Sandy Steen Bartholomew's Blog, page 27

Results of Tangle Card Challenge #7 - Gewgle

I hope this kind of creepy tangle - Gewgle - didn't scare anyone away! :-) I wanted to end the series of Challenges with something fun and unusual. As usual, I was really impressed with the incredible entries - and the sense of humor is wonderful too. As you can imagine, choosing one winner, or even two, is really stressful! So - I decided to completely change the way I picked the winner for this huge, final decision! (See below...)

Arnoldo Romero
Cheryl Kroll
Debra Castaldi
Diane Yaciuk
Donna Hubbard - Bloom of Gewgle Eyes
Donna Hubbard - Gewgle Blooms
Donna Hubbard - Gewglemen
Ellen Wolters - Gewgle and Brabs
Ellen Wolters - Gewgle and Bunzo
Heather Jackson
Janneke de Lange
Kailey McEvilly
Linda Cannizzo
Melody Farrell
Pamela Wolfstone
Penny Brouckaert
Rita Nikolajeva
Sue Jacobs
Traci FrogleyAnd the winner is....
EVERYONE!

Yes, that's right. I wanted to reward all of you who kept entering and submitting beautiful work every week. And those who were brave enough to try this weird tangle... And, maybe it was a coincidence, but my publisher just sent me a box of my personal copies of the tangle cards... so I am feeling very generous. Each of you posted above should send me an email with the address where you would like your pack of cards sent. (Even if you think I already have your address, please send an email, so I can keep track).

My Head Studio Minion, Bonnie, is going to scream when she reads this! (Sorry Bonnie!?) because she has been doing all the packing and shipping lately. But I will find a way to make it up to her. Bribery seems to work well with her too. [Speaking of Bonnie - she was accepted into the Certified Zentangle Training for this October in Providence! I promised her I would drive her down and back, so I will be around to say "hi" too. Anyone else going?]

Feeling nostalgic for Challenge days gone by?
Entries from Round 1 can be seen here.
Round 2 is here.
Round 3 is here.
Round 4 is here.
Round 5 is here.
Round 6 is here.

Gewgle is from the Kidz Edition card pack. As I mentioned before, don't let the "Kidz" in the name fool you. This pack of cards has tons of great, non-juvenile, patterns in it. The "Kidz" just means that there are some Lilah Beans integrated into the pack. The Tangle card packs can be ordered

New eBook! The Tangles of Santa Fe

I created an eBook - The Tangles of Santa Fe - for the Art Journal Retreat that I am doing with Jessica Wesolek in Santa Fe (in two weeks!!)


I picked a bunch of designs from pottery, rugs, art, and rock paintings and then broke them down into simple steps - a la Zentangle®.


Some of the patterns could qualify as actual tangles, some are just really cool designs that I show you how to draw. They are all great for use in your own art pieces.


 I design these ebooks so that the two page spread views as one page on an iPad or computer and can be printed out on a sheet of 8.5x11 paper and then folded in half. I glue the front edges of the pages together, back to back, so that it can open, all at once, like an accordian. The cover wraps around.

Tangles of Kells printed and assembled into an accordian book.This ebook has quite a few more pages than the Tangles of Kells (~ 48 pages or 24 two-page spreads) and includes a beautiful piece by Suzanne McNeill.

I've listed it for instant download on both the Etsy shop (Bumblebat.com) and my Wazala shop on my website (SandySteenBartholomew.com) Please let me know what you think of it! (And if you have any trouble with downloading).

My favorite page is the Kokopellis. :-)

Graveyards, Bugs and ... Whoopie Pies

Every year, on this day, we celebrate my grandmother's birthday in the graveyard where she is buried. This year, we added in some games and party favors!

In an effort to be efficient, we loaded up all the trash and recycling into the car before we went for brunch at the Foothills. The car was packed. It had been... a while... since we'd last been to the dump!
Brunch was delicious as usual, except for some serious grumpiness from Lilah. But that is to be expected... Not only is tomorrow the first day of school (First Grade!), but her dad moved to a new house this weekend and it will be her first night there. And she has a loose tooth.

We loaded ourselves back into the car and the kids started screaming about... maggots. Yes, the squirmy white things... ew!! I guess they had gotten tired of waiting inside the trash bags and had set out to explore the minivan! Those critters move FAST! Forget racing snails, maggots would be the better entertainment at the local bar. The drive to the dump seemed longer than usual with the accompanying "There's one on your seat!" and "It's gonna get Gramma Kay!"

We unloaded all the recyclables and trash and then the fun REALLY started! It was like Whack-a-mole but on a miniature scale. My mom thought it would be a good idea to just shake the bed liner onto the pavement... but the maggots started crawling back! So Lilah started tap dancing on them... I climbed into the back of the minivan and started scooping the rest of them into a shoebox. Did you know - when you poke 'em, they curl into a ball? Yeah, they are so sweet. Lilah took the shoebox from me and declared she wanted to keep them as pets... uh... no?

Sorry - I didn't think to take a picture, although, now I wish I had.

Onward to the grave yard!

Alex dug a hole to plant the phlox I had brought (Candy Stripe). And, of course, the hole was swarming with all kinds of large and small bugs. Even a cricket and a nasty beetle-thingy. He dug another hole. We planted and watered and Lilah played some music.

We planted the Whoopie Pie we had brought for Gramma Magda too. After sampling a little bit, of course.


Lilah had written her a note and brought some flowers.
The bear on the stone, in case you don't know, is my grandmother. She always said she'd come back as a bear - and that's one reason we always leave her something chocolatey on her birthday. I imagine her watching from the woods... waiting for us to leave so she can have her snack. :-)

And just to prove that I have perfectly normal kids... Alex teased Lilah about who-knows-what and she proceeded to pelt him with the bag of dirt. Alex enjoyed it immensely. Ok, maybe they aren't normal.

And one more bug - I hope it's the last one... well, there was that really large spider in the garage too, but I think it was dead. So the last one was also dead, but it was a huge dragonfly that had gotten caught in the grill of my car. Lilah and I washed the minivan (remember the maggots?) and found the dragonfly. It was crispy and it's wings were huge and rainbow sparkley. Lilah put it somewhere in Stonehenge (our front garden looks like a mini Stonehenge) for the fairies.

Another lovely, ordinary, summer day.
Tomorrow, it's back to school.

Tangle Card Challenge #7 - Gewgle

I've decided to pick two winners again since it seems much more fair. And I'm all about "fair". ;-)

This final Challenge features Gewgle, which is a play on words ("google" as in the wiggley eyes). Although these don't necessarily have to be eye-like... And don't worry about trying to get perfectly round circles. The slightly lumpy look just adds to the sense of realism! hee hee (eeew!?)

Post your art on the Beez Ink Studio Facebook Page. I'll choose one winner (well, Alex and Lilah will help) and the second winner will be by popular vote on Facebook. So be sure and "Like" your favorite!

The winners will be chosen next week on Thursday, August 29th, sometime after lunch. ;-)

Don't be afraid to post whatever you come up with - any skill level is welcome.
If you have been holding back and waiting for the perfect chance to jump in and give a Challenge a try - this will be the last one in this series, so let's see what you've got!

To see all the contest details, read this post.

Entries from Round 1 can be seen here.
Round 2 is here.
Round 3 is here.
Round 4 is here.
Round 5 is here.
Round 6 is here.

Gewgle is from the Kidz Edition card pack. Don't let the "Kidz" in the name fool you. This pack of cards has tons of great, non-juvenile, patterns in it. The "Kidz" just means that there are some Lilah Beans integrated into the pack. The Tangle card packs can be pre-ordered .

Results of Tangle Contest #5 - Hemp

This was a fairly complex tangle, but with two weeks to attack the challenge - you all rose to the occasion! And we get TWO winners this week. So let's see what we have. Try not to drool, these are fabulous!

Cheryl Kroll
Kailey McEvilly
Nicole Kelly
Dennie York
Diane Yaciuk
Dianne Yaciuk 2
Donna Hubbard (close-up)
Donna Hubbard
Dorothy Allison
Ellen Wolters
Jean Chaney
Lena Ulses
Lila Popcheff

Penny Brouckaert
Rita Nikolajeva
Rita Nikolajeva 2
Sharon Morris
Traci FrogleyThe winner is... 
Pamela Wolfstone!!

Pamela Wolfstone
The Facebook People's Choice Award goes to...
Dawn Collins!!

Dawn CollinsCongratulations! Absolutely beautiful work - and please email me where you would like me to send your Tangle Card packs.

Want to know who won Challenge #6 - Pingline? Take a look HERE.

A very quiet post...

Tangle Card Update

I want to remind everybody that there are TWO Challenges this week...
Challenge #5, Hemp, is HERE.  Post your art on the Beez Ink Studio Facebook Page.
Challenge #6, Pingline, is HERE. Post your art entry on the ZT for Kidz! Facebook Page.

There will be TWO winners chosen for each of these challenges. I will choose one and the other will be chosen by popular vote. So be sure to get your entry in ASAP onto the right Facebook page. Then, everyone should go and vote for their favorite by clicking the "LIKE" button for their entry of choice. It's OK to vote for yourself. ;-)  If there is a tie, it will be broken by whichever entry has the most "Comments". The winners will be chosen in the late afternoon (EST) on Thursday, August 22.

You can still pre-order the Tangle cards on my site. I have heard that they will be arriving soon at my studio and then I will start sending them out to you all. Or Bonnie will. Bonnie is my studio manager minion. You all know how badly I have needed one! she has been sorting orders and pre-addressing envelopes. And sorting tattoos... Yeah!

I have to show you some really cool stuff the publisher is doing to promote the cards...


Maybe it's a little shallow, but I take great pride in being listed at the beginning of the New Titles emails. :-)

And this POP (Point of Purchase Display) is so cute and makes my OCD heart beat a little faster...

 If anyone actually sees one of these displays (or any displays) of the cards in a store or Michael's or somewhere, please let me know! If you send me a photo, I'll send you something cool. Oooo bribery!

Ah - and I almost forgot - speaking of bribery - I have had a few emails from people asking WHY they would from me rather than wait to get them from Amazon. That is a very fair question. Those of you who did NOT ask it probably already knew the answer. I have designed very cool little "extras" for you all - my faithful minions! New tattoos, stickers, pins... and I am giving extra-extras for the pre-orders. And there have been quite a few folks who ordered ALL the packs or even MULTIPLES of the packs... phew!... and you folks get other cool stuff too. Yeah - cool stuff! :-)

Art Camp Day 4

It's finally beautiful and warm. In the sun. And it's the last day/night of camp. The spiders have gotten bigger, especially the daddy long-legs in the bathrooms. 

I have a theory that they are congregating there to plot a take over... They are the most venomous of spiders but feel cheated since they can't actually take down a human. So unfair. There were at least three watching me from the back of the composting toilet. 
Late last night, my cabin mate Katie, knocked on my curtain and said, "Sandy? Are you afraid of spiders?"  "Is it bigger than me?" I asked. 
It was only about an inch and a half so I flicked it off the cabin door into the woods. This WAS an emergency since she couldn't leave to go to the bathroom. I should have taken a photo of it first though. It was scary looking. 

I chose the less private, but less-spidery outdoor showers this morning. I have to admit it was an interesting experience to shower early in the morning, outside, watching the fog rise off the lake and my own breath steaming in the sun. Brrr. 
Class this morning was with Mati Rose McDonough adding imagery to our paintings. We worked on the beach and played with transfer paper. 

We made sketches that we then transferred with colored Saral paper to our paintings. We got really punchy... Probably sunstroke...
Here's what I came up with...

And some of the others...

In the afternoon we talked about daily practices with Lisa Solomon - who wrote "Knot, Thread, Stitch". She had a lot of great ideas about how to integrate art into our daily lives and the importance of doing projects that are not for "work". And it's ok to make Bad Art. I had some good ideas, but I realize I need to feel accountable to someone to actually DO the work. Although, running away to Art Camp was my way of practicing impractical art. But I definitely need MORE. 
And in answer to one commenter's question... I am at ARC, Art Retreat Camp on Mayhew Island on Newfound Lake in NH. It's run by Susan Schwake who runs Artstream Studio in Dover, NH and wrote the Art Lab for Kids books. I'm sorry I can't add the links since I'm blogging from my iPhone. 
This is Susan...

We had supper outside tonight. Everyone is getting a little sad to head home to their... normal...  lives. 

We took a serious group photo, but this one is much more fun and true to nature. 

Now it is time for art share... Show and tell! 

The art is amazing! My favorite is this coat by Pamela Boulden from Arkansas...

Doesn't it look fabulous on me!? She's going to make me one in black and purple.  Or maybe a steampunk one!!!!! Ooooo. It's made from reclaimed sweaters. Notice how twirly it is? And how long the pointy hoodie is? The hoodie can wrap around your neck like a scarf. (Pamela has an Etsy shop, but her coats sell as soon as she makes them so they never make it onto the site!)
And there was a performance from the handmade instrument class too. Here is Kerry from Australia and Paul in the back... 

And lastly, check out the amazing ceiling of the lodge! The Mayhew Camp is an incredible six year summer program for boys and the ceiling hosts their cabin plaques. We were very fortunate to be able to use the space. 

There was a lot of talk about what the Art Retreat Camp might be like next year... More days, more people... I'd like to teach too! It was really cool to be part of the first year and I loved the small size. I got to talk with everyone and made some fantastic new friends. I admit I am reluctant to go home and if I could find Arkansas on a map, I might consider moving there! At the least, we'll stay connected on Facebook. :-)
It will be so hard to say goodbye tomorrow. Although I won't miss the spiders...

Art Camp Day 3

Since I ended with the "dye-ing on the beach" last night, I'll show you what the scarves looked like today... 
Here is Linda with her scarf... 

And mine...

And a bunch of the others...

And that bright little glow in the background is the campfire on the beach. I'm waiting patiently for the s'mores we have been promised. So patiently. 
Today was fun... But not as relaxing as yesterday. I slept much better, but woke up from nightmares about my digital boyfriend. (Don't ask) and listened to a lot of good advice at breakfast... But since it was all before 9am, I can't remember any of it. There was more great advice at lunch and that ended with my new friend from Australia saying I had one year to sell off everything, do a Kickstarter campaign, buy an Airstream, and take my daughter on a Tangling Across America caravan adventure. Hmmm... I started the idea, but it grew and grew...
The first class today was Dioramas. We were so cold working in the wood shed. When we took our pieces out to the beach to see if the glue would dry in the sun- we discovered it was a beautiful warm day... In the sun! Who knew?
So yesterday, I had used my teacup to create my Happy Place - Tiny World. Today I used the saucer to create my Dark Place in a cigar box. 

It looks much better in real life. The plate (moon) really glows in the box and makes the people look more like silhouettes under a tree. 
I finished a little early so challenged myself to use up all the extra pieces and the lid of the wooden cigar box. 

Kind of looks like an owl man. Upside down it looks like a bug. 
And the journal sketches:

I spent rest hour listening to the masters discuss biz and websites. 

Mimi Kirchner, Lilla Rogers and Mati Rose McDonough... Hanging out in the lunchroom is just as educational as the classes!
As for the afternoon class... I knew within ten minutes that this was a mistake! Children's Books and Collage with Rebecca Emberly. Rebecca is amazing and knows everything about the industry,  but we were all feeling a little deflated because its not such a happy industry. Then when she spoke about contracts and publishers... Well, let's just say the day took a turn for the worse. :-( When we broke for a short break, we fled for the kitchen looking for cookies. The food lady gave us a trough of salsa and chips and we drowned our sorrows. One of my friends said, "now I understand why your cabin on the rocks (yesterday's post) was so inaccessible!" Indeed. 
We only had about an hour to work on our collages, and I was still obsessing about cookies...

Definitely a theme here?
But we all came back to work on the porch after dinner. 

Ah! We just scarfed down the s'moresHeaven. 

Now- I can go to bed happy!

Art Camp Day 2

It's August... How is it so cold?! Nevertheless, it is really beautiful here. 

There is the most unusual barracks/cabin here with low walls and built in desks and shelves. 

That's not my cabin though. Mine is so tiny I can touch all the walls from the center of the room. And there is... some one... living in the bottom drawer. 
Today's fabulous class, Tiny Worlds, was taught by art-toy maker, Mimi Kirchner (mimikirchner.com).

I spent the day creating my own mini happy place. In a teacup.              

I'm sure it means... nothing... but there is no dock, no path, and angry waves. But the cottage is friendly and warm! 
And here is my cabin in situ...

And here is my fellow classmate, Joanne Hus', cottage. 

The elastic suspenders are just to hold it in place while the glue dries. 
We are so proud of ourselves! Not only did we actually finish, we had so much fun!
Now- I am starving. Again. I can smell wonderful things cooking in the kitchen. 
Oh! I didn't get a chance to mention it last night, but I got quite an unexpected surprise... I came here to run away and learn some new things. Imagine my delight to discover that my teacher, Lilla Rogers, is also here at camp. In my cabin. She's the one who recently hosted the Global Talent Search I posted about last week. Anyway, it has been really interesting talking with her in person! And there are a few other students from her online class here as well. 
A great day. Now, all I care about is food.