50:39, our first Olympic gold

  I did my entries for this week's Joey and Diva challenge in my sketchbook. 

  The top tile is for Joey's challenge, featuring Paradox and using a similar idea to the Travelling Tangles Project. I've also been hooked on Starcrossed and will probably teach it in future classes. I'd wanted to add Paradox in grey ink to the background but that just seems like too much work now that the Starcrossed is so...... crossed.

  The bottom tile is for Diva's challenge. Singapore has a new celebrity. Our very own Joseph Schooling won our country's first ever gold medal in the Olympics. He competed in the Men's 100 metre butterfly and made an Olympics record of 50.39 seconds, beating joint second Michael Phelps, Chad Le Clos, and László Cseh by 0.75 seconds. Needless to say, he's a celebrity now that he's back in the country and we're all very proud of him.

I should've used inks for the Olympic rings to boost their colour saturation. Also, I'm not quite sure whether the Crescent Moon is working out on the Diva tile.... So...

  Here's another page from my sketchbook that's pretty too:

  Featuring Yuma in the top tile. I love this shading. Heartswell is beside it. And then below, I'm going back to my drama tiles with Cadent as the star. There's also a Bijou that's still empty. Haven't thought of what to put in it yet. Perhaps you'll have a tangle in mind that would look nice in it? Let me know in the comments section. :)

Where did all that time go?

  I don't have much to show for this week because I had a four-days event at Expo on the 6th to 9th of August... So I didn't draw much over the week. Here's my entry for the Diva's Challenge this week:

Featuring Auraknot and Meer.
Keeping it really simple.

  And I just realised I'm super behind on my Zentangle calendar.... I still haven't completed July yet! Here's how far I've gotten. I'm probably going to add just a little more shading, and details in white pen. Then call it a day. (Call it a month? hahaha)

  I've designed free calendar templates that you can print out so you can have a Tanglelendar just like I do. :) Link to download whichever month(s) you want is right here. There's also the Tanglelendar Facebook group that you might want to join.

  Thanks for popping by to take a look at what I've been up to. See you next week~

new tangles take you to new places

  I swear I have started so many ideas in my sketchbook but just never got around to inking them.... I'm Queen of Procrastination. :<  I wanted to do It's a String Thing #155, but never got around to completing it. I did, however, spend the good part of last night to complete this page in my sketchbook for this week's Diva Challenge:

  I used a different (easier) way of drawing Knightstar (and I made a video of how I did it!). I also learnt a new way to fill Tripoli from a Zentangle friend, Midori. I also tried out two new patterns, "4Rosie" and "Abeko". This was a really fun page to complete.

  Here's my Draw With Me video on how I drew Knightstar:

  And in case you need it, the link to step-outs to "Facets" is right here.

  I also managed to complete the second postcard-sized watercolour flower drawing I started two weeks ago.

  And of course, I've been kept busy with the Travelling Tangles Project. "Andante" is my current favourite tangle at the moment.

  My mum, Joni, has also been catching up with her swaps. Here's one she did with Janine Pottish Barash:

  That's really all I have for this week. Next week is going to be Singapore's National Day, and I'm going to be at this large event holding a Zentangle workshop with Joni, so we're going to be super busy from the 6th to the 9th of August. If you live in Singapore, join us for the event at Expo, Hall 5. From 12pm to 8:30pm. We'd love to see you there. ^-^

  I don't know whether I'd have time to create new things for next week's post, but I'll try my best. :)

drawing outside the tile

  If you dropped by last week, then hello again~ Remember I created two watercolour flowers? I completed the pink one this week.

With some Tripoli in pink and purple. I'm not sure whether I should fill the entire paper with Tripolis or leave it as it is... Any thoughts on the matter? Let me know in the comments section below. :)

  In other news, I also posted new videos onto my YouTube channel. You can view my channel via this link.

  For Diva's challenge, I did a tile in my sketchbook.

  Here's how the full page looks like. I'm trying out this new thing where I extend the tangles out of their "tiles", and also try to connect different "tiles" together by entwining their tangles together. It takes some planning, but it's lots of fun.

I've discovered that one of my tangles, Naida, works really well as a leaf.
Step-outs to it via this link.

  Here's another page in my sketchbook. It's a W2 labyrinth. The idea is by Staub Korn. I shaded it with three different purple coloured pencils.

  And here's my submission for Joey's challenge.

  Lastly, here are some tiles I completed for Travelling Tangles.

June Dalde sent in all these pretty things. 

  And I finished the first tile. I actually really like that fern thing. It reminds me of Verdigogh, but without all the layering (although I'm quite sure if you had the patience, you definitely could layer the fern's leaves too). I added some colours to it with Prismacolor coloured pencils.

  And here's another tile... This one was sent from Franciose Lip. Unfortunately, I don't have a "before" picture. She did the pretty pink background, and the Flux on the bottom right; I added the Flux at the top left, and CC in the background.

The tangle "CC" is really starting to grow on me. I've used it in four different works just this week alone... I might have to teach it in one of my classes soon.

  As always, thank you for dropping by. Reading comments really brings a smile to my face, and suggestions are always appreciated. Until next week... Keep tangling!

blues, pinks, and tangles

  It's been a splendid week so far. And now that I'm feeling better (as compared to how ill I was last week), I could get lots more art done this week.

I did this watercolour flowers, and will add tangles to them soon.

  I'm also planning new Zentangle-inspired craft classes to teach.

Like these pins.
(Also note that the background of this picture is actually my uncompleted Tanglelendar.)

And this very beautiful shell pendant. I'm going to be tangling on it.

  I visited the Peranakan museum yesterday. I've been there before, but there's a special exhibition on beadwork happening currently. The exhibition was wonderful. I feel so much more inspired today.

Obligatory selfie from the museum.

   I received gifts in the mail from Janine Barash. Here's just two of the many tiles she sent me.

She also sent me a hand-made bookmark with the quote that said, "We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust." I really like that quote.

  Onwards to tangling that *I've* done...

Zendala done just for fun. I partially regret adding that "Afterglo" to the middle of the tile.... I feel it's a little too heavy.

  For Diva's challenge, I completed this page in my sketchbook. The pattern in the middle of the circle was done whilst on a train ride. The trains in Singapore aren't like the ones in America or European countries... It's a much smoother ride, over much shorter distances. Singapore is, after all, just an island. By train, it takes just slightly over an hour to travel from one end to the other end of the country!

I was wondering whether I should add shading to the Fugu (the pattern on the outside part of the circle) or maybe add Tipple? Or does it look good as it is? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter in the comments section below.

  Lastly, something from the Travelling Tangles Project. A tile from Kat Von Rooyen got smudged in transit. :( But instead of calling it a tragedy, I channeled some inner Zen and thought about how to turn it into an opportunity for something new. I briefly considered taking the easy way out and just inking a band of black over the smudges.. But no. I wanted to try harder than that.

Before.

  Instead, I turned it into a garden.

Also featuring my version of Mooka. Get more ideas via this link.

  If you'd like to join a global collaborative Zentangle project, do pop over the Travelling Tangles' Facebook page. Even if you don't want to swap and only want to see all the pretty things others have created... It's a wonderful group.

flowers in bloom

  I told you I was ill last week, and it persisted until the start of this week... So I had a lot of bed rest, and not much drawing time. But all is well now, so I'll probably have more things to show you next week. For now, here are some pretty things I've created so far:

For Travelling Tangles...

With Sarah Jane Sexton.

With Janet Shillam-Day.
The pattern in the middle is called "Quiltz" and I struggled so much to shade it. But I'm very pleased with how it turned out. :)

  I created another "Draw With Me" video. This time featuring one of my own tangles, "Jonee".

  And here's a tile I did just for fun:

  And I created this postcard, too:

It's been a while since I last did something that looked realistic and in a traditional method.
Done with pen and ink, and watercolours. I really like how the colours turned out!

  And that's about it for this week. I've almost completed my sketchbook and I'm planning on doing another flip-through video soon. Plus, I have more "Draw With Me" videos planned. I'm excited, and I hope you are, too.  ^-^

down with the sniffles

  I'm down with a slight fever, splitting headache, and a runny nose... So I'm going to keep this post short.

  Last week, I introduced "Pog the pig" to my students. He's a ceramic piggy bank I got for $2 and then tangled on with an Identipen. The tangles are starting to wear out a little so I was thinking of using a sealant to seal the ink.

  If you know any sealant brands that work well with ceramic, let me know in the comments section below.

Original pig.

I made his eyes bigger so he'll be more cute.

Everyone loves the swirly tail. hehehe

Really simple Zendala on the side.

  Here's my submission for Joey's challenge. Featuring Girdy. I added cool shading to it.

  And here's my submission for Diva's challenge. Featuring colours of my country's flag- red and white, and one of my own tangles; Singapore Sling. I added some colloured pencils to the background, too.

  And as always, here are some tiles I completed for the Travelling Tangles Project.

A tile from Shawna Martin. I added Zonked on the top left. I love Zonked. It's so dramatic.

Tile done with Debra Huff. I did the background.

I'm really proud of this one.
Done with Marguerite Samama.

  In other news, I got my braces removed. Woohoo!

  And lastly, here's a pouch that one of my students did. She's twelve years old only! I'm beyond proud of her.

June Tanglelendar

  I'm not taking part in any weekly Zentangle challenges this week. But here's a tile that's inspired by Joey's challenge last week:

Featuring Maryhill in the middle.

  And now on to the tiles I've completed for Travelling Tangles...

with Karin Godyns.

with  Christel Foncke.

with Susanna Anna Redaelli.

with  Franciose Lip.

  Travelling Tangles is a collaborative project that aims to show how the Zentangle® method can bring people from around the world closer to one another. The idea is that you will draw on an original Zentangle tile but only finish the drawing half-way. Then you will send it off to another person for him/her to complete it. In exchange, they too will half finish a tile and send it to you for you to complete. Both you and the other person will then each keep the tile you have received.

  The group is open to everyone- the more the merrier.

  You don't have to swap to be a part of the group. If you'd like to join the group just to be able to see all the beautiful things everyone creates, that's perfectly alright. You can join the group via this link.


  Here's a pretty selfie from that one day when I went to Teck Ghee to hold a workshop:

  I had my last class for June yesterday. You can see various things that the class created on Everything Is Art's Facebook page via this link. I just want to show you this awesome Bales that one of my students did.

  I finished my June Tanglelendar:

You can download July's template (and all other months in 2016) from here.

  I have filmed new Draw With Me videos, and they'll be up on my YouTube channel once I'm done.

  And that's about it for now. Till' next week!

warm summers

  I hope you're enjoying your summer. Singapore is a tropical country so we don't get seasons. But it seems like I've been using a lot of flower-y tangles lately...

   A family friend has a birthday a while ago. And my mum and I *finally* got around to creating a tile together as a present for that friend.

I did the Ando and Tipple. She did everything else.

  Here's a throwback to Joey's Challenge #114. Featuring Shattuck, Barber Pole, Cheesecloth, and an "XIV" string...

I did another variation of this challenge, but me being me, I haven't gotten around to completing it just yet. Oopsies. I'll get there, though... Eventually.

  Here's my entry for this week's Diva Challenge:

I used some inspiration from this week's Joey's Challenge- Maryhill. See whether you can see the Maryhill fragments in the tile. There's also Afterglo (which is a new tangle to me), Printemps, and some other lines.

  Sticking with the black-white-red theme... Here's a tile I completed for the Travelling Tangles Project. This was done with Jo Flaherty.

She did the bottom portion and the small red thingie at the top right corner.
I added Crux and Snail.

  To be honest, I never quite like how my Renaissance tiles turn out. This beauty was from Kim Aarts-Bruins. I added Ando and Dervish. But I didn't like how my shading turned out... The grey graphite made things look muddy. The members in the Travelling Tangles group assured me that it looked just fine, so I guess we are our own worst critique. 

Kim sent me another tile with Singapore Sling on it. And that tile is white, so I'm sure I'll have a better time with that tile.

  Last one. Done with Janet Day.

She did the watercolour background and the blob thing.
I did the rest and added shading with coloured pencils.

  Thanks for stopping by to have a look. Till' next week. ^-^