Bells Ringing?

After a major accomplishment, life change or even a spectacular failure... doesn't it seem like there should be bells ringing? Or at least a little chime? I get a "bing" for just receiving new email. Seems like there should be something to signal a major completion. I really wanted to write something about finishing the book... but I still have some editing to complete. I wanted to write about finishing my divorce - the papers are all signed and he moved out his stuff this weekend. And other things too. But it is hard to know when something is truly finished.

I just spent three days at my dad's in Massachusetts with my kids, so that my ex could move out all his stuff. I brought the kids to his house, just now, and drove home. I passed four deer watching me from the creepy forest with glowing eyes. Came home to a house that was freezing cold and partially empty. Not completely empty. Just sections. Weird. My impulse to cry warred with my determination to put an "exciting opportunity" spin on the whole thing. These are now my walls. I could repaint! I could move furniture.... (I don't have time!?) I kept saying..."Ok, that's done now. He's out. Finished. On to the next thing." Then I saw the lists of all the stuff he had taken... and all the marks to indicate items he had NOT taken. Meaning... he's coming back for more. It's not done yet. I guess that explains why I didn't hear any bell, right?

It just occurred to me that I had written "Came home to a house that was freezing cold..." and my hands really ARE freezing. So I looked at the thermostat and it says "57", but is set to "67". That's NOT good. It's like when you take your car in for a check up - and ten things break the next day.

If my life were a movie... there would be some music playing... a theme song? Then I'd scream and run off to Tuscany and buy an old villa. In reality... Oh - there's a bell!.... just the phone. It's the heating guy telling me that the he put ten gallons in the tank last night and it shouldn't have run out already. What?! Does he think I DRANK it or something?! I haven't even been home. "I guess you want me to drive out there again?" No, let's let the pipes freeze so this drama is complete. Egads - I am becoming a silent sarcastic. Turns out, the house was freezing cold yesterday too. While my ex was moving his stuff. He finally noticed at night and called my mother who called the heating people. She was here til after midnight because it was a Saturday night and the repair guy had to come from an hour away - at extra cost. The oil had run out. But I have a contract. No explanation. And the pressure in the furnace was at explosion level... so it was a GOOD thing the oil ran out. So he repaired it. At extra cost. And now, I guess, we will repeat the process tonight. What I really want to do (besides running away to Tuscany) is curl up with popcorn, cocoa and the Roku (sulk a little) and escape my own head.
 My darling mother just came over to help me sulk. As I read her that last line, she says, "But you couldn't make popcorn anyway. Microwave is gone. And no cocoa. Teapot is gone." Thanks mom. The couch is gone too, but the Roku is still here...

I could not think of a word to sum up my feelings today. Other than AAAAAAARGH!

Reader Question - Chambray

I recently received an email from Lydia that read:

"I have a question about a couple of your drawings in your book Totally Tangled.  The one on page 34 in the lower right corner and the one on page 47 lower right corner.  Could you email me the directions on how to do these two or put the illustrations on your website?  I have looked at these two and really like the way they look.  They are very different as though they have fabric just laying on them.  Thank you and I really have enjoyed looking at your book and designs."

I didn't even have to look in the book to see what she was talking about. "Fabric" was the giveaway - that's Sandra Strait's work she's talking about! So I asked Sandra to comment on her designs. Here are her instructions for creating her amazing fabric look:

There are two parts to creating a tangle that looks like fabric.  Chambray isn't meant to exist on its own.  It should have another tangle design overlaid on it.

The secret to drawing Chambray is in the shading.  Look at step 3, how the fold line is in the center of the pencil shading.  This represents the deepest part of the fold.  With a stump or finger, smooth the pencil shading on one side, smoothing to the side, not up or down.  Then go to the other side, smoothing in the other direction.  Be sure to leave a clean area in the center, which then becomes the highlight at the top of each fold.

Now you have this lovely fabric, and want to add a design.  Choose simple tangles.  With folded cloth, there is distortion of design.  If your overlay tangle is too complex, you will lose control of it.  Work from the corners inward so that you follow the curve of each square.  Accept some distortion, because your squares will not be exact. 

Note that with Striping, I simply darkened the shading and kept the highlight. 

After you overlay the design, if you feel you have lost the up and down of the folds, re-shade along the fold lines from step 2.  But smooth lightly.  You don't want to lose the highlights.

 If you have other questions related to the book, I'd love to know how I can help. But also take a look at the Resources section in the back - most of the artists have an email address listed so you can ask them directly about their work.

New Zentangle Book!

This is my apron in the book! Yeah!

No, it's not THE new book - that I'm working on at this VERY moment... but I do have work in it. This is Suzanne McNeill's "Zentangle Fabric Arts - Quilting, Embroidery". Take a look at her blog for images from the book. There's also info on the Design Originals website.
Now, back to work!

Chew it Up and Spit it Out

I survived Halloween. I actually LOVE Halloween. But this one was also my 19th wedding anniversary AND the last day of my marriage. Now I get alimony checks and have to get my husband's name removed from all the utility bills. Ex-husband. That's going to take a while to get used to saying! One of my blog readers called him my "was-band"!
ANYWAY!

In honor of the occasion (all of them)... I carved this pumpkin. My son said it was "brilliant" and looked like Jack had EATEN another pumpkin. Smirk.

And since I promised not to disappear, even though I am on the last leg of this book... hmmm... that just doesn't sound right? Well, here is a photo collage of my studio where I am working on the book:

Where'd She go? Again.

Yes, I got "Squam-ed" and then disappeared. Sorry about that, but I do have a good excuse and a note from my mom. My excuse: I have been simultaneously getting divorced AND writing the sequel to Totally Tangled.
I don't recommend trying this at home. It leads to lack of sleep, chemical imbalances, bad skin, weight gain and general chaos and insanity. And that's just from the book. Don't even get me started on the divorce!

I had gone looking for a book about how to get divorced, you know, something like The Idiot's Guide to Divorce. But, no, I never found one that actually made sense. I did, however, get a lot of really good (and lots of bad) advice from friends. The two most useful things I learned are: 1. Get a lawyer.  And 2. There is no such thing as a "friendly divorce." I mean what are you thinking?! If you could argue about the kids, money, schedules, and keeping promises... in a "friendly" way... you wouldn't be getting divorced would you!? Ah well. I did just recently find an excellent book, that sums it all up, called Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog. It's by Lisa Scottoline of mystery book fame. Her name on the cover is actually what attracted me to the book rather than the title. It's a collection of essays she wrote for newspapers and magazines about her life - including ex-husbands (she calls them "Thing One and Thing Two"), Spanx, mothers, daughters, the King Tut exhibit, and lots of insights about dogs. They are all wickedly funny and many make you think (ouch). In case you are wondering, I am vaguely considering getting a dog (although I am allergic to them). I am NOT considering getting a second husband - I think I am allergic to them too. If anyone has a good recommendation for a dog, please let me know. I don't like dogs that make me sneeze, drool, are scary, can eat my kids, or should have been a cat. If there are any others, PLEASE let me in on the secret.

As for the second excuse, "I was writing a book." - that one has been almost as stressful, but much more pleasant and exciting too. This is one of those stressors that is on your bucket list, but gets turned into a "to-do" list item because of all the other crap that pushes it over there. Do you know what I mean?
At the beginning of the summer, I was so overwhelmed by all the "doors" that were opening around me, that I contacted a creativity coach, who I had worked with in the past. I emailed Judith Godfrey and said "Help! All my dreams are coming true!" It's like my Irish grandfather always said "Be careful what you wish for, you may get it." And isn't that secretly one of our greatest fears? I often find that I will shoot myself in the foot rather than find out what would happen if my idea became a success. So this whole year has been a series of pushing my limits to see what might happen if I actually say "Yes!" to the things I have always wanted. This is really scary stuff and impossible to plan for. If a door opened, in the past I would say "I don't have time" or "I don't know how to do that" or some other excuse, and just walk past. I have been daring myself to at least look through the doors now, if not take a step through. But what I am finding is an entirely NEW hallway filled with doors behind EACH of those opening doors. Can you imagine the excitement... and the horror? If you follow this analogy, you can see how easy it is to get lost and overwhelmed. The divorce may seem like a sudden and shocking thing to many of you. But in reality, it is just anther door that I have been tiptoeing past for years. And writing books? I joined SCBWI (Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators) when I was 15 years old - back when they were still "SCBW" no "I" yet. I sent my picture books out to dozens of editors for years and years before I gave up. I think I was just wandering around the wrong hallway.

So, this second book started out as one thing, then Suzanne asked me to put it on hold and write a sequel to Totally Tangled... and last night, as I was desperately trying to lay out the pages... I realized, crud! It's not all going to fit into 52 pages! I have amazing work from a ton of different Zentangle artists and the last thing I wanted was to cut anything they had done. So I started cutting all the stuff that I had drawn. My projects, my ideas... at midnight I threw some stuff across the room and stomped out of the studio. You see where some of the stress comes into play here? Abundance can be very stressful! The book is technically due at the end of the month, and my husband had the kids for the past five days, so I have done nothing but work on this book. Today I take over mommy duties again, and I have two weeks left til book deadline (and the divorce changes take effect too) and I feel like a wild animal caught in the headlights. Have I mentioned I'm not good with last minute things? I went to bed completely panicked.

This morning, I jumped out of bed with the horrible realization that what I actually had was... TWO BOOKS! That's a good thing, right? An overabundance of material that can become two separate books is a good thing. It's a good thing! It's good.... good.... good...

Squam-ed!

I'm home! I am so glad to be back in a warm, comfy bed, but I am already so home-sick for Squam.
I have never been to an art retreat that was so exhausting (and cold!), but so mind altering. If you get the chance to attend, please go. I met so many new friends - I wish I could have brought a few home to play with.

Rustic. Just assume that it will be freezing cold and your room will only have open screens on the windows... and you will be fine. Yes, sleeping in a hat and scarf does help.

Oh what a view! (from our cabin's screen porch.)

Squam Lake has lots of little inlets - the camp sprawls around a bunch of them.

"Sticks & Stones" Class - we had a half hour to integrate some clay into the environment.

"Sticks & Stones" - mud creatures.

"Sticks & Stones" - next we had to create something out of sticks. I made a temple for a horned stick god I found in the woods. The pathway is made from chips of mica. It looked much more impressive in real life.

"Sticks & Stones"- close-up of the horned stick god.

"Sticks & Stones" - my big installation was an archway with a pinecone carpet. It seemed like a good idea at the time... but I couldn't feel my fingertips for 2 days after bending down the saplings and tying all those knots.

This is Brandi - she does amazing pet portraits (www.paintedrabbit.com)

"Painting in a Day"- I re-interpreted my mud creatures onto canvas with acrylics and torn paper. Now they are roguish slugbabies.

And one more time. The slugbabies have gone cute. Well, cuter.

The last class was "Three Tools"- I learned to use a jigsaw, a drill and a tape measure (and a hammer!) I decided to make a dining table for my ... ah, my daughter's dolls. I learned to woodburn too!

I brought the table back to the cabin and sat in the sunshine painting it until it was too dark to see anymore. Aah life is good.

Sat. night was the Squam Art Fair. Large blocks of glowing ice lined the walkways.

Jonatha Brooke was selling her albums (and dressed in bottle caps). She is so amazing. She sang us a bunch of songs she wrote with Woody Guthrie. :-)  If you aren't hip to music, ask your kids, she even has a track on "Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure" - oooh!

The Square Peg Breakfast Club. Funny how the introverts tend to eat near the edges of the dining room. Caryn, Shelly, Carrie, Me, Retta. There were a few others who were fun dining companions, but they didn't survive til Sunday morning.

A Squidoo Lens of My Book!

Ragged Edge has done a really nice "Lens" with a review of my book, Totally Tangled!
How exciting! And now you are mostly wondering, "What the heck is a lens?" That is best answered by exploring the site. Go look!