Diva Challenge 316 - Stripes as the String

Very quickly this week - lots of things to do, people to see and places to go!! Not a lot of Zen time, but I did do this week's challenge from the Diva.

It's not clever, it's not particularly one I'm proud of, but it focused me and recharged me and I'm good with that. 

I've added a couple of other tiles - one that I did after receiving and devouring the Zentangle Primer - a gift to myself - why not? And the other because I enjoyed stretching Nzepple and adding colour with my gorgeous Inktense Derwent crayons! 

Thanks for the challenge - thank you for stopping by. See you later!

A striped tile with Printemps, Ditto, Mooka variation, scruffy Knightsbridge (my pen was on it's last legs!) Cadent, Fassett and a bit of Shattuck. All back to basics for me!

I so enjoyed doing this...and now I want to lick it!

This was done balancing on my 'Zentangle' book - and I used specific suggestions, shading techniques and ideas for variations from my wonderful Zentangle Primer, which I adore!

Colour, colour everywhere! Distressed tiles....but a happy me!

Over on Facebook, there's a burst of colour, partly due to Eni Oken's amazing technique of tangling over distressed tiles...well, the tiles are not distressed but the colours used include Distressed Inks. This is a range of inks, pens and sprays produced by Tim Holtz and whilst I'm not endorsing any products here, the results that can be seen on Eni's blog are incredible.

Personally, I only have a limited set of Distress Ink marker pens that I purchased on my last visit to the UK. However, at my local Lidl last week, I was able to pick up a box of four acrylic spray paints which have proved quite adequate for my purposes.

I have been making my own distress backgrounds and have spent almost the whole week working obsessively on them,,,, and now, I am beginning to really enjoy myself, At first, I found my colours seemed muddy and my tiles without much light but now, whilst I would never say I am an expert, I am much happier with my results.

For posterity more than anything else, I am going to post a selection of my efforts here...

A work in progress - and quite gentle colour tones

I liked an idea that Eni gave me - put a frame around one section to see how it looks

Another section with frame...

I really love the colours of this one. I am preparing something for my sister and sent her this to check out the colour scheme. Her husband thought it looked like E.T. fetching a stick....I can't see anything else now....

I have improved the highlights on Narwal and Marasu since I took the photo...they don't look too good here...

I wasn't too happy with the original tile as it seemed like just a bit blog of red....but I am happy with my tangles on it. 

Some distresed tiles awaiting tangling...

Pure fantasy! 

My favourite so far...a friend said she could see dragons in this one...

Not so very long ago, I was nervous about using colour. It seemed too difficult. Now I am so in love with the inspiration it creates in me...it may be some time before I go back to black and white! (But I know I will one day...because I love Zentangle!)

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 293....

Well hello again! Long time no post. I have been tangling and have even done some of the challenges, but finding the opportunity to post has been difficult. Anyway, glad to report all is well here and I will try to check out some of the wonderful art that is shared through the Diva's Challenge.

I was sorry to hear that Laura was having a tough time but glad to see the lovely photos of her boys and to read that she tackles her problems in such a great, instinctive and energetic way. Power to you, Laura. Axxx

Our challenge this week was to use Keeko, which is one of my favourite 'border' tangles but it doesn't often take centre stage. I used a 'string' that I find is really comforting and very good for beginners to create a little work of art for themselves. Good fun to do. And Keeko is really such a wonderful tangle and deserves a bit of the spotlight from time to time!

I am going to just post a few more of my recent tangles - as much for posterity as anything else. Been enjoying doing some of these just for myself.

A couple of Purk, Shell, Cubine and Vega variations using the same string but in a different arrangement.

And a monotangle of Garlic Cloves - which I LOVED doing!

So, all well in my sunny neck of the woods. I do wish I could say the same for everyone...for the world seems to have gone quite mad recently. 

For too many, life is a constant struggle for survival. We've already seen the popular vote in the UK to leave Europe - with the overwhelming majority voting to do so because of immigration. And last week, we saw a rich and powerful nation elect a ....well, I don't have a word. Trump will do. (It means 'fart' in English). Immigration also the key factor. In the USA. Ho hum. 

Keep on tangling. 

Axxx

Diva Challenge 284 - Monotangle to Tripoli

Tripoli - one of my all time favourite tangles, and the 'tri' part means three, then here are three of my own Tripoli monotangles. This is Laura's challenge this week on I am the Diva - how could I resist?

The first is one that I did when Holly Atwater did the guest blog for the Diva. It was an 'audio' tangle, where I followed her instructions - only at the beginning, I didn't know I was drawing Tripoli and made all my inner triangles different sizes. I was delighted with the result! Still am...it's a personal favourite.

My second one I am not so pleased with. I made a sort of Tripoli as my tangle,  and then filled it with Tripolis. It didn't work out quite as well as I'd hoped, but here is it - as sort of Tripoli Pizza!

And then because it really IS one of my favourites, a simple one to compensate for the very busy pizza one - I enjoyed doing this one and am happy with the effect.

Thanks Laura. Off to see what delights await me on the blogs of those who took the challenge this week.

Diva Challenge 276 - Space Truckin' - Moving Tangles

Yay! I can do this one. It is ages since I took part in a challenge (feels like it, anyway) on account of  being incredibly busy and buzzing around from one place to another. Well, when I saw the Diva's Challenge for this week - I was prepared without even knowing it.

Tangle whilst on the move, she said. And for once, this week, I've stopped moving! I'm still busy but definitely less so. However, last week, I was busy flying back to the UK and happily tangling as I did so.

This month has been truly awful for so many reasons around the world. I didn't have time to respond to guest blogger, Suzanne Fluhr, last week and tangle for peace but my heart wishes that we could do something to bring some to those parts that are suffering right now. I can't remember feeling such deep sorrow and pessimism about the world since I was a young teenager and troubled by dreams and genuine fears that we were heading towards a nuclear war. Sigh. Zentangle is wonderful but I'm not convinced it can change the world's problems. And it seems that many places are hell bent on making them worse.

Stop, stop. I actually had a wonderful time in the UK and was so relieved to discover that people were still kind, caring, fun and friendly in the places I visited even if there has been evidence to the opposite effect in other places recently.

Before my visit to England, a friend had asked if her niece could visit for a few days as a birthday treat - to learn some Zentangle from me. She's a brave young woman with some chronic health problems that affect her ability to work full or part time. I'm delighted to say she took to it like a duck to water and even better, has gone home and produced some lovely pieces and has begun to share it with some of the young children that she looks after! Well done, Rachel! Here are some of her practice pieces:

   


And she's going from strength to strength. Hopefully joining in this challenge before too much longer!


So, here is my moving tangle. Done high above ground on a very smooth flight. Enjoyed every second of it, although I didn't quite get the 'beady one' (couldn't remember the name) right from memory! Also includes Fescu, Crescent Moon, Pokeroot, Flukes, Meringue and Tripoli.

Thanks so much for popping by. Hope to see you around again soon as I rejoin the Zentangle community during the quieter summer months.
And if anyone could jog my memory about the beady one, I will check it so that I can do it properly in future. Thanks! Axxx

Diva Challenge 276 - Duotangle with Drupe and Pokeroot

I saw the Diva's Challenge early on Monday and poddled off  (I do that sometimes) to have a go. I enjoyed it very much indeed and popped it on Facebook, which I don't always do. It's a busy time for me as I prepare my students for their English exams in just a couple of weeks. I'm trying very hard not to absorb all their stress! I wasn't absolutely sure I'd have time to post on my blog...but...I did.

I popped back just now to the Diva's blog to check out the number of the challenge and read Laura's very touching words on the sad, sad loss of a friend. So sorry, Laura - she sounds such a wonderful person and someone who has been an incredible support to you over the past few years. I hope this lovely tangling community can do its best to help you through the pain as I know so many people will be sending love and hugs and special thoughts to you at this time.

Here is my contribution to the challenge this week.

Chunky, plump Pokeroots over a Drupy background. Lots of shading, lots of fun.
And more hugs to Laura.

Diva Challenge 263 - Globular Grid!

Oh what fun! I love globes and this week, the Diva asked us to draw a globular grid. I enjoyed this one so very much and am excited to see what everyone else has done with this one.
Thank you Laura. I have been sending happy thoughts all week and hope that Artoo is feeling somewhat better now. He's such a darling!
Axxx

Quite a lot of tangles fitted into this one - I remember doing a Fife variation, Printemps, Wud, Sandswirl, Emingle and a mini-version of NZepple. Is it Barber Pole around the outside or does this have another name...I really thought I'd got all the names sorted now but I do often find myself stuck to recall certain ones.

Thanks for looking.
Axxx

Diva Challenge 262 - UMT Fassett by Lynn Mead.

I'm really not sure how the Diva has got to number 262 in her weekly challenges....I think I might be a bit behind now! I was, however, delighted to see that this week we get to play with 'Fassett' by Lynn Mead as it's Use My Tangle on the first Monday of the new month. That reminds me - how did we get to April?

I remember when this tangle first came out and being so excited as the triangles transformed into other shapes. 

This is my first attempt this week - a Fassett Monotangle - where I have tried to bring out some of the shapes that happen when you join the points and do a little shading. 

Perfect Zen.

Happy tangling everyone. I'm glad to report that as we start moving into Spring and the days get longer, I have rediscovered my mojo and have been tangling with a vengeance. This can be seen in my previous post where I have been tangling on the circular beermats that I bought. I have now got my technique for drawing on these rather ink-greedy 'tiles' just about sorted. It has made me extremely productive!

Diva Challenge 258. UMT - Rautyflex by Kathrin Bendel CZT

The Diva has had a very interesting few days and lots of inspiration in what looks like a fascinating part of the world. Thank you so much for sharing, Laura.
And this week, with a Use My Tangle from Kathrin Bendel CZT, we have had a real challenge - well, I have! Rautyflex took me quite a few attempts to get 'right' - and it needed to be right otherwise the interesting pattern didn't quite emerge - trust me, it didn't!

I enjoyed doing this in the end but my tile is on the odd side. Firstly, I did it upside down in my sketch book - by accident, I admit - but I liked it better when it really WAS upside down, even though my light source, which always comes from the top left for me, this time comes from bottom right.

Anyway, no excuses - it is what it is. Rautyflex, with Paradox, some Sand Swirl and a new one for me, Frission.

Many thanks for the kind and caring comments last week. I am glad to report that things are now on the up again. Happy International Women's Day too.
Axxx

Thank you for popping by.

Diva Challenge 257 - Ooh Shiny! With guest blogger Amy Broady CZT

I haven't been having the best of years so far. Tangling is always helpful and my situation isn't very bad but I'm definitely not feeling at my best.
Here's to a fun-filled, lively and exciting March. Barring that - a safe, quiet and happy March...

I did love doing this sparkly tangle for the Diva Challenge though and feel as though I am turning a corner just for the satisfaction it gave me. I tried a new to me tangle, C-Stem, and loved it! Thank you Agneta Landegren!

Also includes Shattuck, Tropicana, Bandola and Printemps plus a few 'fillers'.

Thanks for popping by.
Axxx

Diva Challenge 246 - Plant a Tree with Dilip!

This week, the Diva - shivering a little in the snow and, with her family, beginning to look a lot like Christmas - has invited the lovely Dilip Patel, whose story was hugely inspiring. He and his wife have - Indian CZTs no less-  a number of websites which are definitely worth a visit.

Z-inspiration, Things Often Speak to Me, Xplore & Xpress

And I heartily approve of his urge for us to plant trees - indeed, we have planted many, many trees in our garden here in the south of Spain. We have the ubiquitous olives, of course, plus almonds and cherries which proliferate round here, along with fig, walnut, apricot and plum. Plus we are growing a little mini orchard of apple trees which my husband has grown from seed. I am not sure they'll survive our incredibly hot and dry summers but we're doing our best to keep them going.

The challenge is to make a tree-like string and then fill it with just one favourite tangle. I thought about Pokeleaf, obviously...and Dilip showed us some lovely trees he did and I was particularly taken with the Catkin one.* (See below!) Sigh...what to do?

It's heading rapidly for winter. The leaves have fallen from the trees here and many are looking bare and shivery in the morning light. Apart from the huggings of birds. Not on a wire - though they do that here too - but on the naked branches.

Birds on a Wire tangle on a simple tree string with - couldn't resist - a Wud trunk.
Thank you Dilip - thank you Laura. As always, a pleasure to take part.

Thanks for passing by. Axxx

* I went back and had another look at Dilip's trees and found that the one I though had Catkins, didn't! So I did one!

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.

Diva Challenge 241 - Stones and Ceremony Guest blogger, Paula Bramante

I was very excited by this week's guest post over on I am the Diva's blog. It was a particularly interesting post for me because I have recently been fascinated by the image of balancing rocks.

I'd been trying my hand at balancing stones on the beach when we visited during the summer. But we'd reached September before a really special thing happened. My family and I spent a beautiful day at the beach making our own stacks of stones. It was both meditative and theraputic. The link to my blogpost about it is here and it includes the lovely photos I managed to capture that day.

It was the day we collected my husband as he returned from a very difficult and emotional week with his parents having found out that his father has terminal cancer. We went straight down to the beach to spend an afternoon focusing on things that are important to us....and family is pretty much number one, followed very closely by good health. It was also the week when the terrible images of Syrian children being found on the beaches of Greece and Turkey were shared around the world - children and families drowning just a short distance from the coast and in dreadful, unimaginable circumstances. Parents feeling that taking to the sea was a better alternative for their children than staying on dry land.

So, we were in thoughtful and mindful mood. It was possibly one of the most precious afternoons I can remember.

My original photograph
- taken as the sun was beginning to set

And so it was without hesitation that I turned to this post for inspiration for this week's challenge. As it seemed we were not to be limited by tile size or shape, I printed out one of my photographs of balanced stones in black and white and set to work in tangling it.














And my tangled version - I LOVE it!!

Tangles - from the bottom up: 'Cloudfall' by Lily Moon, 'Sand' - Adele Bruno's new tangle,
Japanese Leaves, Purk, Printemps, an official Zentangle pattern whose name I can't remember
and Sand Swirl.

Thank you so much Laura and Paula for making my week with this wonderful challenge that I feel so perfectly captures my feelings about stones, ceremonies and the importance of being mindful.

Axxx

Diva Challenge 239 - Munchin Play.

Like the Diva, I wasn't 'into' Munchin before I did this challenge. As usual, if you put your mind to it - or are challenged by one of the several excellent challenges that are available to us lucky tanglers - Zentangle comes up trumps and pays off. At least that's what I think about the challenge this week.

As I mentioned last week, I bought myself a lovely new book to tangle in and so for that reason, my tile this week is not black, but tan. I like the black tiles and I like working in white but I couldn't resist another tangle in my book.

I watched Molly's video and as I was tangling I wasn't so convinced. My lines were all wibbly - I've still got a horrible cold and feel rather sorry for myself - but I persevered. I added a few sepia lines and a bit of white highlighting then did some fairly heavy shading.

And I am pleased with the result. I haven't looked at anyone else's contribution yet, so look forward to that pleasure as soon as I post on the Diva's page. Thank you for stopping by to look.
Axxx

Diva Challenge 227 - Guest blogger, Lee Darter and 'Circus Life'

Well here is a different challenge! This week's the Diva's guest blogger is Lee Darter, CZT and she has come up with the ingenious idea of using the circus as inspiration. And she picked us some great tangles to put us in the mood.

Tropicana, by Lady Kate Arhens - and if you're reading Kate, hope things are OK with you, sending big hugs - and Cack by Adele Bruno. Two lovely ladies and two lovely tangles as a start. We were then given the option of adding Fescu, Florz or Linq.  I did two this week, though not sure if either are QUITE as circusy as they could be but they were fun to do. It's hot here and just typing is leaving me feeling 'wrung out'. You may notice my heavy shading this week - sweaty hands help the effect!

The first uses Linq and the second, Florz.

This is upside down from the way I drew it, but I like it better this way.
I don't like that my scanner has removed my subtle shading under Florz though....

Bet we have some real fun entries this week. I will be checking them out during the week. Thank you Lee!

Axxx

Diva Challenge 224 - Tipple

Hurray! I confess I've been waiting for a challenge to do a Tipple monotangle and today is my lucky day!

I think I did this last September whilst waiting for my son to do a round of archery. A pleasant Sunday morning, taking in some good coffee and typical 'tostada' breakfast, which is a good long chunk of toasted baguette, topped with fresh tomato, olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. I could digress further.....but will stop now.

And I've been waiting patiently ever since, knowing that one day it would come.

I enjoyed this SOOOO much and I may well do another before the week is out.

I wish Laura a great summer break - time for family and other fun things - and look forward to the challenges that her guests will set us!

See the other entries over on the Diva's blog or have a go and enter the challenge yourself!

Hmmm... just noticed...no shading! How remiss of me!!

Diva Challenge 221 - Beads of Courage

Little Artoo has had a big year. He's looking so grown up recently and is clearly such a sweetie. He's been through a great deal in his short life and has lots and lots of courage. Like all children with serious illnesses, he has had many encounters with hospitals and I think that to receive recognition of his bravery, the Beads of Courage project is a lovely one.

The Diva's Challenge this week is to make a Zentangle pattern using the Beads of Courage as the theme. I remember doing this last year and for a few days, was a bit stuck as to how to do something different. Then I just started and let the Zen lead me!

This is for you, Artoo. Brave, brave boy with a great family who love you. Here's to you and all the other children who have to go through more than we would wish for them.

Axxx