The Seed of Life

Fairly frequently, I am fortunate to have the opportunity to tag along with my partner when he travels out of town to a conference.  I have started packing some art supplies for these trips, and take the time to work on a project or do an on-line class while he's tied up with meetings.

This trip I did a free mandala class called The Seed of Life, by Guadalupe Brizuela Caba

I quite enjoyed the process of creating the mandala with a compass and ruler.  I found myself becoming absorbed in the repetitiveness of making the patterns.  I tried several different designs on some scrap paper before I settled on one that I liked for the next step.

We 'painted' with water-colour pencil, which I am just beginning to experiment with.  It was a good exercise in learning to use the medium, but in all honesty, I didn't really like how it turned out.

The last stage was to add 'doodles' (her word-not mine).  I have a set of coloured Staedtler Fineliner pens, and I used them to add z e n t a n g l e ® patterns.  For the most part, I did tone-on-tone, rather than using black or contrasting coloured pens.  The result was more subtle, and now I'm happy with it.
Carol Graham / Tangled Inklings
 

with Sympathy

Carol Graham / Tangled Inklings

A dear friend lost her grandma this week.
She was a very special lady
and they had a very special relationship.

I made this card for my friend.
I've always loved this quote from
Winnie-the-Pooh

"How lucky I am, to have something
that makes saying goodbye so hard"

Tangled Sneakers

Carol Graham / Tangled Inklings
My daughter is expecting her first baby, and lives about 2 hours away from me.  We talk on the phone nearly everyday, sometimes for hours at a time.  I always want to give her my full attention, but sometimes I find myself getting distracted by various things that I could/should be doing.  One day when we were chatting, I was tapping on my shoe with a pencil, when I got the idea to tangle my sneakers.  Now, whenever she calls, I put the phone on speaker and grab my Identi-pen.  This helps me stay in the moment, focusing entirely on our conversation, and I am creating a unique pair of shoes in the process.  Her due date is in about 2 weeks.

UPDATE:  My beautiful baby girl, 
had a beautiful baby girl 
on Thursday, June 28, 2012
I'm a Grandma!