Diva Challenge #317 Picture as String

Wow! Time flies. It has been seven months since I have posted here. I have been busy and hope to share some new things with you. This year I am excited about exploring book making, Gelli printing and journaling with mixed media.

But first we will start with Diva's 317th Challenge of "picture as a string." I saw my first blue bird while down in Virginia where I was helping my sister out after she fell and broke her arm. She is well, on the mend now and I am just recently home so this tile will be a good reminder of where I was when I first spotted this lovely bird.

Eastern Blue Bird, Diva Dance, Antidots, Mooka, and Bubbles

Challenge #286 Dreamcatcher Tangle by Daniel Lamothe

This weeks challenge by the Diva is a "use my tangle" challenge. Dreamcatcher is a tangle that was introduced by Daniel Lamothe and his step outs can be found HERE.

I was so taken by this tangle I started on it right away only to realize that I did not start in the center of the tile. I was going to pitch it, but I hate wasting tiles and in the end, I like it, with all it's wonkiness!

Dreamcatcher filled with Yincut

Diva Challenge #285 Straight lines

Oh boy was this difficult. I don't do very many organic tangles but I am drawn to orbs and curvy lines. This exercise was frustrating.

Since I have never "got" Shattuck so I tried that, very slowly, on my first tile. I would have loved to add some orbs or just something else so I decided on some drama. Could not even go further.

Next tile I tried three curvy tangles and made them straight. Crescent Moon, Nipa, and Orlique. Well you can see for yourself.

I am now going to draw some orbs and squiggly lines!

Challenge #285 Relax

I must admit that I practice Zentangle purely to benefit my self. I have no pressure to make lesson plans or to do anything that would take my Zen away. I do take part in the Diva's Challenges and weekly Focus's but, this is to get more ideas for new ways for my practice to take me. I feel very fortunate to be able to draw when and what I want when the feeling moves me. This tile is from Lynn Meads Zentwining  (http://atanglersmind.com/zentwining/ ). I had been introduced to it a while ago but recently just "got it.

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.

Challenge #248 "African Artist"

This is a tangle by Tina-Akua Hunziker and you can find step outs on her blog HERE. I tried three different takes on this one little tile. It may have been too much!

Challenge #246 Plant a Tree

Plant a tree, create a forest! We Zentanglers can do that instantly with pen and paper. My Tall and Small trees for the forest. The first one was done as a practice on a piece of scrap paper (when will I learn.)

Winter Tree Diva Dance

Black and White Tree Pixiose

            Tree with a little wash of color      

Small tree with Prestwood and Verve

                      

Challlenge #242 Gourdgeous

This is a new tangle from Zentangle headquarters. This was fun and very seasonal. Here is my entry for this week:

Black micron, Orange Prismacolor fine line marker, orange, green, and white prismacolor pencils for the leaves

Challenge #239 White on Black starring Munchin

I used the diva's idea of applying black gesso over a white tile because I had two white tiles that I really did not like the final results of. I had never thought of using the black gesso over a white tile before because I have black tiles, but this is a good recycling method. I also really like the texture of the gesso.

Munchin and pixioze

Second tile sing black gesso over white tile

Challenge #237 Using Stencils and Color

Our guest challenger this week is Charlotte Carpentier CZT and her business is CharKat’s Creative Insanity, in Temecula, California. Her creative challenge this week is to use stencils and color of any kind and tangle on top of the result.  I don't have a lot of stencils and the one I chose has very small spaces.

The first tile I wanted to use turmeric in a spray bottle but, I found that you cannot get rid of the tiny granules even after heating it. So I used a makeup wedge and just dabbed it on the tile. After it dried I covered it with my  stencil and used blue watercolor to outline the stencil. Not very happy with it, but it is a good exercise to work with what you have.

The second one I did, I loved the color so much I didn't want to cover it up so I tangled behind.

My favorite thing to do is use inks or watercolor and blow them across the page and then tangle them. This is a recent ATC swap with blown watercolor.

Challenge #236 Tangle something new!

I am way behind in this challenge although I love it and will keep it in mind for the future.

I have been busy cleaning house, having guests, a lot of fun, and packing up to move back to Boston tomorrow. This is always a sad time for me because I hate to leave Maine but, I keep reminding myself I will be back next month. Yay!

So, my rule is, I don't get to look at the results of the Diva challenge before I finish my project. I was not that creative and I didn't even finish but I am posting anyway so I can see what glorious things others have done.

My original intent with the rocks was to write a symptom, or emotion, or even a name of a person that you might want out of your life. When you feel that you have been successful with removing  it, then the action of throwing the stone away makes it complete. The only word I came up with, for me was envy, as you can see on one of the rocks. Anyway, rocks and glass and shells have been done before, so I grabbed my shopping list and divided it into sections. That unfortunately is as far as I have gotten. I leave tomorrow with still much to do. So I submit my incomplete challenge items:

Thank you for stopping by!

Challenge #235 Stripes

I will be honest with you, when I sat down to do this challenge Monday, I said to myself "Lets see if we can get this done in 15 minutes." Here it is Wednesday and I am finally posting.

My title took off in a direction I seemed to have no control over. When I realized how complicated it was getting I got up and walked away. How could quick look like this? Well, it doesn't.

I practically ignored it all day Tuesday because I was a bit angry at it to say the least. I sat down with it today after a nice morning on the beach with my best dog. The end result is not bad. I will try again to make a tile within 15 minutes, not sure they exist anymore.

My entry for this week:

Challenge #234 CanT

Hurray for Chris Titus! This is her tangle this week which is our challenge. I was attending CanTangle, organized by the fabulous Lisa Heron, this past July in Regina Canada, and I can attest to the fact that Chris was in the last row, back corner seat and she was quiet as a mouse for the longest time ever!

This is a fabulous tangle and as many will say, versatile! Ha! that is not a pun. I took some pictures along the way because I am still stuck on Yin Cut and I am afraid it might have drowned out CanT but it is a great look together (I think).

This is CanT in one of it's variations.

This is CanT with Yin cut in it!

This is CanT with Yin Cut and shading.

Challenge #233 "Zenith"

It is so nice to have the Diva back from vacation. Did you see I met her! It was very exciting. She is a hoot and she was successful at even getting me to dance, well, chair dance. It's a thing! Ask the Diva.

The newest tangle from Zentangle Headquarters is Zenith. You can find step outs HERE. It is a fairly easy tangle to draw but I believe the tangelations may be far reaching. I never look at the entries at Iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com before I finish my tile, but I bet there will be at least 100 different styles.

Here is my entry for this week:

Because I booked myself up for so many things this year I have started to combine my challenges. This weeks Square One tangle is yincut. So here Zenith is the border to yincut the center.

Challenge #231 Undulating Tangles!

I had the opportunity and pleasure to take a class from Sharla Hicks at the last Tangle U. Although her main subject was using a pastel blue pencil she also reiterated the use of "enhancers" which I am not doing frequently enough. So I pulled out her class notes and looked them over.

I am a lover of any tangle that is circles or circle related. I didn't think I had a C or an S shape tangle that I loved. It did not take me long to think of Verve and realized I could make it curvy if i really tried.

As I am trying to catch up on many projects I started playing in my Tangle-A-Day-Calender. It has become my sketch book in a sense, as it is a great place to try things out and no one sees it unless you offer it up. I will offer it up today.

Things got curvier as I went along and I also tried out a couple of enhancers. I really liked the last one so decided to try a tile with weighted line enhancer. I might have gone overboard with the shading, but it was screaming out for it. I hate conflicts, so shading it got.

Thank you Sharla for a great challenge!

Challenge #230 Guest Star Erin Olsen!

The Diva (Laura Harms has been away for a while on a well deserved vacation from her blog with her adorable family). We have missed her in the past weeks, although I did meet up with her at CanTangle in Regina Saskatchewan, Canada. She blew my socks off with her danc'n and pranc'n and having a good ole time with the Zentangle. She is a lovely soul with a different take on how things could be done. I respect that and even had a few dance moves myself, even if they were from the chair. They count!

So Erin Olson was a guest blogger this week.  She has her own site that mainly has to do with Zendalas. You can find her at TheBrightOwl.blogspot.com, where she will challenge you to stretch and find some fun with her templates.  This weeks template is here:

And this is what I did with it.

I have been a little obsessed with Margaret Bemners new tangle Pixioze , and of course I could not leave out Diva Dance Rock and Roll and a bit of Screen.

Sum Sum Summer time!

So, I have been absent from this blog for almost two months now, but I have not been idle. In early July I traveled to Calgary Alberta and attended two days of Stampede. Cowboys and girls dancing in the streets, free pancake breakfasts all over the city, mini donuts, saw the inside of Native American Teepees and all their gorgeous hand crafts and clothing, had my picture taken with some very handsome Mounties, and throughly enjoyed being hosted by a Sandra and her husband Barry.

I was traveling with another friend, Chris, so after our fill of fairway food and fun we hit the road to see the sights of Banff.

Lake Louise

Lake Moraine

Takakkaw Falls

We also took a gondola ride up to the top of Sulfur Mountain and saw just so many mountain peaks, and the little town below.

Fear not, we even made time for a soak in the hot springs, which we did only after a complete salt body scrub and an hour massage (my first one!).

One draw back to the time spent in Banff, which this is the ONLY one, was a not so nice hotel that's only redeeming feature was a liquor store located in the lobby. Already looking back and laughing.


Our whole purpose of being in Canada in the first place was to attend CanTangle, which was held in Regina, Saskatchewan, which is about a 7 hour drive east

It being mostly prairie there was not a ton to see. Although we were all fascinated by the fields of canola growing beside the highway.

We were to early in the season to see the flax growing, but we were told it is a beautiful blue.

CANTANGLE! This post is already quite long and we all know what a joy it is to be in a room with like minded people for a full weekend. The time spent was fabulous and I won't be able to say enough here. I will show you just some of the wonderful people I met and saw again!

 Laura Harms

 Margaret Bremner

Hostess with the mostess, Lisa Heron and umbrella wearing sidekick, Helen

 Linda, Sandra and Cris

 Brenda and Marty

The Bette's

Challenge #222 All the colors in the rainbow

To represent Pride week we are using all the colors! Not sure I should have used them all in one tile but here you have it:

Abundies, Zedbra, Cruffle, Wud, (not sure if the atlternate lines have a name) Black Pearlz.

Colored with irojiten pencils and white gelly roll

Now that I am looking at it on the screen, I may go in and blacken the top.

Weekly Challenge #221 Beads of Courage

The challenge from the Diva this week is inspired by the many children that need routine medical care and their strength and courage that is measured in beads. See the Diva's post HERE for an explanation. I my opinion the whole family deserves to be recognized for their strength in the everyday things they do. Beads for Artoo and family:

Various tangles on beads, colored pencils, white gelly roll pen.

Challenge #220 All Boxed Up

The tangle this week is by Alice Hendon which you can find HERE. This is a great tangle to show the power of shading. I like-mono tangles so that is what I did, Before and after shading.

I have not tangled in a bit and you can tell by the shaky lines. I will get back on board soon.

Challenge #128 White on Black

Hmmm.......not my favorite, but I am willing to spend time with it. I have many new supplies I would like to try out so now is as good a time as any.

First tile I find to busy although I realize some of you may like it.

Signo Angelic pen (I thought I had ordered White but got Angleic, not sure if it is the same) White gelly roll for dots (I think it does a better job at dots) blue and peach chalk pastel pencil in Zinger and a light gray pastel pencil for shading in Printemps and Punzel

               After scanning it I added black lines over the Angelic signo pen to add a little depth.

This second tile I like better for it's simplicity and and it's foggy ocean feel.

Verve in White Signo, Pearls are white gelly roll and shading is in dk gray chalk pastel pencil.

Travel and many firsts!

In April I traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico to attend Tangle University where CZT's from all over the US and many different countries, come to learn from other CZT's about our craft. It is in it's third year and it is something I look forward to every year. The CZT crowd is a bunch of like minded, fun people that are always a blast to meet up with, if only for a long weekend. There never seems to be an end to good food, good friends and a mind blowing amount of things to learn. I have come back with many unfinished projects and some cool new tools that I have yet to play with. The one project I did get done was taught by Kate Lamontagne. We used a new tool called a Helix Angle and Circle Maker . This is an inexpensive and very simple tool to make Mandalas, or in our case, we made dream catchers, and learned to use colored pencils. It was just fascinating.

I was home less than a week and repacked my bags for an adventure by car. Oh what fun! I drove to a fellow CZT, Chris Titus's home in upper New York  state and spent a few days in her wonderful studio where we actually took a class in renaissance tiles via Skype from fellow CZT Meredith Yuhas. (A first for all of us!) The following is her tile as I left mine behind in Boston.

We used black and brown micron pens, white charcoal pencil, white gelly roll pen, graphite and we were all amazed at the results. Meredith's work is just yummy.

After a few days of "playing" in the studio, we were on the road again along with Deborah Bartlett on the next leg of our adventure. We drove to the American side of Niagara Falls and walked about, having lunch at a casino just so we could see inside and spend a small amount on playing the games (another first for me!) We all left with 2Cents! 

We then crossed the boarder (another first!) and saw the falls from the Canadian side. Just amazing. We took a ride on Maid of the Mist:

We walked in tunnels behind the falls, which were amazingly loud, if not a bit scary and then just spent time at the bottom of the falls watching the water and listening to the power of them. It was a beautiful morning and I believe we spent 4 to 5 hours just taking it all in.

From here we traveled to the tiny, beautiful town of Elora, Ontario where we attended a weekend workshop called "Tropical Tangled Garden" taught by Cherryl Moote and hosted by Brenda Shaver and her sister in law Mary Hudson-Shaver. What another great group of people! We had the most wonderful weekend of shopping, eating and creating that could be had. Cherryl is a fabulous teacher with many talents and such a down to earth wonderful soul, it was a pleasure to spend the weekend learning from her.  Work In Progress:

After this fabulous weekend we headed back to New York where Chris and a friend were to fly out the next morning to Southwest Harbor Maine and spend a few weeks soaking up the Maine coast and I was to drive back to Boston. Well, things do not always go as planned and Chris and I were in the car again, this time heading for Southwest Harbor Maine! Ten hours later we arrived in a beautiful spot her sister rents every year and I was asked to spend some time. Well, why not! More good company, in a State I love, I couldn't say no. I found myself celebrating Cinco De Mayo at a restaurant in Maine with half price margaritas (original and blueberry basil) while my youngest celebrated his 26th birthday in Brooklyn NY. I stayed for several days then made the journey back to Boston.

It happened to be the fourth anniversary of my eldest sons passing, so I made a stop in Andover and walked up to Holt Hill to spend some quiet time and leave a little something. It is a beautiful spot where you can see the thirty miles to Boston Skyline.

He will always be loved and never forgotten. Shine on!

I stayed in Boston for the weekend and packed up for my summer in Mid-Coast Maine where I am now. A new trip is planned for July! Again to Canada but a whole different part! Woohoo!