Art Camp Day 2

It's August... How is it so cold?! Nevertheless, it is really beautiful here.

There is the most unusual barracks/cabin here with low walls and built in desks and shelves. 

That's not my cabin though. Mine is so tiny I can touch all the walls from the center of the room. And there is... some one... living in the bottom drawer. 

Today's fabulous class, Tiny Worlds, was taught by art-toy maker, Mimi Kirchner (mimikirchner.com).

I spent the day creating my own mini happy place. In a teacup.              

I'm sure it means... nothing... but there is no dock, no path, and angry waves. But the cottage is friendly and warm! 

And here is my cabin in situ...

And here is my fellow classmate, Joanne Hus', cottage. 

The elastic suspenders are just to hold it in place while the glue dries. 

We are so proud of ourselves! Not only did we actually finish, we had so much fun!

Now- I am starving. Again. I can smell wonderful things cooking in the kitchen. 

Oh! I didn't get a chance to mention it last night, but I got quite an unexpected surprise... I came here to run away and learn some new things. Imagine my delight to discover that my teacher, Lilla Rogers, is also here at camp. In my cabin. She's the one who recently hosted the Global Talent Search I posted about last week. Anyway, it has been really interesting talking with her in person! And there are a few other students from her online class here as well. 

A great day. Now, all I care about is food. 

Art Camp! Day 1

On Mayhew Island...

Sitting in the dark lodge, lit only with twinkle lights... Listening to people play all kinds of weird instruments and sing parts of songs that no one really knows the words to.... 

In case you can't imagine, here's a photo and the sketch I just did of the scene. I wish you were here with me to hear it. Magical. 

Tomorrow we start the ART. :-)

Tangle Card Challenge #5 - Hemp (And #6!)

For this week's Challenge, we are going to do things a little bit differently. I will be away at Art Camp next week so I won't be able to choose winners and post the art. I'll be on a little island in a lake, doing arts and crafts. :-) (YEAH!) That means, I am going to give you a harder... or more "interesting"... tangle, and you will have TWO weeks to work on your entry. Sound good? To make it even better, I will choose TWO winners. Well, I will choose one, and YOU all will choose the other by popular choice on the Facebook Page.

AND Tangle Card Challenge #6 will be happening simultaneously on the Zentangle for Kidz site. Anyone can enter #6 - any age, any skill level, and you can enter #6 even if you have already won on this site.

This next Challenge features Hemp. This design came from a Japanese kimono pattern, but seems to pop up all over the word in different forms. Basically, it's triangles divided into more triangles. There are all kinds of cool variations that include funky 3-D effects by using shading. My sample piece uses black to create graphic looking stars...

Post your art on the Beez Ink Studio Facebook Page.

The winners will be chosen in TWO weeks on Thursday, August 22nd, sometime after lunch. ;-)

Don't be afraid to post whatever you come up with - any skill level is welcome.
Let's see what you've got!

To see all the contest details, read this post.

Entries from Round 1 can be seen here.
Round 2 is here.
Round 3 is here.
And Round 4 is here.

Hemp is from the Totally Tangled Edition card pack. The Tangle card packs can be pre-ordered HERE.

Results of Tangle Contest #4 - Kaleido

It was nice to have an easy week wasn't it? Nevertheless - there were clever and beautiful solutions for this tangle - Kaleido.

Kailey McEvilly

Jean Chaney

Vicki Gentry

Arnoldo Romero

Becki Miller (Week #3 Winner)

Debra Castaldi

Dennie York

Faith Kaminsky Cohen

Ginny Stiles

Janneke de Lange

Lena Ulses

Lesley Scott-Gillilan

Lila Popcheff

Lynne Norikane Newberry

Meridiana Major

Nicole Kelly

Penny Brouckaert

Rita Nikolajeva

Traci Frogley

The winner is.... 
Maya Hardcastle's "Kaleid-ohm"!!

Maya Hardcastle - "Kaleid-ohm"

Maya's piece is simple and yet really plays up the fun "trick" of hiding another image inside Kaleido.
(Maya let me know where you would like me to send your brand-spankin'-new pack of Tangle Cards!)

Seeing all these interesting variations reminded me that this is a tangle I have been wanting to play with a lot more.

Tomorrow I will post the pattern for Tangle Challenge #5... AND #6.. Ooo-la-la.... ;-D

Tangle Card Challenge #4 - Kaleido

And on to... what is it?... Round 4... wow

Everyone seems to have gotten a little overwhelmed with the last two tangle patterns being on the more difficult side. So this week we will take a little bit of a breather and do a fairly easy one. Kaleido is like a checkerboard where someone (maybe a Lilah Bean?) has kicked all the vertical lines so they fall whilly-nilly. The horizontal lines stay parallel to each other. As you can see from my sample above with the Lilah Bean's hair, it works great with curved lines as well - just keep the horizontals straight. Or not... see what happens! Kaleido also looks really cool used as the "string" for a Zentangle - instead of coloring in the black sections - try using another tangle!

Post your art on the Beez Ink Studio Facebook Page.

The winner will be chosen next Thursday, August 8th, sometime after lunch. ;-)

Don't be afraid to post whatever you come up with - any skill level is welcome.
Let's see what you've got!

To see all the contest details, read this post.

Entries from Round 1 can be seen here.
Round 2 is here.
And Round 3 is here.

Kaleido is from the Kidz Edition card pack. The Tangle card packs can be pre-ordered HERE.

And also be sure to take a look at the tag contest on the Zentangle for Kidz blog.

Results of Tangle Contest #3 - Ballenchain

As I looked through the entries, I would say "Ooo this one!" Then "Ahh, this one..." There was something about every piece that made me look again. And Alex isn't home this week to help me pick the winner. I was starting to get really nervous - how was I to choose...?

Arnoldo Romero

Debra Castaldi

Donna Hubbard

Dorothy Allison

Faith Puleston

Janneke de Lange

Jean Chaney

Judy Burkett

Lena Ulses

Linda Fine

Lynne Norikane Newberry

Traci Frogley

Traci Frogley - Thumbprintz

Virginia Stiles - The Manta Ray

I hope everyone agrees - but when I saw THIS piece - I knew this had to be the winner for the Ballenchain challenge!

Becki Miller

Congratulations Becki Miller!!!  

Although it was created using colored pens, this piece looks like a quilt - the inspiration for the tangle itself. And as if this piece is not mind-blowing enough on its own, Becki's entry for last week's challenge, Annee, had my jaw dropping to the floor too.

Becki - be sure to email me where you would like your fabulous Tangle Card pack to be mailed. :-)

And anyone else who doesn't like entering contests, doesn't feel "lucky" or wants to own all THREE decks of cards, you can still pre-order them HERE.

And remember to check back tomorrow to see what Challenge #4 will be!

Global Talent Search Winners

The winners of Lilla Rogers' Global Talent Search - Round 1 - were announced today.
No, I'm not in the group.
Yes, I am very sad.
But, part of my brain is a teeeeeeeny bit relieved since I can't imagine how I would have found time to do the second and final challenge since it is getting a bit busy here in my studio. Sometimes (always?) the Universe has other plans...

Another part of my brain is feeling incredible sympathy for Lilla - she had to choose 50 semi-finalists from over 1500 entries. Eeegads! I have a hard enough time choosing from your entries for the Tangle Card Challenges!! (BTW - I will post this week's later today)

If you would like to see the beautiful pieces that were selected for the Global Talent Search - Round 1 - you can see them all at Lilla's blog, HERE. Just scroll down a bit in the post to see the pics.

And I will console myself by posting my entry here and you all can tell me how I should have won and deserved to win... I'll believe it all, gratefully. :-) hee hee 
[If you say I suck and should get a real job - I will delete you! Aaaahhhhaahaahhaaaa!]
No, seriously, I was very happy with the work I did and will find a way to produce it for real.

The challenge/assignment was to create a journal for the company Paperchase incorporating vintage playground equipment, in any way we wished. In any medium or style. And it had to have the word "Journal."

Ok, here is what I created...

I created the girl and the label using Inktense pencils. I drew the the playground elements in black colored pencil on lined paper, tore the hole in the paper, and scanned it. I added the colored crayon bits on the computer and then layered it all together. It took about three days. I should show you what the original image looked like before I got some great feedback from Sherry London, a fellow classmate and a "Photoshop Expert and a Bead and Fiber Artist"...
First draft...

I had been working towards a chalkboard kind of look...

anyway - I really liked the final journal and I will let you know if I make some "real" ones!

One last bit of Universe-y stuff... normally, I would have found out I didn't win in the usual way - I would have looked at the site and discovered I was not included. As usual. But I had such a wonderfully distracting day yesterday, that I had actually managed to forget that all my hopes for my future rested on today's announcement! So when I sat down at my computer, I looked first at my email. And there was one from a fellow student offering commiseration because she hadn't been picked either. That IS a great way to find out you have lost something... but the student was Judith Moffat who is an incredible illustrator and has written a gajillion books. Somehow, getting the news from HER and that even SHE didn't get selected... seriously, can you see how that took the edge off?

My only feeling of regret concerning this project, right now, is that I don't have a real swing like that in my own backyard. :-)