Come join in the fun over at my FaceBook Page

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TangledTreasures/

Come join in the fun over here at the site dedicated to sharing your colouring in pages from Tangled Treasures and Tangled Gardens colouring in books. I have just released one of the illustrations from Tangled Gardens for everyone to share in the group. Jane x

It is here, it's here! ... I have my copy to hold!

This is my second colouring in book "Tangled Gardens".  I have received an advance copy and   I have to tell you ... I love it.

It is available for pre-order through online book stores and is set for release date 15 November 2015.    Do yourself a favour (and me) buy this book and give copies to your friends .. makes the most perfect gift to give someone for Christmas :)

Once again ... this book is printed on nice weight paper, illustrations printed on one side of the page only and each page of illustrations is perforated for easy removal.   There are fish, owls, trees, flowers, birds, leaves, trees. cats, butterflies, stars, pumpkins and abstract illustrations, even a chess piece horse ... see, something for everyone ... I hope you enjoy it.  

Happy colouring ... Jane x

The Art of the Slow Stitch

 I love hand stitching. I love hand stitching with cotton, silk, handspun yarn (I spin wool as a hobby).  I wanted a little hand stitched pouch to carry my small hand stitch blocks with me.    I made this little double sided pouch.   My husband made me the little button to go with it. It has a slight camber to it and I love the feel of wooden buttons, even more when hand made by my husband.

I call this stitching "The Art of the Slow Stitch".  It is art.  It is slow. It is one of the most relaxing and thought provoking past times I can do with my two hands.   It is tactile and I can use naturally sourced fibers, hand made fabric.  The fabric is from http://www.the-stitching-project.com/  The fabric is beautiful, hand made cotton.  Gorgeous to stitch through, sturdy enough for a pouch and should last me many many years to come. 

I love the rippled effect that my stitching has created on the back. See the image at the bottom right.  Ah there is so much to learn about hand stitching and the best way I know how to learn is to do it. Have a go at it yourself.

Happy creating until next time ... Jane

A Newspaper Article about Tangled Treasures

The Tasweekend edition of the Mercury Newspaper has run a little story about my colouring book journey.  It is interesting to read about yourself 😀

Zendala Tiles and a little Tip

A Zendala for you all to look at.  How many of you have had a go at Zendalas. They are a lot of fun.    And a little tip for the week.  When I want to keep a new pen in my traveling kit, I tape it up with some washi tape so I know it hasn't been used and I won't get it mixed up with the used ones. :) 

Keep creating art, until next time ... Jane x

Zentangle play with Acrylic Ink

This is a little tutorial about combining Zentangle with some acrylic ink art.  I hope you enjoy it.  

Ingredients:

Starting out with "a few" colours of acrylic ink.

Heavy weight watercolour paper

Motlow Grafx Art Masking Liquid Pen

Circle Templates ... You can repurpose any round item to use

Straws

 

Method:  take your circle template and draw circles onto the paper with the Motlow marker.

 

Make sure to wipe your templates with some paper towel before the medium dries, although it will rub off when dry it is easier to do it now.

  

Mix a few drops of each colour liquid acrylic ink with water. I have used twelve colours to signify the colour wheel.

Place a small amount of colour in the centre of the page and blow gently with the straw.  The ink will go in whatever direction you blow air through the straw onto it. Make sure to take regular breaks from blowing through the straw as you may get lightheaded if you do too much at once.

You can see I have done each of my colours from the centre outwards.    I have also used up left over ink on another piece of paper to play with another time. 

When the ink has thoroughly dried, you can rub off the Motlow resist to reveal the clean white paper underneath.  Use a soft eraser or even your clean finger to softly rub the blue resist off the paper.

And the big reveal ... Doesn't it look great.

Now for the Zentangle part.   I am going to use Zentangle patterns to fill in some spaces.

My pattern books are available to purchase and download as a PDF at www.janemonkstudio.com

Tangling with Staedtler Triplus Fineliners and matching up the coloured pen with the inks as best I can. 

You could use a calligraphy pen and use the liquid acrylic inks, but the pens were easier and less fiddly for this tutorial.

Still a little way to go until I finish this piece but I think you get the idea. It was a lot of fun and would be a great project to do with children.  I would think you could use food dyes to the same effect.

Have fun and let me know if you try it.   

Keep making art until next time ... Jane x

Playing with Ink, Paper and Salt

September .. second week in and I meant to make a bigger effort to blog about stuff happening in my studio.   Thought I would share this with you all. 

Today I inked up some thick 300gsm Fabriano Artistico Hot Pressed Extra White paper, spritzed it with some water and added salt flakes.  Such a fun thing to do. 

The resulting papers will be used to create Zentangle Inspired Art.  I am making a whole heap of Artist Trading Cards for swapping.

The finished pieces with the salt all removed.  Love love love.

Until next post ... Jane x

Book Signing Event at BURNIE SHINES - Tasmania

 I will be doing a book signing and little mini workshop for Tangled Treasures at Not Just Books in Burnie (Tasmania, Australia) in October.  You will need to contact Kevin at Not Just Books to book for this.   It will be fun :)

Not Just Books

52 Wilson St

Burnie, Tas 7320

Ph 6431 9039

Adult Colouring Mini Workshop with Jane Monk

Jane will be signing her 1^st colouring book ‘Tangled Treasures’ which will be available to purchase on the night.

The workshop will include a talk, practical advice and a  Q&A session plus an exclusive colouring page only available on the night

Jane who lives in Tasmania is a Certified Zentangle Teacher, Artist & Quilter  she has previously published ‘Zentangle Stitches for Quilters & Fabric Artists’

Date:     Thursday  15th  October

Time:     From 6.30 pm

Venue: Corner of Mount & Cattley Streets (old Pharmacy warehouse)

Tickets: $10 from Not Just Books  (includes workshop, Exclusive colouring page & a drink on arrival)

Tangled Treasures Coloring Book is in the house !

Tangled Treasures Coloring In book is in the house ... my house that is.

It feels very nice to hold this book in my hands.  A book that has taken many many months of thought, planning and illustrating. Not to mention the work of putting it together by the wonderful team over at CPI (Creative Publishing international and Quarto Publishing Group USA).

Mostly I will draw the cover illustration first and parts of that image will filter down through the pages like magic.    I love my first colouring book.  

For those that want to know a little about it:   Each illustration is printed on one side of the page only.  The paper is a nice heavyweight white paper that will work quite nicely with some water if you use water colour pencils.  Each illustration has a perforation to allow for easy removal from the book.     I have included some basic colour theory and information on colour techniques.  At the back I have provided two illustrations for you to try out your own colour combinations and pages for you to try out the techniques.   Here is a little sneak peek inside the covers:

The illustrations are influenced by my own drawing style and the highly popular Zentangle style (of course I am a Certified Zentangle Teacher as well).   I have included some more open illustrations as well as some that are more complex in size and density.

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have enjoyed creating it.

You can purchase it through online bookstores and I believe it will be in great bookstores in August.

Jane xx

Kaffe Flavoured Pies & Tarts

I have been stitching some more of my tarts for my long term project that I have named "Kaffe Flavoured Pies & Tarts"

This is my effort from this mornings bout of insomnia.   They are so cute :)

One Tangle Volume V - Gridlines - 26 Tangle Pattern Step Outs

The latest in the series is One Tangle Volume V - Gridlines  with 26 fantastic tangle patterns based on grid lines. All designed by Jane Monk. In this volume you will find tangle patterns from basic to advanced with some great information on how to make your own grid lines along with three tangle step outs that can be used as background fillers.  Buy the PDF today, download today, create and draw today!

Tangled Treasures Coloring In Book

Tangled Treasures is a colouring in book by Jane Monk, published by Creative Publishing international.  Inside there are 52 of Jane's unique hand drawn illustrations and basic information on colouring techniques and tools.

This book is available for pre-order through places like Amazon, BookDepository, Fishpond and the like. The book will be available in bookstores from August 2015.

Jane has started a facebook group called Tangled Treasures where everyone can join in and share their coloured pages from the book. Leading up to the release, Jane has shared one illustration from the book with the group. On the 1 July another illustration from the book will be shared with the group. Leading up to the book release, Jane will share mini-colouring pages that have not been published previously and are not in the colouring book. The group is a closed group, but anyone can request membership. The only stipulation is that you do not share the illustrations with anyone outside of the group, nor post on your own pages until after the book release. Jane is also trying to organise some virtual colouring in sessions when the book is released. So come on over and celebrate this wonderful colouring book. https://www.facebook.com/groups/TangledTreasures/

Video tutorial for Jane's tangle pattern "Tortle Flower"

I am sorry I have been missing in action here for the past few weeks.  I am currently working on a deadline and should be back to normal next month.   In the meantime I have posted a couple of little videos on how to draw my tangle pattern Tortle Flower.    Go check it out: https://www.facebook.com/JaneMonkStudio

Don't forget all my tangle pattern design step outs are available as ebook downloads in my One Tangle series Volume I to IV on my web page www.janemonkstudio.com

Cheers for now .. Jane x

A Book Review - How to Make 100 Bead Embroidery Motifs by Genevieve Crabe

 Some of you may know Genevieve Crabe as a wonderful Certified Zentangle Teacher, she has also developed a whole heap of Mandala Stencils as well.   

Her book published by Creative Publishing International, is a wonderful resource for bead artists as well as those who do embroidery.  I think the designs would lend themselves to being used in a mixed media journal that includes substrates such as fabric, paper and cardstock to name a few. 

Genevieve's book is a wonderful introduction to beading on fabric.  The designs are easy to follow and instructions in the Technical Support chapter are well set out.   The designs are wonderful and would also be useful for combining embroidery and beading.  Overall, this is a great book with some great designs and ideas on beading.  I am glad to have it in my personal book collection. 

You can check out Genevieve's web page here. Amaryllis Creations

The Little JEM, a crochet lace scarf

I am so happy to bring to you my own designed crochet lace scarf.  It is a little light something that is perfect for that quick make for a loved friend or family member as a gift.  Also the perfect size to use up some of those left over bits of yarn as you will make a nice scarf from between 11 to 20 grams of laceweight yarn. The pattern can be made up in any weight of yarn, just make sure you change the hook size accordingly to achieve the lacy look.
 The pattern can be purchased through my web store here :  Jane Monk Studio  
or on Craftsy here  The Little Jem pattern. 

I hope you enjoy making this pattern as gifts for your friends and family.  Thank you for your support in my designing work.   Jane x

Maelo, the LifeSize Elf

This is a long term project I have on the go.  Today I did a little bit of hair styling on Maelo. Decided to make wool felted dreadlocks for his hair instead of the blond flax locks that I had previously put on him. This makes him so much nicer. Just need to permanently fix the skull cap to his head, funky up his clothing a little and he will be finished. I can then think about making his little wood nymph mate... he is a (OOAK) One of A Kind Art Doll, hand made by me with Polymer Clay on a heavy duty wire armature with a felt body.  His hands and feet are also polymer clay. He is approximately 4 feet tall.

A Little Easter Greeting

I would like to share this little Easter Garden design I drew for you all to print and colour in. I hope everyone has a safe Easter Holiday period.  Share with others so they can colour it in too,  but please use the image only for personal use.     Jane

New One Tangle Volume IV - Borderz - Pattern Step Outs e-book

 One Tangle Volume IV - Borderz is live and ready to purchase either direct through my web site here : http://janemonkstudio.com/index.php…
or through my Craftsy store here : http://www.craftsy.com/user/7113277/pattern-store…

This is a digital e-book. Once purchased you will receive an email with a download link. Please use an email address that you check regularly.

 Borders and more borders. You can use them for making cards, creating journal pages. In fact anywhere you might need a border. I have designed a range of patterns in this volume that will show you how to make your own Border tangle drawings, including showing you how to get that pattern around the corner.



 On the last pattern page I have included a little tip on how to divide a space into even or odd sections without the use of a ruler or using maths. I hope you enjoy this new volume as much as I enjoyed creating it for you. Jane

Zentangle(R) is a wonderful art form that teaches anyone that they can draw with simple step by step lines, circles and swirls. You do not need to know how to make art.

 This is a little snippet of what most of the pattern step outs look like.

Cheers Jane x

A Little Crochet

I like to crochet using fine lace weight yarn.  I designed this little scarf to use up a miniscule 11g of yarn after spinning some beautiful English Leicester wool that I got at the Bothwell SpinIn last month.

I called this pattern A Little JEM.

Pretty cute I think! 

You can now buy my patterns on Craftsy

I am very happy to tell you I have started a Craftsy site where you can purchase all of my e-book tutorial patterns.   This may be helpful to some people who have servers that do not like talking to my server.    Link is here :  Craftsy

E-Book Tutorials by Jane Monk

Hi ... Just letting you all know that the little hiccups with my downloadable ebooks has now been resolved.  My web page www.janemonkstudio.com is operational and all tutorials are available for instant download via a link that is emailed to you once your payment has been made.

All of my tutorials are easy to follow, simple language and all drawings are hand done by me the old fashioned way with my trusty ink pen and paper.

Once again I am offering to send you my pattern step outs called "A Little Extra" when you purchase any three of my tutorials.   I will email this separately to you once you have purchased and downloaded any three tutorials.

You can choose from One Tangle volume I, II or III, A New Twist on Tangle String lines, Make Your Own Miniature Book Box House (also called Fairy Houses by some ).

Thank you for supporting my little store.  It is such a joy to be able to share these tutorials with you.

Jane

Email issues

 Edit to add:  To those few people who had difficulties downloading my ebooks, it appears my server was having some issue with your service provider.  I have emailed everyone.  So if you think you have purchased one of the ebooks but have not received a link, please send me an email.  Thank you so much. 


Unfortunately some people have been having some issues with my email address jane@janemonkstudio ... I apologise for any inconvenience and will look into it.   I will check to ensure those who have purchased ebooks from me have gotten them.   I do not check my web page on the weekends usually.   The automated system sends the access link email to you, so you may have to check in your spam folder for an email from me.    Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience ... I will be in touch with you all by this evening.  Jane 

A New e-book by Jane Monk - A New Twist on Tangle String Lines (for Zentangles and Zendalas)

I have just released a wonderful ebook tutorial called "A New Twist on Tangle String Lines" What is a String Line? A String Line is the line you draw to create unique spaces to draw Zentangles® patterns into.

The twist on the string line is a technique I have adapted to create your own unique Zentangle String Line Templates. It includes comprehensive directions with detailed examples on how to make your own. A very reasonable $15 for a Step by step visual tutorial developed for you by Jane Monk. 

You can purchase it at www.janemonkstudio.com  

 This is an example of one of the Zendala's you could create ... the variations are literally endless.

A New Tutorial by Jane Monk - Make your own Miniature Book Box House

I am very excited to announce the release of a new photographic step-by-step tutorial about how to make your own Miniature Book Box House.   A fairy house of your own design.   How to make your own door and stairs to fit any book spine.  I explain step by step how to create a book with a hidden compartment, a door and stairs, how to paint and decorate it.  I hope you enjoy this wonderful tutorial I have developed for you.   You can find it here - Make Your Own Miniature Book Box House Tutorial

Tangled Stitches is now available in German

I am now published in German ... That was a bit of a surprise for me ... How wonderful :)

I have just posted my new One Tangle : Week 1 - 52 Tangles in 2015

Hop on over to have a look

One Tangle : Week 1 - 52 Tangles in 2015:  Week 1 ... 52 Tangles Oh it is exciting starting a new journey and a new journal.   Simple string lines can help create beautiful tangl...