Keeping Sane?

This month has been crazy with preparations for state visits at our school.  It has been quite stressful, actually.  My usual methods of keeping sane haven't been working.  I have resorted to fixating on one thing each day that makes me happy.  Lately, it has been spending time in our garden at school and discovering the new growth. One of the Aides, who works with a special needs student, has been talking to me about the Zentangle books. 

 It has made me think about how stressed out I used to be about 4 or 5 years ago and how my randomness series of lines, dots, and swirls allowed me a way to escape. I kind of missed the feeling of numbness that doodling creates.  The rhythm of the pen moving on the paper creates a calm and peaceful trance where the mind allows itself to become quiet.  All of your problems and stress seem to disappear.  Last Wednesday, the stress seemed to escalate, so I decided to begin doodling.  I added Stargazer to the drawing. 

The more I added to the drawing, the more controlled and detailed it became.  After an hour, I looked at it and realized I must have been more stressed than I thought.  

I only draw in such small details when I am extremely stressed.  The drawing is not complete, but since it is my therapy piece, I guess it doesn't matter.

I'm not entirely sure how much this drawing has helped with my stress.  I think it has helped a bit, but it hasn't given me what it once has done in the past. 

Roldan's Haven

A little over a year ago, my 2 co-workers, our students, and myself create a native plant garden on our campus. It was many months of many long hours, but today it was totally worth it.  This month has been very stressful.  It seems to never end, and it continues to become more stressful as our visitations arrive.  Spending time in our garden has been one of my happy places this week.  It is amazing!  Everyday something new has bloomed.  And there are ladybugs EVERYWHERE!!!!  I have finally caved in and signed up for instagram (mizzleadventures).  As I have been taking photos and posting them, I had decided to tag the location "Roldan's Haven."  It is a wonderful place to be. Here are a bunch of photos I've taken these past few days:

Mini Challenge

The La Habra Art Gallery is displaying their Small and Miniature Show this month.  Art work has to be 8x10 or smaller.  It seemed like a fun challenge.  I began with my blank wooden nesting dolls.  I had bought them over a year ago.  I never drew on them because I was afraid to mess up.  But I ended up having a lot of fun drawing on them. I used pencil and a rapidograph pen.  The ink began to bleed in some areas, so I coated the wood with a light layer of gel medium.  That seemed to help.

I always seems to have odd sized canvases in my home and decided to draw on a small 4"x 4" square.  This is the 2nd piece I did for the show.  I wanted to include a drawing of all of the main Mizzles that I love to draw.  After finishing the drawing on the top, I began to draw on the sides.  The entire canvas is drawn with a rapidograph pen and ink.  

The last piece I created is my favorite and from the amount of "likes" on Facebook, it seems others feel the same.   The canvas is 12"x4".  I drew this illustration onto watercolor paper and used Derwent Inktense pencils and Prismacolor Watercolor pencils to color it.  Then I used Gel medium to adhere it to the canvas.  I was a bit surprised to hear that it won 3rd place.  The work in the gallery tends to be more traditional.  I like showing my work, so I never expect to win any awards when entering the group shows.  But I'm delighted about the award!  It makes me feel like I'm definitely headed down the right path.