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.