Diva Challenge 293 - Happy New Year and UMT - plus String Thing 179

Hello and a Happy New Year to tanglers the world over. Here in sunny Spain I am noticing that more people are getting into Zentangle, which is great. Maria Perez-Tovar is a CZT based in Madrid and is spreading the word officially there with fantastic results from her classes. I love seeing how quickly people grasp the concept and start flying with it.

And here in my little corner of the world, Alcala la Real, I have been holding weekly classes since October for a women's association. At first, we weren't sure if people would want to commit to two hours every week but the numbers have increased over the months and after the Christmas break of three consecutive Fridays without a gathering, our first class last week was both a joyful occasion and - it's true - a huge relief for some of those who are clearly more addicted than others! So be sure, if anyone visits Spain and is within striking distance of our little and very beautiful town, please drop in for a Friday evening's tangling, won't you?
I would dearly love to do the official course in Rhode Island but we struggle sometimes to make ends meet anyway and live a quiet life in the country with our three children (all of whom we hope we can put through University) so for now, I glean my knowledge and information from the wonderful people who share their experience on the internet. Not least Laura and Adele - whose challenges I have been taking part in for several years. It's been a bit sporadic recently due to my increased workload, but I am so grateful for the community of people that I have been able to follow through their commitment to offering us a weekly challenge.

This week on the Diva's Challenge, it's Use My Tangle week and we had the lovely Orbs-la-Dee by Anneke van Dam. I have always like the look of this one but never actually used it so that was a good start to the new year - I enjoyed it very much. My tile has a bit of a sea theme, I think. (And why is it that the scanner never reproduces all the shading???)

Likewise, I have  had the time to do Adele's Tickled to Tangle challenge this week too. And not just once, but twice. She gave us this loopy string and the tangles Dust Bunny, Betweed and Curl.

I did one version and enjoyed the process so much that I thought I'd do a second. Just shows how very different you can make one string and three tangles turn out!

This one wanted the string rotated...to the right

And this one has the string upside down. Love Curl, can you tell?

Thanks for popping by - I will be taking advantage of a little extra time today to look at what others have done with the challenge this week. Happy New Year. I think we can safely say it will be an 'interesting' one....

Diva Challenge 266

The Diva has some gorgeous pictures on her blog this week, of her boys doing lovely creative things. And at the same time, she manages to inspire a larger host of people across the world. That deserves some big appreciation. Thank you Laura - you are most appreciated!

As this is the first Monday of the month - and the 1st Monday of May no less, when workers of the world unite - it's the Use My Tangle challenge. We have Henrike Bratz's Cruz, which I have used before as it's such a focussing tangle with lovely depth. I'm heavily into practising Eni Oken's Ruutz at the moment, so here you have my attempt at these two together. I haven't exactly deconstructed Cruz, but I've separated the elements a bit for some contrast.

Very much enjoyed this challenge - thanks again, Laura!

And whilst we're here, I'll share my entry for last week's It's a String Thing - another tile I really enjoyed doing. We've had a little break from work and school this week, so it's been nice to have time to tangle. I may have overdone this one a bit...lol! Quib with Echoism..echoism...echoism....echoism

Thank you so much for popping by! Axxx

Absorbing!

I recently visited family and friends in England and had arranged to collect some blank beermats whilst I was there. I got a stack - some round, some square. This was on the basis of having found some in a pub the last time I was over and discovering that they were perfect for Zentangle.
However, the ones I bought are rather more absorbent than the ones I found in the pub....I was a bit sad to begin with but I'm persevering.

Yesterday, I had a circle-fest. If I use my finest pen (0.05) and work faster than usual, to avoid too much ink soaking into the card, I can achieve a rather nice tile. Or ten! It was Easter weekend and we'd time to relax yesterday so I really, really enjoyed these.

I haven't managed all the challenges recently, which is why I haven't been posting, but I have been tangling. Hope you managed to have a peaceful week in what is currently a rather depressing state of world affairs.

Aquafleur and Florz

Knightsbridge for the Shading challenge on Facebook

A little Mandala

Petals in the middle - not really a tangle, surrounded by Wud and Shattuck

This was for the Diva Challenge but I never got round to posting it.
Shattuck on tan tile - bit out of focus, sorry!

This was also for the shading challenge - a colour background.
With Akoya, SandSwirl, Printemps, Indyrella and Meer. Possibly a touch of Golvern too...

This was my String Thing entry - which I did send -
using Pi as the string! Pokeroot, W2 and Tripoli.

Another Facebook challenge - from Square One - Akoya and Hollibaugh.
I did enjoy this one!

And finally, a glimpse of nine of the ten circle tangles I did this weekend. 

There - I feel as though I've caught up a bit!

It's a String Thing 111 - Hamail.

Adele Bruno's String Thing challenge this week was a little different. It's number 111 - and she suggested:

1 new tangle - the one by Tina-Akua, called Hamail.
1 string - make your own up
1 personal favourite tangle to complete the tile.

I had been playing around with Hamail as I thought it looked lovely. But I had a dilemma. When I followed Akua's step outs - here - I seemed to end up with a more constricted version of the tangle, than when I followed my own instinctive method. I just wondered whether anyone else had had the same issue.

Akua's step outs show an initial petal shape, then the next line starting at the middle, curving over the top, then stopping. The repeat process then begins again at the centre. Her directions are absolutely clear and I managed my first few attempts exactly as she showed us. Then I began to draw with that confidence that comes when you think you've 'got' it, and I was happy with the results - but I realised I was doing something different - so back I went. And yes - I was doing the pattern in a different way.

Here is a very rough diagram of the two versions as the pattern begins:
On the left, is the pattern as it progresses according to Tina. The final stroke I made is left open to begin the next one at the centre. The one on the right begins at the top of the 'petal' and curves down to the centre. The whole thing sort of 'slopes' in the opposite direction.

I was intrigued as to whether the overall effect would be different or similar. So I continued...

And yes, the sort of opposite 'slant' to each finished pattern is clear, even though the spiral goes in the same direction. What is obvious to me, though, is that I am neater in my instinctive tangle than in the version that Tina uses. I can control my penstrokes better.









However, I like to keep trying, and so in the tile that I've sent to Adele, I have used both methods...I wonder if you can tell which is which?

I didn't follow Adele's string thing suggestion though...too carried away by this lovely, lovely tangle. Which way do YOU do it? Please tell!!

Diva Challenge and String Thing 100!

Thank you to Jen Crutchfield, guesting  over on the Diva Challenge this week! She suggested we use colour - in fact, she suggested just two or three - in our tangles this week. Like Jen, I am not a great on for colour, never having had artistic inclinations or tendencies before I began tangling. Some people have great experience with colour and it shows in their work - I'm in awe of the effects that some tanglers achieve with colour. I can't do it - I have tried but it doesn't seem to work for me.

However, I have a little technique that I'm quite happy with. I paint a random background, either on paper or a canvas, with some lovely gouache paints that I once bought for my daughter. Then I tangle on top. It's not awfully good for my pens - they get a bit clogged up as I work, but it seems to be only a 'surface' clog and a bit of scribbling on a different surface, and they work fine again. I haven't noticed any lasting damage or problems, in case you wanted to try it yourself.

I was asked recently to a zendala for a friend and she wanted colour, so this week's challenge seemed like the perfect opportunity. I prepared my canvas with a selection of colours - not awfully well represented here by my photo, but they are nice, trust me - and then drew about three concentric circles as a guide for my zendala. The rest is just how the flow took me.

I need some advice though...the canvas was obviously not square so my zendala only 'fits' in the top part. Should I put something else in the bottom part or leave it as it is? And if I put something in the bottom part, what could that be? A smaller zendala...or two...? A 'reflection' of the top part? Some words.....? Any suggestions gratefully received.

And this week also sees Adele Bruno's String Thing challenge reach its 100th anniversary - the Zentennial!! Well done Adele for keeping this lovely challenge going all this time. I love this one as it produces such a variety of tiles, all with the same remit - a string and a selection of tangles.

For this week, Adele came up with a simple but effect string and also a new tangle based on '100' and I enjoyed it so much, I did two.

The first one was done as I watched 'Mad Max - Road to Fury' and I think the rather gothic, steampunk effects somehow penetrated my unconscious as I was drawing.....

And the second one was done as a sort of antidote to the first!

Do check all the entries out when Adele publishes them on her blog early next week.

Thank you for stopping by! Hope you like what you have seen. (Now I can go and see what other lovely tiles have been entered onto the Diva Challenge!)

Diva Challenge 213, Artful Creation String 004 and String Thing 88

I was determined to do more tangling this week. I've had a few weeks where I haven't made enough 'me' time and I've been getting tangle withdrawal symptoms.

SO, as well as any practice I might do, I've made sure I've done three challenges to keep me in my groove (do people still say this? Perhaps not....showing my age.)

First was the Diva's lovely challenge - pick anything as your string. I may have taken this a bit too literally as I chose scissors...and they didn't disappear into the background the way a string should. But I enjoyed the process. I've used Keeko for the border and then Printemps, Birds on a Wire, Pippin, Ennis, Diva Dance and a tangle I know I copied from Michele Beauchamp, but I don't know its name....

I would probably use scissors as a string again but make sure I didn't emphasise them quite as much.

* Not a 'STOP PRESS' announcement, but I suddenly remembered another stencil I used to nice effect. The town I live in has a wonderful hilltop castle which creates an iconic silhouette on the landscape. I have used this a couple of times as a string and thought I'd share one of them here - maybe you live near something similar. I made mine into postcards and they sold in a flash!

It's been a while since I did Cheryl's challenge too. In the past, we've tangled through the alphabet and now the challenge is to tangle through the strings found on Linda's invaluable TanglePattern's site.  This week it's String 004 - a nice simple couple of loops. I have been practising 'Narwal' by Samantha Taylor which is just beautiful and a pleasure to draw. This is my very simple version.

And I've cheated a bit with this post because I haven't yet done Adele's String Thing Challenge - BUT I WILL! And when I have, I will post it here. Adele puts all the tiles submitted to her challenge on her website on Mondays, so it's slightly different to the other two, which require a blog link in order to see people's tiles. I am going to do this challenge this evening when I finish work. Definitely. For sure. Really.

This is the string..

And the tangles this week are 8s; Pia and Tipz...great choices!

And here is my finished tangle. Thanks for looking and don't forget to check Adele's blog next week to see all the other great entries.

Diva Challenge and String Thing 85

I'm getting way behind with doing Challenges. I don't seem to have enough time in the day to get things done at the moment, never mind leaving myself tangling time. I must try and re-organise!

I have managed to finish Diva Challenge 210 which I enjoyed very much. The challenge was to tangle on a spiral string - one of my favourites - and I decided to go for an unusual combination. A snail shell with a feather tangle and I'm pleased with the result - it took quite a lot of doing and more ink than I usually am prepared to lay down in one tile!

I haven't had an opportunity to look at everyone else's work this week either but I bet there's been some amazing entries - this is something I look forward to seeing when I have a moment!.

And today, I made time to do Adele Bruno's String Thing Challenge but if I don't hurry up, it won't get to her in time! So, in great haste, here is number 85 and it's another spiral!! Hurray! I failed totally at Mumsy, no matter how many times I tried it. I will have to give it another go in a bigger format, I think. But this was a new way to do Printemps for me - it is one of my very favourite tangles - which I did following Adele's suggestions. Very pleased I am with the results, so pleased with Printemps that I had hardly any room to include Kelp. Can you just see it ? Looking forward to seeing how Mumsy SHOULD be done when Adele publishes the tiles.

Thanks to both Laura and Adele.

Diva Challenge 190, String Thing 63, Square One and Wacky Challenge...busy week!

Hi everyone - I've been doing a lot of tangling this week and have a variety of different tangles to share here.

First up is the Diva Challenge, which this week honours Laura's Grandma Ardath, who suffered from breast cancer and as October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, I can't think of any better inspiration than to honour Grandma Ardath's memory this way - and of course, promote the practice of self-examination and awareness of changes in our own breasts.

I had a mammogram a few months ago and all seemed fine - until I got a phone call asking me to go back. I was momentarily worried but in the end, I was reassured that there was no problem with me, but that the left X-ray hadn't been done as well as it could have been. The radiographer told me there and then that the new X-ray showed all was fine. Phew.

Laura said to use pink, which seems such a good idea, and here is my 'Pink for Ardath' tangle based on the pink ribbon logo, with just two tangles - Heartstrings and Crescent Moon - the background is a tangle of my own based on an optical illusion I saw - there are no curved lines in the drawing, but if you join the 'corners' of the squares and shade, then little circles 'pop' out all over! The stepouts are here and I call it 'Skwirl'

My second contribution to the challenges on the go this week is for 'A String Thing', run by Adele Bruno on 'Tickled to Tangle'. Adele gives us a string and a set of tangles - and off we all go. The results are always fantastic for their invention and diversity and I love this challenge. Especially as it included Quandry and Quib this week! What's not to like. Here is my tile. It went a bit skewiffy in the scanner but never mind. Also included are Quere and Quiltz.

Moving swiftly on, I think the Square One - Purely Zentangle group over on Facebook - has attracted dedicated Zentangle folk from all corners of the earth. This week we had the eternally inspiring and glorious Aquafleur to play with and I did enjoy it - and seeing all the wonderful contributions.

This is one of my entries, together with a modified Meer and Chillon in the background - oh, and a few beadlines. There have been some incredible variations on this lovely tangle and it's a very supportive and inspiring group.

Also on Facebook is the Wacky Zentangle Challenge, which is sort of opposite from the purist approach of Square One. This week, we were challenged to do teeny tiny tangles - as small as coins. I have here four that I did - and you'll just have to take my word that they are all the size of a 1 euro coin...which is not big! I really enjoyed them but wish I had made them into 'Inchies' with the borders around. Maybe if I have some time I will do this.

Aura-Leah and Tipple

Peanuckle with a hached background

Cyme and Fescu

Heartstrings and Florz

And that's it - if you made it this far, thank you so much for sticking with me to the end. Hope you liked what you saw. Axxx

String Thing 60 and Square One - Purely Zentangle

This week on Adele Bruno's 'A String Thing', we had a lovely elegant string by Diane Sexton and some tangles beginning with the letter 'X'. 'X', 'Xplode', 'Xav' and 'Xeni'.



Well, I usually only do one tangle for this challenge but found I couldn't incorporate all four of these tangles into my first attempt.  Here it is with three of the four -

I enjoyed doing it very much and LOVE 'Xplode'. Adele's 'Xav' reminds me 1970s wallpaper but I found I couldn't do justice to 'Xeni'. The blank circle should pay homage to an amazing tile that Michele Beauchamp did recently using just Fescu - I was entranced by it and this is my diminished version of that. I can't provide you a link because it was on Facebook but if you took part in the Square One - Purely Zentangle challenge recently, you may have seen it. Awesome! 

Anyway, the tile didn't satisfy my need to try out 'X' again, so I sat down and gave it my all. And I'm really pleased with the final result. Very different from the first tile and a thoroughly enjoyable experience, so thank you Adele and thank you Lila!

As always, seeing what other entries look like is such fun when Adele posts on Mondays.

String Thing 59, Cheryl's Artful Creations, Square One and a Wacky Tangle!

These are four 'challenges' that appear on a weekly basis, in addition to the Diva's, which is still one of the most popular. However, it's lovely to have so much inspiration to create Zentangle.

Adele Bruno's challenge is 'String Thing' and based on a new string and a defined set of tangles - although Adele is never 100% prescriptive and welcomes the 'Frayed Knot' (sorry, this relates to a joke I am fond of, but I'm hopeless at telling jokes. You may know it and if you don't, the answer is 'I'm afraid not...' Never mind!) And this week, we were given this string and the tangles 'Oke' and 'Meringue'.

As the string is based on 'Oke', rather predictably, I used this as the beginning of my tangle and just continued from there. I can't wait to see what everyone else has done with it this week! Here is mine.

It's a little while since I did Cheryl's Artful Creations challenge. We were working through the alphabet, which was great fun - and now, she is suggesting we choose tangles based on a different selection of three letters each week. This week, the letters are T, E and M. And there are some lovely ones! Lots and lots and lots! It was a challenge to pick just a few, but here are mine: Eyfylis, Meer, a little Meringue(ish), Twile and a wave to TwentyOne. I really enjoyed this one - Twile (Stoic) is a new one for me and wow, did it hit the Zen spot!!

Then, the weekly challenge posted on Facebook, Square One, Purely Zentangle, which is great for doing a tile-sized tangle using only pen and pencil. It really helps focus the mind and this week, the tangle chosen is 'Betweed' - the very first tangle that set me off on the Zentangle path. And I was in love immediately! I did this one last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. Tipple is the perfect partner for it and I thought 'Aah' added just the right amount of 'awe' in the background. I'm happy with this one, can you tell? Aw! 

And finally, another Facebook challenge - the Wacky one! This group encourages ZIAs and wider expressions in Zentangle but also to push the boundaries of individual tangles. A while ago, we were issued with 'Crusade' and I did a tangle but wasn't sure if I liked it enough to post. However, a revisit has made me feel differently about it - does this every happen to you? I rather like it now and thought it should make an appearance here, if only for posterity!

Crusade: a very lovely tangle. 

Well, that about sums it up!! Hope you've enjoyed taking part in the challenges. Axxx

Diva Challenge, String Thing and Square One - Purely Zentangle

Although it's some time since I posted on my tangle blog, I have been tangling all summer - including taking part in an arts and crafts fair at a beautiful local 'cortijo' or rural house. I was asked to run some workshops and have to say they were well attended and well received - I'm spreading the Zentangle word here in southern Spain.

This week's Diva Challenge was to do a duotangle using Phicops and Diva Dance. This in celebration of the Diva's 10 years of wedded bliss to B-rad. And the tangles are special as B-rad created Phicops and Diva Dance was created for the Diva by Rick and Maria!

I took a peek at what others had done this week, which I don't usually do before completing my own and there were some really jaw-dropping entries...wow! Mine is less than wow and I was tempted to leave it out but it's so long since I took part that I have decided to share anyway. Here it is - a diva dancing Phicops!

And it's also an age since I did a String Thing entry, so I made a great effort to do one this time. Adele's challenge is always a pleasure to take part in and even if I don't take part, I like to see what everyone else has done and enjoy the different takes on the same set of tangles and one string. Fascinating. Here is my entry - there are some rather wibbly Girders here, nothing structurally sound at all!

What I have really enjoyed is the Facebook Square One challenge during the past few weeks. It's focused me on using a tile and sticking to the Zentangle basics and it's been such good fun.

I am going to include a couple that I have done recently. It's good to see quite a few familiar names and styles also taking part in this challenge. A lot of people do Zentangle! This week, we've been challenged to do 'Dex' and I decided on a monotangle with a string found on Tangle Patterns - Number 105. And then I added a bit of Fescu that was still lingering in my mind and my pen from the week before....

This is the entry for the Fescu challenge, which also includes some Ing, which was the challenge from the Diva last week.

And then I did another Ing-based tangle which has now been sent, on a card, to an old friend in the UK for his birthday, together with a bookmark. (I hope he won't be disappointed as I used to always send him some of my homemade chocolates, but I am not making them anymore....) Sorry it's a bit out of focus...

And I shall be endeavoring to keep up to date and checking on what all my favourite tanglers are doing from now on. 

Happy tangling.

Ax

String Thing 48, Tackle it Tuesday and some special tangles..

Why is it that some days, the tangles just flow out and others, it feels like I don't know where to begin?

This week's String Thing Challenge by Adele Bruno was one of the former. Most definitely. I LOVED doing this one.

This week's Tackle it Tuesday, posted by Cheryl on Artful Creations, has reached the letter 'R' in the alphabet of tangles. I've started doing the Derwent Art Academy course - an online set of classes - and so far, we've concentrated on shading and perspective....you may see the influence of this in my tile here!

Rouche, Rixty, Raindotty, Rosé, Reticulated, and Rags

I held my regular 'Zentangle' class with a small and dedicated group of people, here in my home town, Alcala la Real in Spain - a long, long way from Rhode Island and with little chance of me every becoming a CZT - but where I have to say, my group produce some wonderful tiles!! This week, I included the four tangles used for the String Thing - plus one or two others - and even on my rubbish phone camera, you have to agree that there are some great pieces here! Well done my group - you know who you are!