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atangledplace

~ Where I share my tangles and thoughts or tangled thoughts or thoughtful tangles.

atangledplace

Monthly Archives: February 2012

Try a Different Perspective

29 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by CathWI in Weekly post

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First of all, I have been very busy the last two weeks or so. I haven’t had time to do the previous two Diva challenges. I won’t get to them unless I have time to mess around in the future. I’ve resolved to look forward rather than try to catch up. Trying to catch up is too daunting.

This week the Diva’s #60 challenge is DuoTangle v.III “Cirquital/Munchin” which has turned out to be quite a challenge for me. I have tried Cirquital before and found it very awkward to do. So I practiced in my sketchbook first – as shown here.

Cirquital practice
I wasn’t satisfied with my attempts but I also realized that I could keep on practicing and not get anywhere near where I wanted to be with it. So I grabbed a tile and started in – just do it, do it, do it – don’t over think it or the results will look contrived. What I ended up with reminded me of other tiles I have done in the past – especially when using only two tangles. One tangle surrounded by the other – repeat performance –  maybe I DO need to think about it after all. Tried again. This time I switched where the tangles were placed but it ended up with one tangle surrounded by the other. In spite of trying not to repeat myself I did repeat myself. Have I any control? Sometimes I wonder. Hmmmm, no, no, no I can’t try it again; enough is enough. I really need to remember this the next time a DuoTangle Challenge is offered – the actual challenge for me will be to not repeat myself.

First attempt

 

Second attempt

While working with these tiles and my sketchbook and my camera, I realized that photos of my tiles look different than seeing them in hand. I like the photos better and I can’t say why. If you haven’t ever tried this, I recommend it. Take a picture of your tile and look at it that way – I can almost guarantee that it will look different to you. If you can explain why, I would be mighty glad to hear from you.

Until next time, tangle on, my friends, tangle on.

 

Classes in February were Fabulous! Below are some of the tiles created by some new and talented tanglers. (Classes for March can be seen on the Scheduled Classes page – link is above.)

2-16-2012 Class at Cedar Ridge

 

2-21-2012 Class at Atlas Coffee Mill

 

Staff development 2-23-2012 at Kim's

 

2-23-2012 Staff development at Kim's

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Challenge #57 “UMT v. 1”

13 Monday Feb 2012

Posted by CathWI in Weekly post

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“UMT” meaning “Use My Tangle” and the tangle we were to use was Sanibelle by Tricia Faraone. The Diva will feature a “UMT” the first Monday of every month. If you have created an original tangle, be sure to enter yours (the link to do this is at the top of her blog). An important aside! Laura Harm must be congratulated as she has just won Readers Choice Top Teaching Blog of 2011 – her blog is absolutely terrific! Please check it out!

 

I have used Sanibelle before, in fact, it occupies the January 23rd place in my Tangle a Day calendar. I really like this tangle and I especially like what Tricia says about it here, on Tangle Patterns – it makes me think of white beaches and crystal blue water and warm breezes – where I’d like to be right now, in fact. Check out the Diva’s site and see how others have incorporated this tangle in their Challenge entries – it’s really cool to see the creative way Sanibelle is fashioned in each.

Sanibelle on 1/23

 

Has this ever happened to you? I started a tile – laid a string down and then put Sanibelle in one section. Then I added another tangle that I have wanted to try – Warts and Wobbles – hmmmmm, then I added Linked – oh dear. Then, just because I like this one too, I added ‘Nzepple. I know, I know, that doesn’t make sense – it just added more busyness to a very busy tile. I kept making the wrong choices over and over again. I tried to fix it by darkening some areas and adding Nightsbridge, but it was really too late. Big sigh. How do you fix a piece that gets too busy? If you have a hint for me, please let me know. Anyway, here it is.

Not enough Sanibelle

 

So I had to do another one – this one features more of Sanibelle (as it should) along with a couple Frickles  and some Flux (one of the Official Tangles created by Rick and Maria – they each have a version – only taught by CZTs – like me!). This one reminds me of the bottom of the ocean. At this point, I had a “can’t stop at just two” feeling.  I really wanted to try another – one with more variation to the tangle, but I had to stop. Seriously, I could tangle the day away and get nothing else done. I am so enthralled with doing this – it’s my most favorite way of expressing myself.

More Sanibelle 🙂

 

I did a different creative project this past week as well. I made a “Faux Molskine Notebook” following the directions on this blog – Fine and Feathered. It only took about an hour and when it was done – I tangled on a page – what else did you expect?!? That was fun and I will probably do another someday – unless, of course, something else catches my interest  . . . Happy tangling everyone!

 

Leftiousness

03 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by CathWI in Weekly post

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This week the Diva’s Weekly Challenge #56 is called “Non Dominatrix v.2” which means she has brought back the challenge of using your non-dominant hand to compose a tile or ZIA. This struck terror in the very pit of my being. I hadn’t done the v.1 challenge she had posted last March; I knew it would be difficult, I just didn’t know how difficult.  

The fact is I have often complained about the uselessness of my left hand, and, unfortunately, within hearing of that offending appendage. So I wasn’t keen on putting it to the test. After all, it has had, for the most part, a leisurely free ride all these long years. Sure, it can hold things steady and somewhat upright, can scratch an itch on my right side, and operate the blinker and cruise control when needed, but I didn’t have any faith in it handling a pen – especially my Micron (which I value highly). Needless to say, I also didn’t relish sacrificing a tile to this neophyte. I examined old lefty and found it looked responsible enough; it even had fewer age spots than its more active mate. Maybe I should give it a chance. It seemed eager enough – maybe even a little over eager, now that I think of it.

So I proceeded to draw the margin and string with the new kid in the ring. So far so good – a little shaky but I thought I shouldn’t be nit-picky. Lefty picked up the precious pen and my brain stalled. What tangle could Lefty handle? I really wasn’t sure – which just translated into my not trusting my left hand to do the job – I realize that now, but not then. I thought “small parentheses.” Yes, that should be doable – so Lefty started with Keeko. Oh boy, I couldn’t believe how shaky Lefty became while making those “small parentheses.” Toward the middle, after despairing over the quality of my lines, I realized old Lefty was gripping that pen to the point of crampishness. Hey, hey, hey – this is supposed to be relaxing! I had to stop and remember that it’s the process, not the product. So I had to set my mind on relaxing that untrained hand and not pay attention to the quality of the line. Even that was difficult for me as my mind kept straying to what was happening on the tile and not on relaxing into the creation.

Since Keeko was more challenging than I had hoped, I thought maybe a tangle with more open space would be in Lefty’s best interest. So we tried Florz next. What was I thinking? Drawing the grid wasn’t too bad, but filling in those diamonds at the cross-points was crazy hard! Trying to neaten them up made them clunkier. Oops – remember it’s the PROCESS!

Okay, okay – the next tangle to include was Hollibaugh – straight-ish lines with a little curve; fill in with black – sit back, turn tile this way and that – not too bad. The last tangle I turned to was Riverstones (by Lori Howe). Gently undulating lines and orbs – in my vision, this could be done, but in reality this also was a struggle. So much so that the last little loop of my tile I just filled in with bits and pieces that repeated other lines in the tile. There! Done! Oh, except for the shading. You’d think THAT would be easy. Poor Lefty – nothing is easy for this side of my being.

I know my left hand needed this exercise – as well as my brain, but it was very, very difficult. That realization made the small voice in the back of my head pipe up with “Then you should do it more often; eventually it won’t be so painful.” Welllll – maybe, maybe, maybe . . . but I’m not sacrificing any more of my precious tiles – a little old sketchbook can belong to Lefty – for, perhaps, a weekly exercise.  Again, that voice nags “Sounds like you have to relearn the Process/Product lesson.” Hmph! I know! I know!

Oh yes, below is the result of allowing my tag-along appendage to express itself. The challenge was met but the lesson remains to be learned.

The Diva's Weekly Challenge #56

Cathy Staeven, CZT

—The Zentangle® art form and method was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. Zentangle® is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc.

The Diva's Challenges met

Antenne rouge et blancheMacro Mondays - Plastic.PlasticMerchant Navy No. 35018 'British India Line' - GargarveThe Sun VoyagerElephants don't do Hamster wheels !!alte Weide am RheinuferLoch Tulla - Apri 2018gato campero desconocidoPlastic - [MarcoMondays_20180423]
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