Journal Pages and Business Cards

Today the mailman delivered my new business cards printed by Vistaprint.  You get 250 free cards.  I also received a coupon for 24% off of my next order.

Along with the cards, I ordered a t-shirt with a similar design.

I am thinking of adding some embellishments to the shirt.  Maybe some Setacolor paint, too?

Here are a couple of Zentangle journal pages that were inspired by Sandy Steen Bartholomew's book, Totally Tangled.

I recently purchased the book Journal Fodder Junkies by by Eric M. Scott and David R. Modler.

They are going to be among the presenters at Art of the Carolinas 2011 in Raleigh.  I was trying to decide if I wanted to take one of their classes, or perhaps just glean what I could from the book.  It is a helpful book.  I have learned a few new tricks, and have started a few new pages which include painted backgrounds and collage elements.  The musicians on my first page are The Kruger Brothers, a talented trio whose music we have grown to love after seeing them at Merlefest.

The one above is really bold and graphic.  I made a packing tape transparency which I might add to it.

The next one has a watercolor background with salt sprinkled while wet to get the frosted effect.  I have added the most beautiful illustration of a little girl that was in my husband's old French textbook from college.  Inside the book I also found the ticket to a basketball game between NCSU and UNC from January 1970!  I doodled some designs with watercolor pencil and a Sharpie paint marker.  Now it needs some text.

These are so much fun, I could play with journal pages all day!

Trying Out Zentangles

Yes, it is still very hot here in central North Carolina, and the HVAC guys have been here since 9:00 AM installing a new system to replace part of our sixteen-year old air conditioning units.  I got up at about 6:30 AM in order to clear off the steps and landing to my finished attic rooms so they could install the new duct work and returns up there.  We are told that the new system will be much more efficient, which is good.  Usually it is too hot or too cold upstairs.

Anyway, I have been staying downstairs again where the A/C still works.  I decided to try my new sketchbook for making Zentangle Doodles.  I bought the Zentangle Basics book to help me get started, since I really didn't "get it" with Zentangles.

I had heard my art bee member Ruth-Ellen Flanagan mention Zentangles, and  the vendor newsletters from Joggles. com always mention Zentangles, so I decided to jump in.  The first thing I drew was the illustration above.  Nothing like not beginning at the beginning.

That was fun, so I copied another demo from the book.

Somewhat addicting!  I made a few boo-boos on the above attempt, so I decided maybe I should actually practice some of the doodles before doing another big sketch.  I tried drawing what they call "tiles" with the helpful step-by-steps.

I immediately realized that many of the Zentangle patterns were similar to quilting blocks or quilting designs.  Flukes looks like Log Cabins.

Of course, the Squares grid looks like patchwork, and the Flying Geese are familiar to all quilters.

I will probably apply some of the doodle designs to my machine quilting.

There is a Zentangles web page with lots of information if you are intrigued by this art form using repetitive patterns.

While reading Melanie Testa's blog, I decided to check out the Laura Marling album that she was praising.  Well, look at the cover art of Laura's first album (Alas, I Cannot Swim)!  Whole lotta doodles going on!