Diva Challenge 345 Happy Holidays!

Our challenge is to create a "holiday" tile.  Red and green always looks like Christmas to me, so I decided to start there.  Then a little "JOY" was added.  I'm not sure if I like it better before or after adding a little colored pencil within the letters.  What do you think?

Merry Christmas everyone!

DC 344 Afterglo

I especially liked Laura's example of Afterglo this week.  After "finishing" my tile, I decided to add some graphite auras to some of the patterns. 

DC 343 Dewd

This week we tackled the tangle Dewd, and I can't help but think Dude!  or Dewd Dude!  HA.

I saw this tangle when it was sent out with the Zentangle.com newsletter, but hadn't yet given it a try.  I really like it.  It looked more complicated than it ended up being. 

DC 342 Paradox & Bunzo Duotangle

The challenge if we chose to accept it was to use only two tangles: Paradox and Bunzo.  I accepted.  I used the last drops of ink of two pens (amazing they lasted this long) to complete it, but here it is:

P.S.  Happy Thanksgiving!

DC 341 Go BIG (or Go Home)

Using paper cut to 8 1/2 Inch square and a marker similar to a Sharpie meant I could go BIG.  One fun thing was that it didn't take long to fill the space!

DC 340 Wibble

I love this tangle!  It rolls across the page in a repetitive wave that at first looks daunting, but once you get the hang of it, is really quite simple.  THEN, the next step takes it into a whole world of new possibilities.  I'm sure I'll find myself adding this pattern to meeting notes at work.  :)

DC 339 Hallow/autumn

I liked the challenge, but wasn't feeling very creative.  So I opened my Tanglepatterns.com email and discovered Wooooo.  Next I scrolled through some patterns on Pinterest where I found Panzee which inspired me to change it into a more leaf-like shape.  Adding a little orange was about as close as I could get to an autumnal tile.  But it will do.  

DC 338 White on Black #2

After completing the Diva's White on Black challenge I decided to try again.  This time I used the pattern Indy-Rella.  Below you will see before and after shading.

DC 338 White on Black

Tangle white on black is the challenge.  I love using the white gelly roll pen on black gesso painted surfaces.  The contrast is just so lovely and the pen rolls nicely across the surface.  I hope to get the finer lined pens as soon as I can.  Below I've used the double Marisu pattern.

DC 337 Artoo

This week's challenge features Artoo.  I find this tangle to be surprisingly difficult.  I struggle to get the ends of the lines to end at the same spot and it feels like the lines are not sufficiently evenly spaced, etc.  But at the end of the day, I like the tangle.  It reminds me of Chinese lanterns.  Here, I've paired it with Membranart - a new pattern to me.

I accidentally used a purple pen.  Also decided to add a bit of green watercolor pencil to the Artoos.

Happy tangling!

DC 334 Nzeppel

This is one of "those" weeks.  I have something every night after work and the likelihood of completing a tile for this week's challenge seemed unlikely.  Then I looked up and spotted a piece I'd completed a few weeks ago that used Nzeppel.  Voilla!  All I did to complete the piece was to add some shading.

I think it may be a candidate for another layer of tangling as Rick and Maria have recently demonstrated (though I cannot now find).  But that's not happening until Saturday at the earliest!

Happy tangling!

DC 331 Petoskey Stones

I don't think I've ever seen Petoskey stones before.  They're beautiful ... a perfect motivation for tangling.  Jane Reiter provided so many lovely ideas to get us started.  Next I need to learn more about the stones!

DC 322 Aquafleur

Diva Challenge 321: Non-dominant Hand + Auras

This was a challenging challenge!  I was prepared for the fact that the lines would be wiggly rather than straight.  What I was not prepared for was how difficult it would be to keep the pencil in my left hand.  I kept wanting to use my right hand - so much so that it felt almost physically uncomfortable (and not "relaxing").  On a positive note, I found that moving my arm as a unit was more controllable than just moving at the fingers or wrist.  All in all I found it to be an interesting experience and I wonder how this exercises the brain.  

Diva Challenge 320

It's Use My Tangle week featuring Margaret Bremner's Dansk.  

DC 319 Beads of Courage

Laura and her family have participated in a 5K Colour Fun Run to raise money for the Beads of Courage program in Saskatchewan.  Read more on Laura's blog http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/.  Our challenge is to create a tile using Beads of Courage as a theme.

While thinking of the kids who are collecting beads for medical procedures I began thinking of how one could illustrate "courage." It's not exactly an easy task.  I thought a heart might work, but then I began thinking of all the words that courage represents.  So I decided to write these words on the beads of my tile.

The other night I woke up thinking about drawing a tile with spaghetti like lines with little red dots.  Here's the result:  

And finally, a "hinged" set of bijou tiles.

DC #318 Diptych

This week I finally managed to stay awake to watch Laura create her tile "live" on Twitch.  I missed the first few minutes when she explained what the challenge was, so I decided to just copy what she was doing.  Once Mooka was drawn, however, I decided to do my own thing.  Eventually I learned that the two sides should more or less mirror one another.  I guess mine do ... more or less.  While I think the tile calls for a little more "dark" in its center, I'm happy enough with the results.  I may try to complete another Diptych, but if not ... oh well.  :)

I don't often complete projects other than the weekly tiles (work and life take up so much time).  But this week, I decided to try something else.  I've enjoyed seeing what happens when food coloring is dropped onto wet watercolor paper.  The color is so vibrant, and when dry it doesn't clog the microns - good attributes.  I think the first attempt (below) would have been nicer without the blue (it was so dark).

  

But I went ahead and tangled it anyway.  This piece is about 8.5 x 8.5:

I found that using a little white pencil helped make the tangling on dark spaces visible.

A second piece in blue and green:

This time I used a silver gel pen to highlight otherwise almost invisible lines.

By the way, I discovered that Strathmore's Watercolor Paper for Practice is really quite nice for tangling.  It's a good weight, has a bit of tooth, and it's not expensive.

DC 317 Photo Tangles

"My Little Grandma," as I liked to think of her, was one of the dearest people I've ever known ... even though she's been gone for nearly 40 years now.  This photo of her was taken more than 100 years ago and it's the only photo I have of her as a young girl.  I think this was her 8th grade graduation photo.

 Elvira married young and had six children.   She loved flowers and nature and was an artist.  Grandma was a formidable foe when playing scrabble.  She sewed and knit and wrote stories.  I'm sure she would have loved tangling.

DC #316 Stripes

So, the challenge this week is to use stripes.  Honestly, it was my intention to simply make stripes.  But before you know it the stripes were weaving themselves into something that might not be considered stripes at all!   (If you look closely, I think you'll find them.)  ;)

Diva Challenge #314 Scallamp

I'm a week late in posting this challenge.  I just couldn't seem to get started with it until this morning.   I drew it on a 7"x7" piece of paper I cut from a recycled envelope.  Nice smooth texture.

I really like Sarah Uram's instruction to draw the aura's in the middle of the previous lines - instead of in successively smaller (or larger) stages.  This helps in creating evenly spaced lines which I like.

DC #315 - Molygon Revisited

Our challenge is to use Molygon again.  I rather like this little pattern ... as I said the last time it's easy to just keep tangling with this one.  I thought it would be fun to primarily work with an outline of Molygon and include some layering.  I'm happy with the results.  :)

DC 313 Plus

Happy Amanda Day!  The challenge this week was to honor Mother Earth in our tangling.  So, I started by using a scrap of paper that I'd water colored for a birthday card.  (This was the bit I did not want.)  So, I've recycled ... kinda.  Next I thought I might tangle the continents as a string, but decided instead upon using tangles that reminded me of earth:  Mysst, Nebula, Aaah, Fescue, Indy Rella (one can imagine them looking like a school of fish ... or maybe a lower life form), Flec, etc.

I've been enjoying viewing and practicing tangles presented by Melinda Barlow on YouTube.  The super simple, but rather pretty 5C Aura follows.

Finally, a few weeks ago in challenge 310, I also completed the following using Frunky.  Below you'll see it's not exactly as instructed, but I like the result.

Diva Challenge 312 Plus

Last week Laura mentioned using black gesso as a background to white gel pen.  I decided to give it a try and it is amazing!  The white doesn't get absorbed into the black.  Here are my first efforts:

This week's challenge is to drop or spill coffee, tea, or paint/color of some type on the tile and to use the result as the string.  I've found that food coloring works really well.  This time I dropped a single drop of blue on the tile, then dropped spoons of water to spread out the color.  Also used a bit of coffee and "helped" the blue travel down into the coffee.

Diva Challenge 310: Frunky

This is a very Zentangly tangle ... easy to draw and fun to do!  Here's my offering:

309 Noom

After seeing "Noom" on the Zentangle newsletter, I decided to give it a try. So, I had a head start with this week's challenge.  Decided to add just two more patterns (Springkle and Knightsbridge).

DC 308 Mac n' Cheese

What are my go-to patterns?  I had to review my tiles because I usually want to keep trying something new.  But, some of my favorites include Paradox and Flux and I really like the newer Molygon.  And I'd be very happy just making little swirls.  Here's my Mac n' Cheese tile:

307 Zingo by Mazzy and Indy

I love this week's inspiration:  two little ladies who have created their own instructional video featuring their own tangle called Zingo.  Well done Indy and Mazzy!

Diva Challenge 306

The challenge this week is to use Lily Moon's tangle pattern Amphora.  I decided to use two variations in alternating ribbons as a background.  Can't say my tile was super beautiful, but I think it does have possibilities.  Have a great week!

Diva Challenge 305 - Duotangle Marisu vs Molygon

This week is a tango between Marisu and Molygon only.  Here's mine.

Diva Challenge 304 Waybop

This week's featured tangle Waybop is "merged" with Betwinkle and surrounded by Flux.

Diva Challenge 303 A Valentangle

A valentangle (a valentine-inspired tangle) must include hearts and red and white in my book, so I've included Heartrope by Melinda Barlow and a (what I hope is) heart-shaped variation on last week's Hamadox and then a couple more heart designs for good measure.  Happy Valentine's Day!

DC 302 Hamadox

This week's Diva challenge is to use the pattern Hamadox by Diana Schreur.  Paradox has always been a favorite, and I love how this pattern builds on that.  I decided to see how it would work beginning with a triangle too - and ... it works!

Diva Challenge 391 - Diva Dance and Rick's Paradise

Rick's Pardise fills the spaces in Diva Dance that would otherwise be black.  

Diva Challenge 300 - Moebius Syndrome Awareness

This week's challenge is Laura's 300th!  Pretty amazing accomplishment in itself.  She chose once again to take the opportunity to increase awareness of Moebius Syndrome, a condition that her second son was born with.  Fortunately, Artoo is doing really well.  We are all blessed by Laura sharing her family with us ... and more aware of Moebius Syndrome.  

Our assignment was to use the Moebius symbol in our tile and to use the color purple.  Well, I think I've completed the challenge, though it's probably not my most lovely effort.  

Have a good week!

EIM cat and DC 299

It's been a while since I've completed a challenge.  This week's inchie is "cat."  Here's mine:

The Diva's challenge is to use the pattern Drawings.  Even though I didn't make it perfectly, I am pleased with the result.  Decided a little color would be helpful.