Challenge Completion

Tags

Altered book, art journal, gratitude, gratitude journal, yoga, zentangle

This first page layout is from Saturday of the yoga retreat. Kelly’s 30-day challenge prompt was sunshine and that was so appropriate for this day. You can see the beautiful view from the yoga studio and some of the fun we enjoyed together. It was a beautiful day full of sunshine and yoga and laughter.

This second page layout is actually from Friday. Kelly didn’t have a prompt for that day of the challenge and that worked out well for me. I was using sharpies and masking tape as our simple supplies for the gratitude workshop that I taught during the retreat and I used this page as an example. I included some of the materials from the retreat and did a little gratuitous doodling.

This post includes Kelly’s prompt from yesterday, woven and some images/ideas from the retreat. The facing page is from today. The challenge was to complete the Diva’s  challenge.

I really did not like doing this particular challenge even though I liked the idea. In Zentangle you use guidelines called strings and the idea here was to superimpose one string over another. I decided to use one that I could try grid tangles because I tend to avoid them for the most part. That might be why I didn’t really like this. Anyway. I also had acupuncture today, a delightful dinner with my son, and he pointed out a lovely rainbow that was integrated into the sunset. For those things and so many more, I am grateful.

Yoga Retreat

Tags

gratitude, Lake Michigan, photography, toes, yoga

I have been taking LOTS of pictures in the last few days. Tomorrow I hope to catch up on Kelly’s 30 day challenge and update my gratitude journal posts. In the meantime I wanted to share this photo that I submitted to one of my favorite photography blogs http://toemail.wordpress.com/2014/06/29/wharariki-beach-north-west-south-island-new-zealand/

Diva Challenge 173 & misc.

Tags

art journal, Diva's Challenge, drawing, gratitude, gratitude journal, Kente cloth, zentangle

Today I needed a portable active meditation and the Diva Challenge for this week was just the thing. Then I went out to lunch with the most wonderful husband in the world (mine). Yesterday was day 2 of art camp and the kiddos and I had a blast making our kufis and reading stories about Anansi.

The challenge for Kelly’s 30 day challenge today was to be inspired by a book. I made a journal of transparencies based on a project in the book The Elemental Journal by Tammy Kushnir. It has a transparency of a phrase I tangled and a photo of my husband. I put some linen paper in the back so the photo would show up better. The cover for the journal is the plastic that a new die that I bought came in! I love upcycling!

Kente Cloth Kufis and Music Clinic

Tags

art journal, butterflies, collage, gratitude journal, Kelly's 30 day challenge, Kente cloth, tape

Yesterday was the first day of Art Camp. I am teaching the kiddos how to make hats out of paper bags using scissors and tape. I also have a selection of Anansi the Spider stories to read to them as they create. I love to listen to stories when I am working on my art and the campers do too. Especially if I ask if it may be too scary for them. I love to play with different kinds of tape and so do the children. The teenaged helpers do too! We talk about Ghana and Kente cloth and make patterns using masking tape and electrical tape. One of the student’s father wears a kufi and he was able to share that with his friends.

Kelly’s challenge for yesterday (day #23!) was to use my favorite color. Have you noticed that I like purple? The challenge for Sunday (day 22) was to use an image that is meaningful to me. The butterfly/moth really is my mascot. If you have read my about page you will know that Lunanista is part moth. The change that looks like the end of the world to the caterpillar is really quite transformative. The change may be painful, but it can be survived and something beautiful may come out of the process.
http://whimsyandzen.blogspot.com/ check out all the creativity that has come from the challenge.

Also on Sunday, we dropped our young man off at Music Clinic. He will stay in the university dormitories and have jam sessions night and day. His idea of heaven. And I can get the house a little bit cleaner and know that the groceries I buy will be in the refrigerator when I go to make supper! Do you think he misses me yet? I know I have been thinking of him quite a lot.

Floral Zendala

Tags

art, flowers, Zendala, zentangle

Here is Zendala I created for Kelly’s prompt for yesterday’s challenge. The Relay for LIfe was fabulous yesterday, but the luminaria bags started on fire because of high winds and things shut down during the night due to storms. That left me with lots of time and energy to create today. This Zendala is created with Sharpies on a transparency because I have plans for it. You will have to stay tuned to discover what abandonment I have in mind…

Candy and butterflies in the face of Challenges

Tags

art journal, butterflies, collage, Diva Challenge, gratitude journal, Relay for Life, zentangle

So, I have been getting for our local Relay for Life tomorrow. It is an organization that raises money and creates a network of support for survivors of cancer. My mom has cancer and this will be her first year walking as a survivor. She has been an active participant in years past to support her friends. This is my first year walking. In the past I have given her money. The butterflies and flowers are cut from bags that will be used as luminaries with candles in them to light the track at night. Yesterday I decorated 10 bags using my die cut machine, markers, and washi tape. Here I have followed Kelly’s 30-day challenge day 17 prompt and decorated the butterflies and flowers using tangle patterns from the http://tanglepatterns.com/ website that start with the letter o. For day 18 I finished a better tile for the Diva’s challenge #172.

I did one a few days ago with crayon, but it really didn’t work for me. This one uses the tangle auraknot and mooka. I am really happy with how my auraknot came out on this one. The other tile on this page is my “candy” response to Kelly’s day 19 prompt. I actually think this would make a beautiful piece of jewelry. I have had a few really busy days and I have a few more to come. It will be interesting to see if I can keep going with the 30 day challenge. Tomorrow I have acupuncture and the Relay for Life walk for some challenges of a different kind. Have a beautiful day.

Zendala Dare 94

Tags

art journal, gratitude journal, oriole, Zendala Dare

You may be asking yourself “really, another challenge? What about those other collages and Zentangle Inspired pieces she is working on?” But I have to say I have been greatly intrigued by the Zendala Dares and was sad that by the time I found out about them, she was taking a hiatus. Well, she is back and what better time than during 30 days of creativity to start this challenge. So this one is for

I have also included a thank you card I received. On it I drew an oriole to represent the wonderful song birds that joined my friends and I as we had lunch on the shore of Fox Lake today. What a beautiful day.

The Seekers: Family Memories

Tags

art journal, collage, gratitude, gratitude journal, Kelly's 30 day challenge, Memories, zentangle

When I was a kid for quite a few years we lived on a farm in the Kettle Moraine State Park region of Wisconsin. One of my very vivid memories of that part of my life was when we found some red, yellow and blue paint and painted the inside of the hayloft for our clubhouse. My sisters and brother and I called ourselves the Seekers and put our painted hand prints on the wall. So…. when our father came looking for the expensive outdoor paint he had purchased to paint our swing set and the oil drum we played on he had clear evidence of our guilt. However, for years that word and our hand prints remained on the wall. We all have had diverse adventures of mind and body since then and my brother died before his adventures had barely begun. What a testament to our parents and our own imaginations that this was what we called ourselves.

The prompt from Kelly’s 30 day challenge was family. The challenge from the Diva was a duo tangle of Auraknot & mooka. This page started as an attempt to use crayola crayons and watercolor for a resist as my tangle. Tangling with crayons is difficult. It didn’t really turn out, so I may try to finish another one this week. The color scheme and it being the day after fathers’ day made me think of our clubhouse so the page took a turn down memory lane.

So now I’m doing a little catching up on the challenge and on my gratitude journaling posts. Last week Kelly alerted me to the reappearance of the Zendala challenge

http://whimsyandzen.blogspot.com/2014/06/zendala-94-and-day-12-of-my-challenge.html

Here is my sketch where I try to figure out how to choose tangles for the spaces. It took me a while and maybe I will finish my larger one that I printed on hot press watercolor paper. I have wanted to participate in this challenge for a while. Maybe this week. The words behind the sketch are from some paperwork I helped my nephew complete. He is adopting his wife’s son. What better way to prepare for father’s day. I am so proud of the young man he is becoming.

Father’s Day Card

Tags

Altered books, Father's Day, Kelly's 30 day challenge

This card is for my husband. He is a wonderful father and this card captures a lot of our history from 3 different books. One is a page from a Chinese dictionary. We met in Taiwan and this page is one of the characters from his Chinese name. The picture of the boy is from Ezra Jack Keats’ book the Snowy Day. It is a beautiful book and meaningful for us on a few levels. The top image is from a book of how things work. My husband loves to know how things work and he also collects a variety of fasteners. All together I really like how the imagery is masculine, but nuanced. I hope you all take a moment to express the love for some of the fathers in your life.

Creative Challenge Continues

Tags

Altered book, art journal, friends, gratitude, gratitude journal, Kelly's 30 day creative challenge

I didn’t really follow the prompts for yesterday or today, but I did create. I actually spent yesterday cooking and eating with friends. Today another friend came over and we ate and played with art supplies. I helped her get started on an altered book art journal – yeah! and we watched movies. My son and husband are out of town so I’m getting some good play time in while I’m home alone. They are in Branson, MO making lots of music so that can be my connection for Kelly’s 30 day creative challenge!