Earth Day!

Guess what?!  I finally finished one of the Diva's challenges in time to post it!  Shocking I know, as it has been a long time.  I've been checking in every week, and I've even started some, but I've either not finished them or not finished in time.  So, I tried really hard to get mine completed this week.

Following The Diva's example, I too chose to do a zendala.  I don't have any of the nifty tiles though, so I made my own.  I used my circle cutter and cut out a 4" circle on watercolor paper.  I then traveled over the Erin's site The Bright Owl, and pulled my template from Challenge #52.  Being Earth Day, I wanted a template with circles in it and this one jumped out at me.

4" watercolor paper, micron pens and pencil

I knew that I wanted some blue and green on the zendala, so I decided that I'd use them in the middle.  I picked Diva's Dance in blue to be my "water".  For my "earth" circles, I just kind of made it up.  I wanted to have something that looked like fields from above.  I started with squares and then just filled them with rotating patterns or filled the space with just green.  I'm not sure how I feel about the design as a tangle pattern, but it works here for what I was aiming for.  Now, I needed to do the outer sections.  Again, I wanted to have patterns that felt organic or earthy to me.  I used Beeline because, bees!  The other sections are Zin, mostly because I messed up my Beeline set up.  But hey! There are no mistakes in Zentangle.  I had these lovely triangles and Zin fit in perfectly.  The outer edges I used Verve and Tipple.  I thought that Tipple looked like gravel or a rock pile.  After that, I added a little shading and BOOM! I was done.

I really wasn't sure how it would turn out when I got started, but I am pleased with the final result.  As is often the case, shading helped a lot.  The blue and green felt really flat as I opted to not shade the patterns in the circles.  Just the little shade on the edges where they overlap really popped them out and away from each other.

While I have your attention - if you've made it this far- I wanted to share the tile I did for last week's star theme.  I did get it finished in time, but I did not blog it in time.  So without chatter and more words, here are stars!

Well, a little more.  I used watercolor for the blue, micron pen to draw and a little silver sakura gel pen for the lines.  I wanted to give the impression that the stars are shooting stars.  Not sure it works as zooming but I tried!

Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween Zendala: It's webtastic!

It is fall here in Delaware.  The nights are cold and the days are cooler.  The leaves have started to change.  It's a good time.  This week at the Bright Owl, the zendala challenge is a Halloween/Fall theme.  I was all excited as I eventually want to have a zendala themed for each season.  However, as Zentangle often goes, this zendala didn't turn out the way I thought it would.  Rather than fall, I have Halloween zendala.  I really like it though.

Halloween Zentangle

I started this zendala on an 8X8" piece of watercolor paper.  I then took an AquaStic in orange and colored the background orange.  I kept the color uneven and unplanned.  I thought of the outer ovals as the eyes of a mask.  I even started to blacken them all in but I thought that all of them being black would be too much.  I added Verve and Allium to the center to mimic a spooky eye.  Afterglo and Web came eaily at the larger triangle spots.  After that however, I was stuck.  I had this large shape in the middle and could not think of what to fill the space with.  This morning Auraknot jumped up and said "Use ME!" so I did, bringing Web back to the center to tie it back to the edges.  The shading really added to the dimension in this one.

I hope you all have a wonderful fall and Halloween.  As of today, my sons want to be a Teenage Mutaint Ninja Turtle and a Korean Pop star.  Funny that the turtle costume will be the easiest to do...

The Challenge of Sankegg

Finally!  Things have settled down enough that I can get back to the Diva's weekly challenge.  I have stopped in to see what was going on each week, but have not been able to get myself sat down and put pen to paper.  Since September, I have been doing some shows and fairs in the attempt to get my art out there.  It has been a learning experience to be sure.  I'm still working on finding my audience but I'm getting there.

I have not tried Sankegg before.  I really like the look of it, but I'm not sure that I have it down very well yet.  See I have this thing with evenness, in that I get a little twitchy if things aren't even.  But, in the spirit of Zentangle, I just went with the pattern and let go of my twitches.  After just doing a quick pencil try on a scrap paper, I jumped in with both feet.  I had to refer to the step out often, I kept getting confused, but I think I got it down.

Sankegg Challenge

I knew that I wanted to put Sankegg in several places in the tile.  Nothing like a use my tangle challenge to play with variation.  After making my string, I started in the center and went with Sankegg as in the step out.  I ended up adding Tipple around the Sankegg in the upper left side mostly to cover my mistakes.  I somehow ended up with too many lines but through in a few circles, and BOOM, no more extra lines.  For the lower right side, I decided I wanted to try varying the triangles.  I stopped short of shading Sankegg as I just wasn't sure where to start.  I'll work on shading it next time.

Have a great week everyone!  Thanks for stopping by.

PS:  I got a new scanner, an Epson Perfection V33.  The above image was scanned using the scanner.  Isn't it lovely?  It's scanned in at 600 dpi and no touch up was made.  A very sweet and affordable scanner if you're looking for one.

Verve Experiments

Once I started making Verve, I can't seem to quit!  Thanks to Linda over at Tangle Patterns, I've been seeing Verve in a new way.  Linda used Verve in a way I had not imagined and it inspired me.  One of the things I love about sharing patterns with other Tanglers is that patterns are used/created differently by everyone.  Variations can be wildly different but so can basic technique and I love seeing all the different approaches.

Taking my inspiration from Linda, I created this piece that I am calling Tempest.  I started with the darkened line first.  It is a filled in Organza without any embellishment. I had thought I would go back and add to it later but I changed my mind.  Then I added Verve behind it.  In making Verve, I played with waving the lines more and varying the circles to see what would happen.  I have to confess, this is probably one of my most favorite pieces and it's basically a monotangle.  Anyway, it was a lot of fun to do and I wanted to share it.

Another thing that I have been trying to do with Verve it to find a way to connect circles one to another.  I'm still working on it but I have done it a bit.  In some places it is very Verve and then other bits it begins to look more like Auraknot.  I think that you can see it a little in this Illuminated Letter I made.  You can see it along the top.  Like I said, a work in progress but I like how it looks.  I did a Vortex-like bit in the circles there.

While there is more Verve to show, I'll just add one more image to this post.  I wanted to give myself a challenge to use tangles in long, narrow pieces and see what I could come up with.  I did a similar idea on an ATC and thought I'd take it a little larger.  This one is on a 6" x 6" square.  I also used some tangles that I haven't before and was plesantly surprised with how they came out.  Coaster for example.  I have not used it before.  Why? I have no idea.  I really like it and have seen it lots of places but I never tried it until then.  

Well, I have had a long day of prepping for the Arden Fair and I am about to fall asleep sitting here.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Mi2!

This week the challenge is to use the tangle pattern Mi2 created by CTZ Mimi Lempart.  I really love this tangle pattern.  It looks so complicated yet is very easy.  The spacing is the hardest part for me.  I confess, I draw a grid to help me get started.  Without that my "seeds" would be all over the place but once I have them drawn, I am no longer following a grid.

I used Mi2 in an Illuminated Letter that I made for friends so I have a little but of experience with this pattern.  I haven't used it very often since then, so it was nice to have another go at it.  I wasn't sure where I was going when I got this tile started.  I drew Mi2 in the center and then decided what to do next.  I wanted the pattern to stand proud in the tile, so I didn't draw a string.  After I finished that, I decided to surround it with Verve, my latest pattern.  I have been playing with it and wanted to explore it some more.

I really like this one and it was a lot of fun to make.  I have to say, this is probably the fastest tile I've done in a while.  Thanks Laura for a great challenge.  I am glad to hear that you had a good time in Philly.

Have a great week everyone!  I can't wait to see what you've created!

Tangle Pattern: Verve

Back in Zendala Challenge #9, I came up with a new pattern that I am calling Verve.  I must credit my Husband with coming up with the name.  I was stuck and asked for his help.  I asked him to tell me what word or name comes to mind when he saw that design and he said "Verve".  I'm not really sure that it visually embodies the definition of the word, but it works for me.  :)

The pattern is really quite simple and will easily fit into a circle shape that pops up in your string.  I have been toying with it in some other designs that I have been working on.  I have tried to carry the pattern into a line if you will.  I'm still working on it but I am enjoying the process.

I start with a 6 and a 9 that wrap around the circle.  You can "wave" the stems quite a bit to add interest.  I have just been shading where the lines "tuck" into each other but I imagine that shading where the lines bend will add some more dimension to the look as well.  Also, the center circle can be filled in with anything you'd like or just left empty.

I hope that you like this one.  It has been a lot of fun for me.  I confess, I have to fight myself to keep from filling every rounded space with this one.

Zendala Dare #9

I have been so busy with the end of school that I have not been posting.  I have been working though and hope to get caught up soon.

So, on to the challenge from Erin this week.  This is the first pattern that Erin has created that has given me trouble.  I think it is because I didn't "see" a design when I first looked at it.  Often the idea for the design has come to my eye but not so this time.  I really love this template.  The shapes and design are really beautiful.  The ovals though... They were such a stumbling block for me.  I spent a lot of time just looking at this design and thinking about what tangles to use.  In the end, I opted to keep it with line work.  Once I made that decision, it wasn't any easier though.  I started with Braids (I think that's the right name.) and went from there.  In the end, I really love this Zendala.

The outer edge on the larger pieces is Ramy by Sandy Bartholomew from her book Totally Tangled.  The larger ovals in the center I just made up a pattern.  I wanted to mimic the Braids but not repeat it.  I was pleased with how it came out.  I'm not sure if there is another pattern like it already.  I'll have to think up a name and draw up the steps.  The small ovals at the center were done to bring Ramy back into the center.  I opted to edge out the center and spaces between the tangles and fill them in black. I am so glad that I did.  I saw the star shape in the center but I had not seen it on the outer edge until I filled it in.  I love how shapes hide sometimes.

Thank you Erin for doing this challenge each week.  Zendalas are quickly becoming a favorite of mine.  Your templates are wonderful.  When is your book coming out?  :)  I'd buy it.