I have been mainly doing Mandalas in recent weeks - and yes, to the exclusion of doing Zentangle! Verging on obsessive, really - which is not easy for me to acknowledge. I don't like being obsessive. It can lead to aiming for perfection....scary!
I have been following the challenges that I usually taken part in but unless I could somehow fit in a mandala, I haven't been inspired. Also scary...what has been happening to me?
This week's
challenge from the Diva initially seemed a non-starter for me too...using stripes as a string. Although I love the idea, my first thought was - how can I fit a mandala into stripes?
Well, I tried it and I did it.
Some of my stripes include Zentangle patterns, like Ditto, Quandry (individual 'seeds, rather than the whole pattern). Wud, Fescu and Flux - and the others use typical mandala repeat patterns. It's quite detailed but it was such fun to do. Not going around and around in a circle suddenly felt very liberating!
I was then inspired to sit and do a purely Zentangle tile with stripes - very simple - and I think I might be getting back into the swing of it. Love, love and love Prestwood!! Put my chop upside down though....obviously due to lack of practice. An excellent antidote to mandala addiction and proof to myself that I can go in straight lines and still feel very satisfied at the end of it.
So thank you, Laura. Inspiration when I needed it and a jolt out of a rut. There are definitely worse places to be than in a mandala rut but nice to look up and see the bigger picture from time to time. I bet there are going to be some wonderful entries this week and I look forward to drawing more inspiration from them too.
Thanks for popping by!
Axxx
Nice work! I really love the look of the first one, it's so rich, full of patterns (no matter where they come form ;-) ).
ReplyDeleteThanks Ilse. I keep looking at the first one and wondering whether it would look better in colour....! Axxx
DeleteWonderful intricate patterns. How clever to make it look like rounded shapes instead of flat ones,
ReplyDeleteThank you YT. It's all in the shading and I could possibly have shaded a little more - but I'm happy how it turned out. Being positive! Axxx
DeleteWow, you are clever! You did it and it is fabulous.
ReplyDeleteThank you Susan - this is just the sort of encouragement that I appreciate!! Axxx
DeleteAmazing work. That really too some thinking to get those patterns into stripes for the first one. Lovely!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jean! Actually, the difficult thing was to stop 'thinking mandala'! Axxx
DeleteI love the way you used pieces of Mandalas in your response to the Diva's challenge to use stripes as our string. It turned out brilliantly and I never would have thought to do it. Very creative.
ReplyDeleteThank you Suzanne - as I said to Jean, if you'd done as many mandalas as I have done recently, you would know exactly why!! I'm not sure my habit has been broken just yet but at least I've done something that isn't a mandala here as well. This is progress...Axxx
DeleteThese are fantastic Annie! That mandala piece is stunning.
ReplyDeleteThank you Michele - very kind words indeed. Axxx
DeleteLove both your solutions to this challenge!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Lady Kate. Axxx
DeleteI think the best word in English for the first one is STUNNING!!!!!! It really is and .... probably thanks to you addiction :-) I like your Prestwood one too.
ReplyDeleteTOO kind, Annemarie - thank you so much for your enthusiastic comment! Axxx
DeleteIt's very pretty. Like me you chose vertical stripes! merci pour votre commentaire en français !
ReplyDeleteMerci beaucoup et, de rien! Axxx
DeleteWhoa, totally fabulous! Love these.
ReplyDeleteThank you anonymous commenter - nice to see an anonymous comment that's not really bizarre.... at least it's kind and generous! Axxx
DeleteThat first one is fabulous, I don't know how you managed to make it look rolled up and 3D. Glorious. And then the second, apparently more simple one, is a joyous reminder that things don't have to be complicated to be good.
ReplyDeleteAbsolute accident, Margaret - I'm so glad it looks rolled up and 3D as it's what I was aiming for but wasn't sure I'd quite got it!! Thank you so much - you are quite right about the simple things. Axxx
DeleteBoth stunning tiles but I loooove the clean, simple yet striking look of the second one :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Rosie - after the complexities of the mandala one, it was really was a lovely one to do. Axxx
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