More Doodle Fun

There's just something about creating something out of nothing. Doodling is a soft form or art. It doesn't have to be particularly good, it's purpose is to pass the time and to help get the creative flow going.
When I'm having trouble getting my artistic muse to show her lovely face I get out a pen or pencil and begin a doodle. Some have Zentangle elements, some are more of a sketched doodle, while others are random patterns... but the most fun are when I put all three together and create a large Uber-doodle using the open scribble as my starting point.

 Starting by holding your pencil loosely, move your hand/arm freely and flowingly around the page to create a large flowy design.
Add words, images, designs ~ repeat your patterns and imagery around the page to create flow and balance.
Remember to use Small, Medium and Large elements to make your doodle more interesting.

 I absolutely love Paisley - Fun factoid, Brad Paisley has Paisley designs on all of his guitars... they're beautiful.
Finding a design for paisley or any other design can be as easy as opening your closet, a magazine or checking out packaging on popular products.
What designs are you attracted to?
Are there recurring patterns in your life? What are they? Doodle them.

Adding color is always a blast... I try to keep it to 5 colors or less. But, I often blend a couple colors together OR do light and dark of the same color giving the image of more colors.

Smile ~ Laugh ~ Create ART!

A Whale's Tale

I don't know what possessed me to take on a Doodle of this magnitude, but the little voice inside me head said Go For It. At 11x14 it's the biggest doodle I have ever done and it took me over 20 hrs to complete. The concept came from an underwater doodle I seen a while back and it sort of grew from that.

 Here it is along with a couple close ups. I hope you like it.

Weekend Fun

My apologies for being absent for a while. Life and kids and stuff... you know how it goes. Sigh

I'm here to share with you some fabulous new Zen-Doodles. I hope you like them they're one of my favorite thing to do to pass the time on a rainy day, sitting having coffee, pretty much any time.

I was first introduced to the art of Zen-Doodling/Zentangling on the Milliande community art pages shared by other members. I was awe struck by how beautiful these creations were and how different and special each one was. I started searching the web for tutorials and found a good deal on YouTube. At first I was copying others (which is totally fine, you can use mine for inspiration is you like) and soon I was creating my own. I find my inspirations from men's ties, decorated boxes, clothing, books, etc. Designs are everywhere... just keep your eyes open.

The two main patterns here, the Zentangled Mooka (heart shapes) and the centre pattern I learned from YouTube videos courtesy of Rick Robert and Maria Thomas the founders of Zentangle. Their YouTube home is "Zentangle" and they have a lot of fantastic video's showing you how to create your own beautiful works. Many people find great peace and relaxation while doing this technique and use it as a form of Meditation... hence the name "Zen"-tangle. I know I could spend hours at my desk mindlessly creating Zendoodles, and I have. I find that the more I do the better I become at them... as with all art. The one area that I'm still not fantastic at with my Zendoodles is the shading in. But I will keep working on that. :D 

My second ZenDoodle is a combination of hearts, flowers and paisley's that are inspired by many amazing YouTube video's by "miraculousmosquito", her stuff blows me away. She has countless YouTube videos, "how to build" flowers, leaves, paisley... as well as some very interesting trees, and other shapes that are out of this world. I simply can't say enough about her... she is indeed "Miraculous". Along with Zentangles that I have picked up from "milliande" whom you can find on YouTube or at her art community site "milliande.ning.com" and share you work with others. :D Which I highly recommend by the way. The community is very encouraging and it has been wonderful getting to know other creative ppl from around the globe.

Lastly, my 'Flowers and Ribbon'. Yesterday I found a YouTube video by "rainbowelephant61" who, among other things, showed me how to create these fantastic ribbons. I wasn't sure what to do with them at first... so I thought, "Well, I love to do flowers" and that's what I did. I'm very happy with the results. I decided to do the ribbons in different colors and then keep to traditional black for the flowers. Just the thing I think. :D


So that's all. I hope you like them and check out the YouTubers and start creating some/more of your own. 
Cheers for now.
Danine

Sow thy Self

Seed Journal #3-2012 - S-Words

So I'm sitting in front of a blank piece of paper trying to think of "S"-words that are seed related and have meaning to me OR perhaps define me in some way, shape or form. And believe you me, it's a lot harder than it looks. These are the words that I was able to come up with; Serendipity, Seeds, Sow, Stand, Self, Signature, & Strong.

As always I wrote a short journal entry upon the finished work, today I used orange ink which blends quite nicely into the background.

As my skill as an artist becomes stronger

I feel a greater sense of self.

Life is full of happy accidents, in art this is especially true.

This year I hope to learn from these mistakes 

And maybe even create my signature style from one.

2012 is going to be an outstanding year!

So in short I hope to SOW the SEEDS of good STRONG habits to become a better artist in 2012. Learning new skills, finding my SIGNATURE style and simply being my Authentic SELF. Perhaps finding a little SERENDIPITY along the way as well.