Diva Challenge #147

I really like the Boo-kee tangle as I can see all kinds of ways to vary it.  Some of the ways others used it had me in awe - incredibly talented people do this challenge every week!  I didn't get quite so creative with my first time using this pattern.  I went graphic with my interpretation: stark black and white, no shading and no color.  I will be playing with this tangle during the slow moments at work tonight to see if I can come up with something creative, so I might have a second entry for this week's challenge tomorrow. 

We'll see.

Diva Challenge #146

Well, I finally had time to finish a tile for the Diva Challenge this week.  I'm not happy with it, but I'm trying to make sure I do at least one piece for a challenge every week.  I figure this will help me to learn new patterns and not get stuck into a rut using the same familiar patterns over and over.

If you want to see some really awesome examples for this duotangle challenge, check out the links for other entries that are posted at Erin's blog Laura's blog (Sorry about that.  I got the Diva mixed up with Erin from The Bright Owl).  There are some stunning tiles!

New Tangle Pattern - Cyrano

Margaret Bremner, CZT and author of Enthusiastic Artist blog, has created a brand new pattern she calls Cyrano.  To me, it's reminiscent of Cadent, but with a bit more interest to it.  Here's the tile she posted using her new pattern with several variations:

She's posted the step-out for Cyrano on Enthusiastic Artist, so be sure to visit and learn how to add this pattern to your tangle repertoire.

Diva Challenge 145 - Part II

Last night, I was working with a Zendala template from Erin over at The Bright Owl blog.  I've finally reached the point where I am not using the templates straight up, but instead using them as my string.  Before, I used to just fill in the template with tangles and never changed anything.  This time, I traced it onto my paper to use as the string or inspiration for the piece instead.

The first thing that came to mind was to use the Quib behind the circular element of the Zendala.  I actually did the Quib before doing anything else.  I should have taken a picture at that point, because it was quite unusual looking.

I have not shaded this piece at all as I like the way it looks.  As I'm starting to do, though, I will print a couple of copies to play with shading or color.

I don't often have two offerings for the weekly challenge, so I had to post this.

Diva Challenge 145

Zentangle creators, Rick and Maria, released a new tangle pattern this past week called Quib. It is a lovely, ribbony pattern that is worked behind, similar to Hollibaugh.  As soon as I saw Quib, my brain went crazy coming up with ideas for the pattern - I have several variations I'll be working on.

Naturally, this week's Diva Challenge is to use Quib in our piece.  I worked on this yesterday afternoon and then in slow periods at work.  I may do a second entry for this challenge since I'm done early for a change and I really want to keep playing with Quib.

I became a bit ambitious in the piece I did, as I also added a couple of patterns I've never tried before, so I was attempting three new patterns: Quib, Dragonair, and Fricle.  I did mess up the Dragonair because I was doing it by memory.  Not a good idea for me.  Luckily, it still came out looking okay, I think.  The little swirly things in the upper left of the piece were fun.  I didn't go by a pattern, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out it is a named pattern somewhere.

If you haven't tried Quib yet, you can find it on TanglePatterns.

Fun at work

It was a bit slow at work last night, so I had time to play with tangling.  I'm really liking Mi 2 so I wanted to spend more time with it.  And for once, I went with the flow as I was tangling and I am happy with the resulting tile.

Tangleation: Mak-rah-mee & Btl Joos

While this didn't come out exactly as I pictured, I had fun drawing it out.  Now that I'm more familiar with some of the patterns, I'm letting more of my own creativity out.  Up until now, I've mostly just used the patterns I've found and I tend to stick fairly closely to the sections of my strings.  I'm feeling more comfortable with it all and am starting to experiment.

New pattern play

I had so much fun tangling this one today.  I tried Mi 2 for the first time and I know I'll be adding that to my favorite pattern list.  So much fun to do and so many ways to create tangleations from it!  This is my first time doing Lap, too.  That one was a bit more difficult, as in you definitely have to take your time, but the effect is worth it. 

I am going to copy this one and then try coloring it, but I really like it in black and white so am not coloring the original.  I'll come back and post the colored one when I've done at least one version.

Diva Challenge #144

I found myself a bit confused by the Diva Challenge this week.  She showed a video made for Sakura (the maker of the wonderful Micron Pigma pens I use) and a CZT named Samantha Taylor.  In the stop motion video, Samantha completes a lovely Zentangle tile.  After the video, Erin (the Diva) said this:

Today's challenge is to take inspiration from the video!

Use colour to bring a  Zentangle tile to life!
Camouflage a bug somewhere in the tile. (i.e. a drawing of a bug, a bug-shaped tangle pattern, etc.) Create a tile inspired by nature!
Shade your tile using some colour!

What confuses me is the various things mentioned.  I truly hope the challenge was just to take inspiration and not have to do all of the listed items.  Although, now that I think of it, my piece fits all but hiding a bug in the piece.  I have a squid, but no bug.

Unfortunately, you're going to see an orangey spot in the bottom right because I carried my sketchbook and my lasagna upstairs at the same time.  Big mistake, as it turns out, because the lasagna pan obviously had some sauce on the bottom and it ended up in my piece.  I'm quite disappointed, as I was thinking of framing this for one of my niece's.  She saw it as I worked on it and loved it.  I'll have to make another for her now.

I went with a sea-theme for this because the Popsicle pattern reminds me of sea anemones. I added a touch of whimsy by putting the face on the squid, who is pink, by the way, but the color doesn't show very well once scanned.    I used black Micron Pigma pens in .20 and .35 mm, and colored pencil. Oh, well, it was great fun doing it and I tried a couple of new patterns.

Diva Challenge #143

It's been a couple of weeks since I have had a chance to post, but I should be able to be here more now.  I didn't do last week's Diva Challenge because it was to go out of your comfort zone.  I haven't been tangling long enough to really have a comfort zone, so couldn't think of any way to tackle the challenge.

This week's challenge was to use the Cruze pattern in your piece.  This is a new pattern to me so that made it fun.  I'll definitely be using this one again.

I really liked this one before I decided to add color.  I still like it, but I'm not as happy with the results as I would like.  I may try recreating this piece again and go in a different direction with it, if I have a chance.

My latest grandchild has arrived...

Landon James Davis finally made his appearance at 3:58 pm yesterday, October 16. 2013.  Just like his mama, he apparently also believes in being 'fashionably late' as he was due on the 12th.   Landon is the newest of 5 grandchildren, 3 boys and 2 girls.

He weighed 6 lbs 13 oz, exactly what his big sister, Lilyana, weighed at birth, but he's longer, at 19.5 inches.  He definitely has a healthy set of lungs on him because when he's ticked off, you know about it!  He makes the sweetest little squeaks and mews as you hold him - even when he's asleep.

Nana is in love again...

This one was fun (and two other tiles, too)

Did this one in the slow time at work last night.  I'm still practicing shading and it didn't come out quite what I wanted, but I still like the tile.

Below are two that I also did at work, over the past few days.  One of my customers is now calling me 'The Designer' - too funny!

I'm not at ALL happy with the shading on that second tile and I'm not so crazy about the Tipple, either.  The center of the design, tangled with Paushalov, looked great before I added shading or the Tipple background, so I'm going to try to recreate that look and do it differently at some point.

Paradox Tangle Play

Paradox is one of my favorite tangles so far so I did another monotangle using it, then did some shading.  I have to practice with shading again as I tend to overdo them, so I deliberately kept the shadows at a minimum on this.

Diva Challenge 140

This week's challenge was to do a tile with nothing but pointillism (using only tiny dots).  This has never been a favorite technique of mine, but I have to admit that by the time I finished this tile, I can see where this effect could be perfect for certain things.

I normally only do one piece for the challenges each week, but I may try another for this one since I finished early in the week for a change.

Ben Kwok Kitten

This is the current week's template from Ben Kwok.  I am pretty pleased with it, overall.  I tried to use as many tangles as I could without it looking terrible and I ended up using 11 patterns, plus a bit of filler doodles like lines and dots.  The swirly squiggles that I used across the face and atop the feet is something I just came up with.  I'm not sure if there is an official pattern name for it or not. It's kind of like Printemps, but not so structured.

The 11 patterns used (in the order I used them): Bateek, Verve, Por Fin (modified), Ticking, Paushalov, Beelight, Dansk, Ragz, Bales, Tipple and Chillon.

Tangle Play

As I continue to experiment and learn new patterns, I have pieces that I like and pieces that I don't.  I guess that's to be expected.  Most of the time, I seem to like my work when it's planned, rather than when I just start tangling.  Since that rather defeats the true purpose of tangling, I'm going to continue to work on letting myself go with the flow.

This first one was a true Zentangle, although slightly larger than an official tile.  Of course, I just had to add color to it, but I think I liked it better without the color this time.  I'll have to start saving pieces before I add color, like I've seen other people do.

This next one was done in true Zentangle fashion - starting with a string and just going with the flow.  I used a brown pen, instead of black, mainly because I only have the one black Micron and I don't want it to run out before I get a chance to obtain more.

So far, my go-to tangles have been Onamato, Bales and Paradox.  I wonder if that will hold true as I learn more patterns.

Diva Challenge #139

The Diva challenge for this week was to play with 8's Parte Dos, a really cool pattern from Jane Eileen of SeeJaneRun blog.  Jane Eileen is a CZT and she's created a whole series of patterns from her original 8's pattern.  You can see the step-outs for this pattern on her blog here, as well as the step-outs for the others in the series.

I have a hard time experimenting with only one thing at a time, so I also just had to play with color and shading at the same time.  While I'm not totally happy with this piece, I can live with it.

Zendala Dare #76

I had fun using my new Micron color pen set last night.  I need a lot of practice to get back the control that I used to have when I was always drawing (almost 30 years ago!).  The biggest reason I don't have the control I want is that I try to go too fast.  I need to re-learn to slow things down and be more deliberate.

It was nice to use color, but the green Micron doesn't look like green to me.  The Serpentine pattern in the octagon and the Ennies in the center were done with green, but they look more like light blue or blue-green to me.