Diva Challenge 173 - Redux, Remix, Revisit your comfort tangle...

This week's challenge has been issued by Sharla Hicks, a guest over on I am the Diva this week as Laura has been at the 15th CZT Seminar....and I'm looking forward to hearing more about that later on.
Sharla had a great suggestion - revisit a tangle you know well. Mix it up, change it - do something different!

This is not my forte...however, I decided to revisit possibly the very first tangle I ever did. Betweed. I was lucky to be browsing one day last September, when I came across Maria Thomas on YouTube demonstrating Betweed...and I was hooked from that moment on!

Another pattern that I have always done is very similar to Flux but with 'extra' bits. So today, I have tried to mix the two together - something I haven't done before as I am usually quite happy with tangles as they are and have never really practiced the art of tangleation! And it's fun...maybe I'll do it again sometime.

'Befluxed'!

I stuck with pen and pencil on paper but here is my Reduxed, Remixed and Revisited attempt.

'O' and 'P' tangles and String Thing 46

I got a bit behind with the tangles starting with letters of the alphabet - a challenge put out by Cheryl on Artful Creations - so decided to join in at letter 'O'. This week, we are doing 'P' but I haven't quite finished that one yet...a work in progress as I think all my favourite tangles begin with 'P'......(all done now - see below!!)

Opus, Onamato, Organza and Olé

I'm also still working on the Diva Challenge this week - more of that to come!

And I finished my String Thing for Adele Bruno's weekly challenge too. This week, we had to use tangles created by Sue Jacobs and I enjoyed this one very much. The only thing is I forgot that 'Ditto' - one of my favourites (that doesn't begin with a 'P', of course!) is also one of Sue's - and I didn't include it!! Never mind...I will use it somewhere else very soon, no doubt.

Sue´s tangles - Vigne, Coil, LaBel and Bumps

And finished my 'P's just now!! What fun - I had to limit my choices as there are so many 'p' tangles that I love. Here I've included Paradox, Purk, Pokeroot, Pendrils, Printemps and a variation on Potsn'Pans for a border. I could have gone on and on!

Thanks for popping by! Let me know you were here.
Axxx

Painting with tangles

It's my wonderful in-laws 50th Wedding Anniversary this year.

I wanted to make them a picture. My mother-in-law loves to make things and the more 'home-made' the better she likes it and I know she'd appreciate anything that I made for her. I already made a card, which I forgot to photograph, and we sent it to arrive on the day; she told me she loved it so much that it made her cry. In case you don't know, my husband is Spanish and when I first met my future mother-in-law, I couldn't speak very much Spanish at all. I credit her with teaching me most of what Spanish I now know as she never stops talking and I used to listen intently to everything she said, in the hope of understanding just a little. Now my Spanish is good enough to know that her conversation - interesting and illuminating as it is - is often just a stream of conscience and it's not necessary to pay close attention. I love her dearly.

My painting is based on one I saw just today by Michele Thomas on a Facebook group - it just blew me away and I knew it was what I wanted to do. This is her original which she has given me permission to reproduce.



And this is my coloured, simplified version, done using gouache paints on a canvas, then tangled with a Staedtler 0.1 pigment liner black pen. The photo is a bit out of focus on the right hand side for some reason - but this one didn't fit in the scanner!! It's 30cm x 30cm.

And of course, I have to do the self-criticism bit, which is that I did the foreground first, which was silly because I wanted my trees to be growing out of the ground, not perched on top of it...but I am not an artist and I have to learn these things the hard way....next time, I will know. It was such fun to do and I'm going to have it framed for my in-laws. And I wish them a very Happy Golden Wedding Anniversary!

String Thing 145

I've missed a couple of week's String Things so was determined to do Adele's challenge this week.


Diva Dance
and
Dex - official Zentangle® patterns
Demi by Genevieve Crabe
Diamonds & Squares by Deanne Stewart-Mills
Dooledo by Ksenija Vojisavlijevic


I 'cheated' because I missed out a whole section down the right hand side - I was watching the football at the same time. Might as well not have bothered of course as the two teams I was cheering for - Spain and England - are both out and will soon be on their way home. However, I do need to stress that the wonky lines in the top and left border ARE deliberate! It was good fun to do and I present it warts and all without hesitation:

Looking forward to seeing the other entries later on today. Thanks Adele!

Diva Challenge 172 - Duotangle with Mooka and Auraknot

What a gorgeous couple! Mooka and Auraknot. Laura, on I am the Diva, says she has a love/hate relationship with Mooka. How could she? Mooka is delightful, flowing, smooth and elegant. Auraknot on the other hand leaves me looking like a small child - hunched over, tongue out, far too close to the page....and it never, ever looks as I want it to look.

So, I tried to do something a little different. I have used a Renaissance tile and drew my Auraknot in a sepia tone, (so you can't see it too well....) with a black Mooka behind it. I have gone to town on shading this week - again, shading can hide a multitude of little errors! Then I've highlighted with abandon with my fine white pen. It's not perfect but I quite like it.

I've already had a peek at some of the other entries to this week's challenge and there are some amazing contributions. I was quite bowled over by Debra Castaldi's gorgeous tile - wish I could do Auraknot with this amount of confidence.

Enjoy checking out all the others.

Axxx

Diva Challenge 171

This week, on the Diva's Weekly Challenge,  Laura invited us to tangle in support of Beads for Courage - an Arts in Medicine programme that supports children and families with life-threatening or chronic illness. Her little hero, Artoo, has collected a mind-boggling number of beads through his many contacts with needles, tubes, x-rays and the like during his young life. He and the whole family certainly deserve lots of support and this is my contribution in recognition of all that Artoo has to go through.

Laura says Artoo is her inspiration. He, Laura, her family and friends are certainly inspirational to many - me included. It is a wonderfully inspiring choice of challenge too - beads are very tangle-friendly. Thanks Laura for making such a worth while cause so much fun to take part in.

Big hugs. Axxx

Welcome back Erin - with Zendala Dare 94!

It was great to see Erin back with a Zendala Dare for us this week. Believe it or not, a whole three months has gone by since she had a moment to post us a new dare. She's been really busy and I guess I have too as I can hardly grasp the fact that so much time has passed since the last one.
Great to have another Zendala template - and a bit of time to complete it today. Erin said be Happy - either in the names of the tangles or the choice of tangles and I was. However...

..as always, I feel very critical of my own work. I wish I'd chosen something other than Diva Dance in the centre circles - too busy.

I did choose some of the tangles that made me happy and as it's the process that counts in Zentangle, I can honestly say I enjoyed doing it. Usually, when I sit back at the end, I quite like how it's turned out too. Never mind. Can't have it all! Well, not always!.

Printemps, Crescent Moon, Quandary, Shattuck, Diva Dance - all make me HAPPY!

And so, having found another half an hour or so after supper, I've done another version. Just as much fun to do - and in the end, I like it a tad better than the first one. I think this one definitely has a 'sea' theme..and I decided to 'go bold' on the shading....what do you think?

Tipple, Aquafleur, an Ahh in the middle  and oh my, who can tell me the name of the shell one???

Looking forward to seeing some great contributions to the challenge

A little sidestep

This week, I've had no time to do my usual and favourite challenges - including 'A String Thing', the Diva Challenge, Cheryl's Artful Creations and the Wacky Facebook Challenge. Instead, I'm posting something that I was inspired to try by Marta Harvey. She did some beautiful stamps using erasers and I was utterly smitten. Buying the erasers was no problem but I was stuck when it came to finding the carving tool. As I wanted to use the idea with my two little creators (I teach them English but we do it through craft workshops, including Zentangle, which is fun for us all!) I had to improvise for our first class.
I used foam rubber shapes and stuck them onto flat surfaces - some little pots and plastic lids that I found at home - and off we went! I was really pleased with the results and will work on them some more. At this session, we just stamped randomly and then added some tangles here and there

These three are my attempts - the girls have their own at home - I shall take some photos next time because they are lovely!

What do you think?

String Thing 42, 'N' tangles and a Wacky Challenge

This week's String Thing from Adele Bruno on 'Tickled to Tangle' gave us a loopy string to work on, using just the versatile Knightsbridge tangle.

 The string is by Barbara Finwall.

I'd used Knightsbridge earlier in the week in one of my circles - part of the challenge by 'I am the Diva' - and it reminded me what a great pattern it is and how very versatile. I enjoyed doing the challenge but in the end, stuck to fairly simple tanglations....I know others will have taken the pattern to much greater levels and can't wait to see them on Monday evening.

Here's mine - I quite like the 'cleanness' of the this tangle but struggled as nearly all my pens are running out!! Aaargh!

I did buy a replacement yesterday but couldn't find a very fine one - I will have to order one (or more!) online. Still, I enjoyed doing the 'N' tangles for Cheryl's Artful Creations weekly challenge. I used Nzepple, which I always love; Nipa, Navaho, Netting and Nvelope. All a bit 'griddy' but I'm quite pleased with the depth I managed in Nzepple. 

And finally, this week, on the Wacky Zentangle Challenge on Facebook,. we were invited to give Shoshi's 'Y-ful power' tangle a go. It's one of those that seems tricky at first but has a great rhythm to it and the effect is great just on its own. Here's my take - again, on a tan tile.

Thanks for popping by - do leave me a comment if you can. I do appreciate it! 

Axxx