Diva Challenge 240 - Autumn Leaves

I have had a busy week and only now, on Sunday, have I had chance to sit down and draw something for the Diva Challenge this week.
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I lie, of course, as I did the Square One : Purely Zentangle challenge yesterday - but it was a very Zen tile to do and took me only about 15 minutes....which is all I had. But enjoyed doing it very much.

W2, the tocus tangle at the bottom, with Flux, Hamail and Tripoli

Back to the Diva though. I was blown away by the gorgeous 'Tints on Tan' tile that Laura posted this week. Oh my, how I'd love to do something like that. I checked out what else I could find and there was quite a few examples - all stunning - I shall have to contact Jenny or Marty to learn how to produce something so absolutely delicious. Thanks for sharing that, Laura. 

Back to my own challenge. Here in Andalucia, the weather has changed from baking summer to definitely autumn.. We have chilly nights and misty mornings but often, the days are warm and sunny. We don't have a lot of deciduous trees turning from green to red, yellow and golden as I remember in the UK at this time of year and the main difference is that as a result of the much needed rain, we have a touch more green in the fields around us. Autumn is less inspiring here than in other parts of the world. I felt I lacked inspiration.

Then I remembered that we're approaching the olive harvest and realised that the obvious choice was to focus on the ripened olives, the old, gnarled trunks and plentiful little slim leaves for this week's challenge. Pokeroot was perfect for the olives and I used a variation on Wud for the trunk. I couldn't have done the leaves without knowing how Hollibaugh works and the Fescu represents a little extra foliage at the base of the tree.

It might not be a masterpiece but I am so pleased with it, because in my life before Zentangle, I couldn't in a million years have produced something that looked remotely like an olive tree...and now, I really think I can! I have resisted the temptation to colour it and went instead for the addition of some heavy graphite and shading to give it depth. Hope you like it!

Autumn in Andalucia. My inspiration!

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 238 - UMT - Tri-bee by Beate Winkler. CZT

Oh Laura: Oh Beate! Oh JOY!!

Yes, I have so enjoyed this week's challenge. Tri-bee, by Beate Winkler (such a great name, by the way..) is a real hit with me. It's Zentangle, no doubt but it has all the things I like about doing mandalas included. Perfect - so thanks to Laura for including it in this week's challenge and thanks to Beatte for creating it.

And as I enjoyed it so much, I did two tiles this week including Tri-bee.

Here is the first, with Hollibaugh showing before and after shading versions.

Before shading

And after.

And then this morning, suffering a heavy cold and feeling sorry for myself, my husband brought me the post which included this gorgeous book that I forgot I had ordered.






It has lovely tan-coloured paper inside of a reasonable thickness and I love it!! So I have done another tile, including the new tangle by Antonine Koval, Oybay, which is also wonderful. I feel better already...although I can't stop sneezing and my nose is still running...

To be honest, these colours are far from true to life - for some reason, all my white highlights look blue and the tan is a strange shade of sand...but I like it and as I'm feeling suddenly all weak and feeble, I'm going to leave it as it is....need to lie down.

Diva Challenge 237 - Charlotte Carpentier guest post

I was a bit wary when I read the Diva's challenge this week, although, it's a challenge from Charlotte really. At first, I wasn't quite sure if I could do it. Inks? Spray? Stencil? Very much a challenge!

But I'm game, if nothing else, so I scoured my shelves and discovered a bottle of Newton and Windsor ink that is 19 years old. Seriously, I remember buying it in El Corte Ingles - a Spanish department store - in Malaga, during the year that I spent on sabbatical with my now husband, Cesar, in 1996. I spent a lot of time doing calligraphy during my year away from work and recently, in a box long unopened from our more recent move to Spain, I rediscovered both my pens and this cute little bottle of ink.

Task one achieved. Now to find a stencil.

I searched high and low for something suitable and bingo! on my daughter's bookshelf, I found a little book that I'd bought her a few years ago, with a 'spirograph' (remember those?) pattern maker inside. It never worked as well as the real Spirograph did and it's a long time since it had been taken from the shelf. However, I found a stencil - mission accomplished! Well, the second part anyway. Final part - something to spray my ink with.


I eventually found an old spray bottle - actually one that had contained a natural flea repellent that I had bought when I was convinced my dog had fleas. It turns out he hadn't but something was biting me....I never found out what it was but at least the bites have stopped. You don't need to know this really, but when I say this was a challenge, you need to know that it really was!

A careful wash and rinse later, I prepared my ink mix and opened my sketch pad.

And sprayed....

Rather more ink came out than I'd expected.....and not exactly where I'd expected either.

But I had my stencil. I traced around a tile placed around the inked stencil. And then began my tangle. Phew!

And I enjoyed it - thank you Charlotte - in the end, I am pleased with my tile and pleased with the process that I went through to do it. During my challenge hunt, I found a box of old ink stamps - mostly quite dry and unusable, but I added a couple of 'stamps' to the final tile, to soften rather froggy green of my ink. Not very subtle, but I rather like it.

Tangles used include Flux, Rixty, Printemps (a single one) Meer, Shattuck, Banderola, Paradox, Bunzo, Betweed, Crescent Moon and Hamail. And a little bit of Tipple.

So once again, thanks for a great challenge, Laura and Charlotte. Check out the other entries here, which is exactly what I am going to do just now!

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 236 - 'Tangle unexpected'......Pear pressure

I loved the idea that Laura had - inspired - this week. Tangle on something you don't usually tangle on...Her lovely tangle was on a map, which really is a great idea. The string is there for you, you can take any direction you want and always find your way back again!

I didn't want to copy. But I was tempted by the idea, I admit.

I didn't peak at what others were doing - not to start with - but then Laura posted on Facebook that people were having a great time and coming up with all sorts of incredible ideas - including tangling on cows, pottery, wood and goodness knows what else. I couldn't resist having a look and was blown away by the range of things people had done their tangles on!

But it left me stuck. I shouldn't have looked - I had been thinking about tangling on a piece of sheet music. I even started but it was definitely uninspired and I saw that it had been done already.
I was feeling the pressure.

I've already tangled on a T shirt; I've tangled on eggs, I've tangled on wood - love that - and my recent mandala obsession has been mostly on pebbles. I teach two little girls and I even tangle on them most weeks - 'tattoo' style...I don't have a cow, the dog wouldn't let me....so what on earth could I do that was different?

Last night, after doing all the usual evening chores, I went outside to my little pear tree, which this year has produced some wonderful eating pears - big, nice and firm, not mushy - absolutely delicious. I sat down with pen and paper to try and find inspiration.

It only took one bite....(and possibly the recollection of Jean Chaney's realistic photo tangle!)...

Trying out Akua's lovely new tangle 'Hamail' - and loving it! Also, Shattuck which you can see to the left. There's a bit of Tipple underneath but you can't actually see that!

Here you can see the inspiring bite - and where my pen didn't actually work quite as well - with another new tangle, only just visible on the top part - Kisses - by Adele Bruno. Underneath, believe me, are a couple of rows of Birds on a Wire.



Not the best picture, I agree. And I got some very funny looks - but tellingly, no comments - from the rest of the family.










As always, a big thanks to the Diva for such a fun challenge. I have now to see what else people have come up with. Thanks for looking.

Axxx

Diva Challenge 235 - String Theory - Stripes!

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