Zen Doodles - Zen Lines - Gelli monoprints 

This work started as a practice in drawing lines, movements and shapes. Feeling no stress to “get it just right”, but drawing a line or making a mark and seeing where the movement left a mark was so pleasing to me. For me it is very meditative, stream of conscious activity that I never seem to bore of and feel "what a zen” place to be.

I started by making my own handmade alcohol inks.

1 - pick up some packs of inexpensive alcohol pen markers at the dollar store. 
2 - find some small spray bottles - I found a bunch at Shopko for about .50 cents.
3 - small can of denatured alcohol (Denatured alcohol or methylated spirits is ethanol that has additives to make it poisonous, extremely bad tasting, foul smelling or nauseating, to discourage recreational consumption). Please keep all these materials away from children.
4 - Using needle nose pliers pry the nib tip from the marker. Wear gloves as the dye can stain your fingers. Pry the nib carefully and make sure to keep the tip pointed upward as not to spill the contents. Pour the contents into one of the small spray bottles. Add equal amount of the denatured alcohol and shake up the mixture and voi·la (vwäˈlä/....there is is). 



This ink is a good substitute for some of the pricer inks found at craft stores and depending on the color can be quite brilliant and can saturate the substrate very nicely. But any brand of inks work just great. 

I also used washes of watercolor to help me start the creative juices flowing. I had the good fortune of purchasing a bundle of very heavy watercolor paper from a garage sale. That bundle sat around for a very long time as I worked on becoming proficient with encaustic. When I ran into a creative deadzone I scrambled around and pulled the paper out and thought that the materials were inexpensive way to start practicing drawing lines and shapes. I had read to stand back and use the entire arm to make movements and shapes. So that's how I started. The sheets of watercolor paper were 22" x 30" so there was a lot of space to create. I ended up dividing the sheets into four and adding painters tape around the edges to protect and keep the pretty white border. 

Over the years I've collected many art and craft tools from stamps to templates, collage papers, and various brushes and mark making instruments. Now was the time to pull them out and start using them. 

After several pieces were randomly painted and inked, sometimes stamped, sometimes stenciled I became more myopic (nearsighted) in decorating the surfaces. In the evening I often attached a dry piece to an art board and would begin making more marks with my many pens and markers. As you know, when its a marker there's no erasing so I just let it flow and didn't worry about the end product but just the happy place I found myself when doing this work. 

I noticed the work started to have a organic, underwater theme and I liked the direction and spent time looking at underwater sea forms and microscopic images. Then the pieces became more intentional yet still very meditative. I still enjoy making this type of art and can see how it will be a lasting tool when I need to jump start my creative juices. 

This first piece lives in London at my nephews home and makes me feel happy that others have the benefit of this art practice. 

This piece is in my granddaughters nursery. 

You can see these pieces on my pinterest board too