The Diva's Weekly Challenge #147: "UMT v. XXIII - Boo*Kee"

It's a rough day for me.  There's a lot of turmoil going on, and I found my tangle challenge today to be a welcome, calming diversion.  It also gave me a chance to try out one of my new Sakura Gelly Roll Metallics.  (Yes, I caved...)  I hope you enjoy my take on Laura's tangle pattern:  "Boo*Kee".

The challenge can be found here.

New Pattern: XoC

Here's a new pattern I was playing with last night:

Play with it and let me know what you come up with :)

The Diva's Weekly Challenge #146: DuoTangle Pea-nuckle/Well

I can't help but think of Pea-nuckle as crochet or something similar.  Because of that, whenever I put it into a tile, I try to "stitch" it in there.  I really should get out of that.

I decided to try red in the first, and didn't much like the results at first, but I pushed through and ended up liking it better.

I stuck with black for the second, and I like my variants of both patterns a lot better in this one.

Click here for the Diva's Weekly Challenge for this week.
Thanks as always, Laura.

And check out my new tangle patterns: Gilda and XoC--play around with them and post links so I can see what you do with them!

New Pattern: Gilda

This is a pattern I stumbled upon while trying out Exis by Jennifer Hohensteiner (as featured on TanglePatterns.com . Her pattern calls for filling a grid with alternating "high-slung" and "low-slung" X's...so of course I flubbed up and made them all the same.  After some playing around, I came up with this.

TINY DISCLAIMER: As always, if this pattern is already out there in the world, just let me know.

Here's the step-out:

Here's one possible variation:

And here's a tangle using the pattern:

New Challenge from the diva: Weekly Challenge #145: "New Official Tangle: Quib"

I started something different, and I figured out really quickly that I didn't like it.  I also figured out why...I was trying to "draw a picture" of something in particular and bend my tangles to it.  That just doesn't usually come out well for me.  What I finally came up with took me a couple of days to finish thanks to life's little interruptions, but I feel it's one of my best tangles.

The weekly challenge can be found here.  I am ever so thankful that Laura does these--it keeps me, well...challenged!

From the diva--Weekly Challenge #144: A Bug's Life

I had fun with this one.  Short and sweet, here it is:

Hope you had fun, too!

New Tangle Pattern: Trovee

I have to thank Caren Mlot, because her pattern Cruze (and working on it for last week's "Diva Challenge") really grew on me, and as I played with it this morning, I came up with this devilishly simple pattern.  If you know this pattern by another name, please don't hesitate to let me know!

I'm working on a new tangle using this one, and will post it momentarily. :)

Okay...here's my tangle for today--using Trovee.

Weekly Challenge #143: "UMT v.XXII - Cruze" from "the diva"

This was a great way for me to burst back into tangling, especially after yesterday's class.  I found Cruze quite challenging when I was trying to keep it straight and symmetrical...but as soon as I let it wander, I quickly began to love it.  I am ecstatic about the tangle I made, and it's definitely one of my best ever (I think).  

The diva's challenge for this week can be found here.

Cheers!

My first official class

Thanks so much to Deb Kopeschny for an absolutely wonderful couple of Zentangle® classes yesterday. I loved meeting all of my classmates, partly due to the fact that I really still don't know anyone here, but mostly because they were just so fun.  What a terrific group!

I've been unable to do much tangling since May because I moved to Ontario from Mississippi.  Between the move and work-related upheaval, it's been a delightful struggle to find time for everything I want to do.  It'll be a while yet until I get into some sort of routine (and I'm wondering if that will ever happen), but for now, I've decided to be sure to make time for 2 really important things... (1) exercise--I bought some home equipment, and it'll be here soon, and (2) tangling!  Gotta keep the body healthy and the mind relaxed.

Here are the tiles I created.


First....drumroll please....my Very First Official Zentangle tile:

I've done all these tangles before, but I remain constantly amazed at the way a familiar tangle can take on a new look when paired with something different, or when done in a different shape.

Here are the other 3 I did in the 2 classes:

The last is not my favorite ever...but ahh, it was still fun to do.

This class was also my first "Self-Enrichment" outing since I got to the area.  I hope to do another very soon.  If you haven't done an official class yet, I highly recommend doing one!

My New Tangle Pattern: HELIOS

I wish I could say I remembered what inspired this pattern, but I was basically just in one of those moods where I just draw and think stuff up. I wanted to get "off the grid", and I was determined to come up with something that was based off 2 X's. Here's the step-by-step...

And here are some variations and one with shading...

As you can see, it's basically just 2 X's overlaid, then connected with one or two basic shapes to form a flower or sunburst type shape.  I'd love to see what someone else can do with this.

The diva's weekly challenge #115 - Amanda Day - or Earth Day

I am busy busy busy, getting ready to move to Ontario at the end of May.  However, today I needed a "lazy day"--and boy, did I get it.  I did little more than curl up in my electric blanket and watch old Medium reruns.  But I did accomplish one thing...I finished this week's challenge from the diva.

(And just for fun, I'm trying to "grab the button" for the challenge...let's see if this works)


Apparently the diva's son Chewie renamed the Earth "Amanda", and since that's also my sister's name, I was hoping this one would come out pretty.  I'm fairly pleased with it.

 

And yet again, I felt like just making up a tangle on the fly, and I used it on the whole left side.  If anyone has ever seen that before, let me know. 

 

Hope everyone's week is going great,

Dayna

 

Oh, and if you have time, please check out my new tangle pattern and tell me what you think!

the diva's Weekly Challenge #113: String Theory v. XXIV "Hip to be Square"

These weekly challenges are really one of the nicest things about Mondays for me, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.  Since I haven't been able to get any classes, this gives me some assignments to work on (reminds me of my creative writing classes).

I struggled a lot with this one.  I jumped in so fast that I sort of missed the gist of the string.  Instead of a square inside a square inside a square...I put a lot of smaller squares inside the one big one.  And I hated it.  Really.

 



 

However, I remembered that while I am not curing cancer here, there must be some good to it.  And sure enough, I found that this is the best "Hypnotic" I've ever managed, and I really like the "Chard" variant I came up with.  So, it wasn't a total loss.

After a couple more false starts, I eventually came up with this one.

I love Linda Dawson's new tangle "Miasma" so much I almost monotangled it here. Not my finest work, but even after all the fuss, I really got some good meditative time in on this.  So, once again, thanks for the inspiration, Ms. Diva!

This weekly challenge from Laura (a.k.a. the diva) can be found here.

Weekly Challenge #112 from the Diva- UMT v.XV "Tuxedo"

Congrats to LeeAnn for having her pattern featured in this week's weekly challenge at http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/ .  This is a challenging pattern, and since I need practice at the pattern itself, I ended up just blowing it up and filling it in.  I'm having fun playing with it.  Here's what I came up with:

The only patterns in there that I know are named are Spawn and Mr. E (both newly posted on Linda Farmer's TanglePatterns.com ). One of the patterns in the middle is basically AuraKnot, but without the knot.  The rest are just what I wanted to do at the time.  But, as always, let me know if you recognize one of the patterns.

By the way, my daughter said this reminds her of  maggots, and her friend says it reminds him of an EKG reading.  Hmmm.

My first original tangle pattern (I think)... Squee-Fly

I have looked all over the inter-webs for every pattern I could lay eyeballs on, and still want more.  Some time ago I started just letting myself doodle again, trying to find patterns in everyday things, and just letting it flow.  This is what came out of my marker on the first go-round.  (I submitted it to TanglePatterns.com today.)

Just as it says above, if anyone has seen this under another name, please tell me.

Challenge #111 from the Diva

This week's challenge at http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/ is to do a "monotangle" with only Mooka.  I have had a love-hate relationship with Mooka.  I usually love what everyone else does with it, and I generally hate what I do with this pattern.  Even in this piece, most of my Mooka's seem jerky, like awkward geeks at the Zentangle party.  But I will say that I came out of this challenge with a bit more confidence and actually came up with one variant I really like (the littler one toward the bottom).

 



For some reason this looks like a pregnant Mooka to me.

This challenge can be found at http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/2013/03/weekly-challenge-111.html . 

Weekly Challenge#110 from the Diva

This week's challenge was "Get Rid of the Box"--and boy, did I get rid of it.  One of my asset-flaws (those things we all have that can be our biggest strengths and also our biggest pain-causers) is that I never, ever do something half-way, at least not as I see it.  I have been known to drop a project halfway through, but what the casual observer doesn't know is that I was doing it for fun, and when it stops being fun, I stop wasting my time.  But I digress.  Here's the tangle:





This tangle has these out-of-the-box features:

1. I used a new type of paper:  Canson "Marker" paper in brilliant white
2. I did not remove the paper from the pad.
3. Instead of a string drawn within the boundaries of a squarish box, I drew the box, and then some strings coming from that.
4. I used no tangle patterns with straight lines.
5. I used no tangle patterns I had ever put into a completed project.
6. That pattern in the bottom left?  I have no idea if that has a name or has been tangled before.
7. And finally, I did not shade this one at all, and can't bring myself to want to.

I couldn't resist the urge to make it a themed pattern, though.  There is love in the box (the heart), and from that flows Joy (the pattern), which is of course accompanied by some beautiful, flowing tangles.

I really had fun with this one, Ms. Diva!
This weekly challenge can be found here: http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/2013/03/weekly-challenge-110.html

The Diva's Weekly Challenge #108

This is my first tangle on gray paper.  It doesn't look gray in this crappy apartment lighting, but it's from a Strathmore "Toned Gray" sketchbook.  Just like the "Toned Tan", it's such interesting-looking paper.

Thanks to the Diva (http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/) for this weekly challenge.

 

Weekly Challenge #108 - A "Use My Tangle" Challenge

using "Whyz" by Jane MacKugler, CZT.

Instructions for her pattern are here: http://dicksallyjane.blogspot.ca/2012/01/whyz.html

Tan-Tangling

On one of my first forays into shopping for markers and such, I saw some Strathmore "Toned Tan" Sketchbooks.  The paper just begged to be tangled on.  Here's my collection of Tan Tangles to date.

And finally there is is this one.  This tangle was originally done for Weekly Challenge #107 at I am the diva - Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT®) . The Diva has been of great inspiration to me.  I was visiting family and friends in Florida when I did this, and I didn't submit it in time for the challenge.  But I liked it so much, I finished it anyway and even named it (which I don't usually do).  I call this one "Things Fall Apart".

You might remember the Yeats poem "The Second Coming"--I honestly remember it more because it was quoted in Stephen King's The Stand.

But, as usual, I digress.

More tan-tangles later,
Red

Tangles and Doodles and Rediscovering My Creative Side

I was shopping online for Christmas presents for my artistically gifted teenage daughter, and I saw One Zentangle a Day by Beckah Krahula.  "Zentangle"?  I'd never heard of it.  I ordered it for her, but it has been my book since the day we opened the package.  I've scoured the web for new patterns, literally hooked since the day I picked up a Pigma Micron pen.

This is the very first tangle I attempted.

Not bad, huh?And that pattern in the right bottom corner...I made that up, and I have no idea if someone might already have thought it up.  If you've seen it before, please tell me.  And if not, maybe I should name it.  Any ideas?

Here are a few more that I did in the first few weeks:

This last one is just from an experiment in my sketchbook, and not really a tangle, but it turned out so well, I had to post it.  I was playing with AuraKnot and wondered how it would look with other shapes, and this is what I ended up with.

---Red