Dare #67

I just opened up Erin's Dare to copy the link and saw that I used the same outer tangle as she did. This wasn't on purpose, I just open my list of tangles and grab one that I haven't done or haven't done in a while. I did use Squilly though which was very convoluted to use in this shape. But do I let things like that bother me? I WILL make it fit is my chant as I work LOL:

Back to Basics

I have been watching Sandra Strait's blog closely. She was waiting to hit 1,000,000 visitors to her blog. She hit it this morning and I was prompted to look at my visitor number. Mine was a whopping 4,999. Well, just a few less than Sandra; however, I was so excited anyway that I ran to my husband and told him he had to go to my blog to push it to the 5,000 number. He thought it a bit silly, but, being a good hubby, he did and pushed me over to a magical milestone. While there, he finally looked at my blog and was amazed enough that we spent the rest of the morning creating a blog for him!
Sandra had a big contest going. Of course I entered along with the other million of readers. So, I was thinking, if I live long enough to reach a million, I will do a great give-a-way like Sandra!
In the meantime, I was feeling like my work was really getting sloppy. I started thinking that maybe it is because I am rushing all the time to get the next dare/contest/challenge/TOW done and forgetting the real reason for doing Zentangle. Mindfulness, relaxation, and zen. Well, I pulled out a "real" tile, my good micron pen, turned out all the outside noise, took some deep breaths and actually enjoyed what I was doing:

This was my TOW (tangle of the week) for my Yahoo Zentangle Inspired Art group. Our challenge was to use Dust Bunny by Margaret Bremner. Not done in a rush, not done on cheep paper, not done with whatever pen my hand reached for. Just a traditionally composed Zentangle tile. A complete joy to do.

A Dare, A Challenge a TOW, and Journaling Play

Another fun filled week of dares, challenges, contests, and play. I finally jumped in on the Diva Challenge. They always look like so much fun, but time wasn't on my side. Hopefully, it is from this point forward.




The two pencil challenge took me back to my art teacher days when I would have my students draw this way sometimes just for fun. It was fun to do it again:




Challenge From: I Am the Diva















And, every week I have been doing the Dare from Erin at The Bright Owl. I added Annee to this one in its "normal" usage:















I have been "trying" to win some of the new Tangle card packs from Sandy Steen Bartholomew. I have entered this one, based on her tangle "Annee" on her Facebook page. If you want to see a lot of great ones, take a peek.













I worked VERY hard trying how to do this in the round. It was difficult for my little brain, but I finally got it. I did this one too but added Fife so I could add it to my Yahoo Group TOW (tangle of the week).





For the "play" part, there is one last one, but you will have to look on my Art Journal Alleyway on the top tabs on this blog to see it.

Thanks for stopping by :) 

Zendala Dare #65, Knightsbridge Monotangle, and Some Play

I have so many kettles in the fire since I have retired. I guess I think I have to do just everything in the world TODAY! I will, hopefully, slow down soon. HAHA!

First, the Zendala Dare from The Bright Owl.

The first one I did was so busy that I thought it looked just messy. So, I redid it with a little less going on:












I was trying to avoid the "busy bee" look, but I think I wound up with it in both anyway.

I also can't figure out how Erin makes hers stand out with that curved and dimensional edge. So, I rubbed some pencil along the line. Not it. Any suggestions?





Roy's Adventure using a monotangle had us using Knightsbridge:




This was a good one for me to do because I always avoided Knightsbridge. Two reasons. First, I thought it was boring - NOT, and because it uses up a lot of ink - it does.


And, this is part of my "play" this week.

When I was an art teacher to very bright 1st through 8th graders, I introduced them to geometric designs. That was a million years ago and I have since forgotten how to do these. I ran across my old teaching materials and found the book that I had learned from in order to teach the children. "Creative Constructions" by Dale Seymour and Reuben Schadler 1974. Using a long strip of white tagboard (6" x 28") folded into a book style format, I started drawing a triangle, square and so on. After I did that, I thought I should play with different markers that I have to see what kind of bleed through different markers would leave me, and finally, I tangled them. For this one, I used Prang Brush Pens. They did not bleed through.

 This one, using Sandy Steen Bartholomew's pattern Y.A.F. is done with Copics. Big bleed through. They sure are nice to work with though. I added colored pencils for depth. On the other side, I just did a repeat of the triangle with Distress markers, that do not bleed, and tangled Rick's Paradox. (I won't make you look at every one :) )







The next is a simple square I colored with Bic Mark-It. These were nice to work with but they did bleed as well. So, there is an untangled square in the same color on the other side.

Finally, my favorite, Octagon Tangled:

This was done with Ranger Distress Markers. I love these markers. No bleed through. These are not color choice that I would consider favorites of mine, but I tend to buy things that are on sale and sometimes the choices aren't all that great!

I am also working on an art journaling book that I am making on my own. I will post some of that later on the Art Journal page later this week.


Thanks for stopping by and taking a walk with me down Tangle Street.

But It's a Dry Heat

This week's Dare from Erin at The Bright Owl was to do a Zendala using tangles that start with letters either in the word Hot or Heat. Well, living in the Phoenix area of AZ where it was 118 degrees last week, that was a fun one to do. I settled on Hollibaugh, Efilys, Arc Flower and Tidings:

 I also had some fun with some Celtic Knots that were freehand stye a la Patrick Gallagher.

I used Copics and Sharpie pens.



Then, I pulled out some tiles that I had drizzled some rubber cement on. After it dried, I watercolored the sections. After that dried, I rubbed off the rubber cement and tangled.

Footprints, Dyon, Hurry, Diva Dance, Sez, Rain,  Flux

Still trying to do different tangles.

Snail, Cubine, Facets, Stricles

As you can see, I was still in the Celtic Knot mode a bit.

If you've never tried this, it makes for a fun string.



And finally, a few ATC that I did as a trade for my Yahoo Group done in the style of In the style of Karin Kuhlmann. If you have not seen her work, do look it up. 



She does beautiful digital work. I haven't even come close to representing her, but I enjoyed trying.


Aqua Markers, colored pencils, Sharpie pens.

CZT and Chaz

I AM A CZT!!! The CZT training in Rhode Island was just wonderful. Rick and Maria and their whole family were so generous with their time and so welcoming to all of us. I enjoyed every minute of it. The hotel was so charming. I particularly loved the beautiful stairway that I ran up and down six floors between all breaks, not because there was no elevator, but because they fed us so well :}
Looks kind of like Rick's Paradox, yes?

I also was so happy to meet some of my tangling friends from the Yahoo ZIA group that I belong to as well as making many new friends.

I was so inspired by everything that I learned and saw that I came up with a new tangle that I have named Chaz. I saw this hanging in a local restaurant:



                                                                   







From this, I came up with a very simple tangle that can fill a single tile and be used as a sting itself (as Rick observed, like a Zendala), made small and used to fill in an area, or curve the lines to be more organic. Lots of choices with this one. Here are the step outs using Linda's template from tanglepatterns.com

Or, one with curved lines:





I hope you enjoy playing with this one.
Thanks for looking!