I know its a bit late, I had the best intentions, but here is my little piece to welcome the new year. It was definitely colored by the sad and disturbing news about the deaths of many Red-Winged Blackbirds, along with other reported mass deaths of birds, fish and crabs, but never-the-less, the new year is a beginning, and therefore hopeful!
It was inspired in large part by the beautiful work of Marie found at BLOG Zentangle.
http://zentangle.blogspot.com/
There had been a pile of wildly colorful paste paper scraps in my classroom for a while. I knew I wanted to do some collaging with them. In the meantime, a fellow art teacher introduced me to Zentangling. I was immediately taken with the combination of meditation and creativity. So, paste paper and Zentangle doodles came together!
I also had to create something to express the conern I felt about the strange deaths of the Blackbirds. Below is Ghost done in watercolor and ink.
nancesplace 