Leap Year Fun

Daughter Julie making mono prints in my studio

So today is that extra day we get every four years…it is Leap Year again.  We take the calendar so for granted that it's quite a jolt to remember now and then that "marking" time has a history of ups and downs just like lots of other things that you take for granted (see history of leap year below).

My daughter Julie is here from WI where the winter winds still swirl around making everyone have spring fever.  We've had a whirlwind week trying to STOP time for awhile as we stuff everything we can think of into the 7 days she's here.  

Today we are off to canoe on Lake Griffin with a docent so that we hope to see tons of birds!  Hoping you all have a great "extra" day today.  

Today is Leap Year Day, when the month of February has 29 days instead of 28. This happens every four years and only in years that are divisible by four, such as 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016.

The length of time it takes the Earth to completely orbit the sun is 365 days and six hours. Most calendars only list 365 days. An extra 24 hours accumulates every four years, requiring an extra calendar day. If we didn't account for this extra day, eventually, we'd have Christmas in July.

The Egyptians were the first to calculate the need for this type of regulation, but it wasn't put into practice until Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator, consulted with the top astronomers of the day and in 46 B.C. began adding one day (known as an intercalary day, or "leap" day) every four years to make up for the discrepancy. At the time, the ancient Roman calendar system was based on a total of 355 days, a full 10 ¼ days shorter than a solar year. Not one to waste an opportunity, he also decided to rename "Quintilis," the fifth month of the year (counting from March), which is how we got the month named "July."

Unfortunately, Caesar's new calendar system wasn't strictly enforced, and by the 16th century, it was almost 10 days off track, so in 1582, Pope Gregory reformed the Julian calendar. The calendar system we now use is called the Gregorian calendar.

According to British historical tradition, a leap day is the only day of the year a woman can propose marriage to a man.

A person born on February 29 may be called a "leapling." If you are born on February 29, you're eligible to join the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies.

Journal Prompt: Less is More

Our journal prompt this week was to limit ourselves to 1-3 words to express an idea.  And to keep the idea of less-is-more as a theme.

It was so open-ended that the group is getting a huge variety of responses here.  That is always fun.  

I chose to combine my love of gelli plate printing and a word my daughter Julie has shared with me as one of her favorites.  It surely fits with just about anything you want to discuss.  Whether Zentangle or any other creative endeavor or just life in general.  

This pattern was made with a kind of "comb" in wet acrylic paint on the plate and then when the print was dry I cut it out and shaded it with graphite and white charcoal pencil.

One gal commented it made her think that creative ideas are floating around in the air trying to find a host.  I like that thought. 

So if you remain open to them…one may float right to you!

Excited that Julie is coming to visit us (from cold WI) arriving in Orlando around noon on Tuesday.   

I am off to watch Downton Abby.

The Rate of Change: Zentangle for help….

And it was on this day (February 16)  in 1978 that social networking got its start when the first public, dial-up Computerized Bulletin Board System (CBBS) went online in Chicago, Illinois. In those days, the Internet was in its infancy, not available to most computer users. Two computer hobbyists, Ward Christensen and Randy Seuss, got the idea to create a virtual message board where CBBS members could dial into the system using a telephone modem and post notes to each other in the same way a family might communicate by sticking messages to a corkboard using pushpins. It was the beginning of social networking.

When I read about this above I thought first of 1978.

Where was I then?

I had just finished my master's degree (1977) and I had 3 kids…the oldest was 16.  

I was 39 years old and teaching school in WI.

And there was no social networking then.  Something current generations (including myself) somewhat take for granted now.  Social networking then would have meant having a group of friends over for coffee or a beer.    

  

It reminds me of the whirlwind of change and how young people (and by that anyone under 50) never really "know" the generation their parents knew, let alone grandparents.  For instance, I was born into a world without credit cards. (I got my first one after I graduated from college and I think it was a Sears card.  In those days cards were issued for specific stores so we all had 5 or 6 of them for awhile until some bank figured out a better way to cash in.)  

My grandparents were born into a world without cars or planes!  But I digress.

The reason that this date of 1978 and the amazing "beginning" of something that has changed the world since then fascinated me is that I was a functioning adult at the time.  So my amazement is not at change but at the "rate" of change.  And everyone else over 50.  We all have known great change in our lives but now the rate of change is so fast that it leaves us breathless.  I barely begin to understand a new computer or smart phone when a new one has come out.  It's dizzying and distressing actually.  

Really young people (like under 30) expect that rate of change. They were born into the communication and change age.   They know that everything they learn with a few basic exceptions is changing while they are learning it.  (I would maintain that there are some constant basic elements in our development that remain constant…some basic math concepts, some basic classic literature, some history, basic science) but the way that we learn about these have changed when encyclopedia companies have gone out of business and information is at our fingertips in an instant.  

It's common for mature people (most everyone over 70) to bemoan change.  THAT is what every generation has done forever and with good reason. Not all changes have proved to be very helpful and have come to cause great distress (texting while driving or even walking, for instance, have proved fatal).  And social media has driven the terrorists networks.  So we don't have much time to adapt as a society when the change rate is so high.  Example: churches are closing at a stunning rate because they cannot keep up with the moving river of societal changes.  (An over simplification but still mostly true.)  

We no longer have enough time really to assimilate the changes.  To think through the moral and physical implications.

It's always been that way but the change rate was not always this high.  

I suppose that fact that 1978 is NOT the olden days (to me) and yet in the article above it implies that it IS the olden days in many ways is what started all of this rant.  I dare say that I am fulfilling my obligation as an old timer now in bemoaning the good ole days…when schools still taught cursive writing and had recess, when children had some respect for older people, and for their president.  When we still said the pledge of allegiance every day in schools and just visiting face to face with someone was an basic element of being human. 

Should I conclude with an admonition to slow down?  Smell the roses?  Practice Zentangle®?  Find a yoga group? 

Should I admire and point out those people who can flow with change and still find deep purpose in their lives?  Who have learned to pick and chose what they can cope with and learned to let go of what they cannot?  Should I be proud of sharing  some of the best practices of the past generations of which I am now the bearer of the stories?  

I somehow feel that it's part of every generation to pull the plug on frenetic change that wears down the soul.  

And here's to 1978 that was just yesterday to me.  

 

Journal prompt: Hearts

Wishing everyone a Happy Valentines Day

Journal prompt today was simple "hearts" and of course that is totally appropriate!  I wanted to try a new tangle just out called "Natti" and that is the tangle around the inside of the heart. I think you can see it better if you click on the image.  

The paper was lightly brayered with red acrylic paint and the circle printed paper is Gelli print paper with a heart cut out.  

The photo of the little painting at the top was on Facebook awhile ago and I fell in love with it.  Wish I could read the painter's name and give him/her credit.  The two little gals under the table are JUST the right spirit of fun.  

I remember so many Valentine's days when I was teaching 4, 5 and 6 years olds.  They got SO excited about that day.  No presents involved…just the exchange of little cards with silly sayings. 

 The joy of making the Valentine box containers…they loved the anticipation.  I'd have some mother's join me that morning to help read the cards as most of my kids were still non-readers.  The excitement was electric and kids would run across the room to hug the giver of the valentine!  Spontaneous appreciation!  Usually valentine cookies or cupcakes and milk would follow.  You'd think they were at the king's banquet!  

It's hard to replicate that mood and feeling as you get older and more jaded I guess.  Everyone should get to visit a kindergarten room at Valentine's Day so you can see what real genuine happiness looks like.  

A holiday revolving around love is really something special.  Sort of like Thanksgiving which revolves around gratefulness and harvest bounty.  Perhaps we need more of these kinds of celebrations.  

Listening to the democratic debate last night the words "it's so complicated" came up so many times in reference to economic disparity, world chaos, and problem solving locally, nationally and internationally.  By the end of which you begin to wonder how we will ever find any solutions.  And you begin to wonder why anyone would take on the presidency.  

Really it's overwhelming to most of us.  I read in one column recently that part of the reason people feel so angry is that they have lost their "narrative".  An interesting way to look at it.  Meaning we grow up with the "story" of how we can be what we want to be in this world and that problems can be solved and that we will do better than our parents did (although that definition is shaky) and that life will improve if we work hard.  

It's not happening for so many people.  They feel cheated.  

As both Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton pointed out…"it's complicated".  No easy solutions.  People want easy solutions, easy fixes, someone who will say "I can fix it for you".  Rather than live with the uneasy questions.  But "living with the questions" is what we will have to do.  There are no easy fix it answers.  So this takes bravery and intelligence and faith to re-write the narrative so that it fits with current life BUT still gives us hope for a better tomorrow.  

Journal Prompt 5: Fruit

Journal prompt this week is "fruit"…what ever we want to do with fruit.  I looked up fruit.  Ya know that if it is something that starts as a flower and has seeds in it…it is a fruit.  Pumpkins are fruit.  

WHO knew.  Semantics.  :-)

I had fun with this little watercolor slicing it up and enjoying the abstraction.  

We are having a very coolish week in central FL.  

I know my northern friend and relatives are not sympathetic!

Last week we were eating lunch out on the lawn.  

Today I wore jeans and a sweater and had the heat on.  

What's the deal?

Way below normal for February.  

AND our huge art fair in Mt Dora got totally rained out this afternoon…a deluge all afternoon!  What a shame…thousands of people were expected!  

Hopefully they can still get a day tomorrow.

Two dimensional tiles

3.5" Zentangle Tile with second layer on top just a slight bit larger.

Side few of the frame which raised higher than the main tile.  

This is just an experiment and not my original idea.  I sure would like to try it again and take it a little slower and more carefully.  But you have to try things out to see if you are going to like the idea. It does take quite a bit of time to complete.  

This dimensional designed tile is originally published by Eni Oken and if you google the name her work will come up.  She has some really fascinating and different work.  I bought one of her books on extreme shading.  

I picked a tile that I had already done (for time's sake) and then just designed a "frame" to go around and on top of it.  I used self-stick foam glued between the two dimensions.  

The frame tangle is Brabs.  Inside the tangles are Bwlya and Cadent with Black Pearl.  I added the Zen-gem just for some color and interest.  

Steam Punk Forest

"The Steampunk Forest"

6" x 11"on paper

I'm going to try a photo of this rather than a scan. (see below).  The bronze colored acrylic paint on this just glows metallic and that doesn't show up at all in this scan.  This is a gelli print done by Jan Krassner of Leesburg Art Association at a workshop she gave in late October.  At the end of the class she gave me this print to Zentangle.  

Here's photo below that really shows off the lovely copper colored acrylic paint Jan used.  Interesting how the photo look so different!  

The paper Jan used was black and rather heavy.  Obviously her second "pull" with the dark green was masked by the interesting shapes she had.  

I used a Sigma Pigma 05 pen by Sakura (that Zentanglers call an "apprentice pen".)  It worked better on the acrylic surface.  Some additions on the paper were gold paint, gold ink, white ink and white charcoal pencil.  

The tangles were: Croissant, Fe-Ba, Footlites/Unyun, Frostflower, Abundies, Crescent Moon, Printemps, Diva Dance, Knightsbridge, Golven and Paradox. 

When completed it really had a steam punk look to it.  (See my  previous post for a definition of steam punk.)

Weather here in central Florida has warmed up some and we were up to 75 today…back to shirt sleeves in sunshine. All our northern friends and family (or most of them) are digging out from the recent blizzard.  

Urban Sketching and Steam Punk

Moleskin landscape journal 

Cynthia's Urban Sketching Group staying warm while sketching

at the Fiesta Grande Restaurant.

After THE coldest night of the 2016 Florida winter so far (we had skim ice on our bird bath this morning), the Urban Sketching group decided on a lovely lunch in Mt. Dora and since they were not crowed we all did some show and tell and then settled down to do some sketching right there in the restaurant.  My husband, Greg, came along for the meal and he played iPad games while we sketched.

We read in the paper that Renniger's (in Mount Dora) was having a Steam Punk Festival this weekend.  I have never heard of such a thing but was totally intrigued.  If it hadn't been so cold I think we might have gone over to see what was what.  Steam Punk is defined as a "mix of science fiction, 19th century fashion and industrial design."  Great description.  I have been trying to come up with one for years.  It said that a common accessory for participants to wear to the event was goggles.  I kid you not.  And I think it's perfect.  Steam Punkers want to time travel.  I guess the festival is held several times a year.  I hope I make it over next time.

Weekly Journal prompts 3 and 4

Week 3 journal prompt

Week 4 journal prompt: Use a snowflake on your page

This is one of those pages that was so funny…after I cut out the snowflake and I had to cut like 15 cause it just is so addictive. Then I traced it on a pre-prepared ground made with zig zag machine stitching…why? I have no idea. I like the texture. Also acrylic paint put on with a credit card and drips and doodles. The hearts were done with prismacolor colored pencils which I used to practice "burnishing"…still new at that…with a clear no color wax pencil. I got sucked into making all kinds of lines on the tracing from the snowflake and then sucked more into tangling a new tangle called "Captured" which has hearts in it…must be almost Valentines? Anyway this strange line of reasoning continued for like two hours!…one thing leading to another and finished with a quote that I do like to remember.

Diva Challenge AND String Challenge

3.5" classic tile with wc background

Talk about a "challenge".  

The Diva's challenge this week was to use two different tangles "Diva Dance" (named after the Diva obviously) and "Auroknot".  Laura is celebrating her 5 year anniversary of putting out the challenges.

Then the string challenge this week from Linda Farmer 

was #191.  SO…I tried COMBINING the two challenges.
Info on string challenges here.http://tanglepatterns.com/2016/01/tanglepatterns-string-191.html.

If you look closely you will see that I used the string in the background behind Auraknot.  So this is a "two-fer".  

Sort of like a two for one sale?  I suppose I could have put these into my Tangle a Day Calendar and made it a "three-fer"?  But that is for another day!  Hahaha.  

I am s-l-o-w-l-y getting better from a horrible cold/sinus infection.  Several people in our park down here in FL have had their colds go to pneumonia!  OMGosh.  I have had two pneumonia prevention inoculations so am hoping these will prevent anything more serious!  I know the northern states are in a state of bitter cold right now….single digit cold.  So our 65 here today with sunshine seems not worth whining about!  

Everyone stay well now.

Year of the Rabbit

The background is acrylic stencils with a wash of white paint mixed with acrylic glaze.

The prompt this week was to create a page involving the Chinese calendar…look up your symbol and see what it might evoke.

1939 is the year of the rabbit.  I was pleased as there are a lot of really strange symbol animals out there! 

So I cut my own stencil with my stencil cutter and had a go at it.

This is mixed media on velum finish 9 x 12.

Vibrant Color Shading

Sorting Mark Making into color categories

A few colored pencil practice tiles in classic sizes

One of the especially helpful things Brazilian artist Eni Oken mentions in her recent book 3D Tangles: Vibrant Color Shading is that one should start by assessing what color mark making tools you already have.  And she suggests sorting the colors or color families together so you can reach for those without having to look everywhere.  Now why didn't I think of that?

You can see on one of my working desks in the studio that I have an assortment of colored pencils (watercolor and regular) as well as some pens (water soluble and permanent).  

Some sets are odds and ends sets I've picked up over the years.  One colored pencil set is a prismacolor "student" set which is VERY hard lead and not too useful. I actually may just take those out and keep somewhere else…they are erasable which is interesting.  As Eni mentions…the most useful colored pencils are waxy and buttery.  I don't have a lot of experience in colored pencil.  I probably should sit in on a few classes here at the park as there is a very talented group that meets every Monday morning in the art room!  She mentions "burnishing" with a colorless pencil quite often which I am sure is a technique I would learn there.  

My two favorite sets of pencils you will note I did NOT put in the pots.  One is my Inktense set (my most expensive set) which is a watercolor set and after it dries the color become permanent.  It is totally my favorite set.  The other is a nice waxy (but small) set of woodless colored pencils (not watercolor) made by Progresso which is part of Koh-i-noor brand.  I decided NOT to mix those two into the cups at this point.  (I need to find a set of nicer cups too.  These are totally unattractive.) I need to go to a garage sale.

Note: I keep all my black marking making tools in another cup because it includes charcoal, stabile pencils, calligraphy pens, etc.  

Although Eni uses her colored pens for a base color quite often I find that I prefer to use watercolor or watercolor pencils as a base.  But she does achieve quite an amazingly rich color in her work.  She also uses Bristol Vellum paper more often than not.  Strathmore makes a mixed media paper with a Vellum finish that I am fond of and I'll have to try that out.  You can see Eni's work at enioken.com

Believe it or not it's time for me to think about Valentines…with 12 grandchildren it takes quite some time to craft them.  And I think playing with color and Zentangles will be a perfect excuse to combine the two ideas.  5 weeks will fly by.  They always do.

 

Random strings

Random "string" lines with a fine line pen and some left over orange acrylic paint.

It's kind of fun to do some random string things once in awhile.

The Fine Line paint/ink bottle works so nicely for lovely line making.  Just thought I'd give it a try.  

I am getting over a doozy of a cold and am not very ambitious in the studio for a few days.  This was just about all I could handle.

String Challenge 190

The string challenge on Linda Farmer's blog has been going a LONG time…I mean they have 190 prompts!  

I just thought I'd give it a try this morning and I got way too "busy" on this tile.  But it was relaxing and fun.  

Journal Prompt #1

History of the Chop
In China, the chop has the same weight and authority as a signature does in Western culture. The use of a chop, or seal, started thousands of years ago and continues to this day. Chops are commonly seen on Chinese artwork, but they’re also used by everyday people to simply sign their checks or greeting cards. Artists use them not only to sign their work but also as a way to enhance it. A beautifully designed seal in the right place adds a special touch to the image.

Here is a website to show you how to make your own!

http://creativepro.com/illustrator-how-to-creating-your-own-chop/

My daughter gave me this chop made in Taiwan many years ago.
There are two in the darling little box…one for me and one for my hubby.  They are carved from stone.  

The Odds and Ends Drawer

"So, this year I'm not making resolutions. I've decided I don't want a "new year, new me." Really, it's taken a lifetime to get to this "me," and I'm pretty happy with who I am and all the little graces that have made me me. My hope is next year at this time I'll be pretty happy to be me, too.  

This year I'm going to do something different. I'm going to list the things that I randomly started doing at some point this year that I've decided to keep doing. They've made my year better. My only hope is that 2016 will add to this list. Either way, I think it's going to be a good year. "  Emily Heath

So Emily says it the way I am thinking about it.  
It's taken a lifetime to get to this "me".  And while certainly far from perfect and striving to be a better me all the time…I don't see resolutions as the way forward toward that goal.  Picking the things in 2015 that I see now as worth keeping and completing and leading to new insights…yes.  

Last year's "journal word for the year" was attentiveness.  I love that word.  I plan not to substitute another word but to ADD to that word.  This year's word is wabi-sabi.  Which is the Japanese untranslatable word(s) meaning the beauty of imperfection…things with rust and patina, like me.  

I almost picked ephemera for my word…meaning "things that exist or are used or enjoyed for only a short time".  This is a word that journaling has taught me the meaning of.  The word used to relate only to paper items but now in common usage it refers to just about anything you find interesting or like that is "bits and pieces" of life normally thrown away but saved for some personal reason.  

If you go through your "odds and ends" drawer you will see what I mean.  We all have those drawers which accumulate old keys, ribbons,  ticket stubs, and the menu for the carry out Chinese restaurant that went out of business four years ago.  I just checked.  Mine has candle stubs (you never know when you might carve a pumpkin), kitchen magnets and a bag of balloons (you never know when a party might break out).  Perhaps my mantra should be "ya never know".  Ain't that the truth.  

So carry on with what was the best of last year.  "Happy" is what you can choose if you wish.  It's all up to each of us to make that decision.  It takes less and less for me these days.  Good coffee and marveling at the color of the sky at dawn gives me great comfort these days.  Watching my pink hibiscus open as the sunshine touches them each morning.  Listening to the soft even breathing of my husband beside me at night.  Getting an email from one of my children or grandchildren, making some art that pleases me, and finding the "thin" places in the world once in a while.  

Journal prompt 52

My last journal prompt for 2015.  I have joined the group again for 2016.  I really have done a lot of growing artistically with this group.  

Our last prompt was to all use the same blank puzzle piece and pick some "symbols" that would resonate with our experiences this year.  The prompter gave tons of symbols from many cultures that we could use.  

But I have used two very common ones.  A question mark to symbolize how I am learning to live with unanswered questions…that's called "faith".  And the symbol of the heart (on the tiny lock) which is the symbol for love.

Faith and love.  So now…on to 2016 with hope.

ps.  Materials used in this prompt:  acrylic paint, mono-printed papers, pen and ink, intense pencils, white gel pen, gold micro-beads, metal ephemera, 

Closing in on the Zentangle Calendar

This gives the illusion that I am "caught up" on my calendar.
Hahaha.  Many blank pages previous to this.
But I decided to go forward and then go back and fill in.

Ixorus was the blog prompt for Back to Square One on Facebook last week so I dropped that in.  

The minimalist trees are not really exactly a Zentangle® pattern but someone posted them on the Tangle A Day calendar Facebook group (see her name) and I was so taken with them I decided to add them to this grouping.

Borbz has been around quite awhile but someone put this new grouping on their blog and I wanted to try it out.  Salo is a new tangle for me. 

We all get to "musing" about time and the passage of it when the old year ends and a new begins.  I find this not really a good time for me to "set goals".  All my teaching years have always made September be my goal setting time.  But I do think it is a good time to look back and think over what has happened and try to make some sense of it.  

I remember last January when I started my first year long "prompt" group for journaling that I posted how NOT ready I was for a new year and how even reluctant I was to even admit that the new Year was beginning.  I showed a sweater unraveling off me while I was still wearing it.  Me looking dismayed.  Father time pulling the strings off.  

I don't feel quite that reluctant this year.  A little more forgiving about what happened and what didn't this year.  I like the idea of "giving up regrets" because that is too much like whining.  

I quote Danny Gregory:
"I can provide reasonable goals, set myself up with clear and achievable markers of success, be supportive and understanding without being either a wimp or a tyrant, and remind myself that failure is not catastrophic but just a detour from a path and one I can still return to.

Let’s do great things in 2016 but in a reasonable, supportive, human way. And let’s start by giving up regret."

I think one of my goals will be to be a little "wordier" on my blog in 2016.  Note I said "little".  Some of my favorite blogs like Ann Lamot's and Danny Gregory's have a little meat to them…something to actually say.  Ann of course is not writing about art per se.  More about how she views life.  If you haven't found her Facebook page do take a look.  

This will be a year of preparing for a new president, of trying to make sense of what terrorism means in society and how can sane people deal with it and counter it, of dealing with so many mental health issues in our country, and of coming to some sort of reconciliation about gun control and immigration and climate change.  How all that will fit into talking about my art journey is an unknown.  I do know that art fill a void that keeps me sane and centered and balanced in a tilted world.  

Happy New Year.  And May the Force be With You.   

A last Christmas Sketch

We got so lucky with Sat weather here in SC and the sunshine and it was 75 degrees. Wow.

I did a small quick wc and ink sketch of my sister and brother in law's beautiful lake front on Lake Wylie.







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Remembering the Concert

We are in South Carolina on Christmas Eve day.

Warm and rainy here. 71 degrees..setting records.
I took a little time after lunch to go back and a little color from my tiny ink sketch from the concert last week.

Tonight we'll be in Charlotte for chili supper and Christmas Eve services at New Covenant UCC church.

Merry Christmas.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad