Weekly Challenge #174: Superimposing Strings

As I sit at my "art table" and look around me I see two pencil cases with 36 - 90 pencils each, three good sized pencil boxes filled with microns and other inky pens, a large box of water colors and a desk set of Tombow markers not to mention all the different types of paper I have on hand.  I have been thinking for a while that I need to get back to the basics.

There is something that frees up the mind when you only consider a 3.5 X 3.5 square of fabulous paper, a pencil, and a black micron. This is what this challenge reminded me, go back to the basics. It seemed so easy and I finished without much thought. It came to fruition in about twenty minutes. With all the tools I have available to me comes chaos, skepticism, and frustration. I think it is time to clear the table and make things peaceful again.

I chose two strings at random from the tangle pattern web site without looking first, #7 and #24. Together they looked like this:

Even though there were so many strings I could not possibly use them all, I chose what felt pleasing to me and  ended up with this tile which I like very much.

Quabog, Onamoto, Diva Dance, Windfarm, Garlic

It is the simple things that make one happy. I need to remember that!

Weekly Challenge #173: Redux, Remix, Revisit Your Comfort Tangle

The challenge this week is brought to us by fellow CZT Sharla Hicks and she challenges us to revisit our comfort tangles and do something different. I am not feeling all that creative today so I kept it simple.  I used a pink micron pen, which is not usually part of my color scheme and also Tombow markers for shading. I do like the depth it gave the Printemps.  If interested you can find Sharla's tutorials on using different methods for shading HERE.

Printemps in Pick micron pen shaded with Tombow marker 761

Mooka in black micron pen shaded with Tombow marker N75

On Renaissance Tile

Auraknot and Mooka Intertwined

I am posting these step outs with the understanding that you already know how to draw both tangles. If you do not know these tangles, follow the links AURAKNOT and MOOKA to see how they are done.

These four tiles were drawn free hand so they are not exact from step to step. I numbered the Mooka so you could keep track if they look a bit different from the one before.

1.To start, I draw one full round of Auraknot followed then by two Mooka.

2. Again, draw a round of Auraknot followed by two (or as many as you would like) Mooka

3. Now I switch and draw the Mooka first and then another round of Auraknot

4. You can stop at any time with this. I have added two more Mooka and then several more rounds of Auraknot. I feel the added Auraknot lines add to the "inter-twininess"

Have fun with this. I is also fun to add some Mooka curling out!

Challenge #172 Duo Tangle Auraknot and Mooka

I love tangling these two together. The outcome is always interesting. Next time I would not choose to fill in the white Mooka with Gelly Roll as it is a little sloppy but was worth the experiment.

Challenge #171 Courage

Courage. I immediately think of my boys when the word courage comes up.  My eldest son faced death at the very young age of 24. He met it and dealt with it on his own terms and finally submitted to it gracefully with strength and courage.  His younger brother was courageous as he donated stem cells for transplant, magical brownies and being by his side to the very end.  He continues to be courageous in his ability to continue on with  his own life after a loss that was so very hard to bare.  Courage is something I think about almost daily because of my boys and I have learned from what they have shown me.

This is a simple tile, drawn with two tangles. One, designed by myself after my son, Austin, passed away called unme and one I came across only recently that so fits my youngest son, as he was born on the 5th of May, or as many people know it as "Cinco de Mayo" the tangle Ole'.

Challenge #169 Circles as Strings

This week we were asked to use a circle or circles as our string and then tangle. This seemed like an easy one to accomplish but my end result surprised me. A little science and nature on the same tile. Where did that come from?

Tan Zendala Tile, black and brown micron, white gel pen, white prismacolor pencil

Black Pearlz, Printemps, Bronx cheer, Poke Leaf

Challenge #167 Duo Tangle

The challenge this week from the Diva is to use the tangles Well and Punzel. This tile has a lot going on especially in Punzel, not usually my style.

 Punzel, and Well in two different styles

Speaking of a lot going on I was happy to be introduced to Marizaan van Beek from South Africa who had recently traveled to Canada to visit a fellow CZT and teach a class or two. Both of them then made their way to Portland Maine to attend Tangle U which I was also attending. What follows is what I picked up from the pictures of the class that were posted on Facebook. There is so much to learn from fellow CZT's. This is plain and simply the most fun I have had in a while.

There are many tangles in here and was colored with Tombow markers.

I was completely fascinated and continued on to complete two more using Inktense Pencils.

This is so much fun and has pleased my inner child who has really just wanted to color.

Challenge #166 Diva Style

A new tangle, yet to be named is our challenge this week. One thing lead to another and I ended up with three tiles. Similar but different.

Tangle University

I enjoyed four wonderful days in Portland Maine with fellow Certified Zentangle Teachers that came from South Africa, Netherlands, Latvia, Taiwan, Australia and all over the US and Canada who shared their ideas, taught classes, stayed up late into the night tangling together and of course we ate a lot!

First night started out with a fancy dinner at Hugo's Restaurant. So many tastings of wonderful food.

 Fluke Tartar

 Crabmeat Salad in compressed Apple and Tofu foam and Sea Moss

 Scallops wrapped in Nori with Pickled Daikon Radish

 Tempura Ramps

 Skate roasted yummy vegetables with a citrus oil and a smoked tomato sauce

 Meat of some kind (I am sorry I can't remember because I don't eat meat but it was enjoyed by a friend)

 Smoked Monkfish

 Lamb

 French toast with Carmel topping sitting atop hops

 Grapefruit sorbet, granola and egg yolk

Homemade Marshmallows, Lemon curd, and Torrone

All was very good and the waiter took our picture after every course was served. He also went to the kitchen and looked up Zentangle and was very interested. I wished we had had a tile to leave behind :(

From Pizza to seafood, we ate it all and had a wonderful time together. It always goes so fast but, we are already looking forward to Tangle U Santa Fe in 2015!

Fellow CZT Chris Titus then spent the next five days at our home in Round Pond Maine where we "mostly" played with our new supplies. What a lot of fun to have a fellow tangler in the house for many days. It was funny that most of our time we spent at the same table and did not speak a word for hours so engrossed in our projects we were. She is a wonderful cook and took care of the meals, was an awesome house guest and a really great friend. What follows are some pictures of our finished works. The colored piece alone took each of us a couple of days to complete and so much fun. The idea came from Marizaan van Beek who traveled from Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa to Canada for a visit, but took some time to teach a class before her journey to Tangle U. CZT's are a very generous group.

 Tangled and Colored with Tombow markers by Chris

Tangled and colored with Tombow markers by Me 

Zendala Lesson - Same string and instructions - different results.

 Above Chris's below Deb's

We had a mixture of some rainy days, some beautiful days, some windy days and several visits from eagles both young and old.  Quite a pleasurable week!

Challenge #165 "Camelia"

I have seen Camelia in others work and have used it myself once or twice but, it seems like a big tangle to get on a tile. I was able to get quite a lot of it on a tile and had a great time dong it. Just back from Tangle U and have many new things to try. Some, you will find here.

Camelia, Printemps, Drops, Black Pearlz (in brown)

pigma micron in brown and black, Caran d'Ache pencil in 

english red and brown, graphite pencil.

Camelia in White Celly Roll, highlights Clear Star Gelly Roll, Dandy 

in black glaze over a Zenstone wash.

Challenge #164 Earth Day

Although it was an overcast, rainy day I still had to walk my dog Blue Sky. As we were returning home through the ever changing and now very beautiful Public Garden in Boston a woman we were approaching had a delighted smile on her face and said "can I say hello?" meaning to Blue of course. This dog gets so much attention it is really incredible. Well, anyway this woman was author Ellen Cooney and she was on her way to her publishers office because she has a book coming out (the eleventh I think?) about a school for dogs. This book deals with abused dogs that are "rescued" and given a second chance.  Ellen was just so nice and wasn't even flustered that Blue Sky had left a muddy foot print on her clean white shirt! You just never know who will cross your path. Her book is due to be released in August 2014 and since she resides in Maine maybe our paths will cross again.

Earth day tile, practicing my organic tangles.

Poke leaf, Cat-Kin, Black Pearlz, Printemps, Enyshou, 

Weekly Challenge #162: "String Theory - Initial String"

I have not been in the "Zen" lately but, I finally managed to complete the challenge this week to use your initials as a string. I did two drawings, neither of which I like but, both of which I learned from. So all in all not a bad week. This is the string I started with:

This is the tangle I do not like:

Bunzo, Vega, Black Pearlz

This is my second try which, again I am not fully inthralled with:

Printemps, Enyshou, Scrolled Feather, Fescu, Mooka

Thank goodness Tangle U is just around the corner to give me some inspiration.

Weekly Challenge #161 Quandray

Quandary is a bit like tripoli, both of which feeds on itself and builds and builds. I am trying to do some larger work and I have sketch books of tan toned paper and gray toned paper that were calling to me this week. Still stuck on Spirals from last weeks challenge I created this one on gray:

Demi, Printemps, 'NZeppel

And for this weeks  quandray challenge this one on tan:

Quandray, Printemps

Weekly Challenge #160: "String Theory: Spiral"

I have been shying away from spirals and now I don't know why that was. The Challenge comes from the Diva's site and was recently addressed in the Zentangle blog. Michelle Beauchamp had drawn a great spiral guide way back when which you can find HERE.

I have my favorite one but I tried them out on the different tiles using different materials. Becoming more comfortable with the shape.

 White Tile, Black micron

White Tile, Black micron

Black Tile, White Gelly Roll, White Gelly Souffle, White Charcoal pencil

Renaissance Tile, brown and black micron, Poke leaf, Printemps, Fallen leaves.

AHHHHHHHH!

It is Sunday and the sun was out and my room was warm. Later, taking the dog for a walk I realized the wind was blustery and very cold. There was slush in the ocean and not another soul was about. Retreat to the hot tub and a fire. Yes my life is very difficult. Tiles in the sun:

 Poke leaf, Fallen Leaves, Printemps

 Rixty, white gelly roll, black tile

Fiore, Jonqual, black, brown micron, white gelly roll

I will add that I chopped and stacked the wood and clean and maintain the hot tub. My sunny day only ruined by the dog vomiting! Really, not to bad.

Weekly Challenge #159: "Top O' the Morning"

I don't know why it took me so long to complete this challenge, but maybe I should not have even attempted. Here are my two very colored, silly top o' the morning tiles.

Silly Tangly Rainbow

Onomato, Golven, Tagh, Diva Dance, Printemps, Ambler, Munchin

 Clover Leaf

Hollibaugh, Printemps (warning,do not use cheap drugstore gel pens!)