Zendala Dare #57

Oh, I love this week's Dare from guest Genevieve Crabe via Erin at www.thebrightowl.blogspot.ca! This entry went fairly quickly for me - two tangles (cadent and facets) were obvious choices for me, though I have to admit that it took two tries to trace out the template in such a way that the outer lines were "guidelines". Unfortunately, my tile got a bit dirty from the kitchen table - not the best place to tangle, but I had to watch something on the stove while I did it. It looks a lot worse on the scan than it actually is - maybe I should clean the scanner too. I like the flow of this one, but feel like it's missing something. However, I'm not going to spend any more time on it BECAUSE, as I was doing it, I realized it has 12 points.... That means I'm going to do a larger one as part of my series of "Tangled Time" which is sort of mixed up clocks that represent how time becomes quite elastic when I start to tangle - if you know what I mean ;). So hopefully I'll have another entry before next Sat. Thanks for viewing, and have a good week.

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.

Zentangle Dare #26

Ooops, - when I started looking at others contributions, I realized that I had missed the whole point of the fall or halloween theme... so my contributions aren't theme related (I may need to do another in this case.) Hope you take the time to look at them anyway. I love the template for this week's Zendala Dare from Erin at (www.thebrightowl.blogspot.ca) because it incorporates a grid, triangles, and more flowing lines. This first effort includes a few of my favorite tangles that I'm fairly comfortable with: Inapod, Paradox, Hi-C's, and Cadent. I did it on a white tile, but felt I needed to blacken the outside to balance the dark areas within.

My second tile is the larger size template, and I used a couple of tangles I wasn't as comfortable with, but have come to really enjoy ('Nzeppel and Verve). The other tangles I used are Arcles, Flourish, and Florez. Thank you for taking the time to look - your comments encourage and motivate me!

Zentangle Challenge #75 - Cadent 2

I recently bought the Poloroid PoGo printer mentioned in Sandy Bartholomew's book Totally Tangled- LOVE IT!!!! (best bargain EVER, and is available through Amazon.ca). I've started to do a number of postcards using Strathmore Watercolor Postcards and a photo, and Zentangle. I just finished one with a photo of a purple flower from my garden (sorry, I've forgotten the name of this plant), and cadent and some other tangles. It's missing something...., but I like it better than my first one (below). Ongoing project, but since the package comes with 15 preprinted postcards, there will be more to come.

Zentangle Challenge #75 - Cadent 1

Super busy week for me this week with lots of social engagements including hosting an English Tea wedding shower for my step-daughter in my garden this Saturday (fingers crossed for good weather!). Added to this, my stuffed owls are selling really well and I need to get sewing to build up more stock. So, I was going to skip the Zentangle Challenge and the Zentangle Dare this week.... but I can't. This morning I set aside one hour to "play" with Cadent and this is the result. (I don't think I like the squared version of cadent so much, but I can see where it could make some great variations which I'm sure will show up in others contributions). This is one of my all time favorite tangles, and now I'm inspired to try again with something more structured, which I intend to take with me while I'm babysitting for some friends tonight.

Zentangle Challenge #66 - Laura's Auras

I'm glad to have another challenge to do as I've been working on a ZIA that I'm not too happy with, so wasn't feeling very motivated. This week's zentangle challenge is to use aura's. Not easy for me as I haven't done much of this, and I do love my "white spaces". But I'm quite happy with this one, it has some auras, and still lots of white space. Good challenge - again taking me out of my comfort zone!

This is my second entry for the Zentangle Challenge #58, Diamonds. The challenge was to use the symbol for the Four Diamond Fund (my previous post explains the fund a bit more). I had started another piece first but didn't like it, so I started this one, then got stuck on it. I worked back and forth on the two pieces. Love/hate the frustration that goes with having an image in my mind of what I want, but not getting there, yet when I push myself to let go and just keep working at it - something seems to come together. Zentangle gets me to release some control and yet pushes me beyond my comfort zone - 'specially these challenges!