Doodling for Stress Release

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend  a half an hour doodling our stress away. I missed a week of class because, I was away and then there was no class on the Labor Day holiday.

The assignment was to draw a border, add some wonky 3 petal flowers, stems, and little circles.  I colored the little circles Ultramarine with a Tombow marker. This was a relaxing and fun exercise.dra

Doodling for Stress Release

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend  a half an hour doodling our stress away.

The assignment started with tracing our hand. We could fill the space with curved line contours as I did in the wrist. We also had the option of dividing the hand into sections and doodling in those spaces.

Doodling for Stress Release

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend  a half an hour doodling our stress away. I missed two weeks of class because, I skipped class because I was invited to go to the beach with the Eldest. The second time, I was busy doing stuff and lost track of time, but this week I paid attention to the clock.

The assignment was to draw concentric circles and doodle in the spaces.

Pearl of Great Price

 

This is the piece from the Zentangle Shell Symphony Workshop  taught by Stefanie van Leeuwen, CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) from the Netherlands that I gifted to my friend, Teague.

From Zentangle.com, I purchased the Zendala papers and the frames. I made one for myself, too.

Day 2 Doodles from the 2OLOTR Journal

 

The night before we bought donuts from the Congdon's stall at the food trucks. I had a blueberry filled donut with my tea for breakfast.

While Teague went for a swim in the pool, I waled down the path to the Ogunquit River to journal. I saw colorful kayaks, a wild morning glory, and a shell. Back at the pool, Teague made friends with a couple from Worcester.

For lunch we went to Ogunquit pizza. That's the restaurant that had the pictures of seagulls eating French fries, and pizza that I wrote about last year.

For dinner, I had a lobster roll at the food trucks.

Doodles done using the free version of Concepts app on the iPad with the iPencil

Doodling for Stress Release

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend  a half an hour doodling our stress away.

The suggestion for this doodle was to start with a scribble and then fill in all the spaces with black lines. We are always free to do what we want. I felt like color that day so I combined the scribble and lines with a neurographic drawing

Doodling for Stress Reduction

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend  a half an hour doodling our stress away.

The suggested doodle was to make flower with circle and the letter U. Enter the Wayback Machine to the late 1960s and doodling Flower Power on notebook covers. 

Monet and Me

 

signed up for a FREE Zentangle class by Stefanie van Leeuwen, the same Zentangle instructor for the Shell Symphony class  

Stephanie taught the Zentangle Dragon Class during the Inktober 2024 challenge and now she's offering it for free. The classes are not live, but students have access to videos. Even better, you don't have to wait until October to play.

Stephanie is a very organized and patient teacher. She has prepared a .pdf file with the dragon string and the materials needed for the class. My only criticism is she's very soft spoken so sometimes it was a bit difficult for me to hear her. Also, she uses the pencil transfer method to transfer the string. It's a lot easier if you use Saral paper. Saral paper can be used over and over and lasts a long time.

If you want to play, too, you can sign up at the Free Inktober Dragon Challenge

Work in Progress - Finishing Touches

 

This is from the Zentangle Shell Symphony Workshop  taught by Stefanie van Leeuwen, CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) from the Netherlands.

This was a live online class, but I didn't have all the necessary materials though I played along as much as I could. Students have access to videos of the class forever.

Because the piece is done on a round, 4 5/8 in. paper tile, it's called a Zendala. (a portmanteau of Zen, Zentangle and mandala)

I used Strathmore Tone Tan paper cut into a slightly smaller circle as the cutting machine wouldn't go to 3 decimal places.

In the final class, we outlined the shell with gold, Colored and highlighted the three dewdrops, highlights on the waves, pearl, shell, and seafoam bubbles.

Doodling for Stress Reduction

 On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend  a half an hour doodling our stress away.

The assignment was to start with a circular frame, divide the circle with wavy lines, and fill the spaces with patterns. I wasn't too thrilled with what I did in class. So later in the week while procrastinating, I came up with this.

"May you be as happy as a seagull with a French fry."

T Stands for But First Tea

 

On Monday mornings, I participate in a Doodling for Stress Reduction class. The suggested doodle was to fill in a shape like a leaf with spirals, curves, and straight lines.

We are always free to do our own thing. So I filled in a mug shape and colored it with watercolor pencils.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Doodling for Stress Reduction

 

To celebrate Cinco De Mayo, we filled a shape with doodles and added color if desired. My doodle is based on the Mexican folk art, Alebrijes. The Alebrijes are usually mythical animals. What is more mythical than a cat?

Work in Progress

 

This is from the Zentangle Shell Symphony Workshop  taught by Stefanie van Leeuwen, CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) from the Netherlands.

This was a live online class, but I didn't have all the necessary materials though I played along as much as I could. Students have access to videos of the class forever.

Because the piece is done on a round, 4 5/8 in. paper tile, it's called a Zendala. (a portmanteau of Zen, Zentangle and mandala)

I used Strathmore Tone Tan paper cut into a slightly smaller circle as the cutting machine wouldn't go to 3 decimal places.

In this class we added highlights to the shell and highlights and shadows to the sand pebbles? The round doohickeys under the shell.

We also colored the sea and sky and edged the Zendala with color.

Next up: Finishing touches

Workshop: How to Draw A Medieval Animal

These are the sketchnotes I made after taking a free class offered by Julia Bangert, a book illuminator from Mainz, Germany. In the class she talked about looking at images of animals and drawing them by looking for their basic shapes. 

The animal we drew in class was a rabbit. From the sketchnotes, you can see the rabbit was drawn using circles and then details added so it looked more like a bunny instead of circles.

Monet and Me

 

Monet and I are waiting to take another free workshop with Julia Bangert, a book illuminator from Mainz, Germany.

This class is Drawing Leaf Tendrils or acanthus leaves. Acanthus leaves were a common motif in illuminated manuscripts.

Work in Progress

 

This is from the Zentangle Shell Symphony Workshop  taught by Stefanie van Leeuwen, CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) from the Netherlands.

This was a live online class, but I didn't have all the necessary materials though I played along as much as I could. Students have access to videos of the class forever.

Because the piece is done on a round, 4 5/8 in. paper tile, it's called a Zendala. (a portmanteau of Zen, Zentangle and mandala)

I used Strathmore Tone Tan paper cut into a slightly smaller circle as the cutting machine wouldn't go to 3 decimal places.

This part of the lesson involved Prismacolor pencils to color the pearl and inside bottom of the shell.

Next up: Coloring the sea and sky

Monet and Me

got a rush job of lettering in two baby books for a baby shower yesterday. Actually, I did the lettering while Monet supervised.

The books were presents from a great-grandpa. Initially, he wanted me to write in the books. To Baby Name and From Great-Grandpa.

I have written in books before, but it's quite scary as there's no room for error. When the books were delivered, I told Great-Grandpa, I wouldn't be able to write in the books as the pages were printed on glossy paper. My ink wasn't going to adhere.

What to do? We brain-stormed a few ideas, and he liked the suggestion of a bookplate. I cut a scrap of Arches 90 lb. watercolor paper to the size of a business card (3.5" x 2 ") (It was a relief to know I had more paper to use when the pen caught in the paper and dragged a fugly, thick line of ink instead of the graceful ending to the letter "e".)

The area on the front piece (verso or left page) wasn't large enough to fit the two lines of writing.  He decided the bookplate  could be glued onto the title page

and that's what I did

Finding a spot for the book plate on the second book wasn't easy. There wasn't a front piece or a title page. There were felt flaps, but again, not large enough.

On the last page there was a felt cloud which when pulled down revealed a mirror. Since the left page had a square cutout so part of that blue felt could be seen, the bookplate had to go on the inside of the cloud. Problem solved.

Job dusted and done.

Work in Progress

 

This is the first part of the Zentangle Shell Symphony Workshop  taught by Stefanie van Leeuwen, CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) from the Netherlands.

This was a live online class, but I didn't have all the necessary materials though I played along as much as I could. Students have access to videos of the class forever.

Because the piece is done on a round, 4 5/8 in. paper tile, it's called a Zendala. (a portmanteau of Zen, Zentangle and mandala)

I used Strathmore Tone Tan paper cut into a slightly smaller circle as the cutting machine wouldn't go to 3 decimal places.

So far, I have completed the first 3 lessons.

1. Transfer Stefanie's design to the paper. She used the pencil transfer method. I used Saral paper. 

2. Using a brown Sakura Pigma Pen, outline the shell and using a black Sakura Pigma Pen outline the pearl

3. Using a combination of the black and brown pens, fill in the shell with Zentangle patterns Stephanie chose.

Next up: Adding color.

Happy Bill Paying!

 

How an artistic accounting clerk brightens patients' day

Doodling for Stress Reduction

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend  a half an hour doodling our stress away.  Last Monday, the class was cancelled. Bummah.

Last Friday, I signed up to take a Zentangle class. Besides a .pdf for the class, the instructor also sent a .pdf for beginning Zentangles. (If you're not familiar with Zentangles, you can read about the process here.) It's been awhile since I played with Zentangles so I practiced some of the patterns from the instructor's notes along with various "strings" (the pencil pattern to divide the paper called a tile) like the peacock.

Have you tangled with Zentangles?