Winter Classes Updated! Book Binding Now Being Offered

Looking forward to some fun Zentangle and book binding classes this winter!

Visit the Classes Page to view the current list of offerings, or open this PDF

AND

Check out the store for new products such as the OPUS tiles as well as single sheets of Fabriano Tiepolo paper!!

Art Swarm Fun

Warm hearts

Creative thinking

Creamy paints

Squishy gelli plates

Lucious markers

Sharpened pencils

Waxy thread

Laughter

Meandering books

Exploding pocket books

Meditative Labyrinths

Rich coloured pencils

Smeared book covers :)

Glistening paper beads

Fun book pockets

Expressive stick figures

Sketchbook fun

Friendships forged

Memories made
A happy birthday girl

Art Swarm at the Bee Hive

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More Classes!

I've added a few more classes to the schedule. Check out the classes page for more details!!

Art Swarm at the Beehive

I'm excited to announce that I will be going to Warner, New Hamphire to teach at a four day workshop in Sandy Steen Bartholomew's studio, the Beehive!

Art Swarm will have a variety of wonderful teachers and awesome studio time! Class size is limited to a small group.

Teachers include Bette Abdu, Daniela Mellen, Sadelle Wiltshire, of course Sandy Bartholomew, and me! Lisa Heron, 

I can hardly wait for this amazing adventure!

Maybe I'll see you there!

New Class Schedule is finally up!

Select the Classes tab to see the new class schedule!

Coloured Pencil Exploration: Part III

Here we go! Coloured Pencil Exploration: Part III.

In my last post, I attempted to compare Derwent Inktense, Caran d'ache Supracolor, Prismacolor, Derwent Studio and Tombow Irojiten pencils. Unfortunately I goofed and used a different paper for the last two types.

So this is round three of the experiment, using the same type of paper for all five brands. Each of the pictures has the name of the coloured pencil and paper type captioned.

Prismacolor on Strathmore 500 Series

Derwent Inktense on Strathmore 500 Series

Caran d'Ache Supracolor on Strathmore 500 Series

Tombow Irojiten on Strathmore 500 Series

Derwent Studio on Strathmnore 500 Series

The last two pencils, Derwent Studio and Tombow Irojiten were interesting. The Tombow pencils especially performed better on the 500 Series paper. When I used the Canson Multi Media paper, there wasn't as much tooth and it was more difficult to bring out the richer colour found in this brand.

Here are the last two brands on both types of paper.



Tombow Irojiten Coloured Pencils
left on Strathmore 500 Series,
right on Canson Mixed Media paper

Derwent Studio Coloured Pencils
left on Strathmore 500 Series
right on Canson Mixed Media paper

I probably wasn't as scientific as I could have been, since the Derwent Inktense and the Caran d'Ache Supracolor both have water added. But, since that is how I use each of them, it was good for my own personal comparison.

The other unscientific part of this experiment is that I didn't try to match tones of colour. Each coloured pencil brand had its own selection of greens and other colours to choose from, and none were complete matches. My comparison was more about the richness of the colours and ease of use and I did learn a lot about how the colours worked on the paper and how they blended together.

Visually, these coloured pencils are all wonderful. I think that a lot of my future use of these pencils will have to do with the tooth of the paper and what I'm trying to accomplish, as I love them ALL. I also see myself combining them on the same pages.

I've mostly discovered that I've got lots and lots to learn!

Coloured Pencil Exploration Part II

More exploration with coloured pencils today.

The last of my coloured pencils.

Here we go! (I've put in my original 3 at the end, as well... so there's lots of comparing to do!!)


Derwent Studio Coloured Pencils

Tombow Irojiten Coloured Pencils

Derwent Inktense

Caran d'ache Supracolor Coloured Pencils

Prismacolor Premier Coloured Pencils

This is what I've learned...

I need to be a better scientist! I started out with Strathmore 500 but the last two (First ones on this page) I used Canson Mix Media 98lb paper.

Both the Tombow Irojiten and Derwent Studio appear much lighter than the first three I did (last three pics) BUT I think that they'd both show better on the Strathmore, it has more tooth.

Guess that means I have to go back to the drawing board!

ARGHHH!

Coloured Pencil Exploration

I've been playing, to learn the variations between Derwent Inktense, Caran d'Ache Supracolor pencils and Prismacolor pencils.

This exploration is still in progress, there are a couple more brands that I want to compare. All of the drawings were done on the same grade of paper and in the same size.

I'm hoping that once I have a better feel for my various art supplies I'll be able to use them better in my Zentangle work.



Caran d'ache Supracolor

Derwent Inktense



Prismacolor Pencils

Playing

I've been having some fun tangling, especially with the Diva's Weekly Challenge and just playing around!

 

 

 

Zentangle and Health

Psychology Today has a recent article in their Arts and Health section about Zentangle that is definitely worth a read!

Psychology Today

Zentangle Inspired Art and a bit of colour!

Some drawing fun happened this weekend. 8 x 10 pages and a few watercolour pencils, it was a good weekend.

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It's a Quandary!!

This week's Diva Challenge was to use the tangle pattern, Quandary. You can see details about the challenge at I am the Diva.

When the Diva posted her challenge I immediately responded on FaceBook... a bit whiney, for sure...

You're killing me! One of those patterns I can't seem to master.....guess I've got my work cut out for me!

To which she responded....kind of unsympathetically, I think :)

time to master it. :D

Let's just say that her smiley face wasn't enough to make me feel better... :)

But seriously, why not master it, that's what the Diva's Challenges are all about getting out of your comfort zone and exploring a tangle pattern... or more.

So, I took her up on her challenge. And in the famous words of some... I told myself to "Suck it up, buttercup."

It was tough and I had to keep reminding myself that my Zentangle practice is about the process...not so much the product.

Thank goodness for Rick and Maria's great step out for the pattern: Quandary


Here's what I came up with:

This is my first tile. I avoided a string and just let it go where
it wanted. I started to feel a bit more comfortable with it in the process.

For this tile, I tried two different variations. I also worked bigger.
I was more pleased with this tile. Quandary started to look flowery, too

Another variation of Quandary. This time I used the new Renaissance
tiles and a brown pen. I used a copper pencil crayon to add a bit of
shadow and I used a gold graphite pencil to shade as well. It was a fun
experiment with the Renaissance tiles, too.

All in all, I am happy with the results. That darn Diva, she sure knows how to make us stretch to find the possibilities! :)

  

Spiralling, spiralling, spiralling

This week, the Diva's Weekly Challenge is #160: "String Theory: Spiral out, Keep Going! (v.2)"
Spirals have been on my mind a lot these last few months. First they showed up in the new book I was making, and then they started showing up everywhere.


Life is way too busy, these days, but I took the Diva's Challenge and had some fun!


Here are some spiralled tiles and then some pictures of my book.

Tan tile, gold Pitt Pen, brown micron, white charcoal pencil
Florz in the background, striping in the spiral

Wheat paste painted watercolour paper 22 x 30

Pages cut, signatures being sewn

Sewn book, ready for gluing

A finished page

Another finished page

One of my favourite pages

A page waiting to be finished

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