Diva Challenge 198 - KISS....

Keep it Simple, Silly!

Laura and family seem as busy and cheerful as ever over on I am the Diva but I don't blame her one little bit for wanting to keep things simple at this time of the year. I wish all the family a great Christmas and hope Artoo's recovery continues - he and his brother certainly seem to be having fun!

I did this simple tile yesterday as one of my Christmas card toppers. Verdigogh, one of my all time favourites, is simple, elegant and doesn't usually need anything else to go with it. Rather than finishing it off as usual by subtle shading, I resisted doing any at all in order to keep those simple lines...it was difficult as I love shading! But I like it.
Hope you all have a great Christmas.

Axxx

Diva Challenge 196 - All Dolled Up!

I was interested in the phrase 'all dolled up' - it took me back in time to when I was a child. My grandmother and her friends used this term quite regularly and it obviously came across the waters during the war years. Referring to a woman as a 'doll' is definitely American slang - but, how it rolled off northern Yorkshire tongues...and it's a phrase I haven't heard for a long, long time. So my first thanks to Emily are for this wonderful blast from the past for me as an introduction to her challenge as guest over on the Diva's blog.

And my second thanks are for such a lovely idea. I wasn't immediately struck as I'm not a 'doll' sort and never was, but then I also remembered some lovely Russian dolls that a friend had and this inspired my entry this week. Who doesn't love the Matryoshka nesting figures? (This link is to a shop but it is mainly to show a lovely selection of painted dolls - I'm not affiliated in any way!)

Here is my Matryoshka in Zentangle. The hardest part for me was the face - I toyed with Printemps eyes but she could have ended up looking very spaced out, so I stuck with a traditional style even though this isn't very Zentangle. Hope that's OK. Great fun to do - lovely challenge. Looking forward to checking out what everyone else comes up with this week!

Thanks for visiting - hope you'll leave me a little comment. Axxx

Diva Challenge 195 - Turning old into new

A great idea from this week's guest challenger over on the Diva's blog. Sandy Hunter gave us the great idea of liberating gridded tangles or capturing ungridded tangles - and she also gave us some amazingly creative examples to inspire us.

I was initially a bit overwhelmed by this challenge and did a few stumbling starts - one of which I will share here: This one is called 'Seton Breaking Free' and it could have been so much better....but I liked the idea!

I did a couple of others which I liked even less. Then this morning, when I was thinking it was getting a bit too late to take part, I managed to do one that I really liked. It uses 'Tami' which isn't really an 'old' pattern for me but is one that I immediately fell in love with and usually use in a very free sort of way - and it seemed a good choice to try and put in a grid.

I've left it showing in my drawing book, which is a beautiful thing I bought one day just for my tangles. It's about six inches square (15cms) and so I usually draw my 3.5" 'tile' in the middle of the paper, but today, I drew a freehand grid and it is slightly bigger than the Zentangle tile should be, so I won't be posting it on the Facebook group! 

I think this challenge really shows the versatility of each and every tangle and I think it was a fantastic idea - thank you Sandy!! Here is Tami in a grid.

Thanks for popping by - I'll be checking out all the other entries as soon as I can....got a mountain of ironing to do first though....! Have a great week. Axxx

A Left-handed Diva Challenge

Wow, what a roller coaster of emotions Elisa stirred in me when I read the latest 'Diva Challenge'!!
Firstly, her exuberant style of writing immediately engaged me - she opened up and shared herself straightaway and I really liked that. Then she threw a real challenge out - do a Zentangle WITH THE WRONG HAND!! Wow, I say again, and WOW!

I have long fancied doing this but somehow never actually got round to doing it. So a big thank you from me, Elisa, for pushing me where I wanted to go but never followed through on my own. I was fascinated by Elisa's beautiful contribution - it really has a different feel to it and I liked it very much, together with her stream of conscious thoughts that occurred as she did it.

And then I read her potted bio and was shocked to hear of her own tragedy - another person in this wonderful community of people who has had to bear a devastating personal blow and yet who has managed to get up and get on again and give so much to others in the process. I am so very sorry for your dreadful loss, Elisa. I really cannot - and don't want to have to - imagine what you and your family must have to have gone through and I am impressed/humbled/thankful that you have found such strength to carry on and see the good there is to be had in life.

So, following on from last week's 'THX' from Holly, this week, we can look at things from the other side - and in my case, the left side, though some tanglers must be left-handed, I'm sure -  and be grateful for whatever we have and how we can adapt ourselves to the challenges life throws at us.

I hope Artoo's recovery is continuing and that Laura and her family are doing well during this time. Thank you to Laura for introducing Elisa to us - I feel I have met someone very special.

Here is my left-handed Zentangle for this week. I had hoped that it would look completely different to my right-handed ones....but it doesn't! It just looks a bit more wobbly, the shading is very heavy-handed and I have made lots of smudges on the edges...but it's not too bad overall. Great challenge. Thank you Elisa.

I used Wud, Aura-Leah, Pendrills, Swarm and curvy Steps.

A new challenge for me - Joey's weekly tangle challenge

I had seen submissions to this challenge on a number of tanglers' blogs but this is the first week I have taken part myself....could well be the first of many! Thank you Joey for offering us yet more inspiration to make Zentangle art .

This week's challenge, here on Zoey's blog,  was to make a monotangle using Knightsbridge. Always a tangle I forget to use regularly - it sometimes seems 'too easy' but with a little extra thought, it is very dramatic and effective. Check out the other entries too. I like how Zoey displays the photos on her blog - works really well as an invitation to look more closely.

Here is my entry - Knightsbridge on the diagonal.

Thank you for looking. Axxx

What a difference a day makes!

Today, here in Andalucia, the rain is lashing down and the hills are invisible under layers of cloud. Last night, one of the plugs in my daughter's bedroom began smoking and as my brave husband was investigating, there was a 'PLAS' (Spanish sound for anything that explodes!) and all the lights went out. Hubby was fine, I hasten to add.
This morning, we're awaiting a visit from the electrician because although most of the lights and electrics went back on once the fuse was fixed, both bedrooms where the boys sleep were left without any electricity. Bad wiring is suspected but I am no expert so will wait for the official - and probably expensive - verdict. Not the best start to the day.

However, this morning, I had a little message from Holly Atwater - who this week is the guest blogger over on I am the Diva, whilst Laura and family tend to Artoo following his surgery - congratulating me on having my new tangle 'Skwirl' published on TanglePatterns. I was so excited that I was almost late for work - so busy I was checking out the page and the link. Thank you Linda, thank you Holly - and thank you to the 2000+ people who have visited my page since last night! Gosh - I feel famous! What must it be like for people who are coming up with new tangles every week? Well, I may never know...I enjoy learning new tangles so much that I don't focus too much on creating my own - but forgive me for a morning's basking in my own reflected glory - in lieu of the sun, you understand.

And back to Holly, who gave us a wonderful challenge this week using tangles that make us thankful - 'THX' - Trio, Huggins and Xyp. As well as being thankful for my moment of fame in the Zentangle world, I am thankful to be part of this lovely community of people and that I found - by accident - the art of Zentangle. I have many, many other things to be thankful for too and I have put a little extra time into this week's challenge whilst being mindful of what those things are. I really enjoyed learning Xyp; Trio is a new favourite and Huggins, hiding here a little, is an old favourite.

If you haven't seen Skwirl on Tangle Patterns and want to have a look, I have used it in these patterns and shared them on my blog already - here, including stepouts and here. Please let me know if and when you give Skwirl a try, won't you?

Diva Challenge 191 - Betweed

Laura has a busy month ahead and I do hope all the challenges she and the family face go as smoothly as a Betweed monotangle. This is the challenge she has left us and I am very happy to accept this - and although I am probably not the first, I've managed to do my tangle on the same day as the challenge was posted - a first for me!

Here is my monotangle - Betweed and nothing else at all.

I wish Laura and Artoo and the whole family all the very best. Take care and speedy recovery.

Thanks for looking - as always, I look forward to seeing what everyone else does with the challenge each week. Axxx