lot I am often blown away by what fellow art enthusiasts create and post on their blogs. It's a shame not to share some of those I love the best, so I am introducing a series of posts called Beautiful Blogs.

For the grand opening I have a real treat for you. It's Helena's Zapletkano blog. Translated to English the name of the blog - Zapletkano literally means tangled, so yes, Helena does Zentangle inspired art and what she does with it is beautiful, awesome, sometimes even breath taking. Helena is also very generous to show us a number of her own tangle inventions and post instructions how to draw them. She makes cardboard stars (decorated Zentangle style) that look like mini  sculptures. Oh, and she used colors in her tangles very successfully. There is so much to love at http://zapletkano.blogspot.com/. Really.

Oh, and don't be put away by Helena's use of her native language. Just look for the parts she wrote in English and even more importantly look at her art and enjoy!




Saturday, April 21, 2012

Illustration Friday - Heights

When I first saw the topic for this week's Illustration Friday - heights - I instantly thought of a performer walking on wire between two tall buildings. When I sat down to do it, however, I decided to go with something different.

I've been making Zentangle inspired art for a while now, but this was the first time I used color with that type of creation. In a way I was reaching for new heights of my creativity with this one.


Once again I used Totally Tangled for pattern inspiration.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Diva's Challenge #4

Back to catching up with the old Diva's Challenges.

Challenge #4 - Starry Eyed Surprised

Once again I turned to Totally Tangled for tangle inspiration. I started with one big star and turned it into some sort of a marine creature with tentacles with Fyre (page 30). I was thinking that what I got did not look much like a star, so I added some smaller stars to the inside of the big one. They didn't look like stars either. I tried to fix it, making it even more complicated to see the stars within the multiple lines. I gave up on that, added tangles  inside the big star and then went for for very recognizable and simple stars. I turned them into a frame by adding some simple ropes and Nowell columns (page 39 of Totally Tangled). I am a fan of astronomy, so at the end I just had to add some dots to represent the many stars of the Universe. Finally, I added shading and I was done.


Thursday, April 19, 2012

Book Of Tangles

With all the tangles I've been seeing lately, they are starting to get all jumbled up in my head. I need a way to document them for easy reference. I do love Tangle Patterns website, but it's not very practical while I am creating. Plus, just looking at patterns does not make me remember them. 

My solution was to create my own book of tangles. I started with a blank journal and will add tangle instructions as I come across them. So far I only have a few pages done, but I already love how it's turning out. Here's an example of a two page spread:


I draw the instructions first and then add an example or two with variations if there are any. The best thing about it, besides ending up with a nice book of tangles is that it's great practice. By the time I am finished with a tangle, I've already drawn it several times. It really helps to learn and remember various tangles.

What tactics do you use to learn and remember tangles?

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Diva's Challenge #66

Diva's Challenge this week is Auras. I worked on a postcard sized paper with pens of various sizes. The whole thing is one big set of auras and then I added smaller auras to certain elements. I think it fits the topic and I am happy with the final result, the look, shading and all.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Diva's Challenge #3

Challenge #3 - Eyes Wide Shut

The challenge was to do a blind string. I ended up with a very simple one. Originally I was only going to use 2 tangles to complete the piece. The wiggly pipes to come on top and everything else would be a one tangle background. After I drew the base for the background I had a thought that I was being lazy. I made the previous two challenge pieces very simple and was going to go super simple with this one. I didn't like the trend, so instead of just making a simple background I made it into a sort of a patchwork of many different tangles. It was a fun practice and I like the end result.


Monday, April 16, 2012

Diva's Challenge #2

Challenge #2 - Two Pencil String

I worked with tangles from Totally Tangled again and kept it quite simple. It's not much, but it's OK, I guess. I didn't really use the potential of using two pencils to make the string, so I might come back to this one later.


Sunday, April 15, 2012

Diva's Challenge #1

A few days ago on Amytangles I saw an idea to start Diva's Challenge from number 1 and work through the whole list of challenges. I thought that was a great idea and since I only joined the challenge after #60 I decided to go for it, too.

I had an unused 6x6" (15x15cm) Fabriano artists journal laying around so I decided to use it for the challenges exclusively. I think it will eventually make a nice book of zentangle inspired drawings.

Challenge #1- Simplicity

I used just one tangle. It's Omega from Totally Tangled and didn't do any shading. That's quite simple, don't you think? Here it is:


Saturday, April 14, 2012

Cat Fest

I am still playing around with cats. These are the latest four:





Friday, April 13, 2012

Illustration Friday - Puzzled

Illustration Friday subject for this week is puzzled. Here's my take:


Watercolor pencil on heavy watercolor paper - 6x4".

MUMOK - A Photo Tour

MUMOK - Museum of Modern Art Vienna, Austria. How I saw it.










Robert Rauschenberg - art beyond my comprehension:



David Hockney - a self portrait:


Andy Warhol - my favorite of his several pieces in the exhibition:


Martial Raysse - adorned with plastic flowers and badly colored collages. Not my cup of tea.


Roy Lichtenstein - Impressive - loved it:


Just some sponge art. I don't get it:


Giant blue spider loves art: 


Domenico Gnoli - detail from the painting you can see above. Amazing skill and patience.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

A Walk Through Leopold Museum

Here are some pictures I took in the Leopold Museum. The quality of the images is not that great, but since use of flash was not allowed that was the best I could get.

That's a photo of Schiele on the left and one of his paintings on the right.

 The nude in the center is an self portrait of Richard Gerstl painted just days before he committed suicide. He was very young and heart broken. so Tragic. His art is beautiful in my opinion.

Schiele - Mother and Child.

Schiele Houses 

Schiele - Portrait of  Eduard Kosmack

 
Schiele's nudes and dolls that inspired his art.

Series of photographs inspired by Schiele's art.

Art by Elke Krystufek. This was the first time I heard of this artist. I think she is really good. I love her colors.

By the way, Leopold museum does not show only Schiele's and Schiele inspired art. It's just my personal preference to photograph and show you primarily work that has something to do with this wonderful artist.