Following the Inspiration: Part 3

Part 3: Playing with Details

It would appear that I am not the only BJPer who has discovered Zentangles and is considering using them for the 2010 BJP.  A shout out to Robbie who has been experimenting with zentangles as well and has already combined them with her quilting,  very cool.

My first couple of Zentangles were just small pieces of paper with simple strings.  Zentangles are easy to do.  You start with a piece of paper, the website suggests a quality paper that they sell but to start I used what I had on hand that was heavy enough to not bleed with the pen work going on it.  To start all you have to do is put small dots in pencil about 1/2 inch in from the corners and then join them with pencil lines (they don’t have to be remotely straight. Yeah!)  After that you draw in what are called strings; these are just lines to divide the area up.  (imagine dropping a string onto the paper and drawing those lines onto the paper with pencil).

Now you just grab a fine permanent pen and start making tangles.  These are mostly repetitive patterns that end up looking fairly complicated but usually consist of repetitive parts.  You can find several tangles on the zentangle.com website in their newsletters and in their starter kit which includes instructions for quite a few tangles and all the supplies to get you started.  Sandy Steen Bartholomew has some on her blog and there are also ones that you can find elsewhere online including YouTube.

Here are a few tangles for any one who wants to try them.

This tangle is actually pretty fun to make and looks harder than it is.  Start with a zig-zag line near one side or bottom of your area. Add additional zig-zags to connect to these.  The additional zig-zags can be completely free of the previous ones, or like these connected on the down strokes.   One of the nice thing about connecting them is that it is quicker and gives it a more organic look.  I like mine to curve a bit to give them more movement.

Originally inspired by a leaf this tangle is very versatile; with some variations it could look more like buildings or parts of a bridge or....   Start with a dashed line (sort of looks like the lines in the middle of the street) and then add more lines that radiate out from this center,  these can be very organic or very structural, thin or thick, or whatever you can think of to do with them.

Inspired by peacock tails this tangle starts off with lines of connected "P" shapes.  Fill up your space with roughly parallel lines of these "P"s.   Fill in each loop of your "P"s with a smaller teardrop shape.  This can be colored in if you like.  add radiating lines out from each line (sort of like the veins of a leaf.)

This pattern has been around for a very long time and can be found on tiles and other media from years ago in part 6 I will mention where I found this pattern and where you can find other patterns to inspire you.  You start out with horizontal lines in twos and then repeat with vertical lines.  Color in the boxes at the intersections and then make elongated teardrops around the center point of each of your squares.

Following the Inspiration: Part 2

Part 2: A New Inspiration

Whenever I get a new issue of a magazine I give it a once through and then read the articles as I have time for them. I seldom read any of the articles the first time though. When the November/December issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors ( this is one of my favorite magazines) came I started to do this as well but got stopped in my tracks on page 80 with the article “Add Pattern to Journals with Zentangles and Transfers” by Sandy Steen Bartholomew.
I have always been a detail person and I love to doodle and this was doodle art. I read the article and then reread it later that night and found some paper, a pencil and pen and got started. Hey I can doodle with the best of them. I thought hey this is great fun, maybe I should find out more so I went to Sandy’s blog and read some there and then went to the Zentangle website and read their newsletters where I found more tangles to use and saw many more ideas on how others had used the techniques and how it had inspired artists to push it in new directions. The original idea is abstract and all in black and white with some shading but people where pushing it into including color and some representational images.
Since I am really enjoying the process which is really relaxing and fun I think I will see where I can take this. Could I use this and combine it with beads? Some of the images remind me of patterns in embroidery (with or without beads).

Following the Inspiration: Part 1

Part 1: Introduction and Unformed Ideas

Have you ever wandered how other people come up with ideas for projects? Wanted to creep into someone’s head and watch how one little bit of inspiration morphed and joined with other ideas to eventually become a piece of artwork? I have always found the creative process fascinating and know that for every artist how they follow this path is different. I have decided to try to share this process for my 2010 Bead Journal Project with those of you who read my blog.

I must admit that I have never been one of those people who suffer from artistic blocks. I usually have more ideas than I know what to do with and since I do a variety of types of creating I find they feed into each other or that I can switch the media I am working in to refresh my creative energy.
I think that a good start will be to look back at what my last two years ideas were. For the first year (2007-8) I chose to combine my photography with beading using at least one photo per piece that was 4” x 6” or larger. That year I explored many techniques that were new to me and seeing what happened when combining photos with beads and stitching. For this past year’s (2008-9) BJP I got more ambitious and although the overall piece isn’t finished yet the individual monthly blocks are. I chose to do a self portrait symbolically using mixed media and bead embroidery. This time I included collaging, painting, thread and bead embroidery and have tried many more new techniques.
Looking back at the two years I have found out much more about myself and have discovered that I really enjoy mixing somewhat disparate techniques and balancing them to make a piece that is uniquely my own. I have enjoyed trying new things and finding the deeper meaning in what I have done.

As I registered for the new (2010) year of the Bead Journal Project I started to consider what I wanted to set as goals and parameters for my next 12 blocks. I knew since we were getting ready to close on our new house and that I would have moving, painting, helping lay hardwood flooring, and have many other projects to accomplish in the next year that I could not take on something that was too big or time consuming. I had tried 8” x 10” individual blocks and 4” x 6” blocks on a larger format. I figured that I would not want to go much bigger that 4 x 6 blocks. So what would happen if I went square instead of rectangular for the individual blocks? Maybe joined blocks or tiles so that the individual blocks were part of a larger whole piece? Robin Atkins included a post about a bead quilt that individual beaders were each given a block of that had lines that were part of the whole picture and when the individual blocks were put back together they formed an over all picture even if the beaders used different colors, images, etc. MMMMMMMM.....

Crystals and a Special Offer

Recently I ordered some Swarovski crystals from Artbeads.com so that I could play with some new stuff and to try out some of the crystal that my LBS doesn't happen to carry. I made a small order and wanted to choose things that I could relatively quickly turn into finished pieces with the crystal and supplies I already have.

Artbeads.com has a pretty impressive collection of Swarovski Elements and keeping the order reasonable was pretty challenging since I wanted some of everything. One of the nice things is that they have free shipping on all orders in the USA or $1 to Canada. (More money to spend on crystals.)

The top photo is my order all wrapped up in purple tissue paper which I think I will have to use in a collage once my studio is up and running. The photo below is all of my goodies laid out. What did I order? 100 each of the 3 mm and 4 mm Crystal Heliotrope bi-cones, 12 mm rivolis in Crystal Copper and Crystal Vitrail Light, 14 mm rivolis in Amethyst, 10 mm rivoli buttons inCrystal Meridian Blue, 2 of the brand new Fish Pendants in Crystal Golden Shadow and 2 of the smaller 16 x 26 mm leaf pendants in Topaz.
With my order I got a Share the Savings Card that I would like to share with anyone who would be interested in checking out Artbeads.com for themselves. Although I just purchased crystal this time they have lots of other goodies. With the code I am including you can get 10% off your order through the end of the year. The code is SCF10P-ARTBEADS-0424. Now to figure out what I want to get next? Maybe some seed beads for next years Bead Journal Project which starts in January? MMMM.........

Go to my Artistic Kreations and Passions blog in a few days to see what I have done with all of these yummy crystals.

12 Months Finished

Although it has taken me a while to put this photo up I have had all of the the 12 blocks for the year done for a while. I won't be able to find the time to work on the background layers until sometime next year. I am still planning on joining the new years BJP that starts in January but will try to keep it to a more manageable size so that I don't get behind since I have this one that still has many hours of stitching left to go. Registration is still open for the 2010 BJP for anyone interested. I am really glad that I chose this and am still really excited about where it is going and how it has pushed me to try new things and grow artistically.

For those who have been keeping track you can check out how the house is going on my web gallery and read more about it on my Artistic Kreations and Passions blog. I am knee deep in fabric working on getting the curtains for the new house started. I doubt I will have all of the curtains (18 panels) and roman shades (6) that I am planning in the first wave. That will cover most of the windows I am going to want done in the first few months.

Nest Building

There are times in our lives that we all want to build a nest. That place that is distinctly our own. My final block for my 2008-9 BJP is a nest. My magpie wanted to have her own nest so she got it. The idea for the nest came and went as the year went through but I finally went with the idea since it felt right.
The nest was made free form with several cord pieces and imitation raffia I had no idea what it was going to turn out like but it was kind of fun just putting and weaving the branches together into a nest. I made a lining for my nest of feathers and after attaching it to the tree I let the magpie decorate her nest with beads and buttons and more feathers.
For me the nest was very timely since we are building a house and I will get to decorate it in all of the colors, fabrics and other goodies that I want. After years of making other people's houses that we were renting into a home for us, we will get to have our own house and really personalize it. We now have drywall up and the house is really starting to come together. If you want to see the progress we are making visit My Web Gallery. I will be putting a new post of my main blog when I have time this week about how things are going and my upcoming projects to get ready for the house.
Magpies build their nests in forks of trees or thorn bushes, thorn bushes often guard doorways to the spirit and fairy realm. Forked branches represent intersections between worlds (again a doorway.) Birds nests in upper branches of trees are emblems of celestial messengers or souls.

For anyone interested the registration for the next years BJP is now open. We will running the new years from January through December 2010. If you are interested please go to the registration page for the Bead Journal Project website. Registration runs through December 15th 2009.

July Dragonflies

It is kind of interesting that I included Dragonflies and Butterflies both last year in my pieces and this year as well. Last year the dragonflies were nearer the beginning and the the butterflies nearer the end. It would seem that transformation is a very strong message in my life these last couple of years.

July's block comes with 2 dragonflies landing in amongst the flowers on my sacred tree. The number 2 is important to Dragonfly, so think in terms of two year periods when you begin a change. Their heads and main body segments are heart beads both to represent my love of dragonflies but also my love with Wayne. The paired bodies of mating dragonflies form the shape of a heart, perhaps being the source for the modern symbol of love; it is believed that if you see two dragonflies paired together that they represent love and maturity.

The dragonfly is a symbol of growth and development. Her life begins in water, but as she matures, she moves to the air yet always stays close to the water. She reaches her strongest physical point during the summer months as she gains optimal strength from the warmth of the sunlight. Her brilliant colors result from reflecting and refracting the radiance of that light. As a result, they are associated with color magic, illusion in causing others only to see what you wish, and other mysticism. Dragonflies are reminders that we are light and can reflect the light in powerful ways if we choose to do so. “Let there be light” is the divine prompting to use the creative imagination as a force within your life.

When Dragonfly enters our lives, it is time to dig deeper, lift the illusion of suffering and believe in our limitless divinity. They are the essence of the winds of change, the messages of wisdom and enlightenment; and the communication from the elemental world. Dragonfly is a magical totem, signifying our ability to transform ourselves as we travel our path of self knowing toward enlightenment. It's iridescence and shifting colors lift us into dreamtime, where we can come to see that what seems to be "reality" is actually the illusion. The dragonfly symbolizes going past self-created illusions that limit our growing and changing. Call on Dragonfly to guide you through the mists of illusion to the pathway of transformation.

The dragonfly inhabits two realms: air and water and the influence of both these elements will be felt by Dragonfly people. They will be emotional and passionate during their early years (the influence of water) but as they get older they achieve balance with mental clarity and control. They gain an expression of the emotional and mental together.(the influence of air). Dragonflies are a symbol of the sense of self that comes with maturity.

It is said that Dragonfly was once Dragon, covered with beautiful, shimmering scales and wielding great inner strength. It could change form at will, and light the darkness with the fire of its breath. Coyote tricked mighty Dragon into changing form and into believing itself to be tiny Dragonfly. Dragon got caught in this illusion of its own making, just as we can find ourselves forever mistaking our facades for who we really are. Too often we believe our failures, our shortcomings, and our limitations are real. We have forgotten that we too can change form at will, wield great inner powers, and can light our darkness with our faith, hope, and determination.