Some "Zen Doodles"! :)

Lately I've been on a bit of a "zentangle/zendoodle" kick...and I love it! I know some of you out there have become total masters at this but I am still kinda new at it. I love this style of painting! It's very relaxing and stress-free! I find it a lot like painting a mandala but not necessarily circular...it's just letting your mind completely wander! Great way to unwind watching a movie or listening to music :)

Above is a small zendoodle I did a couple of nights ago on a 4x4" canvas.  I had started the background of this painting while house sitting a couple of years ago but never did anything with it, perfect for a zendoodle of sorts! I thought the blues and yellows would go well with a new gold "Pitt" pen I bought recently...also a new thing I thought I'd try...and love it as well :D

This next one is the first sketchbook zendoodle I did a little over a week ago...my favourite one so far. I used fluid acrylics, FW inks and paint pens - tonnes of fun!

 Mixed Media on Paper

11x17"

©WhiteVioletArt2012

The image below is the start of the latest sketchbook doodle I finished last night...I wasn't really liking it in the beginning but thought I'd finish it and see where it took me...glad I did!

"Violet Zen"

Mixed Media on Paper

11x17"

©WhiteVioletArt2012

Below: The finished product! Yayy! I used some FW "Pearlescent" inks so it was rather difficult to get a decent picture of it without some glare but I did my best ;) The next one I do will be on canvas or illustration board though as I enjoy creating the backgrounds with inks and washes, not so great with paper... :O but good practice! ;)

 "Violet Zen" Detail

 

I'm also finding zendoodles to be a great way to relieve creative blocks - highly recommended! :) Off create something new...and possibly have an early night! (no promises on that one though!) :D

On a side note, I finished this while zoning out to "The X-Files" on Netflix - I find it interesting how movies or music in the background, affects what I'm painting sometimes! ;) lol

Experimenting With Rose Petals! :)

I had some beautiful flowers that I wanted to preserve without having to to hang them to dry...so I thought I'd see if I could incorporate them into a piece of art <3 I had never tried this before but thought I'd give it a shot...

The flowers I used had already dried a bit so I soaked them in some water for an hour or two to see if I could soften them up! Worked like a charm...

Below is one of the lil pieces created with them...

I used clear gesso to adhere the petals to the canvas and will probably put a coat or two of self leveling clear gel over top to protect them. I even love the damaged petals, I think they add a bit of charm! :)

I can't wait to use more flower petals in future projects! It's one way to make flowers and memories last that much longer! :)

First Day Of My Visit To Newfoundland

Above is actually a view of the ocean from Signal Hill...there was so much fog today that they couldn't land our plane, we ended up having to fly to the other side of the island to refuel before attempting to land again. We only ended up being 3.5 hours late...better late than never though! At least it was warm out and it ended up being a nice sunny day by the end of it all! :)

Below is me with a big, friendly and cuddly Newfoundland dog :)

Above is one of the views from Signal Hill...still a lot of fog but beautiful none the less!

The little white speck in the ocean was a fishing boat going out to sea, I only had my iphone on me to take pics with at the time...better ones to come hopefully :) This was only day one! ;) I'm hoping to take in some of the George Street Festival as well as check out some of the local art galleries among other things...more to come! :)

A Wee Painted Bird House :)

I was out picking up some lil canvases and odds and ends the other day and saw this little bird house and couldn't resist the urge to paint it ;)

Here are a few process pics :) Below: as is - straight from the store

Above: The first coating of paint...my favourite colour red...why not? ;)

Decided to paint some yellow sunflowers on the sides - also one of my favourite flowers! (I had a hard time getting the yellow to stay vibrant though...took a few coats)

And there you go, the finished product! :) I think I'll paint a little more vines and such around the back but all in all, it was a fun lil' afternoon project! :) I hope you enjoyed! :)

A New Mandala

Just a quick post to share a bit about my latest mandala...not sure if it's done yet but here are some process pics to have a peek at :)

Above is my starting point for the background, at this point I had just peeled off the masking fluid I was experimenting with. Still getting the hang of what to do with that stuff ;)

Above: Doodling on the design in pencil

"Untitled"
Acrylic on Canvas
1'x1'x 0.5'
©WhiteVioletArt2012

This is the final piece (so far...heh heh heh...I'm sure I'll find something else to do with it but at the moment, I'll call it done) :) Good Night! :)

Completed a Small Painting today! ;)

I felt inspired to doodle on a lil' canvas, thought I'd share! This is what I came up with :)

(I experimented with a little bit of crackle paste to add texture ;) )

Love how this lil spur of the moment painting turned out! :)

Thanks for popping by and taking a peek! ;)

Damaged Mandala Love ;)

A little over a month ago I posted a process picture "here" on my Facebook page of a mandala that I was working on. (Below, with one of my lil' chihuahuas Midge, is the last process pic I have before yesterday) I really liked it, the colours and design were coming along quite nicely, then I discovered a little snag on the edge of the wood where it was coming apart - of course I tugged on it thinking I could just pull it off but I ended up ripping an entire strip from the surface of the wood! :'( There was already a line through the surface as well so you'd think I would've been a little more cautious! (In this pic you can see the damage in the top left corner - even lil "Midgey" looks sad about it, LOL) But I decided that rather than toss it, I'd continue to work and experiment on it - after all, everything has its flaws! ;) ;)

Below is the rest of what I painted yesterday on my deck in the sun...still really enjoying this little project!

I haven't quite finished all the water shading (just put the colour down with watercolour pencil) but I am already mulling over ideas for this lil piece... possibly as a background for making bookmarks and postcards, etc with text... I really like it and don't want to waste it! :) We'll see what happens with it!

Above is an example of one of the possibilities I was considering...just a wood grain filter put over top of the image - I thought it went really well with the damaged area! ;) Might as well go with it! :)

Thanks as always for popping by! :)