The Earth/Amanda Day Challenge

Tags

Diva, Diva's Challenge, Zendala, Zentangle

Read the story behind the Earth/Amanda Day Challenge #67 here at I AM THE DIVA. You can also see the sample tile that Laura, the Diva, posted in the description of this challenge – it is gorgeous.

Since it is an Earth Day challenge many challenge-meeters are using a Zendala tile – the round ones, you know, and I did as well. I really love doing these, although sometimes my brain stalls because one side of me wants to rebel against symmetry and the other side (the bigger, more forceful side of me) can’t break the symmetrical shackles that have always governed my thinking in the round. So here is my answer to the challenge and, as you can see, I am slowly moving away from total balance (though it still looks a bit uptight). I used part of Golven, some Tipple and Frondous. Here’s to nurturing a free, creative spirit. Tangle on, dear friends.

Challenge #67 - Earth/Amanda Day

Zendala Dare #2

Here is my entry for Zendala Dare #2 presented by Erin of The Bright Owl. I really wanted to try it again and not be so symmetrical but I have run out of time since Erin of The Bright Owl posts new Zendala Dares on Fridays – that ‘s tomorrow all ready! The total symmetry of my Zendala tiles (whether on a square or a round tile) is bumming me out – I feel they are coming from the uptight side of my brain. Next week I hope to break out of this and show something that is carefree and off-kilter. Till then, tangle on, my friends.

New Classes Added!

Just added some advanced classes that will take place on Saturday mornings. Check out the Class Info link and the Scheduled Classes link above to find out more about them. Call or email me if you have any questions.

Even the shortest post must include a picture, although unrelated to the post. Here is my first attempt at using colored pencil. I like this although I don’t think it will replace my fascination with using just the black pen.

 P.S. Longer post to follow

Fooling around with colored pencils

Took the Dare

Erin at The Bright Owl has started a Zendala Dare. Since first doing a Zentangle in the round (Zendala), Erin has been captivated by them. She has created various templates and she will share one a week for use in the Zendala Dare. The templates can be downloaded, copied and transferred to a regular Zentangle tile, a Zendala tile or a larger format. We who rise to the dare will complete one of the formats, post it and add a link to her site. This is the first week and it also comes with a contest (the Dares won’t all have contests, btw) where one could win a tin of Zendala tiles. Erin will post a new Dare each Friday – this is going to be cool.

So here is my entry, just under the wire, well, maybe not just under the wire, since there is still maybe 27 hours left to get an entry in. So, if you’re interested, there is still time (the link is up there in the first few words of this post). Here’s my Zendala Dare - it was fun to do and I’m looking forward to more. Tangle on, folks!

Unshaded

With shading - Tangles used are Scrawlz, Golven, Prestwood,
Archer and a variation of Hibred (I think).

Must share . . .

How did I miss this? According to the date, it was available a year ago. I guess I was preoccupied at this time last year. Had to share it just in case you haven’t seen Sarah Kay yet either. What an inspiring young woman. Hope you enjoy it.

 

Saturday class coming up!

Just posted under “Class Info” – April 21st there is a Zentangle 101 class at Atlas Coffee Mill in Appleton from 1:30 – 3:30. There have been requests for an afternoon class and this is what I was able to arrange. Call or email to register. If this goes well, there may be more – stay tuned and keep tangling!

Challenge #65 – “UMT v. III”

The first Monday of the month brings a challenge that incorporates someone’s original tangle – “UMT v. III” and we are using JJ LaBarbera’s Huggy Bear. This isn’t the first time I’ve used it, hmmmmm, I KNOW that I’ve used it before, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere – OH! I know where it is! It’s in my Tangle-a-Day calendar – waaay back on the 6th of January. Just did a few to get a feel for it. Okay, that mind mystery is solved. To get back to this week’s challenge - I decided not to use a string as we usually do a string. I wanted to use Sue Clark’s tangle Tri-Po as my string. I’ve been looking at Tri Po lately and wondering why I have such a problem with it. My first attempts (way back – - when? I don’t know! I won’t try to figure out that particular mind mystery) weren’t very satisfying – they just didn’t look right to me – so I inserted them into this challenge to double up the challenge for myself. I was surprised to be satisfied with the Tri-Po I drew as the string and with the variations of Huggy Bear placed within, but the whole thing wanted more, so I added Mikee Huber’s tangle, Pais, here and there, as well as some touches of Tipple. The shading helped out as well.

UMT – Huggy Bear

I had a few minutes last night so I decided to do another more light-hearted rendition for the challenge so here is my quicky tile. I used Huggy Bear, Ahh, Shattuck, Archer (Chris Gerstner) and some dangle designs picked up from Joanne Fink’s tutorial video posted at TanglePatterns. Such fun!

This week was a quiet week as far as classes go – next week will be the same, but that’s okay since I’ll have the grandkids with me and that’s a whole lot of another kind of fun! The third week of the month brings a class on Tuesday and another on Thursday so I’m looking forward to that week. The following is a picture of the tiles created at the last home class I taught. That was a lot of fun, as they tend to be. (SMILE) Thanks to Judy for hosting and to Jeanine, Sarah, Suzanne, Becky and Linda for helping to make it a fun evening.

Beautiful first tiles! Although we did two tiles, only had time for one photo.

Tangle on, folks!

Challenge me again and again . . .

Tags

Diva's Challenge, Zendala, Zentangle

The Diva’s Weekly Challenge #64 this week is String Theory v. VIII “Fortuneteller.” We were to divide the tile into eight equal wedges (a plus sign over an X) and use that as the string. I liked this challenge and did two tiles because I thought my first one was on the dark side, but that could be because I shaded it rather darkly. With the first attempt I didn’t really try to meld one tangle into another but tried to balance the lightness and darkness of it. The wedges are looking chunky and obvious because the tangles aren’t mingled or blended at all.

First tile for Challenge #64

 

 I integrated more flowiness in my second tile (the computer says there is no such word as flowiness – HA! Suggested flakiness, flukiness and flutiness – hmmm, I wonder what it would suggest for flowyness . . .well, those make no sense, BUT I digress  . . . ) I think I like the second tile better because the string doesn’t stand out which I suppose contributes to the flowiness of it . I was ever so tempted to do another tile with even more flow (flake, fluke or flute) to it but I had another type of tile waiting for me  . . . 

ZENDALAS have arrived!!! Hooray! I was really excited to try one, but then I hesitated. I hesitated for about a week – I let the idea of doing tangles in the round percolate in my brain for a while. Truth be told, I was a little intimidated by them. There are 9 prestrung designs to choose from – so that was the first decision – I closed my eyes and picked one.  Then I decided, as a special treat to myself, to use some of my favorite tangles and this is what I came up with:

Snail, Striping, Tipple and Paradox used here

Looking forward to doing more of these for sure! Happy Tangling everyone!

Fengle-ized!

I’ve been squeezed for time this week as I had to prep for a class at Atlas (see photos below), meet with friends (X 3), do laundry (finally) and I have the need to post before Sunday (last possible day for a “Weekly Post”) as I’m preparing (as in packing a ton of stuff as usual) to take off on Friday for a sisters’ weekend. I also really wanted to complete the Diva’s Weekly Challenge #63 this week as it involves using the absolutely absorbing tangle titled “Fengle.” (Subscribe to the Zentangle® newsletter to get some awesome tangle news – here’s the link that includes Fengle.)

One of my dear friends celebrated a birthday this week which made me frantic to find a perfect card before seeing her at dinner on Wednesday. Suddenly I was struck with the idea to tangle a card for her. (DUH!!!) As I was enjoying this activity, thinking that it was turning out quite well, I was also wondering when I would have time to do a tile for the Challenge. It gradually dawned on me (slow thinker that I am) that since I was tangling “Fengle” all over the front of the card that I should take a picture of it and post it for the Challenge. (‘nother DUH!!) So here it is - 

Happy Birthday, Pam!

 I admit I’ve been practicing Fengle since learning of it – - – it can get away from me!

This is fun, fabulous, fantastic, flexible, fulfilling FENGLE!

Here are the pics from my latest class at Atlas Coffee Mill (I apologize for the poor quality photos – must work on that!):  

 

New Zentanglists Jane, Jill, Monica, Carol and Carole

Tangles - Florz, Meer, Crescent Moon and Hollibaugh - beautiful and unique!

I so love to teach this! Check out the “Scheduled Classes” tab above to see when more classes will happen. Register for a class so you can add Zentangle fun to your life too!

Tangle on my friends.

Thoughts and results of challenge #62

Tags

Diva's Challenge, Paradox, Zentangle

Weekly Challenge #62: Spiral Vs Paradox

This week’s fun and provocative challenge is from fellow seminar CZT#7 attendee, Marizaan van Beek. (see Diva’s Challenge button to the right) Marizaan has challenged us to integrate spiral with the tangle Paradox. Paradox is such a fun pattern to work with because it is so simple but looks so complex. I didn’t have any trouble imagining how it would look, in fact it looked pretty darn good in my mind. However, the execution and the vision didn’t exactly sync up. It was as if the pen had a mind of its own, which sometimes can be a good thing but in this case it wasn’t. The spiral string was lost somehow in my first attempt. I really wanted Paradox to get smaller as I went up the spiral – it sort of did but I don’t see a spiral anymore at all. So just to get some spiral in it I tacked on some Snaylz Trayl and Voxter to the design. Since they are off to the side, it really didn’t reinforce that spiral/Paradox image and became too unbalanced for me. More importantly, I guess, I didn’t experience the satisfaction one should after meeting a challenge, so I tried again.

First attempt (on yellow paper)

I will only say that my second attempt has the spiral in there BUT it is so-so-so busy I am afraid it may cause migraines or, at the very least, severe eyestrain. It is so-so-so busy that I won’t post a picture of it – I am thinking of your well-being here. There was no saving this attempt due to the fact that it would require more time that I wanted to sacrifice to the mess at hand.

On my third, and more gratifying try at Challenge #62, I experienced much more satisfaction. I’ve always liked Frickle, and since it has that spiral line it was the perfect choice to begin the new design. I started with four Frickles and then inserted Paradox within and behind them. This was not done on a tile because I wanted more room to spread the spiral-like Frickle out and also because I thought I was still practicing. When I realized how much time had already gone by, I decided it would be best to call this one the answer to the challenge. I really like doing the challenges, but there are other things that must be done besides tangling. (sadly)

Second attempt - on 4.5x6.5 white cardstock

Thank you Marizaan and Laura for another wonderful challenge – I’ve had a great time meeting it (twice). 

P.S. If you haven’t already, use the Diva’s Challenge button on the right and check out how others have met this challenge. There are some very impressive and sophisticated Zentanglists out there.