Batten Down the Hatches! Dorian's Coming.

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I'm scheduling this drawing to appear on the day we will most likely be evacuating this island because of the powerful hurricane that seems to be bearing down on us. We've put up shutters, stocked up on water, filled the tub, bought non-perishable items, brought in anything loose in our yard, etc. Meanwhile the storm is out in the ocean building strength in the warm waters. If it does as predicted and pounds us for three days, we've never experienced anything this bad, so your prayers would be appreciated. To my friends and family here, please stay safe.

Carmen

Fancy Feathers, 5x7 Pen and Ink Drawing

This is one of my most popular pins on Pinterest. It has been repinned a lot, although not as much as my husband's handmade guitar wine holder, below. I have decided that zentangles just don't look right in my Etsy shop. My shop is varied enough by having oil paintings and collage art, and when I look at an overview, the zentangles stick out like a sore thumb. It just doesn't look consistent.

Every January I get the urge to simplify my life, and during the course of the year I manage to complicate it more. After reading Marie Kondo's book about tidying up my house, I realize I need to do the same to my online house, because it is not, as Ms Kondo says, "sparking joy."

I created a shop just for zentangles on Etsy, set it up for digital downloads; then I said to myself, there I go again. Yet another online thing to tend to. I've become a cyberhoarder! So today I am taking the shop down. I'll post a zentangle on this blog now and then and that's that. Simple.

My main thrust for the year will be painting some larger paintings for a show in April in Virginia. Details will be forthcoming.

Buy on Etsy

Carmen

Zenfish, 5x7 Pen and Ink Drawing

$35, Click to Purchase

I will be going to Mexico soon, so my posts may be few and far between. I am going to visit San Miguel de Allende with my sister, and I expect to get some interesting subjects to paint down there. I hear it is a beautiful and historic city. I will be fresh off the Qiang Huang workshop, so I will have all my artistic juices flowing. 

Coiffure, 5x7 Pen and Ink Drawing

$39, Click to Purchase 

Sometimes my hair looks like this when I get up in the morning, but not as interesting. When I drew this Zentangle I was thinking about the "Draw Me" girl--remember her? She was the ticket to correspondence art school.

This morning on the news they postulated a theory that profiles are usually drawn like this because the left side of the face is the more attractive side. My theory is that a right-handed person draws it nose-to-left, and a left-handed person draws it nose-to-right. Applies to horse drawings too. That's just my theory.

Today was the first day of the Qiang Huang workshop in Melbourne. We have a very enthusiastic class! Qiang already posted his first painting to his blog--click on the link here to check it out.

Does Zen Roses, 5x7 Pen and Ink Drawing

$35, Click to Purchase

I guess I got tired of round roses. This is a Pen-and-Ink Zentangle drawing. matted in an 8x10 mat. People frequently say, "Painting must be so relaxing for you artists." Really? Well, it sure can make me tired, depending upon how complicated, elusive, or aggravating the subject. I must say, however, that when it goes well I get that artist's high that means I really like what I've done. Zentangle drawings are the truly relaxing forms of art for me. I can be as fanciful as I wish and it's like a form of meditation. It's even better than those trays of sand with little rakes in them. 

Holiday Sale!

The Annual Pieces of Eight Christmas Sale will be December 7 beginning at 9 am. We will have a large array of beautiful things this year: oil paintings, watercolors, digital art, jewelry, handmade birdhouses (each one unique), painted furniture and other great gift items at very affordable prices.

Above is one of my small paintings, "Fatherly Love" which will be on sale.

DeniZens, 7x5 Pen and Ink Drawing

My shading in the waves is made up of sea creatures, hence the title. I actually made this larger, but it did not enhance the drawing, and diluted the impact. I like this much better. I mounted it in a 10x8 mat. Zentangle techniques are so much fun, especially if making up my own designs.

PURCHASE 

Zentangle, 3/12 x 4 Watercolor

I haven't done a Dailypaintworks.com Challenge in a long time, but since I was stuck on the couch with a sinus infection, I thought it was a good time to respond to the one called The Something New Challenge, to do something I'd never done before. I did a zentangle, which is a kind of freeform doodle. Very relaxing.