Zendoodle and winter storms and colored pencils

What are you going to do when the world has been cancelled, the house is chilly because there is no passive solar to augment the geothermal and you are perfectly happy to put on a huge sweater and remain quiet and still before venturing out into the snowy world for a little snow shoe lap around the pasture and woods.  Make a drawing for the next bead pattern, of course!

First the snow scene:

Carriage House and Barn from my studio window

We are not going anywhere except on snow shoes.

Now the zendoodle pattern.  I was looking at a gorgeous book I had buried under a pile of other gorgeous books.  This one was about what you can’t see, big and small, with the naked eye.  It’s just the kind of eye candy I love.

Note the shell pattern in the lower left hand corner.  The other colored area is a spiral but the spiral got lost in the added patterns.  Have a long way to go.  These doodles take almost as long to do as the weaving itself.  And like weaving, they are totally addictive.  I tried to do some with my wacom tablet, but I cannot control the lines the way I need to.  Plus, I love the feeling of pen or pencil on paper.

FYI:  I use Bristol board, 96 lb. weight and a combination of oil based and waxed based colored pencils.  I do go for the top of the line because they produce the best color and layer and blend well.  The price for these pencils compared to beads is insignificant! I use a variety of pens from felt tip to roller ball and, my all time favorite, a drawing fountain pen I’ve had for about fifteen years.  The only bother about that one is having to refill it every few days.

Took me about five hours . . . but I didn’t want to stop www.mirrixlooms.com