ZIA's on Zentangle 3.5 x 3.5 Tiles

Here are some more Zentangle Inspired Artworks I did on traditional Zentangle 3.5 x 3.5 Tiles. Just having fun. I may mat some of these for 10 x 10 inch frames to sell... have to think about it.

Black Zentangle Tiles

Here are a couple black Zentangle Tiles I have done recently. I'm also working on something really cool, but I can't post it, as it is a gift for my sister. I will show it tomorrow.

Fa La La La La - La La La Laaaaaaaaaaa

I finished decorating the tree last night. The Mantle is decked out, and the stockings are hung by the chimney with care... but I'm just not really in the Christmas mood. Maybe as the day gets closer I will feel more festive... we will see...

Jeff is having surgery tomorrow... torn Rotator Cuff and lots of other torn stuff in that area, Dr. says "It's a real mess"... from an injury at work. Left arm this time, he already had surgery on the right one a few years ago. Yes, we've been through this before, but this is worse than last time... just keep the pain pills going and hopefully we will all survive the recovery period. We're not looking forward to it.

Playing with shadows.

Here is another Abstract Zentangle Inspired Artwork I finished last night. I'm pretty happy with it... made a few mistakes on some patterns, but it's not about perfection... it's about the process. I used Derwent Inktense pencils on this. I've been playing around with shading with color rather than a graphite pencil. I really like this method better on colorful work... when I work in black & white, I don't mind using graphite to shade.

with or without?

The top photo is the actual painting. I've taken it into photoshop and added some "spatter" to the background. I haven't decided if I will actually add it or not. I seem to get an equal amount of votes for each version when I post it on Facebook. Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't! ;)

Abstract Mixed Medium artwork in progress

Here are a couple of work in progress shots of a new abstract mixed-medium artwork I've been playing with the past couple of nights. I started with Derwent Inktense pencils, and now I am adding tangle patterns to it. I like the progress I have made so far. :)

Last Three cards

Here are the last three Zentangle Inspired Art Note Cards I created... time to move onto something else... I'm out of blank cards. :)

2 more Christmas Note Cards

Here are a couple more Christmas Themed Note Cards I created last night. I like the popcorn and berries, but if I had to do it over again, I would have done it with watercolors and masked off areas so I could get an "even background"... but I guess it's ok. Have you ever strung popcorn and berries to hang on your tree? I did it once.

Oh Christmas Tree...

This is a Zentangle Inspired Artwork note card I did yesterday. I'm not sure if I am done with the tree or not. I like the contrast, but I'm just not sure. What do you think? should I add some detail to some of the bulbs on the tree or leave it alone?

Therapy for winter woes...

Here is the Christmas Themed Zentangle Inspired art note card I finished last night. This time of the year is very hard... and doing these gives me some quiet time to just listen to music or an audio book, and get away from all our troubles. It's great therapy.

More Christmas Themed Zentangle Inspired Artwork & Greeting Card

This is a 9x12 inch Zentangle Inspired Christmas Themed Artwork I did. I will do a bunch of these to sell next year. I'm also doing some Greeting Cards. Here is the first one...

Christmas Themed Zentangle Inspired Artwork

I've been so thrilled with the way the Christmas Themed Zentangle Inspired Artworks have been coming out, that I decided to go out of my sketchbook/journal and do a few of them to sell. I am also going to do some greeting cards. This is the first in the series.

Christmas Rock Garden Zentangle Inspired Art

When I first started working on this, I thought it was going to look like Christmas Candies, but now that it's done, I think it looks more like a Christmas rock garden. I like the way it came out. My markers ran out when I was half way done with the circles with the red dots in the middle, but I don't mind that some are darker than the others. My blue marker also dried up, so I shaded with a derwent water-soluble ink pencil, then wet it, I really like the way the shading came out, so I might use this method again to shade with.

Christmas color schemed Zentangle Inspired Artwork

I added a couple of christmas color schemed Zentangle Inspired Artworks to my sketchbook this week. I like the way they turned out. If my scanner was working, I would try and make them into greeting card covers...

Back to my sketchbook....

A couple new additions to my Zentangle Inspired Art Sketchbook. I was busy with work last week, but I've had a couple of days with some me-time... I'm getting tired of these colors, so I switching it up in the one I am working on now. A local art friend is starting up a watercolor club, not sure when the first meeting will be, but I hope it is on a evening when I don't have a ton of work to do, so I can go check it out... and hopefully it won't be snowing! I can't believe we already have snow on the ground this year! Unfortunately, this is just the beginning.

50th Birthday Bash - Las Vegas

I've wanted to go to Las Vegas for quite some time, my friend Jan and her husband Bill talked us into going to celebrate my 50th birthday. We were there for 3 nights... long enough to lose all the money we brought with us to the casinos... but we had a great time!

Flying above the clouds...

 I thought it was really interesting that some of the fields are planted in circles.

First sight of the mountains...

That is one big sandbox...

It's amazing, when you stop and think about it, that you can get on a plane 

in South Bend Indiana, and 3 hours later you are in Sin City! 

Liberace's car... no doubt about it!

We talked Jeff into having his photo taken with these girls dressed as showgirls on the strip,

I don't know if they really are, or if they just dress up to earn money.

$10 for the photo, EVERYTHING IS EXPENSIVE in Las Vegas!

These photos were taken at the conservatory in the Bellagio. 

I bet the Christmas display would be grand to see,

the fall display was marvelous! Mums were everywhere!

 

These are made of blown glass and hang at the entrance to the conservatory.

This was actually inside the building... the sky is painted.

We had dinner at this burger joint the first evening.

I didn't get to see the "Welcome to Las Vegas" Sign,

but we did see other famous signs like this Circus Circus.

My Dad and Sharon gave us our accommodations for the trip, 

we stayed at the Marriot Grand Chateau 

(the tall building to the right of the Harley Davidson Cafe.)

Jan and I teased our men that this was the show we wanted to go see

while we were in Las Vegas. Every day we would see this sign on the

way to the Las Vegas Strip... Maybe next time! ;)

We did go to see Zarkana. 

It was a wonderfully weird show! Very entertaining...

Comedy, dance, acrobatics, art, it was amazing!

 It's official now... I am 50 years old, and one more of my bucket list items has been checked off.