NaNo~Again

So I tried NaNo again last year, didn't finish, but I tried again. It went even worse. about 4,000 words is all. But my library did host a Come Write In so that was cool. 50k words is still intimidating, but NaNo is coming again and I'm gonna try again. This time instead of trying to start a brand new novel I'm gonna try a series of short stories. I already have 3 ideas, one totally worked out, one sketched out, and one just a vague prompt. But if they are about 2k words each, the length of most of my stories, that means I'll need about 25 different stories to make it to 50k. That's....a lot.... Maybe I'll look into more prompts or some of my loose ideas. I'll see what I can do.

Tangled Tile II

This one is also an early attempt at a ZenTangle tile. I tried to break free of the boundaries a little bit. I think I was less successful. The string of beads coming down the bottom just looks weird and out of place.

Tangled Tiles I

One of my first Tangled pieces. Of everything here, my hands down favorite part is the upper left corner. That section reminds me of dragon scales, but also of an ear of corn. Don't ask. It's a weird place in my brain.

Vertigogh Tangle

I never really considered this one done, but I can't really think of what I want to add to it. So it's simple, but I like it as it is. Maybe someday I'll add more, but for now it's fine. It was mostly created so I could learn how to do the tangle in the middle, the fern-like pine needle thing, called Vertigogh. Actually, if you're not familiar with ZenTangle, each pattern has a name. The rock to the right is called "Yin Cut", the mossy thing around the stone is called "Fescu" and the berries at the bottom are "Pokeroot" but I keep calling it Pokeberries.

Tombstone

My dad is a civil war historian. That seems like an odd way to start talking about a doodle I did, until you understand that he spends a decent amount of time in cemeteries looking for headstones of certain soldiers. Sometimes I come with. There is a lot of beautiful art to be found on monuments in a cemetery. This one is a combinations of a few I saw this past year. To be honest tho, my favorite thing about this picture is the circle of the moon and the tree behind the stone. I've been working on ways to artfully break out of the lines that border my doodles, and this one worked rather well.

Jack-o-Lantern

Another Halloween Tangle I did. Shading really made this one pop! I was afraid of doing the same tangle over the whole pumpkin, that it might loose definition, but the shading really helped emphasize the shape. I do think you loose the vines at the top tho. A learning experience, to be sure. After seeing this one, a friend asked me why I wasn't doing coloring pages. Now there is an idea! Coloring is hot right now. Maybe I can do something for the girls for Christmas this year. Hmm....

Black Cat

Going thru my sketch book the other day, I realized that I have a lot of work that I haven't posted. So here is a black cat I made for Halloween this year. I think I'm going to have to come up with a better way to photograph my work, this seems kind of dark. I'll figure something out. I hope.