Hmmm, I appear to be working on a series of posts with titles named after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  Yesterday was Grumpy, today Happy.

A good night's sleep makes all the difference (oh no--I can foretell a forthcoming post with the title "Sleepy").  That plus the fact that last year at this time I was still unpacking, and would feel terribly guilty if I tried to find the time to do anything creative when I felt I "should" be working on the house. 

If I know anything about myself it's that a day or two without time to do handwork or drawing renders me hyper-cranky and anxious.  I'm afraid I'm addicted.  It doesn't matter if the result is only mediocre; it's the act of creating that releases stress and puts me nearly into a state of bliss every time.

Today I was able to do some rug punching (for a pillow not a rug) and at the same time practice singing.   My singing was absolutely horrible, but who cares?  The combination was my idea of heaven.  Start of punched pillow is below.

Contrast this punched version with the identical but traditionally hooked pillow (see my post from December 27th) to see the difference between punching and hooking.  Both of which sound either violent or sleazy, eh? 

But they are the polar opposite.  So soothing.

When you fall asleep immediately but then wake up at 90 minute intervals until you are wide awake at 3.30 a.m.

"I don't see the point of grumpy people."
--Vanessa Kirby

In less than a week, 2018 is done.  I'm doing my annual review by re-reading my journal and reflecting.  It's always a bittersweet process.

That's not all that's winding up.  On the right is yarn I over-dyed yesterday, preparing for my next project.   I just finished winding it into this yarn cake.

Here it was in the dyepot just before I nuked it for the final time.  And yes, the lighting was different.  The color in the photo above is truer.  The original yarn, a worsted weight, was beige.  When I saw this in the dyepot It looked so much like spaghetti I couldn't believe it.

Also winding up--and now actually finished--is this hooked pillow I put together yesterday.  The pattern is from a vintage piece of pottery, and I'm thrilled with how it came out. 

The yarn I dyed above is actually going to be used in a twin of this piece--I will punch hook the same pattern, to illustrate the difference between traditional hooking and punch hooking.

 Sure enough, I had the thing laminated this afternoon (see yesterday's post for an explanation of "the thing") and then with the help of an x-acto knife and 3 minutes of work, cut a center hole and installed the works. 

Voila, a completed Zentangle® Spinner.

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm thinking about wheels/mandalas, etc., of which this is only one.

The big one--the Full Moon--was shining in my bedroom window so brightly last night that I thought she was going to come right through the glass and join me.  So I'll be calling this my Full Moon Spinner.

Now if we could all just learn from the quote below...

“You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.”
― Edgar Mitchell

This week's Solstice (yesterday) caused me to start thinking about wheels, as in the Wheel of the Year and how that wheel is turning once again.  I've had wheels on the brain.  For example, the Wheel in the tarot (see my previous post on the Wheel of Fortune card HERE), plus I just finished a Zentangle® project that had me creating a wheel, below.

The above wheel is going to grow up to be a "Spinner Board," once its spinner arm is inserted thru the hole in its center.  Before I do that, I'm thinking I will need to laminate and back the piece.  There are 55 different tangles on the piece, and I'm guessing it's about 9x9".  It was fun to do and took twelve days, tangling for about a half hour each day.  It's part of Zentangle's Project Pack 04 and all the relevant how-to videos are on YouTube.

In the process of doing this, my already messy desk grew completely out of control, so today I went on a massive cleaning binge.  It should be noted that, for me, a "massive cleaning binge" is equivalent to picking up one piece of paper from the floor.  I did not get the cleaning gene.  I was happily raised in Lower Slobbovia.

But today I swept my large desk clean and forced myself to sort through things and create a semblance of order.  It's quite shocking.  More work has to be done tomorrow but here is the progress so far.  (Wish me luck with maintenance...not a strength either)

Apparently the wheel turned into a Wheel of Progress for me.  At least for the next 24 hours.

Happy Solstice to all...

Here's another short post on OTHER PEOPLE'S WORK (not mine).  My buddy Cheryl is a Rug Rescuer--she takes partially completed traditionally hooked rugs from people who cannot complete them (usually due to age, illness, or unknown reasons) and finds a way to finish them.  She's a genius at it! 

Here are a couple of her rescued rugs, then a 3rd rug that she hooked NOT as a rescue but just for fun for a grandchild.  And finally, a rug in progress from another wonderful rug artist, Cynthia (not a rescue--her own design).

I got to see these lovely rugs, and others, at our meeting last Friday.  It was hard to tell which was more fun--the rug hooking, the conversations, or the fabulous groan-inducing foods.  We met at Cheryl's amazing and stunningly decorated old Victorian house.

"When life gives you hands, use 'em to make stuff."
--Anon.

None of these are my work.  But I am a sucker for lotus flowers, and these are so stunning I have to share them.

First is a photograph taken by Paula Swenson at a botanical garden in Thailand:

I am in love with that photo.

Next, two images of lotuses in watercolor painted by Walter Cudnohufsky of Ashland MA:

I'm lucky enough to own both of these paintings.

They will help me to remember...
"No mud, no lotus."
--Thich Nhat Hanh

Oh my, another sunny day.  They are increasingly rare, and so I treasure them.  It's downright cheerful outdoors, though cold.  Great to see the sun. 

So where's the fog?  I did this tile this morning as part of my continuing experiment with incising tiles rather than using pen on them.  So it's done only with a stylus, graphite, and after that I used some watercolor pencils to add a bit of color.  I thought it came out quite "foggy."

This was done for the final piece of the Gratitangles2018 Project (November) and is the tile for day 30.  I am officially done and really enjoyed the month.  As I was doing this tangle this morning, I was grateful for whoever invented Gratitangles, and grateful that I had a chance to participate.  I hope I can continue this practice of being-grateful-while-tangling.  It makes a big difference in mood.

I'm intrigued by experiments with the incision technique and plan to continue them a bit. These truly are experiments.  Here is one (below) that didn't work so well.  I did this on a Bijou tile (2x2") and used General's Chalk Pencils for color...in order to get the color I had to rub fairly hard and I noticed the wonderful Fabriano Tiepolo paper did NOT like the rubbing.  You can see that it was beginning to shred.

I'll put that on in the "No fail, no learn" category and I'm glad I tried it.  I have some other ideas that may work better on the Fabriano Tiepolo paper.

I'm not known for being subtle.  Far from it.  But I've been wanting to try this oh-so-subtle technique (does it have a name?  I can't find one) by CZT Maria Tovar for a long time and today, the penultimate day of the Gratitangles Project, I thought these two simple tangles would lend themselves well to it.  They did, even on my first try.

This is part of my work on the November Gratitangles Project, which is all about focusing on gratitude while tangling.  I had to laugh as I was finishing this piece and Alison Krauss's wonderful song The Lucky One came on.  (Granted the song is NOT about gratitude.  Or at least, not in the way I've been exploring gratitude!  But I love the music and the title fit my thoughts, even though the lyrics have an entirely different meaning.)  I love Alison Krauss.  Here is another song of hers I adore.  You're welcome...

This has been a wonderful project to do.  I have one more day to complete and then I hope to continue tangling while thinking about why I am grateful for everything in my life, even the hard parts.

“We can do subtle," I assured her.
"It's our middle name," Andrea added.
For some odd reason Rene didn't look convinced.”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Slays

This is highly representative of my state of mind.  Here we have a tile that covers days 26, 27, and 28 of the Gratitangles Project.  I'm almost done.

The tangle Bales (day 26) starts out on the left looking reasonably like itself, but then as it moves over to the right of the tile it's desperately trying to escape.  Or spread its wings.  Or something.  Munchin (day 27), a tangle that is usually free-form and wild, doesn't look much like itself here at all, though it too begins to look like an escapee by the time it gets to the right side of the tile.

This piece went places I couldn't have imagined.  It reflects where I've been for a couple of days--very busy and unable to do much creating, so today's work is trying to "spring out of its firm-looking boundaries."  Fine with me!

Though busy and l-o-n-g, both days included good things.  And yesterday, although I didn't do much creating myself, I spent much of the afternoon visiting old friends who are both incredibly creative.  Good conversation and plenty of art-related eye candy made for a lovely day, and inspiration.

Today, it was lovely to stay close to home after so much traveling and allow myself to rest.  I could not have predicted the results of this tile, but I'm liking it a lot.

So in keeping with the Gratitangles Project, while I was drawing this today I was feeling grateful for delightful surprises, grateful for old and dear friends, grateful for a good night's sleep, and for the steady sunshine we had all day.  And grateful for being an escapee (able to withdraw from regular life on occasion).  I don't need to do so often, but when I do, it's nourishing.