Blue Skye

May 30, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 14 Comments

This week’s Diva Challenge (#270) is using Margaret Bremner, CZT’s new tangle Skye. I have admired this tangle since she first introduced it, but I am a bit intimidated by it, so I have not tried it, until today.

I generally do not have to practice tangles…I can see them once in step outs and just do them…this was not the case here! I had to practice this one…more than once…I was vexed!

And it took me the better part of a few hours to get through them…I worked through this on both sides!

But, I got through it, as you can see with the white one on the left, and finally got up the courage to grab one of my Twinking H2O tiles that I painted at TangleU. I love what Margaret does with the monochrome colors she uses, so I decided to give that a whirl. I used a Stabilo Fineliner in blue, for the first time, gold Gelly Roll, and General’s Chalk Pastel in Indigo.

Just as an FYI…the Stabilo bled when I sprayed it with my usual fixative. Fortunately, I like the effect and the lines stayed ok. Lessons learned! (By the way…I spray most everything because I lot of my work gets handled a lot…when I teach and such…)

Had a fun class with 2 of my regular students last Saturday, where we explored some single element tangles on Bijou tiles. I think we did some pretty neat work!

And…I have a 3-Part class coming up on preparing backgrounds and tangling on larger formats, and here is a sample of what we will be doing.

10 x 10 inch watercolor paper…was playing around with Color Bursts by Ken Oliver. The paper is actually much whiter than it photographed…not sure what is up with that!

Lots of fun things on the schedule in June, be sure to check it out!

Have a Crazy Art Filled Week!

Ellish and Adventure

May 24, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 18 Comments

Sorry for missing last week. I was off on vacation…and I did take things with me to do, but nothing got done. I’ve caught up, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that this week’s Diva Challenge (#269) is the new official tangle, Ellish! I got to learn this one at TangleU, from Molly Hollibaugh herself, so that made it pretty special. It was one of the very few things I’ve finished from that trip (and I actually finished it in class!)

I do like this tangle, and if you alter the center shape, it can even be a “C”-ish. I’ve been working some other alternate shapes to make it conform to different letters, but they don’t look quite the same.

I also finished Diva Challenge #268 (A Bit ‘o Black) but was busy working on the schedule for June so I didn’t get it posted in time…but here it is!

I was on a bit of a Mooka roll, so I just went with it. I really like the look of black and white on the Renaissance Tan tiles.

I have been working pretty much non-stop since we got home, but the fruits of my labor is a really fun schedule coming up in June (July and August should be posted soon, too!) I have included some Zentangle for Kids sessions for the summer break. Those should be loads of fun!

And I’ll leave you with a teaser of what I did on vacation. While I was born in California, I grew up mostly in Arizona. And in my 54 years on this planet, I have NEVER been to the Grand Canyon…until now.

There are simply no words…but we loved every minute of it.

And…back to work for me!

Dueling Tangles

May 11, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 7 Comments

Another busy week here at CharKat’s! I started a new planner this week, and I seem to be getting a lot more done, which is nice. I hope the honeymoon lasts with this one. It is a bit more compact than my last one, and fits in my purse. Yes, I know there is technology that I can use in its place, but I like paper…I like to use a fountain pen to write, and I like to make notes and tangles and sketches and jot down ideas…so the technology is a time suck for me, because…SQUIRREL! (or FaceBook or Pinterest, or Candy Crush) So I am making more of an effort to stay off the technology!

This weeks Diva Challenge (#267) was a Duo Tangle: Pokeroot vs Drupe. Now, I am not particularly fond of Pokeroot. I don’t really use it much (make that ever) so this took a bit of prodding to get me to do it. ‘Nuff Said…

On Monday, the SoCal Zentangle Friendship Group met at CharKat’s, and I showed them some of my cool projects (the finished ones) from TangleU and led us in a couple of tangles. We learned a new tangle from Zentangle HQ, called Ellish (if you haven’t seen it in your newsletter yet, it will be coming soon!)

And K-leesi by Sharon Robinson.

Speaking of TangleU Projects…here are some books I’ve finished from Cherryl Moote’s Class:

They are still blank on the outside, but so cute!

And I am seeing a lot of finished t-shirts! All so different, and so pretty. What fun it is to wear your art. Here is one is black and white from Izumi Sato, my fellow SoCal CZT:

And this pretty, almost electric looking colorful one from Karen Sandoval:

Judy Englehart submitted this lovely:

And this bright bit of spring from Julie Gladstone:

If you want to color your own t-shirt, I still have them available in my online store. I can ship international, but you will need to email me your order instead of going online (charkattangles@gmail.com) Click here to get to the store, and don’t forget the Gell Roller for Fabric and Fabrico markers for color!

I am putting the final touches on my larger piece for the May 21st class (May Flowers featuring the tangles of Helen Williams) and I am really liking what I’ve done here. I don’t normally post works in progress, but I thought this might be the time to make an exception!

I think that bottom flower looks a lot like this Japanese beauty, so I am probably going to color it the same.

And on that note, I need to skedaddle! But, I’ll leave you with this:

A Crux of Good Intentions

May 5, 2016May 5, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 7 Comments

Good intentions go a long way sometimes. I intended to post a blog last week from TangleU in Portland, Maine, but just got further and further behind while learning some amazing new things.

But, so you don’t feel slighted, here is my Diva Challenge (#265) for Stripes. The string is all stripes, so I tried to fit as many border style tangles as I could think of…and even some that weren’t borders to begin with!

And…of course, on to this week’s Diva Challenge (#266) with a UMT (Use My Tangle) of Crux. This version is by Henrike Bratz. There is another tangle of the same name out in tangle-land…but this is the one Diva posted this week.

This is on watercolor paper, using one of the tiles I created in a class at TangleU. Twinkling H2O’s sure make it sparkle, but I’m not sure how much of that translates into the scan. It looks kinda creepy here…

Maybe its a giant green squid, I dunno…in person it really looks like it is levitating above the paper.

Speaking of TangleU, I had a great time. I did vend this year, with my Tangle Me Crazy T-Shirts, Fabrico Markers, and Pentel Gel Rollers. (All of which you can purchase here.)

I learned a lot, and made a few cool books in Cherryl Moote’s class with the help of my friend, Hello Kitty!

I also got to hang out with my friends Nancy Dawes and Sheila Jarvie, which is ALWAYS fun…and our men hung out together while we were in class!

I haven’t finished many things from the classes yet, but here are a couple…And I am not sure this first one is really finished, I may add some more tangling. Primsacolor Premier pencil on Mi-tienes paper.

And the Zero Drawing Technique, tangled and watercolored with Peerless Watercolors.

And, my lone tile…done with Molly Hollibaugh’s direction.

I tangled this hat from Ann Grasso Pattern Art. I am going to do some more on the rest of the hat as soon as I find that head that is hanging around here somewhere….on the back, it says “CREATIVE.”

No trip to Maine would be complete without a little lobster…I think these guys were subject to some extreme torture, and this is all that is left…

Busy weeks ahead, make sure to check out the schedule for some great classes this month.

Stay Crazy My Friends!