So this week seems to have a theme with me. It all started Sunday, with the talk at church being about living a balanced life. New Thought has a lot of great philosophy on what that entails and I won’t go into it, but needless to say it got me thinking.
Monday, we had a meeting of our San Diego Tanglers friendship group…where we did a cool project with alcohol inks. They dry on non-porous surfaces almost instantly, but you have to handle them delicately. The balance here is to find harmony in getting the right effect BEFORE the paint dries. It can be a bit tricky, but it can be done.
(I haven’t sealed this yet, but I wanted to scan it first, in case I ruin it. Tangled with a black Sakura Permapaque (fine point) and a white Sakura Decorese pen. Kinda fun. I am going to do some additional tiles and see how they hold up to different sealers.)
And this weeks Diva Challenge (#221) was on Beads of Courage. This is a great program that works to balance the lives of children in medical care with rewarding bravery in going through their procedures with beads, which they collect to show how brave they have been.
For me, beads are colorful, so of course I needed to add color. I decided to use my Derwent Inktense and Metallics (watercolor pencils) and on paper, those need to dry pretty thoroughly between steps. Again…balance…I want to get the tile done, but I don’t want to smear the pretty colors…patience.
I got to thinking about the balance in my own life, and how courage plays into that balance. For me…there has always been both beauty and duty. Sometimes, they are joined, and sometimes, there is a very thin line separating them. The Army and my dad taught me plenty of duty and obligation, but there are times when I want to just do nothing but create art. Finding the balance where they can be together is divine!
On Square One this week, the focus is Msst.
So I’ve decided what I’m gonna do now
So I’m packing my Avreal for the Mssty Mountains
Where the Onamatos go now
Over the Tagh where the Festunes fly
I know I usually don’t wax this philosophically, but there is a lot going on in our lives right now, and most of it is requiring me to be a lot more patient than I usually tend to be. I am looking into opening my own creative space here in Temecula, so doing the due diligence for that seems to be taking up a huge space in my brain.
But…a tangle a day keeps the psychiatrist at bay!
Stay Crazy My Friends!
Your Beads of courage are amazing – so much movement and the colours are great…the design keeps drawing my eye around and around. Congrats.
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Your beads are—-a work of art—–really, really nice art. Your composition is lovely on so many levels. I’m not great with color so I’m impressed #1) by your willingness to try to work with alcohol inks and #2) and your wonderful use of color and shading. AND, you have the yin and yang thing going on for balance. Your use of only black, gray and white for that and the little beads sets up an expectation that there’s more to the “story”.
Don’t worry about waxing “philosophical”. When I first started my blog, I envisioned it as being a “nothing but the facts” travel blog, but I found out that there is much more engagement from my readers if I also share at least a little (OK, sometimes a lot) of myself. So—-write on!
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Beautiful. I have used alcohol inks on tiles, too. Still learning but have created a few cool pieces to tangle on.
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Great tile for the diva-challenge. I like the colours in it and the patterns are so accurated drawn!
I also like your last tile – clever idea how you used Msst!
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J’aime beaucoup votre dessin pour le Challenge et son effet 3D très réussi
I like very much your drawing for the Challenge and its very successful 3D effect
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All are wonderful! Especially I like your beads-tile!
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Love the The beads of courage tile, your shading is PERFECT!!!!!
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A beautiful Post. Absolutely love your Beads of Courage Tile. Beautifully drawn. Wonderful movement and stunning shading. All of your color work is outstanding. I very much appreciate your admonition to stay crazy.
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