The Lazy Days of Summer

The Lazy Days of Summer are nothing but a myth!!  Summer league basketball started for the Newest and Oldest Kiddos the week after school got out.  Beginning with daily practices, they moved into a week of 12 hour days of tournament.  While they did not play the entire 12 hours, their school was the host, so they got to work door, books and clock between their own games.  This week begins the actual summer league games.

And just to prove that I'm the meanest mom in the world, I make all the boys get up and go run before the temperature starts to climb.

'Ain't no rest for the wicked, hehe!!

During the tournament, I had grand aspirations of spending my time between games sketching, doodling, coloring.

Hmmm.  Someone forgot to take into account that any spare time would be spent working the snack bar booth and taking kids to be fed!!

Never the less, I did manage to do a little bit of doodling in my small 9x6" sketch book.  I would say that this was inspired by the popular Zentangle craze, but I would label it doodling.

I used various sized ink pens with some light pencil shading here and there.  I'm still toying with the idea of erasing the pencil shading and adding some color.  Maybe I will just have to doodle another page this weekend while at yet another tournament and add some color!

That's about it for me today! Oldest Kiddo is needing a learn to drive session before he heads to practice and his evening game!! 

'Till next time........

It's a Tangled Web...

One of the "artistic" endeavors that I have wanted to try for a while is Zentangle.  So, when Sherry started sharing her creations, I decided to use it as a swift kick in the pants to give it a go.

Let me share just a couple of insights before I show my first attempt at this art form.

1) Zentangle or inspired by Zentangle takes practice.  And in my case, quite a bit more is needed in order for this to be a relaxing form of art versus a death grip on the pen.

2) I would recommend getting some type of beginning book on Zentangle.  I, being the impatient one, tried to skip that part and just pull up Tangle patterns from this site.  While this is a WONDERFUL resource, I think that my first tangling adventure could have gone so much smoother without trying to look through so many different patterns then follow the various links to the directions.

3) I also learned that leaving some white space is not bad.  My "tangle" is a quite busy for my taste!

4) In keeping with what I learned in #3, I would also say that it is fine to repeat a pattern to give some cohesiveness to the final outcome

And most importantly
5) Zentangle is VERY addictive.  Proceed at your own risk!

I think I might have another go at this particular thread that Sherry provided.  Maybe I'll find it more relaxing then next go around!!

'Till then......weave in some creativity into your day!