Friday, December 12, 2014

That's Maryhill spiraling, not me

It all started with that feeling of being overwhelmed at the holidays. Pretty common right? I felt the need to draw. I put pen to paper and ended up with a spiral. Well, that was funny because that was exactly how I was feeling! As soon as I drew the spiral my mind focused on "Hey, I bet Maryhill will spiral. Let's see!" Since Maryhill wants to spin even without a spiral string, I thought there was a good chance. So I just sectioned off one "rectangle" at a time and then filled it in with Maryhill. Since I didn't have the pie shaped wedge you typically need for Maryhill, I simply brought the lines together in the same corner each time.
Although I liked the final result, it seemed to need something. So I tried again with a wavy spiral. This was more fun and organic for me. I love how the wavy lines, once shaded, resemble folds of fabric.
Mid-tile, Yoda, queen resident of my craftroom, decided I needed a break. When I didn't stop, she completely covered my art journal! Ok, good idea after all!
After a chin rub (for Yoda, not me), stretching my legs, fresh air and another cup of tea, I finished the wavy spiral. I had a lopsided design, however, so I added Flux peeking through to hold it up.
Next, I tried a Zendala with more variety by adding Betweed and Tipple. With this spiral, I sectioned off triangles. This was more like the pie shapes in the original Maryhill step-outs.
Before, I finished, I needed to square things up. I nearly had too much spiraling! I looked back through my art journal to when I first discovered Maryhill. I had tried it with Beeline then but had never finished as I just hadn't been able to meld them. So I tried again. Look at how straight those lines are! I was in the zone. Let's try another, Tripoli, cool!
The Christmas crunch is still on and I'm still a bit overwhelmed. But, for a while, it all disappeared.

4 comments:

  1. Betsy, I love the curly/wavy spiral of Maryhill. Thanks for sharing how you did it.

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  2. Love your work, thanks for sharing. Yoda is pretty, my cat Foo chews on my art journal while I'm drawing

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  3. Me gustó mucho su trabajo. Me hizo reir el gatito, ya que mis gatas Titi y Piri siempre están acompañando mientras dibujo.

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  4. Through some cirquitous route, I just found this post. Maryhill is one of my favorite tangles! I LOVE your version, in the spiral, especially the wavy spiral! Can't wait to try it. Thanks for sharing!

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