Pointillism

This week has been awesome. The weather is finally starting to chill out and it's starting to feel a bit like fall... at least in the mornings. I've actually been able to drive to and from work without turning on the air conditioning so that's a good thing. It still doesn't feel like mid-October though - I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the non-seasons of living in Arizona.

This week the diva's challenge was to use pointillism. I have tried this in the past but never really stuck with it because it seems to bother my wrist after too long. I ended up doing three smaller tiles this week, although the last one isn't finished.

This was the first one I completed... geometric with shading.

Geo - by Angie Wallace

For this second one I just started doing random shapes and I really like the way it turned out.

Swirly - by Angie Wallace

My last one isn't finished yet - I think I should add some plants and flowers or something but I'm not sure yet, so it will get finished later. It's actually on a 6x6 tile but I cropped the photo since there's nothing else on the page yet.

This last picture isn't mine, but I figured this would be a good place to show it off. The quality of my picture isn't great, but it's one of my favorite pieces. My friend Sarah, who I've been friends with for almost 30 years, made this in high school and gave it to me for my frog collection. She used pointillism with micron pens and prisma color for the eyes.

Frogs by Sarah Babcock Dudley

Challenge Accepted

This week we've been catching up on How I Met Your Mother season 8, so I wrote the title in the voice of Barney Stinson.

Moving on...

Today I learned that even though tangling/doodling/whatevering is supposed to be relaxing... it isn't if your husband is super frustrated at a video game and keeps snapping at the TV. "What??!!" "Oh, come ON!"  Yea... just doesn't work for me. In spite of that fun, I did manage to finish yet another Diva Challenge on time! Whoohoo!

This weeks challenge was to use the 8s Parte Dos pattern. I tend to stay away from patterns this complex because at some point it becomes work instead of play. The perfectionist in my wants everything to be in exactly the right spot. So I admit to cheating a little with this one - I drew a grid on my paper before putting the dots down in ink. I couldn't help myself. Once the dots were down, I erased my pencil lines and drew in the curves so it looked like this...

The beginning...

I finished that part on Thursday. Then I just stared at it for a day with no idea where to go next. Again, the perfectionist in me didn't want to mess it up... yes, even though in this type of thing there is no such thing as mistakes. Ongoing battle. Anywho... this is what I ended up with and I really like the results.

Complex Ain't So Bad - by Angie Wallace

Maybe complex patterns aren't that bad after all...

Diva Challenge #138

Two weeks in a row! It's probably a record. It's been a nice relaxing week. My folks came for a visit and we did some sightseeing and hung out. They took off on Thursday morning and hubby and me had appointments to go to. Yesterday though... nothing on the schedule, no plans whatsoever... and I finally had a whole day where I could stay in my pajamas. Yes, all day. It was lovely. We caught up on some shows and I finished a couple doodles.

So here are the two I completed for the Diva Challenge this week. This first one is the second one I finished - 3x3 tile using micron pens and watercolor pencils.

Borders 2 - by Angie Wallace

This one is my favorite of the two. Used micron pens and an HB pencil for shading. Before the shading I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I really like the results.

Borders 1 - by Angie Wallace

Diva Challenge #137

I finally did one! On time! I had drawn a partial string on a page and decided to use it for this one. So here is my entry for the diva challenge #137. I don't ever use Knightsbridge because it IS a checkerboard and I'm just not sure why they had to name it something else. And it takes a lot of ink to fill in all those squares.

#137 - by Angie Wallace

And here's another one that I did throughout the week a couple sections at a time.

Wonky Fingerprint - by Angie Wallace

Another month...

Another month has gone by already? Man, I am horrible at this. I could say that I'll get better, but I'm making no promises. Years ago, I used to write every day, sometimes multiple times a day. Lately, I tend to write in my head and never get it down on paper.

It's been a long week. But it's Friday! And I'm on vacation for the next week. And my folks are coming to visit! Should be a nice, awesome, and relaxing time away from work. I doubt that I'll have a very productive day today, but that's alright.

As far as art goes, I've been working on a few things. I still have more butterfly photos to post, but haven't had time to finish editing them. No, that's a lie. I've had time, but some days (lately, most days) I just don't want to look at a computer after work. So the good news there, is that I've been doodling a little more. I'm working on a full page doodle, just because I wanted to. Also working up a world map for the stories that me and the hubby are slowly starting write. That has been a challenge because I really want it to be perfect... but it's my first time trying to create something like this, so it's taking FOREVER. Me and my perfection... grrr.

These are the last two doodles that I finished. The first one contains one of my favorite sentences - the alternative to the quick brown fox.

A to Z - by Angie Wallace

The second one I started as yet another not turned in diva challenge. I really ought to get some of them done on time. Or posted on time. Or completed. I'm such a procrastinator. Used a pink pen - mainly because it had the most ink left. The color doesn't translate well when scanned or photographed, so this is super edited, but the pattern is more important than the actual color.

Pink Tipple - by Angie Wallace

Anywho... back to the grind.

Butterflies

One of my other hobbies is photography, but I haven't been doing much of it the last few years. A couple weeks ago I visited the new butterfly pavilion in Scottsdale - Butterfly Wonderland - and it was awesome! I'm still sorting through my pictures - I took over 500 shots and most of them are out of focus or only have part of a butterfly or were taken a second after the dang thing flew away. As my Dad would say, good thing film is cheap!

Anyway, here are a few that I've sorted and processed. I don't do a lot of post-processing so what I saw is what you get!

Butterfly 2 by Angie Wallace

Butterfly 8 by Angie Wallace

Butterfly 13 by Angie Wallace

Butterfly 26 by Angie Wallace

Butterfly 45 by Angie Wallace

Catching up...

Actually I wonder if I'll ever catch up... I have been working on stuff and even finishing stuff, just not very quickly... and then I never seem to take the time to sit down and scan stuff in... So here's a glob of things I've finished over the last month. I have two larger projects started, but I'm not ready to post them yet.

This first one was is just random barber polls. Messing around with color.

Barber by Angie Wallace

This one was going to be a diva challenge submission... Used random pens that I had in my art drawer. Turned out ok I think.

Primary by Angie Wallace

This one I did during a conference call at work. Just used a ballpoint pen, so it's officially just a doodle.

Squiggles by Angie Wallace

This one I really like. I haven't done a lot where I didn't try to fill the whole page so my aim was to just stick to one side of my string.

Borderline by Angie Wallace

That's all for now... and hopefully someday I'll get my act together and start posting stuff when it's actually done.