Diva Challenge 245 - Hollibaugh

Every so often I do a tile that I really like. It possibly happens less these days as I become more critical of my own work. But this week, I felt very inspired by the Diva's Challenge to go back to basics and concentrate on what she calls, and I agree, one of the foundations of tangling - Hollibaugh. Such a lovely tangle and so versatile.

I started off by making some Hollibaugh lines but used a thick pen (Micron 0.8) for the 'underside' or shadowed lines and a very fine (0.05) for the upper or non-shadowed line. Then I drew an aura line inside the spaces left where the lines crossed and finally, filled each additional space with more Hollibaugh. It was intensely 'Zen' and I was utterly engrossed for going on an hour. And pleased with myself and my tile at the end of the period.

Thank you so much yet again, Laura.

Thanks for stopping by - wishing all my transatlantic friends a very Happy Thanksgiving. Axxx

Diva Challenge 244

I´ve just returned from a flying visit (literally) from the UK. I travelled on Friday 13th which is not always an auspicious day and one which many superstitious people choose to avoid. No problem for me and cheap flights too. Not a good day for the folk of Paris though....pause for thought, commiseration and a desperate hope for some resolution somewhere along this awful direction of travel.

But I was lucky.
On Sunday, after a wonderfully nostalgic visit with my bestie in Oxford - whom I haven't seen for almost six years and where we were joined by another friend that we haven't seen for 30!!! (oh my, we really are OLD!) - I travelled to my parents and we all went out for lunch together. I couldn't believe that the pub where we had an excellent, typically English Sunday Roast Dinner also thoughtfully provided 'Zentangle tiles' on the table for their customers to use!! I nabbed a handful but did leave a finished one just to say thank you, of course! (And if anyone has no idea what I'm talking about, then what I remember as 'beer mats', which always had photos and pictures of beer or similar on them, now are plain white and exactly Zentangle tile size!)

At my sister's, before we began our real live 'Scrabblefest' - (we usually play online together) - I began a tangle to test out the 'tiles' and I liked them very much. And then I logged on to the Diva Challenge to discover it was one of my favourites - Tripoli - and so finished off the tile with that tangle for this week's entry.

Here it is with Hanny Waldburger's Abundies. I had bought myself a Sakura 0.05 pen, so it's all done very finely...

The tiles, whilst they didn't make the ink 'bleed' have a rough surface that's not quite white and which looks a tad 'grubby' but I can heartily recommend them and may be asking my sister to go to the pub again for lunch very soon - and to grab another handful for me!

On my journey home, I tangled on the flight and chose four tangles with the letters 'H O M E'. I had been 'home' to England, and was now going back 'home' to my husband and family and I felt very lucky.

Hamail, Opus, Mooka and Echoism - HOME!

Here's thnking of those caught up in some of the world's problems.

Diva Challenge 242 - Gourdgeous! New tangle

I was a bit worried that time had suddenly speeded up in a reckless manner. Then I remembered that the last Diva Challenge, I was late in posting and this week, I am early. That just about explains it. I think...although we're also now in November and I have no idea how that happened....

This week, on her blog, Laura directed us to the new official Zentangle that Maria came up with recently - it's Gourdgeous. Yes, based on the shape of a Gourd and following the Diva's own dancing principles, I found this a simple, easy and fun tangle to do.

The background is a rather hasty homage to Maria's original inspiration - Bead boards - which don't quite line up as I was drawing with the new addition to our family sitting in between me and my tile. She's so gorgeous I don't like to push her away - and if I do, back she comes and settles down again to watch my pen and listen to the gentle noise. I understand her well. I would do the same if I were a cat.

Here she is next to a finished tile for Square One - Purely Zentangle, which has Verve as the focus this week.







Hope I'm excused my wonky bead boards now! Here is Gourdgeous - a lovely Autumnal tangle with lots and lots of possibilities. I may have to play a bit more with this one! Thank you Laura.