Drawing Freehand Circles - Video

Willow Bree posted on Facebook Group 'Zentangle Artists Trading Card Swap' asking 'Does anyone else sketch in pencil before drawing in ink?'  There was lots of comments, with some people saying yes, they did, no, they didn't and sometimes they did and sometimes they didn't.

I commented I usually don't unless I wanted to have a perfect circle or evenly spaced letters.  Then Pam Purk mentioned she would like me to share 'my secret' on how I drew 'perfect circles'.  Well, the answer is, I don't draw them perfectly (maybe something got lost in translation hehe).

Anyhow, it got me thinking - how do I share this 'secret'?  I thought about describing it but there was no way it was going to make sense, so I thought about a video.  I already had a 'You Tube' channel so surely it can't be too difficult? right?

So, I got excited, tried a couple of times, the first time placing the camera on the table in front of me, which didn't work - you couldn't see what I was doing.  The second time I noticed a wash basket was in view lol, so I scrapped that.  Thirdly, It was fine, only that I don't have a tripod available so I had to hold the camera with my left hand whilst trying to draw steady circles.

After 2 hours (yep, it took that long to upload a video less than 2 minutes in length) I wanted to view the end result and it was fine but then I saw you could edit the video, so I clicked on autoenhance, which was good as it made it more brighter, except for about 10 seconds of darkness around the 30 second mark.

Overall, I am very happy and pleased to share it on my blog.

If you do get a chance, I would love for you to view it and have your feedback.

I know it's only a short video and the topic probably boring for most, but hey, you got to start somewhere!

Enjoy :)

Weekly Challenge #221: "Beads of Courage"

Beads of Courage is an Arts in Medicine that supports kids with chronic or life threatening illnesses and their families.

Some of the things you can collect beads for are:
  Needle pokes, overnight stays in hospital, isolation, mobility 

challenges like bed rest or casting, hair changes, tube insertions or 

removals, therapies, doctors appointments, surgeries, xrays, 

ultrasounds, infusions, radiation, oxygen/respiratory support, 

procedures...

So this week's challenge is to use 'beads' in our tangles.

I wasn't sure if I would participate in this challenge, however, on Facebook I saw a post about using the pattern 'Narwal' in different ways and that is when I thought, hey I could make the beads in the shape of 'Narwal' and so here is my entry.

I hope you all have a lovely week - stay safe and smile :)

New Pattern 'Molly'

I was flicking through a fashion magazine whilst waiting for my daughter to get her hair done at the hairdresser's last night and came across a dress with lots of lacework that struck my eye.

It's similar to this and I have not seen any step-outs for a pattern like this.  Please let me know if you have seen it.

Don't ask me why but 'Molly' was calling - so I named it so :)

I haven't played with it all that much and hope to explore it some more when I have some time.

I do hope you like it and try it out yourself - I would love to see your interpretations.

Thank you for stopping by - Have a lovely day :)

Weekly Challenge #220: "UMT: All Boxed UP by Alice Hendon, CZT"

I'm happy to see this week's 'Use my Tangle' challenge with I am the Diva is none other than Ms Alice Hendon, congrats Alice.  Her pattern is called 'All Boxed Up' -I remember Alice in our early Flickr days when we discovered the Zentangle ® method of drawing.

I almost wasn't going to participate as it looked too complicated but seeing Dorothy Allison's tile gave me the motivation, thanks Dorothy :) .....and I quite like how it turned out considering it only took me about 20mins to draw and shade!

On the side, here is what I worked on today.

Thanks for looking and for your visit - keep smiling :)