Zentangle Challenge #244 - Tripoli

Tripoli is an acquaintance that I admire, and am actively trying to make my friend… But I find it difficult, and I stress when dealing with it - not at all Zen-like! As with some friendships, sometimes you have to work at it more than others, and I will be friends with Tripoli… someday. This week's Diva Challenge from Laura at www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com is to use the Tangle Tripoli. I'm glad for this "opportunity" to push myself. My most recent tile, which I quite like, is with the word "Awe", which has become my spirit word in Zentangle. I chose a stone with Awe written on it at CanTangle and it travels with me in my pencil case, and I wrote the word on my arrow project from Camerida. I am in AWE of Rick and Maria and the Zentangle world they have introduced and nurtured. I am in AWE of all the truly wonderful people in the Zentangle Community who just keep on sharing and giving. I am in AWE of the fabulous Zentangle art I see every day. But also, I am in AWE of what I have been able to create and open my heart to! This picture with three tiles on it is of my first three attempts - all have aspects I like, and other aspects… not so much.

Zendala Dare #116

I did two Zendala's for this week's Dare from Erin at www.thebrightowl.blogspot.com. Though it doesn't show, the first one was done on a regular Zendala tile, and the second on an 8.5 inch circle. I like the second better because it gave me the opportunity to showcase some tangles that work well in circular spaces. I wanted something to balance the detail of the central orbs and I think Zplode works well. I'm happy with both of these!

Zentangle Challenge #243

This week's Diva Challenge from Erin at www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.ca is to leave lots of white space. So hard to do! I really wanted to add more… The first time I did Vega was at my CZT12 training, and it's now one of my favourites. I love to tangle on beer coasters, and found some blank ones for sale on Amazon.com but they won't ship them to Canada (sigh), so luckily Chris Titus allowed me to have some stuff shipped to her address in Wyoming, N.Y. and I picked them up when I went to the wonderful meet-up Camerida! I got a box of the round coasters, and a box of the square ones (which just happen to be 3.5 inches! The material is a sort of cardboard but the microns draw beautifully on them - this challenge was my first opportunity to try them out. I foresee some fun classes and gifts with these coasters!

Zendala Dare #115 + use tangles that start with (all or some) letters: THANKS

I wasn't too fond of this week's Zendala Challenge from Erin at www.thebrightowl.blogspot.com, because I thought there were too many spaces and awkward ones at that…. But I try to do all of the Dares, and I was frankly quite surprised and pleased with my end result with this one. Goes to reinforce that you never know where Zentangle is going to take you! I initially wanted to use tangles for all the letters in the word "THANKS" (which was part of this week's dare), but I decided to stop without using an H or an N, and I'm happy that I left the open space! I'm not sure why it looks like the paper is blue - it's not - it's off-white water-colour paper; but I kind of like it blue!