Scratchboard Zentangle

Every Tuesday morning I help in my daughter's art class at school. Last week they were using a cool thing called Scratchboard, which is a thick paper with a colored coating on top. You use special tools to 'scratch' the coating off to reveal the color underneath. The most popular scratchboards are black with white underneath, but there are also available with rainbow colors under the black, or white under a metallic coating. It's really fun to play with, but does require a bit of practice, as I found out!

Yesterday I was finishing up my piece during the 6th grade art class, and some of the kids were watching me - they loved it! They thought Zentangle was the coolest thing ever! And their favorite pattern was 'Groovy,' so I thought I would use this piece for the Diva Challenge this week:)

And on a purely personal level, I'm excited about publishing my book, Yorkshire Mysteries, as you can see on the right side of my blog. I wrote the book a while ago, knowing that getting it published would be a huge longshot. But with the advent of online 'publishing on demand' I am finally able to hold my book in my hands and put it on my bookshelf along with some of my favorite books. It's a real thrill!

Have a good day, everyone:)

Yorkshire Mysteries!

Forgive me for not posting sooner, but I've been very busy making felted bracelets and my adult line of jewelry (which I'll be blogging about soon!). I've also been busy getting my young adult novel Yorkshire Mysteries, Book One: The Pilfered Pouch sold on Barnes and Noble.com as an ebook. My ebook can be read using Barnes and Noble's Nook, which is also downloadable for use on ipads, iphones, droid phones, and computers. My novel is the story of two young girls living in 15th century England.

Synopsis:
Bess Cardwell is wealthy, blonde, petite, and quite unhappy. Her mother died when she was only three years old, and ever since her father re-married and had another daughter, she has felt out of place and thoroughly ignored.

Jasmine Bowles is a butcher’s daughter, whose own mother died just one year ago. She is opposite to Bess in both appearance and circumstance, but is just as miserable.

When Jasmine accidentally knocks Bess down in the crowded streets of York, the two girls take an instant dislike to each other. Fate, however, will bring both girls together again as Jasmine witnesses the theft of Bess’ pink pouch in the marketplace just one week later. She sees the thief who stole the pouch and a mysterious man in black who ran after the thief. The following day, Jasmine is shocked when her friend, Harry, reveals to her that he has found five pounds, a pink pouch, and a dead body in the blacksmith’s stables!

The two girls will join forces to discover why Bess’ pouch was stolen, how Harry is involved, and who is the menacing man in black? The will also find out, along the way, that friendship born from misunderstanding can sometimes be the most enduring of all.


I wrote this book years ago and am extremely excited to finally have the opportunity to sell it in the Barnes and Noble marketplace. Now I might have to put my Dabbling aside and concentrate on writing the sequel!
To purchase, please go to:  http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Yorkshire-Mysteries-Book-One/Dianne-LeMay/e/2940012712943/?itm=1&USRI=dianne+lemay