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 #27

Well I'm definitely going to be doing another for this weeks Zendala Dare (www.thebrightowl.blogspot.ca) because this was fun, but I am not happy with the way it turned out. First of all, the intention was that Daggerly was supposed to make the cubine diamonds look like they had been cut away from the squares... didn't work, and I should have made the Daggerly with wider bands so it was more obvious. Wish I hadn't put Footlights in.... but worst of all was that I tried Vortex in the outermost squares but they didn't look anything like a Vortex so I tried to make them into something else.... yuck. I don't mind the Pearlz, but I think they would have been better if there was something else in this zendala to balance their roundness. That's the challenge though. And while I thought about not posting this, I did put quite a bit of time into it, and it's all a learning experience... right?

Zentangle Challenge #73 - Bridgen

This week's Zentangle Challenge from "Iamthedivaczt.blogspot.ca" is to use the tangle Bridgen. I've never used it before but certainly will again. It's a great tangle. I made the mistake though of looking at other contributions - never a good idea because it is intimidating because there are so many wonderful interpretations and I start thinking that I can never do anything as good. But that's the point... it's not a competition, and I have to remember that I'm doing it for me, and learning from others. It really is amazing to see how so very different each contribution is! I'm not totally happy with mine, but it will do. I have several other projects on the go so this week is getting short shrift time-wise. (I bought one of those Pogo printers (amazon.ca) mentioned in Sandy Steen Bartholomew's "Yoga for your Brain" book, and am having a blast making post cards - maybe I'll post some when I've done a few more.)