Feeling great that the Diva is back!

Sharing something old and something new!

Catching up on old IAST challenges! This was IAST #251 featuring Stix. 

IAST #256!

 mazorito.pokeleaf.msst.hexa.antidot

Also feeling great that the Diva is back sharing her challenges! 

Diva Challenge #366 - back to basics!

printemps.hollibough.knightsbridge.crescent moon.flux.tipple.florz

I really enjoyed the back to basics tile - and i forced myself to use a "basic" tangle that I've always avoided - crescent moon. Yes don't laugh... Crescent moon. 

So in the same spirit, I moved Crescent moon into this week's challenge. 

 

Diva Challenge #367 feat 'nzeppel. 

crescent moon.flux.tipple.'nzeppel.printemps.paradox

It's been quite a while...

I haven't posted in quite a while. In fact I haven't tangled in quite a while. A lot of things have been happening and it's been getting to me quite badly. Or rather, to put more specifically I have been LETTING it get to me. Was in a baad place for quite a while =(. 

Spent a bit of time trying to "unwind" through the mishmosh of emotions to try and rationalize and look out for / search for the small blessings that (like it or not) are actually in every single (bad) thing that happens / happened. 

I must consciously remind myself to look for these silver / gold / chicken nuggets (I like chicken nuggets) and Thank Upstairs (whatever your belief is) for small blessings. 

Arting / crafting and sharing about arting / crafting seems to help. 

Hence... I thank you for your patience, understanding and your help towards normality. 

Found a new art supply shop (more conveniently located than the ones I do already know of) in a new-ish mall. For locals, you might want to check out, Umistrong. 

They have packed a lot of things into a small shop! They seemed to carry a lot of Chinese products  (e.g. watercolour paper of a Chinese brand) that I have never seen before - but they do all seem to be reasonably prices. I fought the urge to buy some to try (I already have too many art supplies!) so I can't give any input as to the quality of said Chinese products... but I did cave for pencil roll (which was a quarter to half the price of a "branded" pencil roll)! I had been looking for one for a while as my Omni Instense pencils (which I think have been featured on my blog quite a few times) doesn't come in a box with the tray that "slides" out... which makes them difficult to use - and I had been keeping them all in a discount store lunch box.

(in case you are wondering - yes I did number my pencils and create a colour key - yes I am a colour pencil and staitonary geek)

Behold the glory of my pencil roll! *drumroll*

Bask in it's rainbowed glory! 

Ahem - now on to some zentangling (to be honest there was almost a month where I couldn't get myself to draw... =( hence I don't have that much to share but share I shall!). These are tiles done in June. 

IAST #246: 

I loved this string idea! Read more about it here. 

Joey's Weekly Challenge #219 feat pokeroot:

pokeroot.huggins.shattuck.florz

IAST #245:

marasu.purk.'nzeppel

And on to July...

The bestie is on a 6 month stint far far away and she's none too happy about it. So I drew up a little postcard to send to her... using my new gift from the sister. 

Yes, you are looking at Primacolor watercolor pencils - my sister rocks I know. 

Also sharing my only tile in July so far (which was Joey's Challenge #222 - feat maryhill) 

Using a new thrift store sketch book - I quite like the fact that I have space to do multiple tiles but I really don't like the spiral binding - it gets in the way when I want to turn the sketchbook. the spread features Prismacolor orbs and a Prismacolor watercolour penciled version in the bottom right corner. Also am taking the chance to practice on my (really bad) brush lettering with a Pentel Touch. Practice makes perfect right. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

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!

Watercolour wash phase 1!

Been going through a watercolour wash phase! 1st few times I'm trying watercolour washes in my sketch book as opposed to on loose tiles.

Diva Challenge #362 feat. Somnee 

somnee.cruffle.moonrock

sakura koi watercolour wash

Joey's Challenge #215 feat. Whirlee

whirlee.neuron

Tried something a little bit different with the orbs, having chanced upon CZT Stephanie's tutorial on gems using watercolour markers. CZT Stephanie's tutorial features a pink gem with Tombow markers. I did mine using grey Sakura Koi markers. Thank you CZT Stephanie for a beautiful tutorial. If you haven't tried it you should check it out!

Having done the watercolour marker gems, I thought I'd revisit colour pencil gems.

These were done in omni intense colour pencils with a derwent blender. After all, Practice makes Perfect right? And at this juncture, I must show one of my recent purchases - I read an article online that says you are a true stationary geek if when you go overseas, your "souvenirs" are from the stationary shop.

Mea culpa!

One of my souvenirs from Ipoh! That I used to draw my gems of course!

Continued on my gemmy journey with Joey's Challenge #216 feat. Friendship

squid.friendship 

sakura koi watercolour wash 

uni-pin in black and blue 

omni intense colour pencils 

I love how my "friendship" kinda turned out like a row of smiling blue whales. LOL.

Diva's Challenge #363 - Laura's Auras - wasn't quite sure what it meant but I thought it had to do with auras. Lots and lots of auras.

caracole

sakura koi watercolur wash 

Tried to play  a bit with line weight with my Sakura PN on this one - I have the bad habit of pressing down too hard on my pens =(. 

And when I ran out of ideas for strings, I fell back on one of Ben Kwok's free templates.

printemps.zedbra.hibred.'nzeppel.onomato.bunzo.knightsbridge.leaflet.shattuck 

ben kwok's flamingo template 

staedtler fineliner in pink.sakura micron 

omni intense colour pencils

Have also been trying to egg myself to use tangles I wouldn't normally choose to use.

enyshou.pokeroot.pokeleaf.zinger.mooka

sakura koi watercolour wash 

sakura microns in black and green 

Yes I know it's weird that I avoid these planty tangles that I suspect are many people's go to tangles!

Keep calm and carry on.

We've discovered that Dad has a bad complication arising from his condition =(. Prayers appreciated and so was zentangling this week. Keep calm and carry on.

 

Rumpus was introduced with the 12 days of Zentangle 2017 and it happened to be last week's IAST #226

Contra my original Rumpus... so different...

Also re-tried one other project introduced over Christmas.

And finally Diva Challenge #348 in line with Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day. My humble salute to all parents, and in particular parents caring for children with ailments or special needs.

diva dance rock & roll.tipple.aquafleur.printemps.striping.

Been out of it - spam sharing

Spam sharing my tiles / work since Xmas. 

12 days of zentangle (didn't buy the project pack as shipping is prohibitive). Particularly proud of the zendala. 

Most of the tiles done whilst vacationing with Dad in KL. 

pokeleaf.shattuck.printemps.florz.'nzeppel.yincut.sandswirl.hurry.knightsbridge

Visual Journal Zentangle tile for the trip. 

featherfall

Visual Journal Zentangle tile for a holiday visit to the local bird park. Coloured with Sakura Koi watercolour markers. Inspired by the Scarlet Macaws at the bird park. 

crazy huggins.sandswirl.'nzeppel.shattuck

Didn't manage to do last week's Diva Challenge but was inspired to play around with Crazy Huggins (which I have had trouble dealing with... until now!). Used a Prismacolour liner with 3 different purple pens (Sakura, Copic and Zig), orbs coloured with cheap Colleen double sided colour pencils - the dream colour pencils of my childhood.

 

And this week's Diva Challenge #347 using items that were lying around 1 day during breakfast before work:  

 



Shaggy legoman. rainbow hair tie. set square protractor. overjoyed membership card. teaspoon

 

purk.printemps.ninjastars.frunky.yincut.ramy.'nzeppel