Paint With all the Colors of the Wind

"Colors are the smiles of nature."     Leigh Hunt

Back in April when I attended Tangle U in Maine, I bought some hand-colored tiles from fellow CZT Sue Jacobs. This first one, a blue Zendala tile, was completed using a stencil from Acadia Laser Creations, along with blue pen and colored pencil for shading.

I was very happy with the way it turned out, so I went on to do another one, this time in pink. It's okay, but I think my tangle choices could have been better. However, I was loving the whole colored pen and pencil thing.

Then I decided to try making some of my own tiles. I used several methods, including watercolor paint, Ranger distress ink pads, alcohol inks, and Tombow markers. So much fun, and the results were so interesting! Here's one I did where I tangled the green parts of the tile and left the pink parts as open space.

 

This next one in pink and purple, I decided to tangle using black pen, along with colored pencils and graphite pencil for shading. This reminds me a little bit of the trees that I've recently seen Margaret Bremner post. I like the combination of colors here.

Next is another tile that I made. I decided to try a red pen on this tile colored with orange and yellow. I love the way these colors look together.

I thought I'd share some of the other tiles I created, just waiting to be tangled.

This last picture is a group of leftover pieces of paper that I colored using various methods. They're smaller than tile size. I was just fooling around with the scraps rather than throwing them away (recycling).

Who knew working with color in this way could be so much fun!

That's What Friends Are For

"For good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for"  
Dionne Warwick

It was time to do something a little different. So I pulled out a couple of Dyan Reaveley stencils that I've had for a while but had not found the time to play with yet. These "ladies" needed a colorful background. My first try was Dylusion sprays. Without going into all the details, let me just say that it didn't go as planned and I had a page that I couldn't use. Onto my next idea, a watercolor wash. I decided to use my Peerless watercolors, which turned out to be a mistake. In addition to the color being too intense for my purpose, some of it seeped under the edges and messed up the images. But I wasn't going to give up that easily. For my third try I used Ranger distress ink pads with a blending tool. The ink did not blend as well as I would have liked, but it looked good enough for me to continue. After all, how does that saying go? Three strikes and you're out. Here's what I ended up with after tangling the ladies.

As I worked on this piece a story unfolded in my mind about these two good friends. First of all, just by looking at their outfits it's obvious that they are fashion trendsetters! Who would not want the clothes they're wearing? The one with the umbrella (added with a rubber stamp) is worried about her beautiful hair getting wet, while the other one, sporting her snazzy rain boots, is more worried about her feet getting wet. I'm sure they are discussing something very important as they stand out in the rain...maybe their next shopping trip. 

This piece was so much fun to work on. I foresee some of their friends making their way onto my journal pages another day. Next time I can only hope that it won't take me three tries to get the background right. 

I decided to experiment with music for this blog post. I hope it's working properly. Let me know what you think.