Faber-Castell Art Festival and more!

Warning: Loong, image heavy post! (But do read on... I'd like you to) 

For those in Singapore, the Faber-Castell Art Festival is currently ongoing at Marina Square and will run till 3rd June 2018. If you haven't checked it out you might want to do so. 

Like a little fortress, the fair sits in the central atrium of Marina Square and has several "components". The predominant portion of the fair relates to the children's / school supplies (many of which are on pretty good looking deals). Most things appear to be on at least 15% off with a selection of items on "1-for-1". 

However, for the "hard core" don't dismay!

There are corners dedicated to their "higher end" pens and artist grade art supplies *drool*. Waaay out of my price range but hey! Window shopping is free!

There's also a small art exhibition area which is cool to check out - all pieces made with Faber-Castell products of course. 

I loved the robot / gundam / transformer made of Faber-Castell connector pens *hee hee* 

And perhaps best of all, workshops!!!!! There are workshops EVERYDAY! [It's unbelievably hard for me to find interesting workshops that fit in my work schedule...]

My sister treated me to a 2 hour workshop with local artist William Sim, "Nature Study with Colour Pencils". She went as well of course! This is what I did in the 2 hours: 

Not too bad if I don't say so myself... considering in particular that I've always maintained that I suck at "true to life" drawing, colouring and painting. The wonders a great teacher can do! He was patient, encouraging and gave a lot of "tips and tricks" that I didn't really know about drawing / using watercolour pencils. 

I didn't know much of William Sim before (but my sister is a fan girl). Now that I do know of him, it's really worthwhile taking some time to look at his works - I promise you it's worth it! Here are his pieces that are on exhibition: 

William is holding one more session of this workshop! It's an awesome workshop so do check it out! 

The child in me is also rejoicing at the "fun pack" that comes with joining the class! Woo!

- a tin of 12 Faber-Castell Art Grip Aquarelle - these are AWESOME! 

- 3 graphite pencils

- 1 dustfree easer

- 1 clic & go brush

- 1 clic & go watercup

Bask in the glory of my "fun pack"!  

And of course... all window shopping is never that fun right? Wondering how a pure graphite 3B pencil will work with Zentangle. 

Speaking of zentangle... back to the zentangling! 

IAST #243: Zenbuttons was great fun! Used a different method to do a watercolour background with my Koi markers. Quite liking the outcome!

pokeleaf.florz.chillon.betweed

koi watercolour markers direct wash 

faber-castell ecco pen

Then follows slew of tiles that left much be be desired... and also left me chanting "there's no mistakes in zentangle... there's no mistakes in zentangle... there's no mistakes in zentangle... ". Hence, BE BRAVE! And share the not so great tiles too... right? 

Tried yet another method of watercolour backgrounds, this time with a Koh-I-Noor watercolour pan  that I got as part of the "project pack" of a workshop I attended at Overjoyed some time back. The outcome was a little "powdery" but after a few swipes with a tissue it was fine. To add experiment to experiment, tried to tangle on it with a "pointed pen"- a Zig manga nib holder and a Nikko G nib with Yellow Gold from the Kuretake Gansai Tambi Starry collection. Took a workshop on this a while back at Heartistry - thanks CZT Mabel! CZT Mabel is giving another class on this soon if you are interested!

More experiments were abound with a black background (using my Sakura Identity marker) and 5 colours of Sakura Moonlight pens (and a white of course). ("there's no mistakes in zentangle... there's no mistakes in zentangle... there's no mistakes in zentangle...")

Also experimented with Staedtler Karat Aquarell watercolour crayons with some round gems (the box of 12 that I bought were on sale). 

Also used these crayons for the background of IAST #244:

auraknot.paradox

staedtler karat aquarell crayon background

micron PN in navy.staedtler fineliners.warm grey copic liner 

Also sharing Joey's weekly challenge #217 feat. cadent:

cadent.knightsbridge.aquafleur.tipple.mooka.y.a.f. 

koi direct watercolour

staedtler pigment liner

Started out with a regular cadent then got bored and went a little crazy... resulting in a weird looking tile... ah well.. live and learn. There's no mistakes in zentangle right?

Diva Challnge #364 feat. Puf

puf 

staedlter pigment liner

Joey's Challenge #218 feat Dicso:

dicso.florz.printemps.knightsbridge.huggins

faber-castell ecco pigment liner

Now, if ya'll will excuse me, I need to go and see if there's more workshops at the Faber-Castell Art Festival that I can sign up for!

GWS =(

Quite a lots been going on.

 

I initially hadn't had much time to tangle because I was busy making my seasonal brooches.

 

Then things got a little hectic. Dad got hospitalised. He's been diagnosed with heart failure. Sister and I have been running around trying to deal with things. Kinda lost. Taking time off work here and there (and am thankful for an understanding boss). If we're getting it bad. He's getting it worse.

 

So just sharing photos today.

 

Diva Challenge #341 done at the hospital with Dad. Sakura 08 done in my A6 sketch book. Prayers appreciated. Get well soon Dad.

 

showgirl.xyp.yincut.cubine.printemps

 

Other photographs that were meant to be shared...

 

These are this year's brooches. 

 

IAST #218 - microns, multiliners and Omni  intense colour pencils. 

o.drawings 

Time to Tangle with Colors which suggested that the easiest way of going into colour is going monochromatic.

ginili.aquafleur.cadent.paradox
black and blue sakura microns, 4 shades of blue omni intense colour pencils

IAST #219!

palrevo.showgirl.stripling 

red sakura micron. 3 shades of red omni intense colour pencils 

Pointed pen tangling class with CZT Mabel @ Heartistry (💖 CZT Mabel!). 

Gifts from my sister who returned recently from Japan.

My new mantra: Have more guts!

Spent the weekend @ Heartistry!

With a Brush Lettering workshop on Saturday (the results of which I am tooooo embarrassed to share - suffice to say I need a lot of practice) and my first ever Zentangle jam on Sunday.

I quite enjoyed the session which involved making a glueless box from two zendala tiles, taught by CZT Mabel as well as making a small booklet with "pamphlet stitch" from a couple sheets of watercolour paper, taught by one of CZT Mabel's friends at Heartistry. Was my first attempt at book binding which was kinda cool 😎. 

I also collected my nets flash pay card (kinda like a stored value card) with the Heartistry logo that I won on Heartistry's Facebook draw (woohoo!🎉). 

I met tanglers I've never met before and saw what they could do (which in all honesty did make me feel a little bit lacking because some of what I saw was amazing and I was so envious! 😭). 

We had the pleasure of having not 1 not 2 but 3 CZTs at our session. I think a lot of the online Zentangle community may be familiar with CZT Stephanie (who was the originator of the Zentangle Inktober 2017 prompts) - well she was at the jamming session too! 

CZT Stephanie shared with us a simplified way to do diva dance rock & roll and aquafleur. For those interested, the version of aquafleur taught by CZT Stephanie features on her blog in this post, and her simplified version of diva dance rock & roll can be found here. Amazing! 

Having attended the session and having had the opportunity to look at other people's work, I have decided I need more guts! More guts to go out of the box! More guts to use colours! More guts to try and experiment! More guts to be wrong! My new Zentangle mantra is therefore: HAVE MORE GUTS! 

So since I spent all my time at the jamming session working on my palrevo box, when I got home, as step 1 to my "HAVE MORE GUTS" movement, I did some coloured pieces in my sketch book to record what I learnt from CZT Stephanie at the jamming session.

I'm quite pleased with how everything turned out which goes to show that I need to have more guts (but inside I'm trembling and melting like a jelly with too much water content).

So my HAVE MORE GUTS movement also extended into this week's Diva Challenge #337

diva dance rock & roll.dragonair.patience.dyon.sandswirl.printemps.leafleft.striping.shattuck.artoo

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARTOO!

Ok so well I didn't have a lot of guts... just a little bit to give a sprinkling of colour here and there and to bring out artoo even more. I was quite pleased with the result until a bystander told me it looks incomplete... 😕 sigh... baby steps?

Also sharing:

(1) My IAST #215 tile (I was clearly still in the striping mood from last week's Diva Challenge!)

(2) My Inktober bijous for days 10 to 13 (my Diva tile also snuck in Inktober day 17!)

Guest Diva Challenge # 328 and Weekend adventures with CZT Mabel!

Another awesome Diva Challenge! This time by guest diva Suzanne Fluhr!

This week we are challenge to take on ALOHA... which, for someone from a tropical climate reminds me greatly of the beautiful Heliconia...

(photo credit from Wikipedia)

But I digress!

This is my contribution for Diva Challenge #328! I actually used the string from the last IAST challenge (I did't manage to get it done in time)

I was going for a more dramatic look (having been inspired by my recent classes with CZT Mabel - read more below!) Oodles of tangles in this tile: 'Nzeppel, Aloha (can you spot the Aloha?), Sandswirl, Purk, Cadent, Indyrella, Drawings, Knightsbridge and Laced.

Am particularly pleased with this tile for many reasons:

• I tried new "tools" - whilst I normally go with the Sakura  Micron and Sakura Gelly Roll, I tried the Copic Multiliner and a white Pilot Choose (and a pencil of course). I quite enjoyed using both pens. I thought the Multiliner was good for zentanling and the Pilot Choose was nice for details (the Sakura Gelly Roll is a bit fat for drawing I think...)
• This is my first go with Aloha, and Laced (can you spot the Aloha and Laced?)
• I played a lot with the "over and under" Hollybough effect =)
• Indyrella is a new tangle I learnt with CZT Mabel 2 weekends back and Drawings...
• Ah Drawings, my old nemesis! We meet again! Drawings is another tangle that I had been struggling with... and eventually I caved and asked CZT Mabel for help... I think it's starting to shape up! Thank you CZT Mabel!

++ edit: on further consideration, as a "side comment" the Copic Multiliner seems to have a "harder tip" so it leaves indentations that can be seen on the reverse side of the sheet - whilst this could be attributed to my pen pressure, I do not have this issue on the same paper with Sakura Microns. 

Thanks to CZT Mabel, I also had the best back to back weekends that I've had in a loooong time! Two consecutive Saturdays of classes with CZT Mabel and her team at Heartistry! Who could ask for more! If only every weekend could be this good.

The weekend before was Zentangling Zendalas.

Other than teaching not one but 2 kinds of Zendala methods, CZT Mabel also encouraged us to try the "dramatic" look of white on black on a white tile - the effect of which I loved!! Think you can see why I'm suddenly inspired to try a more dramatic look...

And last weekend was CityScape with Zentangles.

Just in time for National Day (which is like the USA's Independence Day)! HAPPY NATIONAL DAY!!!! =)

And as an added bonus, an awesome urban sketcher, Pocholo, popped by and did a quick sketch of us in class! SCORE!

There's always something new and inspiring @ Heartistry. Blessed I am to have met CZT Mabel!

Done it!

I can officially say that I have attended a Zentangle 101 class! And! A Renaissance tile class! Woohoo! 😁

With much gratitude to CZT Mabel Yap and her team at Heartistry💓! For those in my locale, do check out Heartistry and the classes they offer (which are not limited to Zentangl btw). 

Am quite taken by the effect of renaissance tiles so I tried a little on my own. 

This was done with Sakura Microns in black and blue, with a Koh I-Noor grade 2 charcoal pencil on Starthmore 400 Series Toned Tan Artist Tiles. 

Am undecided whether the effects are as nice as sepias on the official Zentangle tiles. It seems to have a different feel. But I still kinda like it anyhow! 

Next... to play with different coloured papers and inks to see whether other combinations work! 

"Humble Beginnings"

Read the latest post on Blog Zentangle entitled "Humble Beginnings".

Comparing my first tile to my last two tiles I swear I regressed!

My first attempt at Zentangle at a local workshop in February 2017.

My latest 2 projects which I intended as a contrasting set of orbs in straight lines and squares in curves. I would like to think that they are at least better than my first square tile!

4 months into my journey - I still have much to learn and a long way to go... 😍