Solar Eclipse!

Very exciting that today we experienced a partial solar eclipse! The line of totality ran through the  sea north of Scotland so we had about an 80% coverage which was still very dramatic. As the moon covered the sun an eery light draw in. I was expecting it to feel like dusk but due to the sun being much higher in the sky it had a strange yet mystical feel.

Here is a (fairly blurry) photo of the eclipse as the moon was moving away yet it still shows the partial eclipse. So beautiful.

I couldn't help but create s quick art journaling page to celebrate this amazing universal phenomenon! 

"Patchwork Mandalas"

I have been loving the meditative practice of drawing zentangle - like mandalas recently. I unexpectedly came across mixing and matching different drawings together to create "patchwork mandalas".

This is really fun and means that I can keep drawing half mandalas and still use my original drawings to combine together in new patchwork images.

It's a great way of playing with composition and of combining different colours so it's nice to experiment.

I also think they look beautiful  with natural crystals sat on top. I think I'm going to have a play with some crystal formations and grids....here comesy spiritual side, yay! :)

100 artworks challenge

I have just come across this blog post which is such an exciting challenge.  I have been loving the abstract paintings with doodled details which I have been creating over the past few weeks so have decided to accept the #100artworkschallenge to refine this exciting new practice.

I will be sticking with the abstract painted backgrounds, finger mark making and doodled details which are all symbols of nature and drawing mandalas.

I am really excited to see where this goes so watch this space!

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Owls

Today I've been experimenting with a new direction for my work. The main influence for my work is nature and I've recently had the urge to paint an owl. I love the beautiful big eyes and somehow delicate frame of the barn owl so here is my interpretation of this amazing creature!

Painting in layers then doodle the details!

I really love this process of painting which I seem to have developed for myself over the last few weeks. 

Watch theentire painting process here; https://youtu.be/wte9uQcPo5s

I start with an expressive painted layer using acrylics with a brayer roller and smudging with my fingers. I then add in patterns using stencils. 

I let this layer dry then go back in again using my fingers and acrylic paints in contrasting colours. I love to add in bold coloured dots too to create added details.

Once this is dry I love to add lots of crazy detail using black fine line and Paint pens. I find this doodling process so meditative and I like to just go with the flow and let the patterns create themselves, although they usually reference nature.

Big, bold and beautiful.  Everything that art should be!!! ♡

Why not have a go yourself? Paint something quick and intuitive, then once it's dry use it as a background for your doodling! 

Zoe Howarth Video; a snippet of my creative world

Zoe Howarth; Mixed media, Art Journaling and Paint: http://youtu.be/VOVbyyJfXD0

The magic of Abstract and Doodles!

During some experimenting in my recent work I have discovered a surprising magic in combining my love of yummy textured abstract painting with fine line doodling!

A couple of my recent posts show these 2 techniques separately;
  "Being brave with layers" and
  "Black and White Doodles - Patterns Everyday"

Combining these 2 very different techniques has been really exciting and has surprised me to find that I can use my doodles to accent certain areas and brush marks of my abstract paintings.

Here's a snippet of some pieces I've been working on over the last few weeks. This is definitely something I want to play with and develop more!