Zentangle Challenge #267 - DuoTangle: Poke Root vs Drupe

I rarely use Poke Root… it's just not one of my favourites. However, I love Drupe! Here is my combination of the two for this week's Diva challenge from Laura at www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.ca. Today is Laura's birthday too - so Happy Birthday Laura!

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!

Zendala Dare #114

Another great template this week from Erin at www.thebrightowl.blogspot.com. Not one of my favourite end products, but I had fun with the colour. And at least it's on time; last weeks entry went in late. I've been busy preparing for a new set of Zentangle classes, and finishing up a few of the many projects from Camerida (a wonderful weekend spent at the studio of Chris Titus in Wyoming, N.Y. with 25 Canadian and American CZT's)! I've been using this blog only for Zentangle challenges and Dares, but I'm thinking that I should be writing about the other wonderful Zentangle adventures I've been on this year: Tropical Tangle Garden with Cherryl Moote in Elora, Ontario, CanTangle in Regina, Saskatchewan, and Camerida in Wyoming, N.Y. Stay tuned ….

Zentangle Challenge #225 - Color (Guest Post - Jen Crutchfield)

Wow, I managed 4 tiles for this week's Diva Challenge presented by guest Jen Crutchfield, CZT. We were asked to introduce colour… something I'm not comfortable with, but LOVE! I started with a grey tile and used blue and sepia ink and chalk pencils. I actually drew out this tile last week for the Square One Challenge to use Meer, but didn't like the tile so set it aside. I love it with colour!) My two pinkish tiles were background dyed using watered down Tombow markers and have been sitting around for a while - this was the perfect chance to play with them. I used Tombow markers to colour and shade the two more colourful tiles. What fun I've had using colour, and also trying a few new to me tangles! Great challenge!

Zentangle Challenge #218 - White on black or found

wI haven't posted for a while, nor have I tangled very much. But just this past week I was preparing a Zentangle display board for a Holistic Health Fair and had done several different tiles using 4 tangles on each with different strings, just to demonstrate how different, yet similar they could be. I was happy with all the tiles I did, except the white on black. I don't have a lot of experience with these and frankly avoid them. This week's challenge motivated me to really step out of my comfort zone!! I still don't love white on black, and would dearly love to have some lessons on them, but once I got started, I didn't want to stop. So here are the 5 tiles I did today ...

Zendala Dare #43

This week's Zendala Dare (#43) from Erin at www.thebrightowl.blogspot.ca, is to use tangles that make us "feel like and artist" in her lovely template. I LOVE this dare! I never considered myself an "artist" though I have always thought of myself as being creative. Mainly I felt that nothing I could do would rival all the originality I saw out there whether in painting, drawing, sewing, beading... or whatever craft I put my hands to. One of the things so wonderful about Zentangle is that it gives one permission to copy, adapt, and create using the official patterns (and unofficial too, I guess). Even though the patterns are quite specific in their initial drawing, they develop their own personality depending on who draws them, how they fill certain spaces, other tangles they are near, how they are shaded... Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that because of Zentangle, I feel "like an artist"! This first tile I did with Dragonair, Cadent, and Drupe - three of my favorite, first learned tangles that I felt changed how I look at my ablilities.

This second larger tile (6" x 6") is done using Linq (with striping), Golven, Trimonds, and Auraknot - all tangles that I love because no matter how or where I do them, they always look different to me, and it's the shading that really gives them life. Thanks again Erin for a great Dare and making me think about how and why I have special feelings for these particular tangles.

Zendala Dare #23

Thanks Erin for another great template for this week's Zendala Dare (thebrightowl.blogspot.ca). Seems like this is a time of changes - the weather, activities, careers, whatever... and so I decided to do tangles that sort of represented pathways from one thing to another - all intersecting, and with little "bumps" on the way. All circled by the ying/yang of life. Not that I'm particularly spiritual, but I do believe that change can be a good thing if approached with a positive attitude, and if it doesn't work out, well, you've learned from it and can often go back, or, further ahead. I just finished reading a fabulous book that sort of ties into all this: "Hector and the Search for Happiness" by Francois Lelord. If you have read and liked "The Petit Prince" and "The Alchemist" - it's sort of along those lines - but about Happiness.

Zendala Dare #13 - Play with paper

This weeks Zendala Dare from Erin of www.thebrightowl.blogspot.ca, is to use her template on a surface that is something other than what we would usually tangle on. The timing couldn't be better for me because I just bought some blackout drapery material that I wanted to try sewing into a Zentangle chair cover. Well, the material does bleed a bit, doesn't shade with pencil so I had to get creative and try shading with the pen, and I don't think it's going to be very color fast. Oh well, I'm sure I'll find another use for it. The first example is the on the blackout material. Today was record heat temperatures in Toronto so I spent most of the day in the back yard, in a kiddie pool cooling down and enjoying an otherwise beautiful day. Between dips, I did my second tile on some colored texture craft paper. It has a sort of tie-dye stripe in blue and pink so I used blue and pink ink. I'm happy with the first, but the second looks (and was) rushed.