Altered Art
Beachcombing for sea glass

Posted on 13th February 2018 by Neil

I was on the south coast of the Llŷn Peninsula in North Wales last week, and had the pleasure of doing some beachcombing near Criccieth. The tide was extremely low (lowest I’ve seen it) giving great conditions for searching for sea glass. The beach is mercifully pretty much clear of plastics, and aside from tumbled bricks and pottery, is sand and shingle. Finding tumbled glass shards in amongst pebbles and slate chippings is tricky, but so rewarding. Here’s an arty shot of the two pieces I found before it started getting too dark to search…

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Tangle Patterns
Tangle Pattern: Arrers #11

Posted on 11th February 2018 by Neil

If simplicity is crucial when considering patterns to include in your zentangle inspired art, perhaps this won’t be one of your go-tos. Shading, and colour if you choose, emphasises the pattern rather than the arrows.

For more tangle patterns, and to see the others in the Arrers series, check out my tangle patterns gallery. You can also order a book of my first 100 or so patterns from there.

arrer (plural arrers) [ar-uh] noun
Slang. Arrow, dart

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Tangle Patterns
Tangle Pattern: Arrers #10

Posted on 4th February 2018 by Neil

Well if last week’s pattern had very evident block arrows, this one has them hidden away. I think the block works well on its own, but it does tile rather nicely with the pattern accentuated by the shading.

For more tangle patterns, and to see the others in the Arrers series, check out my tangle patterns gallery. You can also order a book of my first 100 or so patterns from there.

arrer (plural arrers) [ar-uh] noun
Slang. Arrow, dart

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Tangle Patterns
Tangle Pattern: Arrers #9

Posted on 28th January 2018 by Neil

Another in my continuing series of tangle patterns using block arrows as source material. The arrows are a lot more evident in this simple repeating block.

For more tangle patterns, and to see the others in the Arrers series, check out my tangle patterns gallery. You can also order a book of my first 100 or so patterns from there.

arrer (plural arrers) [ar-uh] noun
Slang. Arrow, dart

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Art Journal
Bible Journaling: Developing a Style

Posted on 26th January 2018 by Neil

I have been trying to get into the habit of illustrating a bible verse each day since the start of the New Year. On average I think I am hitting a 40-50% hit rate, which isn’t too bad with everything else that’s happening. Here are the results of some of those bible journaling episodes. I think a typography style is developing nicely, but I’m also very fond of the illustrated ‘Immanuel’ page spread.

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Tangle Patterns
Tangle Pattern: Arrers #8

Posted on 21st January 2018 by Neil

More block arrows. This tangle pattern is a little more geometric, and if you are adventurous some of the arrows could weave over the others.

For more tangle patterns, and to see the others in the Arrers series, check out my tangle patterns gallery. You can also order a book of my first 100 or so patterns from there.

arrer (plural arrers) [ar-uh] noun
Slang. Arrow, dart

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Tangle Patterns
Tangle Pattern: Arrers #7

Posted on 14th January 2018 by Neil

Another Arrers design. This one could be embellished with colour or adding ‘veins’ to the leaf shapes on the edge of the centre motif.

For more tangle patterns, and to see the others in the Arrers series, check out my tangle patterns gallery. You can also order a book of my first 100 or so patterns from there.

arrer (plural arrers) [ar-uh] noun
Slang. Arrow, dart

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3D printing
3D Printing: Karaoke Cuboidroid

Posted on 9th January 2018 by Neil

I made this chap a while back, and he’s been crooning away on the desk ever since waiting for the flashbulbs to go off. His five minutes of fame have arrived, his gigs in the pubs and clubs paid off. May I present my karaoke cuboidroid?

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Tangle Patterns
Tangle Pattern: Arrers #6

Posted on 7th January 2018 by Neil

Arrers 6: more fun with repeating blocks of block arrows 🙂

Hope you’re not getting bored with these, as I have another half dozen!

For more tangle patterns, and to see the others in the Arrers series, check out my tangle patterns gallery. You can also order a book of my first 100 or so patterns from there.

arrer (plural arrers) [ar-uh] noun
Slang. Arrow, dart

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Altered Art
Altered Art: Etched Brush Pots

Posted on 3rd January 2018 by Neil

Happy New Year! I have a new year intention (I don’t do resolutions, too much pressure) to have a studio clear out and tidy up. As a first step, I decided to replace my water pots for use in classes. Inexpensive Ikea smoked glasses caught my eye – stable and weighty, perfect! Of course, I couldn’t just leave them unadorned…

A little work on some typography, vinyl cutting on my Silhouette and a generous dollop of Armor Etch and my etched brush pots are complete. One features a caution symbol and ‘contains paint’, specifically targeted at one of my studio guests who can mistake her glass of water for the painty water pot. Another has the steps required for cleaning a brush. The third has all the words I could find in the thesaurus connected with cleaning a brush. And the fourth has phrases playing around with the whole brush pot concept, such as ‘clean brush, cloudy water’ and ‘colours in suspense’.

Bearing this in mind, tidying the studio is going to take forever if at each point I have an idea I then implement, making a mess in the process…