Diva Challenge #284 Tripoli

Love the Diva, love this tangle. Not always my favorite. I had a hard time "getting" it but, now I love Tripoli.

Back to Basics

I was fortunate enough to attend Rick, Maria, Molly and Martha's presentation at Kripalu Yoga Center in the Berkshires of Massachusetts this past weekend. It was open to all, so there was a nice mixture of CZT's who just can't get enough and people very new to the practice. It was refreshing to be instructed on the basic tangles that teach you so much about the Zentangle method and also be reminded that you only need a handful of tangles to reap the benefits.

Many of us have moved from the simplicity of the 3.5 inch square tile, pencil, and pen to boat loads of supplies that overtake our desks and need totes upon totes to lug them around. It is very refreshing to get back to the basics and feel the freedom from pencils, pens, and markers.

If you have not yet found the facebook page called Square One: Purely Zentangle, check it out! It is a community that only works with the basics of 3.5" square tile, pencil and black pen. There are tangles suggested weekly to get your juices following and it is a place to share your daily black and white tiles. With almost 1000 members, there is a lot to be learned from others work. The photo section is an amazing resource to learn how individuals have used tangles in so many different ways.

Here are some tiles from the retreat:

Tripoli

Munchin

Marasu, Poke Leaf, 'Nzeppel

Remember where it all began!

Zendala Dare #90

It is Erin's birthday over at The Bright Owl and the dare this week has to include a "gifted" tangle. I had a hard time deciding on one! The first tangle I love and took me some time to master, is Tripoli. Before finishing this Zendala I decided to use Not Rick's Paradox and  remembered how much I love that one. I never tire of the appearance of black shiny Pearlz anywhere. So Erin you will have to choose your favorite tangled gift from this because I cannot decide!

Tripoli, Knot Rickz, Paradox, Black Pearlz

Framing Practice

These are envelopes that contain theater tickets for my friends. This is a great way to get in some framing practice!

Yincut, Knase, Verve, Tripoli, Dex

Framed

So it has been said, by Maria (Thomas) I believe, that if you can tangle you can border.  Well sure, that makes sense except, when I go to "border" something this voice way in the back of my head says, "are you sure you know how to do that?" I thought I had silenced that voice but, no, it is still there.

Today it was again rainy and quiet so I thought I would take borders/frames on.  I am starting simply by drawing just two parallel straight lines and filling them in.  It was a nice exercise and I like how the page looks now that it is full.  I will continue with this on other pages and see if I can't just quite that little voice down a little bit more.

Meer, Purk, Sheenwaz, Vega, Chainlea, Snail, Tripoli

Stress Free

A wonderful friend of mine gave me a "One Sketch A Day" book for my birthday in March.  I only recently started to "sketch" in it because I have a slight fear of journals. Now that I have started and had some bad days along with good days, sketching wise, I feel a little less intimidated about drawing in a book.  This may be the kick starter I was looking for!

I started this rainy morning in bed with Sandy Steen Bartholomew's Totally Tangled book.  I have had this book for several years, but it is one I go back to over and over because it is packed with ideas and I always seem to come away from it with something new.  She also uses color beautifully and I after drawing a couple tangles (I was catching up on days missed in my one-a-day) I decided to bring out my inexpensive colored pencils and see where it lead.  It lead to a stress free morning and thought I would share.

After I was finished coloring I still had three Tripoli left empty.  I opened The Art of Zentangle, a fairly newer purchase, to Margaret Bremner's section on Zentangle Mandalas.  Margaret is a very talented artist and her work is beautiful. I am very fond of the way she uses black Pearlz and the balance of black and white.  You see in the lower drawing I was playing with her ideas.

Challenge #118 Kuke

The challenge from the Diva this week is to use Katy Abbot's tangle "Kuke".  You can see her post here and instructions for her "cool" tangle.

My first tile was a literal interpretation of her discovery (cucumber on the floor) so it is Kuke on Florz. Haha! I used a tile I had colored with background techniques from Marie Brownings  Time To Tangle with Colors book this past weekend. This is a salty-splash background using TomBow markers and the colors were just right for a Kuke.

Kuke and Florz

Since the "Y" in the string reminded me of a Tripoli Tangleation I used a black tile and Pentel Slicci pens in silver and blue to finish a second tile.  The Slicci pens are very smooth and a pleasure to work with.  

Tripoli with Kuke, Fescu

Ensemble

Zentangle® sells and ensemble of 9 pre-strung tiles in sets of 2.  One has curvy lines and the other straight lines.  These are my first four tiles of the curvy set.  It is suggested that you work on one tile and hide the rest.  I could not bring myself to do that since I like a little control on what the finished ensemble would look like.  Maybe I will let go a bit and try it on the next one.

Tile #1 (upper left corner) Opus, Tripoli, Quabog

Tile #2 (middle left) Zander, Florz, Tripoli, Quabog

Tile #3 (lower left) 'Nzeppel, Beelight, Henna Drum, Purk

Tile #4 Quabog, Tripoli, Demi,Paradox

Relaxing time anywhere.

I had to bring the car if for a check up yesterday.  Of course I brought my Zentangle supplies with me.  What was suppose to be and hour an a half turned into almost three.  If it had have been quicker someone might have interrupted my relaxation time.  What is a bad thing, or a good thing.

Quilted feather, Tripoli, Marasu

Hurry, Pressed Wood, Jetties

Thank you for stopping by!

Challenge #105 Dansk

Inspired by Michelle Beauchamp's many beautiful ZIAs I tried my hand with her technique on this challenge which is to use the tangle Dansk by Margaret Bemner.

I will obviously need some practice and lighten up my hand a bit.  It is always fun to experiment a bit.  Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don't.  Either way this was fun.

Tangles used are Buttercup, Tripoli and Dansk.

Creative Common

My husband, son and I spent a beautiful three days in Maine this weekend.  We sat in front of the fire, played some games and watched some very cheesy Star Trek.  Well they did, I drew close by.

My son produces music under the name Creative Common which he refers to as an art collective.   He produces music, a friend produces video to accompany the music and others such as my self contribute with art.  Some of the things I have drawn have landed on the video screen.  I have not produced anything CC related in quite a while so I picked up my Micron pen and practiced my Tripoli tangle in his semi altered logo.  I have scanned it here and plan to play with it a bit more as time goes on as I need to learn more about Adobe Elements.

There is a penciled line outlining the letters which I may go back over with a Micron or just blend them to give a shadowed effect and I think it may need a bit of embellishment in the "center" of the Tripoli.

Anyway, I have added again to the CC collective and enjoyed some quite time while at it.

Thanks for stopping by.