Diva Challenge 232 - with Holly Atwater

Monday morning and I was all sorted - beds stripped, washing in, chores done - time for a coffee and a check on the Diva Challenge this week.
I was delighted to see it was Holly Atwater! I remember it was Holly who first told me that my tangle 'Skwirl' had been published on Tangle Patterns and her genuine delight for me was evident even over the many miles that separate us. I've always loved her Zentangle work and her beautiful blog, Ha! Designs and incredible family.

And I loved this week's challenge - a chance to sit down, listen and tangle in a meditative manner. I positively RUSHED at it....no Bijou tile and an ill-drawn square on my paper, grabbed from the printer supply......oops! But once I began, listened to and followed Holly's gentle instructions, I really went with the flow and enjoyed every second. And was very pleased with the result.

I did Audio 1, with the result shown here and I shall probably have a go at the other two as well, if I get chance this week.

I've also been doing a lot of pebble painting and paintings of painted pebbles.


The first is part of a set that I did for a friend whose daughter is having a beach wedding. This stone is representative of her partner's incredible hairstyle - a huge blond Mohican, which he usually wears flattened down in a pony tail...but I do hope it will be fully crested for the wedding! I haven't shown the other other one, which is based on their initials....JUST in case there's any chance they'll see them.






The two pebbles fit together so perfectly and I'm very pleased with them. They're winging their way in a little wooden chest to my friend, so she can place them in just the right place on the day. (I don't know where that is, but she does!)

And then I did a pebble just for my hubby - to hold his papers down.

And then I drew a picture of a painted pebble! I do like painted pebbles.

In fact, I like them so much, that I'm going to the beach just now to collect some more.

Thanks again Holly! Lovely challenge and more to look forward to.

Diva Challenge 230 - Guest blogger, Erin from the Bright Owl

A wonderful union this week, with the Diva's Guest Blogger being Erin Olson of  The Bright Owl and 'Zendala Dare' fame!!

As you may have noticed, I am totally obsessed with Zendalas and Mandalas at the moment, so for me, this wasn't a challenge but another opportunity to continue with my theme. Thank you Erin, thank you Laura!

I needed to do 'busy, busy, busy' for some reason. My children and husband have taken a trip up to visit grandparents in the north of Spain, leaving me with what feels like a lot more hours in the day. Rather than waste these hours on thorough cleaning of bedrooms and other jobs that somehow never get done during the daily routine of looking after three growing children...I concentrated on my Zentangle. As you do. Uninterrupted pleasure!

As sometimes happens, I enjoyed the process of drawing this much more than I like the finished results. I drew the basic template freehand - always a challenge - and just piled lots and lots of little details into it, including six mini zendalas. It doesn't have the coherence of some of the mandalas/zendalas I have drawn myself but still -  Great Fun!

Looking forward to seeing all the different versions that this challenge will, no doubt, have inspired.

Thanks again!

Diva Challenge 229 - negative space with guest Sandy Hunter.

Thanks this week to Sandy Hunter, guest blogger over on the Diva's Challenge page. I hope Laura is having a great holiday and enjoying the great challenges that her excellent guests are providing for us.

Good thinking Sandy, is what I say this week. I am currently COMPLETELY obsessed with Zendalas and Mandalas. I think I am drawing them in my sleep and I am so enjoying them. At first, when the challenge popped up in my news feed, I thought - hmmm....not a zendala opportunity, perhaps I'll give it miss...

And then! Guess what, my opportunity presented itself.

My tangle this week is a Zendala with a central negative space! Interestingly, I didn't enjoy it as much as a proper mandala as the best part for me is the development from the centre starting point - but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it at all. No, it was lovely to do, though I did go off the edges a tad.

Thank you Sandy! I'm sure there are going to be some really great entries this week and I do love looking at them all.

Here are some of my recent zendalas - I have been so happy with the results, done on various sizes of canvas, that I took them to be framed. I am going to hang them ALL in my bedroom! Apologies if you've seen them before - I have posted them (and some others!) on Facebook and on my other blog recently....

This one is A4 size and I did it with my micron pens...bad idea!

This is a 20x20cms canvas, painted with acrylic paints and using a permanent black marker and
a variety of gel pens to add gold and white accents. The border I did on BeFunky photo editor.

Also done on a painted 20x20cms canvas - much more Zentangle in this. The lady who is framing
them was very taken with this one!

This one isn't quite finished - I'm going to paint around the outside of the zendala - it is still white
although it looks sort of duck egg blue here. I will try and 'tidy' the edges of the original
painted part...but any suggestions gratefully received about how best to finish it. It's on a 30x30 canvas, so I'm going bigger! I have also bought a 50x50 canvas to do before the end of the summer!

And whilst out shopping, I saw this material and HAD to buy some. I now have two gorgeous cushions on my sofa and may have to buy more...next time, I'll pick a more photogenic spot to show them off...