Zen and Another Chalk Paint Chair

Finally got my second Chalk Paint chair sanded and out on the deck.  This was an old chair I have had around forever.  I picked the "sunbrella" fabric first and had the cushions made so I could match the paint to the fabric. I found the little carpenters bench at the antique store and painted it to match as a foot stool or a little extra seating.

Now I'm ready for a little Zen time……..

…and speaking of Zen time, here is a monotype I made last week in class as a demo for hand printing. I just put some blocks of color on the plate, printed it and when is was dry spent a little time over the next few days creating a colorful Zentangle.

6" x 6.5" monotype and micron 01 pen

Filler Up and Rixty

Playing with a new tangle Rixty.  It is lots of fun to just start and let this one move and grow.

One day last fall I decided to print my palette plate at the end of the day.  Finally got around to cutting the print into pieces and playing with these two.

This a 3.5" Zentangle paper tile.  I started with Rixty in the middle and then just filled it up.  I think I found a new mantra, "filler up, filler up, filler up…."

Another "filler up" page in my 5" x 5" Handbook.  I really enjoy how these pages turn out but believe me there are points in the process where I think, "Yikes! where do I go from here?" There lays the challenge and the fun.

A little Zen here…a little Zen there

When life is so busy I am thankful for Zentangles.  Even though I am teaching printmaking right now and involved in art, Zentangles always give me a little bit of art time for me. This one had no plan, just a little tangle here and a little tangle there, a little one day and a little more the next.

This page was done at our last ZenFriends meeting.  Sharla showed us how to play with this design based  on the tangle N'Zeppel.  It is so relaxing and fun to sit with these friends and just play.  Thanks ladies!

5" hand book

I touched a whale!

Yes, I did from a zodiac in the Sea of Cortez. Two of my sisters, Lynette and Nancy and I just returned from a week  with Lindblad National Geography.  What an adventure!  This is my hand rubbing the belly of a mama whale who is half under the zodiac.

Here we are on one of many, many zodiac rides.  We saw a blue whale, humpback whales, dolphins, snorkeled with the sea lions and had many encounters with mother grey whales and their calves.

Looking for grey whales!

Of course there was time for some sketching.  The landscape was beautiful and so serene.  Sketched the blue whale from a photo and the mask and snorkel is for our time in the water with the sea lions.

All of the islands were protected so beach combing for sea shells for sketching or photographing was the order of the day.  The doctor on the ship was carving a beautiful chess set during down times on the ship.

This gridded page is strolling Boca de Soledad island in Bahia Magdalena.  Mangroves, red alga sea shells, interesting plants, and bits and pieces.  The island also has beautiful flowing sand dunes of the finest sand blowing and blowing.  Magical.

Chalk paint and the Little Red Chair

So a long time ago I bought this little rickety chair with the intention of painting it.  So finally this weekend I took a furniture painting workshop using Chalk Paint at Peinture Studios in Costa Mesa.  Chalk Paint was developed by Annie Sloan in England 20 years ago and has only been in the states for about 2 years.  It is an amazing product and lots of fun.

What's the big deal you ask?  How about no and I mean no priming, sanding or prepping is involved.  Just start painting.  Even on a glossy finish, the paints will stick.  Crazy huh? Here is my little chair in progress, see no primer.  I decided to leave the iron braces rustic.  Being raw wood and very weathered it took the paint with no problem but others in the class had finished pieces of furniture and they also just started painting.

When finished you use a wax to finish and seal the piece but because I was putting mine back out in the garden I just used a very, very fine sandpaper all over to burnish it  and wiped it down with a damp cloth.  The sanding also removed the paint from the round head nails which I liked as well.  I have already bought the paint to do another large old wooden chair I have had for years.  It too will find a home in the garden….and then there's the narrow table upstairs or maybe that old nightstand in the garage…………

Botanicals or Marine Creatures?

The last post from 2013....started out playing with more botanicals but I think it kind of looks more like underwater creatures.  Happy New Year!

5"square Handbook

 Pen and Pencil

Happy Holidays

 Every December my art critique group has a holiday gathering instead of our regular critique meeting.  Good food, friends and an original hand made card exchange.

Being the only tangler in the group I did some Zentangle trees.  Looks a little greyed out in the photo…maybe it's going to snow!

This is the card I received from Annie!  A beautiful and very fun water color.  All the cards were great, not a bad one in the bunch which makes us all winners!

Happy Holidays to all!

Art Day with Jessica

Last time Jessica was here I proposed a color blocking project of sorts and had her draw this butterfly.  I enlarged it and got the images onto a pieces of white Bristol board.  Then thinking about contrast she picked her colors for each of the butterflies.  We trimmed them to 6" squares and mounted them on black Bristol board.  Not bad for a 2 hours class with a yummy cookie break.

15" x 15" finished