Yuma tangle

A new month brings a new tangle in the spotlight over at I Am the Diva.  This time the tangle is Yuma by Tina.  I like this tangle but my version needs more practice.  When using this tangle in the past, I have started out not liking the results but by the end, I like it a lot.

For this week's challenge, I decided to use a black zentangle tile.  As I have been using a dip pen lately, and have some white speedball ink, I used those to draw.  The results were mixed.  I have had issues using this ink before.  I haven't figured out if it is me or the ink yet (me I think) but it doesn't want to work well with the nibs that I have used.  Not to worry, I will keep at it.  My results are:

For the tile I tried the original version of the tangle.  I also tried my hand at Onion Skins, another new tangle I haven't tried.  I enjoyed it but it also needs a little work on my end.  I started to "shade" with a white charcoal pencil but changed my mind and just stopped.  To fill in, I used a small brush as the pen wasn't cooperating.  So, this tile, not my best but I learned doing it.

I have used Yuma once before a few weeks back.  I gave it a try when making a pin and experimenting with a new Shrinky Dink film.  I used a black and pink sharpie to draw and used a Sakura gold marker to fill in the seed shapes.  I felt a little lost as I was going but by the end I liked how it came out.

Happy belated Thanksgiving to those who celebrated in Canada.  I am looking forward to Thanksgiving here in the US.  My family will be here to visit and I am excited to see them.

I hope you all have a great week and thanks for stopping by!

A New Challenge, A New Tangle

As it is the beginning of the month, it is time for a Use My Tangle challenge over at the Diva's page.  This week the tangle is Dansk from Margaret Bremner.  I cannot belive that I have not seen this one before.  Or if I have, I confess that I don't remember it.  Dansk is a fun and wonderfully easy pattern.  Mine look more like tree rings but there's nothing wrong with that.  I'll have to remember this one when I am looking for nature inspired patterns.

I managed to keep this tile really quite simple.  Somthing that I have been trying to keep in mind.  White space is ok and can even be your friend.  I borrowed the string from tanglepatterns.com.  Nothing was coming to me as I stared at the blank tile and then I remembered that Linda is collecting string ideas so I clicked over and found one.  I also used Diva Dance for the first time.  Well, for the first time in a completed drawing anyway.  I wasn't sure about this at first but I have come to like it.  All the patterns I ended up picking out all remind me of tree rings, at least they do here.  Maybe Spring is trying to work its way into my brain.  I know it's ready for some sunshine.

I also wanted to share with you the photo mat that I complete for the swap over on Facebook.  It was quite a challenge to do but once I got going at it, I was able to get some bits that I am really proud of.  I still need to spray it against smudging (not that there is a lot of pencil on it) and pop it into the mail.  Luck for me the deadline is in March.  I am HORRIBLE about getting stuff into the mail.  Well, I should say horrible when I need to go to the post office.  If I can print postage and mail it from home then I am not so bad.  I tried on a few new tangles on this as well and that was a lot of fun.

I hope you have a great day!

Big Tangles Zendala

Wow!  I just looked at when I last posted, it has been too long.  I have to do better.  I will try to get myself back in the groove of blogging.  I have been working away, but I haven't been sharing with you readers. I am sorry.

I am back to share with you my Zendala that I finally got finished this week.  It took me all week to get it done. Not because it was very detailed, but I haven't been sitting down to work like I should.  When I first saw the template from Erin in this week's challenge, I thought "Oh, a flower! This will be easy."  Then as typical for zentangle, where I thought I would go, was not where I ended.  My tangles are all large, they use the whole section.  I really like that about this zendala.  It isn't very floral either.  And, this one is spare.  I decided to leave some white space and I'm glad that I did.  It looks great.

I'm calling this one Biggen Zendala as the tangles are all so big.  I used Gryst by Frances Banks for the first time.  It's the one there in the middle.  I used a variation.  I have to say that I first thought Gryst was going to be simple, and it isn't complicated, but I did have to sit and work out which way my lines were going to go.  The first way or two I tried did not come out right at all.  I don't have the name of the second tangle noted so if you know, please leave it in the comments.  I could go look it up but as it is after midnight, I'll skip it for now.  I then did Paradox around the outer edge.  I love the depth that it brings to the spaces and how it really sets off the "petals".  I liked it so much that I opted to leave them white.  

This zendala is done on an 8" circle.  A friend of mine introduced me to a circle cutter from Martha Stewart's craft line that I really like.  It will cut a 4" circle up to 12".  It is really easy to use but you definitely want a cutting board underneath.  Just ask my card table with a nice circle shape carved in it.  OOPS!  Anyway, it's available everywhere.  I used one of my Michaels coupons to get mine.  This is the first zendala that I have done in a circle and it was fun.  I was tempted to further cut it into a octagon but I was able to stop myself.

Well, I have a long day ahead of me and it starts early in the morning so I better go.  I'll work on getting updates here more often.  I hope you are having a great day!

Earth Day Zentangles

Sunday was Earth Day and I must confess that I was unable to celebrate it in an Earth friendly way.  We spent the day driving home from a wedding in Virginia.  It pleased me though to see that the challenge this week was to create a tile that celebrates our home planet.

I wasn't sure what I was going to create when I read the challenge, but I knew that I was going to use blue and green ink to draw.  Really, a challenge inspired by Earth just called for color to me.

Patterns used: Shattuck, Tripoli, Keeko

When I sat down to start my first tile, I decided that I wanted to draw the Earth in space.  I contemplated  tracing out a map or image of the Earth but then decided that I would just go for a suggestion of Earth rather than a literal translation.  Because I started while sitting in the waiting room at the orthodontist my circle is a bit wonky but no matter.  I added a few shapes to represent land and I was off.  I made my blue section first and then went and added my green.  I think that I should have stopped and not added the black, however. I think that I liked the tile better before.  I added the "stars" with the Sakura glitter pen to break up the darkness.  Plus, if we were looking at Earth from space we'd see stars too.

Patterns used: Tagh, Hibred, Baton, Pokeroot, Paradox, Organza

After finishing my first tile, I wanted to do another one.  Since I found some 4" canvases at Michaels, I've been a bit obsessed with them.  This second Earth is done on a 4" canvas "tile".  I say tile as it is solid all the way through.  It is some hard material (cardboard maybe) covered in canvas.  The tile is thin and pretty easy to work with.  I will be doing a post on the canvas and pens that I use next so check back if you'd like to see more.

I decided that I wanted this one to be more of a suggestion of Earth.  I started with a circle and then added Organza to divide the circle.  For this tile I used Bic Mark-It pens with the ultra fine tip.  The green that I have is very light and I ended up going over my lines several times to get them as dark as they are.  I am still working out the shading on the canvas though.  In some places, I think that the grey pen is successful but in others not so much.  I find that the Bic pen kind of "puddles" at the tip so that a spot of extra ink can be left when you pick your pen up.  You can see this best in the green sections.  I find though, that it I end my gray lines on a black one, that the dot blends into the black and is no longer an issue.

I like this tile and think that I will use the divided circle again.  I really like how it looks.

Thanks to Laura for another great challenge.  I hope that your foot is doing much better.

Illuminated Letter

I have finally finished a piece that I have been working on for several weeks.  Some friends of ours are getting married next weekend and I made a piece for them.  Usually I would get a couple something from their registry but these two don't want anything.  They have been together for a while and have bought or collected most of what a couple starting out would want.  Something they do have is a new home.  The house is really beautiful and has lots of wall space.  Naturally, I thought that I would make them something to hang on them!

I really admire the work done at the Zentangle Illuminated Letters master class that was held in Rhode Island.  What incredible art was made there.  Taking the idea, I decided to try my hand at making one of my own. 

I am not a calligrapher nor is my handwriting very good, so I chose a font that I liked and traced out my letter L.  From there I divided the space and kind of made it up as I went along.  I am quite pleased with the final product.

I toyed with the idea of adding some light washes of color with watercolor paint but I think I need to learn more and practice before I add to this work.  It is hard to see the shading here but the patterns really popped out once the shade was added.  This was done on 12"X18" watercolor paper using micron pens, pencil, and the Sakura Pen-touch gold marker.  I was going to use my gold leafing pen but it was not working well.  I think the pen-touch did a great job.  It covered really well and the shine is nice.

Paradox Spiral

Marizaan van Beek a CZT from South Africa is hosting The Diva's challenge this week.  What a challenge it is!  Marizaan challenged us to use paradox in a spiral.  Every time I see a triangle, I am prepared to fill the space with Paradox but to put Paradox in a spiral?  Hum, that was a mind bender.  However, I decided to jump right in and see what happens. I have learned that sometimes tangles look very different when used in a new way.  What can it hurt?

I drew a spiral on the tile and got started.  It wasn't so hard really.  I don't make Paradox as lovely as Marizaan does, but I don't think I do so bad.  (You should click the link above and seemarizaan's tile.)  There were times though that I was afraid that the spiral would get lost in the drawing.  I decided to go in with a 05 micron and draw the spiral with a heavier line.  I also made a small black oval at the center to make a definite end to the spiral.  After I got the spiral done, I decided to keep it simple and use Paradox in a square for the background.  As for shading, I kept it SUPER simple and just shaded the spiral line and around the outside of the spiral itself.

This was a great challenge Marizaan thank you so much for it.  Spirals are usually something that I don't use very much but I have to say, after this challenge, I am certainly going to explore more.  Your tile is beautiful.

Sepia Zendala

Last year, I did an art exchange with some on-line friends.  It was a lot of fun.  I was just getting into Zentangle and made tiles for each of the people that I sent stuff too.  In return, they sent things that they made back to me.  One sent a knittted hat and beautiful jewlery that she made, another sent the most adorable knitted cupcakes (which my 5 year old promptly claimed for himself.)  Since I enjoyed it so much, I proposed to do it again this year. 

I had four takers interested in doing a "creative swap" with me.  As I only had four takers, I figured that I could really have fun and make some larger zentangle inspired pieces.  My skills are better than they were a year ago (I hope.) and I saw this as a chance to give back something beautiful to friends who had sent me such wonderful things.

Mandalas and Zendalas have really been inspiring to me as of late.  I created one for an auction at my son's school and wanted to keep going.  Once again, I started with mandala design that I traced out on to watercolor paper.  My geometry skills are at a solid F so I have to rely on a shape created by someone else.  Wanting to keep with the Indian feel of the mandala, I chose to draw in sepia.  I used the micron speia pens in a 01, 05 and 1 sizes.  I did most of the drawing with the 01 and used the others for fill in and where I wanted a thicker line.

Mostly done here. Just needs some shading and a few highlights.

It took me about 3 weeks to get it all done.  In that time though, there were days when I didn't work on it at all and other days that I drew most of the day.  I finally got it all finished this morning and I am soo pleased with the finished product.  I am tempted to keep it and hang it on my own wall. 



All shaded

 As I was working, I was afraid that the many different patterns would make it too busy.  Often I want to fill in each section with something different.  Once I started shading though, the different sections started to pop out and pull back into their own spaces giving them enough seperation that I think it works.

The final size is roughly 7" and will be framed in a 12X12 frame with a 8X8" opening.

Moebius Trip - Challenge 55

Has it been 55 challenges already? I started late in this journey but it sure doesn't seem like 55 should be where we are.  I guess time flies when you are having fun.

This week we were challenged to tangle a mobius strip or to make a tile including the Moebius Syndrome Foundation's logo.  This was to honor/raise awareness of The Diva's young son Artoo who has Moebius syndrome.  You can read more about the challenge, syndrome, The Diva and Artoo on her blog.

I wasn't up to the challenge of making a mobius strip althought that would be pretty cool.  Time was not on my side so I went with the logo.  I used paradox in the white space of the strip to keep with the whole infinity thing.  After I got that done though, I was unsure where to go next.  Then I decided to use Artoo (the tangle) because, well, it is all about Artoo isn't it?  :)  I used the purple gel pen from last week to color in the petals.  I didn't get exact with the color either.  I wanted it to have some character.  Then, I added bales to the background.  I was going to add more tangles but I changed my mind, as I wanted the logo and Artoo to stand out.  They are the main/important parts here after all.  I kept shading to a minimum as well for the same reason.

I wish the best for The Diva, Artoo and their family.  They face challenges every day that many people would run from and beat them down as the go.  I admire that.  Go on Artoo! Grow big and grow strong!

Undine - Challenge # 53

A New Year and the Diva's challenge has returned!  I woke on Monday to find not only a new challenge but a new tangle as well.  I have to say that I am really intrigued by the new pattern Undine.  It looks so complicated but it is so easy to create.  Well, for me easy is still a work in progress as my Xs were not evenly spaced or numbered but oh well.... :)

I look at Undine and can see all the possibility in the tangle.  I didn't experiment with shading this one as I made it on the small side.  I think that if I remember to make it bigger next time though, I can find some room in there for shade.  As it is, I added a black oval in the center to give it a little more detail.  I think it looks like cells under a microscope.  I'll definitely keep this in mind when doing something nature or science themed.

I made up a little tangle there on the right bottom.  I think anyway.  I'll have to explore and see if there is one like it already.  It's based on a pattern I saw in the Peacock Room in Washington, DC.  I need to work on it a bit more as well as it isn't quite how I'd like it to be.
This is a short post today.  I am working on a sepia zendala and I can't wait to get more done!  Have a great day!

Time Lord Tangle

Another blog post, another gift!  This, as the title may imply is a Dr. Who inspired tangle.  I have a very dear friend that is a big Dr. Who fan.  She has turned me into a fan as well.  I'm not as versed on the lore as she is so I was walking a bit in the dark with this one.  I kept checking my self though so I hope that I didn't get anything wrong.

The symbol in the middle is the Gallifreyan symbol for either Gallifrey or the symbol for the head of the Time Lords.  (For anyone who doesn't know, Gallifrey is the planet that Dr. Who comes from.)  I found several different notes on the internet as to what it is exactly.

The language of the Time Lord is most often shown as being circular.  It is quite steampunk looking and really cool.  Because of the circular language, I decided to use a lot of circular patterns as well as other patterns that look "spacey".
After I got Rain done and took a look from a far I was so excited that it reminded me of bow ties.  The angle that I made the triangles look like bows to me which is great because the current Dr. often wears a bow tie. (Bow Ties are cool!)

I hid a TARDIS (Dr.Who's ship) up in the top with Strircles. You can't have the Dr. without his TARDIS so I wanted it to be there but to blend in as it were.  :)

Over on the right side, I wanted to further involve the TARDIS but from the inside.  In many versions of the TARDIS, there are the great panels on the sides of the wall that have circles in them.  So I created a pattern to call this to mind. My 11 year old says that it reminds him of the Daleks body (the villains in many an episode).  I confess that it does a bit so I guess this pattern will have to pull double duty.
To frame the finished piece, it is 10X10 (I think.) I picked out some scrapbook paper in "TARDIS Blue", mounted the drawing, and then put it all in a 12X12 frame. 


I am happy to report that Kara got it all in one piece and is quite happy with it as well.

Breast Cancer Awareness

October is National Breast Cancer awareness month.  Did you know?  I didn't until this week's challenge from The Diva.  I have had 3 women in my life to battle breast cancer.  One was my Godmother Cam.  She fought bravely but sadly was taken by the disease in the late 1980's.  Another is my Aunt who has successfully battled breast cancer with a minimum of side effects.  The last is someone I met on the Internet and who I think is truly the definition of hope, strength and courage.  Julie is battling cancer currently and I have every hope for the best possible outcome.  She is a beautiful person and I am proud to call her a friend.

It is these three women who I thought of as I drew my zentangles for this week's challenge.  I will get to send Julie and my Aunt their zentangles, and will keep the one I drew for my Godmother as a reminder of her and her strength and love.

I started each of these tiles with on outline of a ribbon. After deciding on what tangle I wanted to put on the ribbon, I divided the remainder of the space behind and finished the tangle.  I used the micron pen, a white and pink gel pen and pink colored pencils.



Tangle for Cam




Tangle for Aunt Susie



Tangle for Julie

Hoo are Yooo?

I have an online friend who is redoing a room in her house in all black and white.  She has picked lovely things to go in it but when I saw it, I knew that I needed to make a zentangle for her.  That room is made for a zentangle.  Maybe one day I'll make my own black and white room too.  She also loves owls so guess what her ZIA is?

The bedding she chose for the room has a lovely graphic stripe accent so I pulled that in for the background.  I think that I made a new pattern for the outside of the owl.  I haven't seen it anywhere else.  I wanted something that would look "feathery".  I still need to draw it up and think of a name.  It is really quite simple.

This one is an 8X8 square on watercolor paper and done with micron pens.

Pinwheels for Peace

Today is the International Day of Peace!  Get out there and spread the peace because we sure could use it.

In honor of this day and the Pinwheels for Peace project, The Diva has challenged us all to create our own pinwheel.  I was afraid that I was going to miss the deadline but I got in just under the wire!  This was a fun and new way to create some zentangle.  I chose to actually create a pinwheel and I found myself thinking more about what patterns to put together and how they would translate to a 3D page.

I ended up cutting a square of watercolor paper to tangle on.  I am happy to report that my pinwheel even spins!  I took it outside on this cloudy day to try and get a photo and the pinwheel kept spinning in the breeze.  I just wish I had an outside pinwheel to tangle now.



Finished and all put together!




The inside.




Outside flaps



Better Than a Pair of Ducks

This week the challenge from The Diva and Maria of Zentangle is to create a tile using only one tangle: Paradox.  What I love most about Paradox is that it looks so very complicated when you see it, but actually creating Paradox it really quite simple.  Hey! I bet that is why the tangle is called Paradox.  (Wow, am I quick.)  I have tried a tile or two using just Paradox before and while I've been perfectly happy with them, I wanted to try something new.  I had wondered what they triangles of Paradox would look like when attaching the points in the center, like a Trivial Pursuit game piece,  but have not tried it before.  So, when I saw this weeks challenge, I decided to go for it.

I started with the main grouping in the center and then added those at the edge.  After I got them all filled in, I liked the tile well enough, but thought there was far too much empty space.  I thought about just blacking out the white but then I changed my mind.  I was afraid that the Paradox would get lost.  I decided to add another triangle to the "circles" to connect them all together.  I like how it turned out.  It sort of looks like a complicated piece of jewelry.

I have another tile that I started before this one but I didn't like where it was going.  If I finish it, I'll post it here later.

Peacocks are all done!

They are all done! This is on a 9X12 piece of watercolor paper.  I ended up getting a Krylon Leafing Pen and adding it over the top of the gold I had added with the Uniball gold gel pen.  I liked the Uniball pen but I wanted the gold to shine a little.  The uniball is nice and the ink flows well, but it doesn't give the shine that the leafing pen does. 

Getting a mat cut for it and my Husband is going to make the frame.  I think the bride and groom will love it.