Zentangle Challenge #279 - Duo-Tangle: Meer vs Auraknot

Laura's challenge this week is to use two tangles, Meer and Auraknot in a Duo-Tangle. (www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.ca) Not loving this tile but it's getting posted.

Zentangle Challenge #235 - String Theory - Stripes

I've coloured a number of tiles with inks, and this one had some nice but irregular "stripes" that I followed as a string. This is my entry for this week's challenge from Laura at www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.ca I had fun doing it, love the yellow and purple background, and have a love/hate feeling about the Meer which is awkward, but very different.

Zentangle Challenge #232 - Guest Blogger Holly Atwater with audio instructions

Wow, this was a very different sort of challenge from guest blogger Holly Atwater who is sitting in for Laura at www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com this week. I was fortunate to be at CanTangle earlier this summer and experienced an audio meditative instruction done by Molly Hollibaugh, and it was an awesome experience. These audios are somewhat similar but it's a bit different listening on my computer and being able to pause and replay. I did all three audio's. The first one is for Tripoli, and I have to say that I find this one of the most challenging tangles, but with the audio, I think I did a pretty good job! Thanks Holly! The next one is a tangle that Holly called Meatballs, but I think it's on the Zentangle website and Tanglepatterns.com as Nipa? The third I had more trouble following the instructions, but maybe I'd lost some concentration by that point. Oh well, I improvised. Fun challenge, and I'm quite happy!

Zentangle Challenge #230 - Guest Blogger Erin Olson

This week's guest blogger for the challenge (iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com)is Erin Olson of The Bright Owl (www.thebrightowl.blogspot.com). Erin has posted a Zendala, and I LOVE her Zendala's. This one, once I started working on it, morphed into a ZIA! That's one of the many things I love about Zentangle - you are often surprised at where your tangling leads you. I may very well do another and try to keep it as a Zendala… Thanks Erin! (and good to see you here, and back with new Zendala's on your blog!)

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!

Zendala Dare #96

This week's Zendala Dare was a challenging one, I thought. Love these dares and challenges though - they make me a bit uncomfortable, yet stimulated. I did the outside bits first, got stuck and was just about to set this particular dare aside when an inspiration came to me during a yoga class (yeah, I know I'm not supposed to let my mind wander…). And so again I'm reminded that it is best to just let the tangles just happen rather to try to plan it all out and try to find new or perfectly complimentary tangles… It doesn't show well in the scan, but the colours are a bit more intense, the printemps has a sepia tone, and there is blue between the flowers and the border. I'm quite happy with this one, and to me it feels like a bit of a rock garden….

Zentangle Challenge #119 - Ebony and Ivory

This week's Zentangle Challenge from Laura at www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.ca is to use black and white, evenly distributed throughout the tile. I actually missed the part about "evenly distributed", though I think I ended up fairly balanced with white/black. I was at the local art store and found on sale some black card stock and a pretty ivory smaller card - probably meant for name tags, and had one of those "Ah hah" moments when I knew exactly how I was going to start this challenge. I taped the small ivory card off centre on the black card stock (which pre-folds in 1/2 to make a card...), then used kitchen glasses for the circles. I then wove a couple of bands through the circles and that was my "string". The white gel pen is definitely not my favourite - I'd like something with a finer line, and something that doesn't smudge if you don't let it dry a bit. However, I found that I really did like the result of using a white tile on a black tile and doing a sort of negative drawing of the tangles. I've decided to do a set of cards like these for those occasions when I can't find the right card at the store.... The other thought I had was to make the white piece elevated a bit from the black with a spring or sponge tape; maybe the next card! Thanks for looking, and I appreciate any comments.

Zendala Dare #57 - Tangled Time #3 - It's five o'clock somewhere (second entry)

This is my second entry to this week's Zendala Dare. I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds that once I start to tangle, time takes on a new dimension and usually flies by. I also find that other things that needed doing seem suddenly less important. So, I am working on a series of "Tangled Time" clock Zendala's that indicate that time becomes confused and or elastic once I put pen to paper. This is my third, and there is an added twist to this one. The three tangles at the 5, 6, and 7 o'clock placement are in honour of cocktail hour (it's five o'clock somewhere, as Jimmy Buffet sings). The tangles I've used in these positions are wine inspired tangles created by Linda Farmer: Chard, Rose, and Gewurtz. (I'm still waiting for Merlot to be created...). This was fun and maybe will inspire those of you out there who are good at coming up with new tangles to design tangles for some cocktails like martini's, gimlets, mojito's... ha, ha!

Zendala Dare #38

I took a break from Zentangle for a few weeks while I sewed my owl pillows for Christmas craft shows, and of course shopped for, and enjoyed Christmas with friends and family! I really missed the hours I spend Zentangling, and am glad to be back at it - again part of my daily routine. I love the Zendala Dare (www.thebrightowl.blogspot.ca) and my goal this year is to try using tangles in spaces that don't seem obvious. That means circular patterns in angular spaces and visa versa,and moving outside of strings. If I can arrange it, I'd also like to take the CZT course - not that I necessarily want to teach, because I AM RETIRED, but I think just being around the others who are so committed and interested in Zentangle would be wonderful and inspirational. Happy New Year to everyone in the Zentangle community.

Zentangle Challenge #92 - String Theory - Stripes

This week's Zentangle Challenge from the Diva (www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.ca) is to use stripes as the string. I also tried to use some tangles that used stripes or were based on stripes. This time I just let my hand and heart go and fill in the string of 10 horizontal,irregularly spaced lines across the page. No preconceived design or ideas, and that was fun and relaxing. I did two "new to me" tangles of planateen and sugarcane.

Zentangle Challenge #74 - Eccentric Circles

The Zentangle Challenge (www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.ca) for this week is to draw "eccentric" circles for our string. I decided that instead of drawing irregular circles, I would draw circles (ovals) in one direction, then draw some others in another direction. This led me to wanting to "weave' the lines. I've used two new to me tangles, Purk and Wartz. I'm not entirely happy with this, especially Bilt which didn't turn out or float the way I wanted it to; and it's rather hard to see how the circles interweave. Oh well - at least I learned two new tangles. Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to post comments - they are much appreciated. Have a good rest of the week.