tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26631107221401181752024-03-13T01:35:06.168-07:00Lezli B's PlaceMy place on the web for artistic endeavors!LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-2046458914567842392017-06-22T15:19:00.000-07:002017-06-24T00:03:47.770-07:00DC#321 ~ Double Dog Dare (Non-Dominant and Auras)What a challenge! I feel as though I have really been working this week....I have been practicing with my non-dominant hand all week to get this done for the challenge. Laura Harms aka "The Diva" has asked us to not only use our non-dominant hand (which, in my case, is my left hand), but also to choose tangles which require auras. Even at the best of times, my auras are rarely evenly done, so I'm not exactly sure which one challenged me more.<br />
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Here is my finished tile....I could only work on it for short periods of time because my hand would cramp up so I had to rest it. But I did find that even with the added stress of the auras, I still felt a great deal of relaxation taking my time and just concentrating on the lines I was drawing. . . watching them form from my pen . . . moving over a bit to make another line . . . and watching the shapes form . . . almost hypnotic for me! Then the coloring in of the black portions . . . oh what tiny little strokes I took to make sure that my area was covered . . . going over a line with the blackening process to try to fill in the shakiness of the drawn line . . . and some stippling in a few places. And now, the shading . . . THAT was really hard, not so much getting the graphite down but maneuvering the blending stump to get the graphite where I wanted it. Then the white highlights . . . that seemed to be even more delicate and took me a long time as well. But, in spite of all the time and self talk and hypnotic drawing that I did, I am rather pleased with the way it turned out. Several places didn't quite work the way I had hoped, but it's okay, it looks good . . . enough!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2js9KKysuaQ/WUw_gP6A6fI/AAAAAAAAA9A/Sr6B5ZWz0ukkfNGqRZU85NrNre-urx3qgCLcBGAs/s1600/DC%2523321%2B%257E%2BDouble%2BDog%2BDare.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="437" data-original-width="403" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2js9KKysuaQ/WUw_gP6A6fI/AAAAAAAAA9A/Sr6B5ZWz0ukkfNGqRZU85NrNre-urx3qgCLcBGAs/s320/DC%2523321%2B%257E%2BDouble%2BDog%2BDare.JPG" width="295" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DC #321 ~ Double Dog Dare<br />
Media: 4x4 Strathmore Toned Tile, Black Micron 01,<br />
Creative Memories Fine Black Pen, Graphite,<br />
and White chalk pencil by General<br />
Tangles: Loki, Zinger (of sorts), Arukas, Garlic,<br />
and Crescent Moon</td></tr>
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Here are a couple of practice pieces that I was trying to get my hand working so that I could go to a regular size tile . . . not the greatest, but they were intended for practice, so it's okay *big grin*<br />
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Thank you for stopping by and as always, I always appreciate comments, be they constructive criticism or any other comments. Please stop the Diva's Place (<a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">here</a>) and see what other artists have made of this challenge. Feel free to give it a try if you are so inclined. Hope to see You here one of these days as well, so you can join in on our fun.<br />
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Have a zen-ful day! :)<br />
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LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-52182965110003990152017-06-16T20:22:00.000-07:002017-06-16T20:22:01.637-07:00DC #320 ~ UMT: Dansk by Margaret BremnerI actually managed to tune in while Laura was streaming last Sunday to find out the challenge was. This week we are challenged to use a tangle my Margaret Bremner called 'Dansk'. I have been tangling on and off since summer of 2014 and have seen this tangle used, but I had actually never tried it. So I watched carefully as Laura was explaining that it worked best if the auras were the same width. Well, I DID try to do that, but my hands were hurting, so they <i>might not </i>be equal. But no matter, it was relaxing to make the shapes whether they were perfect or not (<i>aside: most of my stuff is NOT perfect, although that's what I strive for after I have actually learned the exercise). </i>I finished up the linework just as Laura finished streaming.<br />
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It was very comfortable to tangle along with the other folks that were online, especially since I wasn't able to go to my Tangle Meetup on the 11th. It was my son's birthday and he had hurt his ankle, so we were babysitting his ankle. I fully intended to finish the shading and highlighting on Monday, the 12th, but instead I spent all day in the emergency room with my son, because we thought that his cellulitis had maybe come back . . . that's how bad his ankle was hurting. I hadn't brought any of my tangling stuff with me except a few tiles and a pen. Not even a pencil was in my bag! You can bet THAT won't happen again!<br />
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So here is my first challenge tile and actually the first time I had actually used Dansk:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JcyBzuUdt-0/WUSaheiQ82I/AAAAAAAAA8g/PWj6eOQvOa8nTWF4FfANHZ0bUECXP4HaQCLcBGAs/s1600/DC%2B%2523320%2B%257E%2BUMT-Dansk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="428" height="315" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JcyBzuUdt-0/WUSaheiQ82I/AAAAAAAAA8g/PWj6eOQvOa8nTWF4FfANHZ0bUECXP4HaQCLcBGAs/s320/DC%2B%2523320%2B%257E%2BUMT-Dansk.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DC #320 ~ UMT: DANSK<br />Media: 4x4 Grey Toned tile, Black Micron 01, White Gelly<br /> Roll, White General Chalk Pencil, graphite, grey fineliner<br />Tangles Used: Dansk, Diva Dance, Fescu, Chainey by<br />Gaylene Miller and Black Pearls.<br /></td></tr>
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So I finally finished this up on the 13th in the morning, but I had actually done linework on another one while I was sitting all day at emergency. I actually felt more relaxed doing this one because I had an idea of what I was doing with Dansk. I finished it up on the 13th as well with the shading and highlighting. I actually think I like this one much better. What do you think?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jYdZzO22E-k/WUSake9UBrI/AAAAAAAAA8o/xiv2SPvGasQYRX3vB_yhosULORhAG2t7gCEwYBhgL/s1600/DC%2B%2523320%2B%257E%2BUMT-Dansk%2B%25232.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="395" height="311" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jYdZzO22E-k/WUSake9UBrI/AAAAAAAAA8o/xiv2SPvGasQYRX3vB_yhosULORhAG2t7gCEwYBhgL/s320/DC%2B%2523320%2B%257E%2BUMT-Dansk%2B%25232.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DC #320 ~ UMT: Dansk by Margaret Bremner<br />Media: Toned Tan hand cut 3.5 x 3.5 tile, Black Micron 01,<br />White Gelly Roll, graphite, white General chalk pencil.<br />Tangles: Dansk, Joki, Tipple, Flux, Moowa, Crescent<br />Moon (around the circle that looks like a flower)</td></tr>
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So there you go for this week, I'm glad I finally had some time to post them to my blog [and before Sunday night too :)))] I think I will be using this tangle more and incorporating it into some of my work. I need to go check out everyone else's offerings, so thank you for stopping by and checking this out.<div>
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As always, comments both bad and good, are welcome as I always appreciate constructive criticism. If you want to check out the other artists participating in this week's challenge, you can find it <a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">here</a>.</div>
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Thanks again for visiting and have a zen-ful day!<br /><div>
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LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-68867124682801744322017-06-04T16:19:00.000-07:002017-06-04T16:19:11.651-07:00DC #318 ~ Diptych & DC #317 ~ Photo TangleI can hardly believe that it's June already - where is this year going anyway? I haven't accomplished nearly what I set out to do, but luckily for me, I don't have deadlines (thankfully) because I am retired. Pretty much things get done as they get done. We have had a windfall and were able to help our daughter get a new car when hers broke down. With 2 little girls, she HAS to have reliable transportation, especially since she is a single mom. The girls are 9 and 7 and were thrilled to have a car that nobody had owned before them. It really made our day to be able to help them out!<br />
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They are out of school now for the summer and want to come over a few times so I can teach them to draw "like Grandma Leslie" does. They are both quite artistic and imaginative, as are most of our granddaughters. As a matter of fact, our eldest granddaughter just graduated from a liberal arts high school and is going to Singapore to study design over there. She received a prestigious scholarship, and so will be heading off there soon. I am terribly proud of her and know that when she was little, we used to do "art" together every day.<br />
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So with artistic thoughts in my mind over the last little while, I have been playing around a lot with different ideas, but mostly trying to clean out my art supplies because I have some VERY old ones around from my college days. I kept a few sketchbooks and have one abstract painting I found. As soon as I clean it up, I'll likely post it here on the blog.<br />
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But this latest challenge from the Diva has really caught my fancy, so I made a few this week, but am only posting one right now, since the others are in various states of completion. When I read about the challenge<br />
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<i> "So, this week's challenge is to create a Diptych. A diptych is two panels joined with a hinge</i><br />
<i> - and the panels are mirrored - and i use the term 'mirrored' loosely"</i> <br />
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I too opted for a zendala, only because I like the way it is folded and decided to make a 'hobbit door'. I can only imagine that Bilbo and Frodo and all the other hobbits might approve of this and use in their little hobbit holes. So here is my take on this weeks challenge "The Hobbit Door"<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-octgJJwVN4o/WTSQpeQUqAI/AAAAAAAAA7o/4-pOo5j6dpMbO0PXME8llfGo2WM2lsKpQCLcB/s1600/DC%2523318%257EDiptych.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="492" height="287" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-octgJJwVN4o/WTSQpeQUqAI/AAAAAAAAA7o/4-pOo5j6dpMbO0PXME8llfGo2WM2lsKpQCLcB/s320/DC%2523318%257EDiptych.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DC #318 ~ Diptych <i>"The Hobbit Door"</i><br />
Media: Hand cut Zendala Tile, Black Micron 01 pen,<br />
Grey marker, graphite pencil and Prismacolor pencil<br />
Tangles: Moowa, Mooka, Trefoil, Huggins (?)</td></tr>
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I didn't get a chance to take a picture of my last challenge piece, so here is my take on DC #317 ~ Photo Tangles. I was going through some of my old magazines while trying to shovel the garage out and came across some of my artist doll magazines. At one time, I tried my hand at making and making over dolls into art dolls, So I found a lot of inspiration in those magazines. The picture I chose to use was in an ad for another magazine and the image and position of it really inspired me. Here is my challenge piece for DC #317<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZAy_bcOPNkg/WTSSmtdtxLI/AAAAAAAAA70/R5e-Eexl1oQJP-eLtUx3F1N6O67wAjXdwCLcB/s1600/DC%2523317%257EPhoto%2BTangles.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="437" data-original-width="424" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZAy_bcOPNkg/WTSSmtdtxLI/AAAAAAAAA70/R5e-Eexl1oQJP-eLtUx3F1N6O67wAjXdwCLcB/s320/DC%2523317%257EPhoto%2BTangles.JPG" width="310" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DC #317 ~ "<i>Balancing Act"</i><br />
Media: Yellow Photo Mat, Micron Pen 01 Black, Graphite, Prismacolor<br />
Tangles: Molygon, Flux, Mooka, Diva Dance, Crescent Moon</td></tr>
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I hope you have enjoyed my offering this week and thank you for stopping by! If you would like to see what other artists have shown, just head over to the Diva's place <a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">(here)</a> and take a look at what everyone is showing for these challenges.<div>
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Again, Thank you for stopping by and all comments, good and bad, are welcome!<br /><div>
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LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-82842989782860177162017-05-19T15:43:00.000-07:002017-05-19T15:43:08.770-07:00DC #316: String Theory ~ STRIPES!Wow ~ it's not even late Sunday night and I actually have my challenge tile ready! Will wonders never cease? This week has kind of been rainy and dreary here, so I didn't feel like running around much, so as a result, I was at home more and decided to take time for myself to just play and I did!<br />
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Mother's Day was wonderful for me since I got art supplies for gifts -- new Micron pens (which I desperately needed - thank you son!), new white gel pens (the ones that I had been using quit working, so my son bought me two 3-packs in hopes that at least one would be a good pen), Distress Ink pads (6 minis from hubby), and Distress Ink sprays (3, also from hubby). I also bought myself a stamp and stencil package that was on sale, since I love stamping as well. So with all those goodies, I have been trying out different background effects and used one of my round pieces for this week's challenge.<br />
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Our challenge this week was to create our string with stripes, and although they aren't in a straight line, they ARE stripes. The first picture here is the penwork (I decided to change the central stripe so it's a good thing that I used a gray pen the first time around...lol) and the second is the completed zendala. I hope that you enjoy!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-41RyYZ86vlQ/WR9vEZfEiwI/AAAAAAAAA6k/bjckGxhXEAcIYrdyYaR8h5ayVWmE9VKYQCLcB/s1600/DC%2B%2523316%2B%257E%2BStripes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="311" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-41RyYZ86vlQ/WR9vEZfEiwI/AAAAAAAAA6k/bjckGxhXEAcIYrdyYaR8h5ayVWmE9VKYQCLcB/s320/DC%2B%2523316%2B%257E%2BStripes.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linework - before adding color and shading<br />Background using distress inkpads and sprays</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Completed challenge tile<br />Tools used: 01 Black Micron, graphite, Prismacolors, Grey Tombow Marker<br />Tangles (the ones I can remember...lol): Crescent Moon, Copada, Flux,<br />Joki, Ovy, Zinger, Springkle, and the last one may or may not be a real<br />tangle.....my pen just took over!<br /></td></tr>
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<br />Thank you for stopping by and as always, I look forward to comments and critiques. If you want to see the other submissions, stop by the Diva's blog (<a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">here</a>) and see what all the other artists have shared this week.<br />
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Happy tangling everyone!LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-27074947507072378402017-05-15T01:15:00.000-07:002017-05-15T01:15:14.678-07:00DC #315 ~ Molygon & DC #314 ~ UMT: ScallampsSince my post is so very late this week, it will be quite short. The challenge this week was to explore the tangle "MOLYGON" which is a tangle which was created by Rick and Maria, who created the Zentangle method for us. I have been playing with this all week and have scraps of paper all over the house with bits of Molygon on them, but really couldn't find one that really pleased me. So here is the one that I persevered until the end with and I <i>think</i> I like it a bit. Anyway, here it is for you to see. As always, comments are welcome and creative criticism is always appreciated.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TZNYNFZ3sg8/WRlgaaWSolI/AAAAAAAAA6A/ocLLFBuCvh8oXHrwbsevC-Z0gBFLxMw8QCLcB/s1600/DC%2B%2523%2B315%2B%257EMolygon.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TZNYNFZ3sg8/WRlgaaWSolI/AAAAAAAAA6A/ocLLFBuCvh8oXHrwbsevC-Z0gBFLxMw8QCLcB/s320/DC%2B%2523%2B315%2B%257EMolygon.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MOLYGON<br />Black Micron, Sepia Micron, Grey Fineliner, Graphite</td></tr>
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Since I didn't get my challenge piece posted for last week, I would like to include it here as well. This is the piece I did for the UMT Challenge ~ Scallamps by Sarah Uram. I quite enjoyed this one and you can probably notice that this one does flow a lot better than my Molygon challenge.<div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SCALLAMPS<br />Black Micron and Graphite<br />Tangles: Scallamps, Pokeroot, Flux, Joki, Tipple, & Pinbawl</td></tr>
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<br />I really enjoy the Diva's challenges, and always do something whether or not I get it posted. I have decided that I need to start getting on the stick and getting my pieces posted when they get done regardless of whether they are current or not. During one of the Twitch live sessions, I mentioned to Laura that I am generally late, and she said that is fine, just add it to the week where it belongs. So I may post one from time to time that belongs in an earlier challenge. For those of you just stopping by, you can see the Diva's weekly challenge and the pieces that are submitted at the Diva's blog <a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">(here)</a>.<div>
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Thank you for stopping by and comments are always welcome!<br /><div>
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LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-78674699847153505332017-04-30T18:13:00.000-07:002017-04-30T18:13:32.287-07:00DC #313 ~ Amanda (Earth) Day!On the very first Earth Day in 1970, I was a senior in High School (now you know my age...lol) and there was a big rally up at the college in my town. I went and listened and thought about what they were trying to do. It all made sense to me and I have since that time, tried to do things that were earth friendly. There have been times that I haven't always been as conscientious as I should have been, but I always try to remember that this earth that we live on won't last forever, especially if we don't take care of it.<br />
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Along those lines, I have been going through some things that need to leave this house and came upon a few books that were falling apart. I had always wanted to try "found poetry" and this particular book has a replacement copy in the house so I used a page from it to tangle on. It is a page from "Renegades of Pern" by Anne McCaffery and one of my favorite books (the whole family loves fantasy and sci-fi). So I hope you like it, I think it turned out well. The small piece was a piece of scrap paper that I just didn't want to throw away because of course it was big enough to use for <i>something</i>, I just didn't know what. I tried to do them both in earthy tones with colors that might be found in nature. So without further delay, here they are!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amanda (Earth) Day #1<br />Click to see larger</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amanda (Earth) Day #2<br />Click to see larger</td></tr>
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<br /><br /><br /><br />Thank you for stopping by and as always, comments and critiques are always appreciated. If you want to see how other artists approached this challenge, check out the Diva's page (<a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">here</a>) and see them all. And remember, you too can come and play with us and show us your interpretation of the challenges each week.<div>
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LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-73092318458741656422017-03-19T22:40:00.000-07:002017-03-19T22:40:46.089-07:00DC #307 ~ ZINGO!On her blog this week, the Diva (Laura Harms) challenged us to use a tangle introduced by Maria's (Maria Thomas ~ co-founder of Zentangle) granddaughters Indy and Mazzy. These two young girls were very professional in their instructional video and you can find the link of the Diva's page (<a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">here</a>).<br />
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As I watched these two young ladies, I was reminded of a few weeks ago when a couple of my own granddaughters came over and we had a good time talking and coloring. They spotted a few of my tiles and decided they wanted to learn to draw like "Gramma Leslie". So when we can get all of the schedules to sync, I am planning on showing them Indy and Mazzy's video. Here's a picture of Gramma and her two sweethearts (they look great ... gramma not so much).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iYuPMLcYEI8/WM9orOhwRwI/AAAAAAAAA38/wmeEYEKbYRIEH3Tl7aYkwIf3Vf8ytwkBwCLcB/s1600/Grandma%2B%2526%2Bthe%2Bgirls.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iYuPMLcYEI8/WM9orOhwRwI/AAAAAAAAA38/wmeEYEKbYRIEH3Tl7aYkwIf3Vf8ytwkBwCLcB/s320/Grandma%2B%2526%2Bthe%2Bgirls.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gramma talking again ... as usual!</td></tr>
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I had a lot of fun with ZINGO this week, and have several attempts in my sketchbooks, but since I am running late, I will just show my final for the submission this week. I was debating whether or not to darken the color and decided I just wanted to leave it pastel, so here it is.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TddxBhVeeyM/WM9pH0bLnQI/AAAAAAAAA4A/Mgfz38GLQsg_nmuLeMozos-G4TRPeMj7QCLcB/s1600/DC%2B%2523307%2BZingo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TddxBhVeeyM/WM9pH0bLnQI/AAAAAAAAA4A/Mgfz38GLQsg_nmuLeMozos-G4TRPeMj7QCLcB/s320/DC%2B%2523307%2BZingo.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Media: 3.5 x 3.5 tile<br />Tools: Micron 01 Black pen, Graphite pencil, Prismacolor<br />Pencils, Grey fineliner<br />Tangles: Zingo, Zinger, Flux, Fescu<br /></td></tr>
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Thank you for stopping by and if you want to see all the other submission for this week's challenge, head on over to <a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">I am the Diva</a> and check them out. It's a lot of fun and we'd love to have you join in the fun.<br />
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Have a wonderful week!</div>
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LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-39713812657779419592017-02-13T01:47:00.000-07:002017-02-13T01:49:13.694-07:00DC # 302 ~ Hamadox (UMT) & IAST #183First of all, thank you all for your kind words last week. They are always appreciated. I don't always get to everyone's blog or posts, but I have seen all of the submissions for this week. I hope to make it around this coming week to add my comments.<br />
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Well, late again as usual, but I just couldn't pass up posting my Hamadox because I really liked how they turned out (I did 2 different ones). And I also actually finished a challenge for Adele Bruno's IAST and also did 2 for that one. So short and sweet tonight and here we go!<br />
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Diva Challenge #302 is a first of the month Use My Tangle (UMT) and we have the delightful Hamadox by Diana Schreur CZT. I love this tangle and how my pen can just take over without me coaxing it much. Here is my first tile:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--TQiZ5vW7QU/WKFuzmuSrSI/AAAAAAAAA20/tJ8Nami5mnsGISQCxq-M3kYxzOPFD0AeACLcB/s1600/DC%2523302_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--TQiZ5vW7QU/WKFuzmuSrSI/AAAAAAAAA20/tJ8Nami5mnsGISQCxq-M3kYxzOPFD0AeACLcB/s320/DC%2523302_1.JPG" width="303" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Diva Challenge # 302 ~ Hamadox<br />
Tangles used: Hamadox, Flux, Moowa, Fescu, Tipple<br />
Tools: Micron Pen, Prismacolor colored pencils, graphite </td></tr>
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Tile # 2 is a bit simpler, but only because I had a few oops! moments and couldn't decide how to finish it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nQ71N15wDyE/WKFvpxAF1kI/AAAAAAAAA28/K8HNfs1o-U0iRVJL2XYTTxB_1DIN5Dg0ACLcB/s1600/DC%2523302_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nQ71N15wDyE/WKFvpxAF1kI/AAAAAAAAA28/K8HNfs1o-U0iRVJL2XYTTxB_1DIN5Dg0ACLcB/s320/DC%2523302_2.JPG" width="316" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Diva Challenge #302 ~ Hamadox<br />
Tangle used: Hamadox, (ghostly Printemps were the aforementioned<br />
oops! and they showed through the black that I covered them with -<br />
but it's okay, it kind of gives it a unique effect<br />
Tools: Micron Pens, Prismacolor colored pencils</td></tr>
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Adele Bruno had a heart themed string this week and I did 2 submissions for this, although I am not at all sure they made it in time. These are 2 entirely different looks and I'm not at all sure that I like this first one. My son does though and thinks it would make a great tattoo.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wpxltbtJKZc/WKFwtgDov5I/AAAAAAAAA3I/a879C3XQYU8oBfpl8FsgrDwGfxysu5oMwCLcB/s1600/IAST%2523183_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wpxltbtJKZc/WKFwtgDov5I/AAAAAAAAA3I/a879C3XQYU8oBfpl8FsgrDwGfxysu5oMwCLcB/s320/IAST%2523183_1.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IAST # 183<br />
Tangles used: Zenith, Caught, and Pearls<br />
Tools: Micron Pens, Calligraphy Marker, Prismacolor<br />
colored pencils, and graphite </td></tr>
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My 2nd submission for this challenge was a bit more to my liking. I tend to prefer flowery looks when I can actually get it mostly right.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1YNcGzQj-Sk/WKFxiJ5CwtI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/xQn-jjPvZeYIlAq1YBdjft31NTxLkrMcACLcB/s1600/IAST%2523183_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1YNcGzQj-Sk/WKFxiJ5CwtI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/xQn-jjPvZeYIlAq1YBdjft31NTxLkrMcACLcB/s320/IAST%2523183_2.JPG" width="319" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IAST #183<br />
Tangles used: Zenith, Caught, Moowa, Luv-A, Fescu, Beadlines<br />
Tools: Micron Pen, Prismacolor colored pencils</td></tr>
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Thank you for stopping by and if you get a chance, head on over to the <a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">Diva's place</a> and see what everyone else has done!<br />
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LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-20977123643342667872017-02-01T19:06:00.000-07:002017-02-05T01:48:45.361-07:00DC # 301 ~ DuoTangle: Paradox v.Diva DanceFirst off, thank you very much for visiting my blog last week and a big thanks to those that left comments. I am not the best person in the world for posting comments, but do try to get around to all of the blogs. I am so inspired by all the artists at the Diva's blog, so I go through all of the blogs a lot. Thank you all for sharing!<br />
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I'm SO glad that Artoo had a successful Moebius Syndrome Awareness day and that his school and community are so mindful of the disorder that he has and that he is able to show the world that he is, in fact, perfect just the way he is. What an amazing family that the Diva has!<br />
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In the Zentangle Newsletter this week, they had a new video entitled "Kitchen Table Tangles" and Rick and Maria were demonstrating a duo tangle of Paradox and Diva Dance and showing how to intertwine them. The Diva decided that it would be a good challenge for this week and so we were challenged to do just that ... a DuoTangle of Paradox and Diva Dance. I loved that way that Rick had tangled his piece, but intertwining the two tangles just didn't seem to happen for me, but that's okay. I have never been fond of my Diva Dance, but I loved how this tile turned out . . . AND I think that the shading almost shows up nearly as dark as it is in person. Hope you like this and as always, comments and critiques are always welcome.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rF3iJdVm_uk/WJKRk4kvquI/AAAAAAAAA1w/saaScC3mQM0XjIxq6hfp6KVvst64cw6ZQCLcB/s1600/DC%2523301%257EParadox%2Bv.%2BDiva%2BDance.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rF3iJdVm_uk/WJKRk4kvquI/AAAAAAAAA1w/saaScC3mQM0XjIxq6hfp6KVvst64cw6ZQCLcB/s320/DC%2523301%257EParadox%2Bv.%2BDiva%2BDance.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DC#301 ~ Duotangle: Paradox v. Diva Dance<br />
Tools: Micron 01 Black pen, Graphite pencil for shading</td></tr>
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I was going back through my blog and realized that I had not posted some of my challenges, so please indulge me as I post these. This first one is using the new tangle, "DraWings" and I must say that I really love drawing this one. It just seems to flow for me.<br />
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This next one is Icanthis. I wasn't sure that I was going to like this one, but I found it fun to work with as well. Here's what I did with it on a recent tile.<br />
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Please take some time and check out what the other fabulous artists have been doing with the Diva's challenge<a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/"> here</a> and perhaps you may get inspired to join us in this fun. Thanks for stopping by!LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-8151386252513623562017-01-29T21:23:00.000-07:002017-01-29T21:23:44.357-07:00DC # 300 ~ Congrats on 300 Challenges AND Moebius Syndrome Awareness DayWow! Our awesome Diva (Laura Harms) has challenged us for 300 weeks to join her in this tangling world and strive to grow. She has encouraged many people to settle down and find their zen with this wonderful meditation technique. And in all that time, we have also been fortunate to hear about how this technique is helping her to deal with some everyday things that the majority of us probably don't have to deal with.<br />
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Her youngest son, Artoo (his internet name) was born with Moebius Syndrome, which is a disorder that inhibits the ability of those with it to be able to move their face and make normal facial gestures. It is not a disease, but a disorder that concerns the nerves in the face. Laura describes it very well on her blog, so if you would be interested to know about it, please take a look at her blog <a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">here</a>. Those of us that follow her blog have followed little Artoo through his babyhood and toddler years through the pictures we have seen and through Laura's descriptions. He is now in school and doing very well, is smart as a whip and absolutely adorable. <br />
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So every year, we celebrate Moebius Syndrome Awareness day by using the Moebius logo as a string or inspiration for our challenge. Here is my offering for this year.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--Asl6yi7saI/WI6-ToBTnUI/AAAAAAAAA1U/NlCAcolupJAxhTTIa7zejuxRy_n7Bd6cQCLcB/s1600/DC%2523300%2B%257E%2BMeobius%2BSyndrome.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--Asl6yi7saI/WI6-ToBTnUI/AAAAAAAAA1U/NlCAcolupJAxhTTIa7zejuxRy_n7Bd6cQCLcB/s320/DC%2523300%2B%257E%2BMeobius%2BSyndrome.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Diva Challenge #300 ~ Moebius Syndrome Awareness<br />Tangles used: DraWings, Achey Breaky Heart<br />Tools: Micron 01 Black Pen, Prismacolor colored pencils, Prismacolor<br />Alcohol Marker Blender</td></tr>
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The color for Meobius is purple, so I mostly used that in my tile, but since Artoo's favorite color is green, I tried to incorporate a bit of it in there for him. This one's for you ARTOO!<br />
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As always, thank you for stopping by and any comments, critiques or how do you do's are welcome. I know I'm always a bit late getting this in, but it seems that Sunday is the only day I can actually do anything. Looking forward to seeing your remarks and see you again soon. Don't forget to stop by the Diva's place (<a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">click here)</a> and see what she has going on!LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-22391444986422271562017-01-14T19:55:00.001-07:002017-01-14T19:57:30.293-07:00UMT ~ Orbs-La-Dee (DC# 298) and IAST# 179Happy New Year, my friends! I can't believe that I didn't post at all since the first part of December, but it was a real busy time trying to keep everyone well here. I suspect that everyone else was busy as well. At any rate, it's good to be back and this year, I am going to TRY to keep up with at least the Diva's Challenge. I am thinking of trying a couple of others as well, since I have decided that this year, I am taking time for myself more than I normally do. I definitely need to de-stress and my artwork tends to do that for me.<br />
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So this week, since it is the first week (technically the second, but the first one with a challenge), it's time for a UMT (Use My Tangle) and Laura has chosen Orbs-La-Dee. I have only tried it a couple of times and that wasn't in a composition, just trying the tangle on for size. Well, I found that it's all kinds of fun and I think that this will become a new favorite of mine. Anyway, without further adieu, here is my Diva Challenge tile. I was just playing with Ogee grids and thought that this worked well for me.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PYE_fsbG2EM/WHrhC7-qfoI/AAAAAAAAA0s/Uz5KLxVlywcJYwQu16UifopUMDmlMO7mgCLcB/s1600/DC%2523298%2BUMT%257EOrbs-La-Dee.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PYE_fsbG2EM/WHrhC7-qfoI/AAAAAAAAA0s/Uz5KLxVlywcJYwQu16UifopUMDmlMO7mgCLcB/s320/DC%2523298%2BUMT%257EOrbs-La-Dee.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">UMT ~ Orbs-La-Dee<br />
Tangles used: Orbs-La-Dee, Joki. Moowa, Tipple<br />
Tools: Sakura Micron 01 and 08 (for coloring)<br />
Graphite pencil for shading (darker that it shows here)</td></tr>
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I also decided that I was going to try other challenges this year from time to time and will post them here as well. This week, I decided to try Adele Bruno's IAST #179. Adele used a double spiral string and had us use the tangles Betweed, Dust Bunny, and Curl. I had used Betweed before, but the other two I had never used. Although I like all of the tangles separate, I'm not at all sure that I like the way this turned out. I can't seem to find the string, although I do know it's there. But I did finish it, even though I wanted to toss it. I may revisit it at some time, but for now, here it is for what it is!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JuA9OIwroZE/WHrhI2h8WgI/AAAAAAAAA08/W-z_BE-v0IEnGyembBdkCOpP4iPCnGPMgCEw/s1600/IAST%2B179.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JuA9OIwroZE/WHrhI2h8WgI/AAAAAAAAA08/W-z_BE-v0IEnGyembBdkCOpP4iPCnGPMgCEw/s320/IAST%2B179.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IAST # 179<br />
Tangles used: Betweed, Dust Bunny, and Curl<br />
Tools used: Sakura Micron 01, graphite pencil and Derwent colored pencil</td></tr>
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Again, I'm not real sure I like this one, but here it is anyway and I at least made the effort to try the new-to-me challenges. The color that I used isn't showing up as brightly as it is in rl, but that's the best I could do with my camera. Hopefully, I will get ink soon since my scanner is also my printer and it won't even scan when the printer is out of ink :(. Anyway, I enjoyed getting back into tangling after the holidays and am going to try to be here more often this year.<br />
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Thanks for dropping by and as always, comments are appreciated. There are many people that do these challenges, so click <a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">HERE</a> for the Diva's Challenge and <a href="http://tickledtotangle.blogspot.com/2017/01/its-string-thing-179.html">HERE</a> for Adele's It's A String Thing Challenge. Take a look at all the wonderful submissions and come play with us if you want to try it yourself.<br />
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Have a Zen-ful day!<br />
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<br />LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-32768982006755873642016-12-12T01:26:00.000-07:002016-12-12T01:26:07.987-07:00DC # 296 ~ UMT - MoowaHere I am again, straggling in late, but since I am usually super busy during the day, I usually do everything I want to do late at night when everyone else in the house is asleep. Lucky for me, I am retired and can (finally) be the night owl I always was. It was a bit tough when I was working, but my boss allowed me to come in later than everyone else because they all wanted to get off early and someone needed to man the phones. It worked out perfectly!<br />
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But all that aside, it has been a good week until today (Sunday), when I woke up almost passing out from low blood sugar. That always affects my whole day badly, so I was unable to go to the Intermountain Tanglers group today (<a href="http://intermountaintanglers.blogspot.com/">link here to IT blog</a>). I was upset that I couldn't make it, but I was in no condition to drive or much else today until about 7 pm. So I finally put up the Christmas tree. Now it feels better in here!<br />
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So now we come to the whole reason that I am posting here ... Diva Challenge #296. This week, since it was the first Monday of the month, we were challenged to use a tangle submitted to the Diva and that tangle was MOOWA, by Anya Ipsen. This tangle is beautiful, but I found it a bit challenging to use it to it's best advantage. I love that it has the beautiful sweep of Mooka, but has a wave element that really gives it a lot of movement. I played with it for a few days in my sketchbook, and found that it really was quite a treat to draw. I had also seen the 3Zs by Zentangle and they really appealed to me, so I cut some. However, I haven't used those yet, but sketched one in my sketchbook. So here is my challenge piece for this week. It was fun to do and even though there are several "oopsies" in it, they just provided some opportunities to make it look more or less like I wanted it. I hope you enjoy it!<br />
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That's it for today, but I know that this is definitely one that I will want to explore more. Stay tuned!<br />
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Thank you for stopping by my blog and know that I actually DO look at all of the submissions to the Diva's challenge, even if I don't get comments to them all the time. All of the artwork submitted to the Diva's Challenge can be seen here (<a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">click here</a>) and you can scroll back through previous challenges as well. As always, comments and/or criticisms are always welcome. That's how I learn new tricks and techniques. Thank you again everyone!<br />
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Have a zen-ful day!LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-46711397782806081662016-12-04T20:50:00.000-07:002016-12-04T20:50:06.112-07:00DC # 295 ~ Reticula/Fragment Part 2When I sat down to write this, I thought to myself, I can't believe that it's December and when i looked and my last post was in October, I was sooooo embarrassed. But such is life sometimes and things don't always work out the way you hope. In the time since my last post, my son has had all his teeth pulled. Some of the meds that he has been on did a number on them and rotten most of them away - the dentist could only find 3 that might possibly be saved. So we just had him pull all of them. So most of November was spent with an extremely anxious young man and me spending most of my time calming him down and reassuring him that it was all going to be okay. The total extraction took place under anesthesia on the day before Thanksgiving and they placed his new dentures at that time. So from then until now, we have been working on getting him used to them and to heal at the same time. He's doing well, just anxious again because he wants to be able to eat everything now that he has teeth again. But the saga goes on. It gets better each day.<br />
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The first Reticula/Fragment that I tried for part 1 turned out okay, but I just haven't managed to post any of them yet. But I was bound and determined that I WOULD post my tile for this week. Before I do, however, I want to say that I was very much inspired by Michelle from Coffee and Creativity for the grid (reticula) for this one. I don't particularly like grid tangles, but I tried to make this much more free and less rigid so that I would like it. So here it is ....<br />
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After I uploaded it and cropped it, it looked a bit dark to me, so I tried to lighten it to look like it does in actuality, but apparently my eyes are a bit foggy today, because it looked hazy no matter what I did. So I hope this is a halfway decent picture. Hope you like it and as always, comments, criticism, or whatever are always appreciated. Thanks for stopping by and see you again soon, I hope!<br />
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If you are interested in more challenge pieces, stop by the Diva's place (<a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">HERE</a>) and check all of the beautiful work being done. Maybe you will want to join us with your piece soon. Have a great day!LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-63529270759258939792016-10-29T22:19:00.000-07:002016-10-29T22:19:51.588-07:00DC #290 ~ Duotangle ... 'Nzeppel / FluxJust a short post this week ... my computer chair gave up the ghost and decided to break on me and toss me to the floor when I was leaning over to pet one of my kitties. So I am kind of in a world of hurt atm. Laura Harms, the Diva, challenged us to a duotangle of 'Nzeppel and Flux. But I had never really tried 'Nzeppel before and Flux is one of my all time favorites, so I decided that I had best do what I could. After trying 'Nzeppel several different ways in my sketch book, I was finally ready to work on a tile or two.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6N22sG0b510/WBV-B6wHtUI/AAAAAAAAAuI/qIJUQ-g0u9krsTP8XfH-y5nxcaU4qBHsgCLcB/s1600/DC%257ENZeppel%2B-%2BFlux%2B1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6N22sG0b510/WBV-B6wHtUI/AAAAAAAAAuI/qIJUQ-g0u9krsTP8XfH-y5nxcaU4qBHsgCLcB/s320/DC%257ENZeppel%2B-%2BFlux%2B1.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Media: 3.5" plant-dyed tile<br />Sakura Micron 01 Black<br />Graphite pencil for shading<br />Grey fineliner for additional shading<br /></td></tr>
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For this first tile, I used one of my experimental backgrounds. I had read about "boiled books" right here on the Diva's website and decided to give it a try. There weren't actually many leaves left on the vine out back when I tried this, so the colors weren't the greatest and I wasn't exactly sure how to proceed. Turns out I need a whole lot more steps to get it looking fabulous, but I kind of liked the way this one turned out. I tried to include a couple of Flux (Maria-style) as well, but I don't do as well with those.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3xRRnIhF_RM/WBV_o_hztyI/AAAAAAAAAuU/JgLawB4OpHgm5tHUukiYW37ksaTEGImowCLcB/s1600/DC%2B%257ENzeppel%2B-%2BFlux%2B2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3xRRnIhF_RM/WBV_o_hztyI/AAAAAAAAAuU/JgLawB4OpHgm5tHUukiYW37ksaTEGImowCLcB/s320/DC%2B%257ENzeppel%2B-%2BFlux%2B2.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Media: 3.5" self-cut tan tile (Used Creative Memories<br />Scrapbooking page and cut it up)<br />Sakura Micron Sepia pen 01<br />Sakura Micron Black pen 01<br />Prismacolor Premier colored pencils<br /></td></tr>
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This is my second tile and I like it much better. This utilized my favorite form of Flux. I like the combination of colors here too. My favorite color combination is sepia, black, and white on a tan tile. For this one, I actually used a very light pinky beige for the 'Nzeppel. It doesn't show up well here, but it's just a hint of color on the actual piece.<br />
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Thank you for stopping by this week, and as always, comments and critiques are welcome. I try to get around to all the blogs, but I may be a bit late this week, due to not being able to sit at the computer for very long right now. For those who haven't checked out the other submissions, you should go see what has been posted for the Diva's challenge <a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">HERE</a>.<br />
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Have a zen-ful day!<br />
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<br />LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-10091132620034767972016-10-19T22:10:00.001-07:002016-10-19T22:10:47.767-07:00DC # 289 ~ Leafy Goodness! (and a few late goodies to share too) Apparently I'm back again...my computer decided to play nicely for awhile (actually the computer plays perfectly - it's the wireless connection that doesn't want to play nicely!), so I can get my challenge tiles posted. I'll try not to bore or overwhelm you with a long post, since I have really been gone now for a few weeks. But, before I get started, I just HAVE to share this picture of my 3 adorable kitties with you. First though, a little background ... on my old computer hutch that I haven't used in a very long time, there are cubbies that I normally put the grocery bags in and in front of that my craft sewing machine on one side and my printer on the other. There is room for 2 kitties to sleep perfectly on the bags and the normally do. Salem, the youngest, is usually the only one up there anymore and he sleeps behind the sewing machine. Nicky, the middle fur baby, originally had that spot, but apparently Salem won the toss. Mistoffellees, our old man, usually sleeps next to me in one of the dining room chairs. Anyway, this particular day, everyone's routine got upset and Salem was upstairs longer than normal...when he came down, and was about to go to his hidey hole, he found it taken. Well, normally he will just go to the other side, but Nicky was there because Mistoffellees was in Salem's spot. So Salem started telling me about it and when I turned around from my computer, I just about died laughing at the scene going on, so I grabbed the camera. Anyway, these are my 3 wonderful furbabies!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c547gyw9pNA/WAhIkz5IRII/AAAAAAAAAtM/2_Ryo4l_wXISYPZR00DXt8xTGJV4-KHAwCLcB/s1600/Upset%2BSalem.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c547gyw9pNA/WAhIkz5IRII/AAAAAAAAAtM/2_Ryo4l_wXISYPZR00DXt8xTGJV4-KHAwCLcB/s320/Upset%2BSalem.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An indignent Salem...with Nicky and Mistoffellees totally oblivious to<br />the outrage of our youngest kitty...lol<br /></td></tr>
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I loved our challenge to tangle autumn leaves (at least they are autumn leaves in this part of the world right now - my inlaws would have spring leaves). I had a maple leaf cutout and a oak leaf that I used for my strings and tried to use the techniques from 2014 "Tints on Tan" kit that I had bought at that time. I liked the way it looked, but there was far too much 'white space' for me, so I was going to just add a little grey tipple around the leaves, but got carried away. I didn't really like the way it was looking, so I used graphite to color between the tipple and hated that even more. Then when my husband was looking at it, the angle that he was holding it at made it look to me like the leaves were floating on a puddle or something like that, so that's where I went with it. I added blue which greyed the background so that it wasn't so obtrusive and the leaves popped. Guess if you just keep at it, eventually it will satisfy. Not to say that it didn't...I loved drawing this one and really got lost in the tangles, but I really wanted to make this ZIA out of it. Anyway, this is my submission ...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1IaaVe-4FHA/WAhKXyjjmtI/AAAAAAAAAtU/XMLy4buoWnIYioXs-RRG38GyzQX0BxZrgCLcB/s1600/DC%257ELeaves%2B2016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="309" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1IaaVe-4FHA/WAhKXyjjmtI/AAAAAAAAAtU/XMLy4buoWnIYioXs-RRG38GyzQX0BxZrgCLcB/s320/DC%257ELeaves%2B2016.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Media: 3.5" square tan tile<br />Brown Micron 01<br />Black Micron .005<br />Sepia Micron .005<br />Prismacolor colored pencils</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6UmNFtz42O0/WAhL9qZDOWI/AAAAAAAAAtg/P8F3bsHoHq0K3AEOirSr1ZHXXuNfb0P_gCLcB/s1600/DC%2B%257E%2BGourdgeous.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6UmNFtz42O0/WAhL9qZDOWI/AAAAAAAAAtg/P8F3bsHoHq0K3AEOirSr1ZHXXuNfb0P_gCLcB/s320/DC%2B%257E%2BGourdgeous.JPG" width="315" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Media: 3.5" square black tile<br />White gelly roll pen<br /></td></tr>
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Diva Challenge #288 challenged us to use the tangle Gourdgeous on our tile in honor of Canada's Thanksgiving. Gourdgeous is one of my favorite tangle patterns, so I did two. The first one is just white on a black background, but I had fun doing it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AOcg5Ha_sJc/WAhMSZm63BI/AAAAAAAAAto/H0DOv2nwqiELMudzQhyhv4Hvb1f7YkstwCLcB/s1600/DC%2B%257E%2BGourdgeous%2B%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AOcg5Ha_sJc/WAhMSZm63BI/AAAAAAAAAto/H0DOv2nwqiELMudzQhyhv4Hvb1f7YkstwCLcB/s320/DC%2B%257E%2BGourdgeous%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Media: 4" square watercolor paper<br />Dye ink background<br />Micron Sepia Pen 01<br />White Prismacolor<br /></td></tr>
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The second one is done on a watercolor washed background, which really wasn't what I had intended. I had decided to try some watercolor backgrounds and this one just really didn't work, but that's likely because I couldn't find my watercolors and used some dye inkpads for my pigment and the tile wasn't nearly wet enough. But I used it anyway, so it is what it is!<br />
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And here is the last one (I promise). I loved Daniel's stepout for Dreamcatcher, especially since when I was in high school and college I used to make them for my friends out of wool roving and bits of turquoise, so I really did love the wonderful stepout he did for it. My version is done on a tan tile with what I thought was terracotta pencil shading, but I have a light out in the kitchen where I do my tangling, so it was actually a mulberry color. When I discovered that is was the wrong color, it actually worked out well as I wanted the outside ring to be a bit darker, so I used the terracotta for that and it worked out well. But that's okay, pink is my favorite color anyway! So here is my last submission for this week and I will not be nearly so long next time. That's a promise *grin*<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZDmkEmYYIKA/WAhN9iQsHTI/AAAAAAAAAts/J4uClnzdBloeXoxT2Zp2YGM1sNU38h-VgCLcB/s1600/UMT%257EDreamcatcher.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZDmkEmYYIKA/WAhN9iQsHTI/AAAAAAAAAts/J4uClnzdBloeXoxT2Zp2YGM1sNU38h-VgCLcB/s320/UMT%257EDreamcatcher.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Media: 3.5" tan tile<br />Micron Black 01<br />Micron Sepia 01<br />Prismacolor colored pencils ~ Mulberry/Terracotta<br /></td></tr>
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As always, comments, critiques, messages, or just a "Hi, how are you" are appreciated. And please do the same for everyone that has joined in the Diva Challenge this week. If you want to play with the challenges as well, you can find them at the Diva's blog (<a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">click here</a>) and join us sometime. It's a wonderful group of people and very informative. I've learned a lot participating in this. Have a great week!</div>
LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-65163482051526432802016-09-24T19:04:00.001-07:002016-09-24T19:04:34.513-07:00Relax, Bro! DC # 285It's been awhile again since I posted, but at least I'm here now! This challenge really spoke to me because I find I do things much differently when they are done just for me. I tend to fill a lot more space and just let things flow wherever they want. In fact, the one I did for this challenge just happened one day when I decided to do absolutely nothing except what I wanted with the day. I actually started this one in mid-afternoon and finished up well after midnight. But then, I do most of my work well after midnight because that's when there's nobody awake to make demands on my time...except for one or two of the cats and they tend to mostly leave me alone. Anyway, I couldn't even begin to tell you about this one except I decided to use my sepia pen to do most of my drawing (could also be because my black one is about to give up the ghost). I did start with Ellish, because I love it and also because my name starts with "L", so it appeals to me. Then my pen just kind of did it's thing with Flux and Tipple and a few others that I'm not at all sure what they are. Anyway, this was a most relaxing piece for me and I know that I need to do more of this kind of exercise to really find the "zen" in my life again.<br />
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Thank you for stopping by this week and as always, I always love remarks and comments (as everyone does). I try to get around to the blogs of everyone and leave feedback, but my hands don't always cooperate these days. Hopefully, I'll be back in the swing of things soon so I can play again with these challenges. If you would like to join in the fun as well, please stop by the Diva's blog and check out all the wonderful challenge pieces. You can find it here <a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">(click here)</a> and you may decide you want to join us each week. Until next time .... Have a 'zen' ful day!LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-74847633705776907912016-08-12T21:34:00.000-07:002016-08-12T21:34:16.141-07:00Duotangle~ Auraknot vs. Meer and Weekly TanglesWell, Friday night here and I actually have tiles to post this week! This weeks challenge was a duotangle using Auraknot and Meer, both of which I really enjoy since they are so relaxing to me to do! I have actually had them completed since Wednesday night but have just been too tired and lazy to get the camera out.<br />
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I decided against scanning because I haven't been liking the way the scanner washes out the shading and I think the camera shows it up much better. So without further adieu, here are my efforts....<br />
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I did a few Duotangles, rather, started a few Duotangles, but finally ended up finishing this one and I am rather pleased with how it turned out. It was very relaxing to do and seemed to just flow from my pen without any help from me. The second picture is kind of blurry, but I loved the depth it showed, so included it anyway!<br />
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I didn't get a tile posted for Daniel's great UMT, so I decided that I would post a couple that I completed. I love Knightstar, probably because it was easy for me to get into the rhythm of it as soon as I figured out how to not do it backwards. Again, I photographed it at an angle to show the depth that it has.<br />
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And this one is a WIP, I suppose because it doesn't look finished to me. I definitely need to do something with it, but I wanted to see how Knightstar would look in color. I probably should have finished it before I colored it, but I had a new blending tool that I wanted to use with my Prismacolors, so now I just have to see what else I can do with it.<br />
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So there you have it, some of the things I have been busy with in the last couple of weeks. If you have any suggestions on what to do with that last one, please don't hesitate to leave comments for me. I can use all the help I can get!<br />
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Once again, thank you for visiting and as always, I appreciate each and every comment that you leave here. I don't always reply, but I do always read them. There are many other artists that are showing their work and have posted links at the Diva's place (<a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">Click here</a>) , so do yourself a favor and check out all the wonderful work being done by artists all over the world. Maybe you will try your hand at Zentangle too...it's fun and relaxing!<br />
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Have a zen-ful day!LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-13036889195334416162016-07-29T14:34:00.001-07:002016-07-29T14:34:41.090-07:00Circular World ~Diva #277So.....I haven't been here for a couple of weeks due to my computer dying, but my darling son and husband bought me a new laptop that exceeds all my wildest dreams. It's a top gaming computer and breezes through the internet so fast that sometimes I can barely catch my breath...lol. But now I can hopefully get a few things posted.<br />
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It's been a very HOT couple of weeks here in Utah. I guess that Mother Nature needs to remind us that we DO live on a desert and that's how it's supposed to be in the summer. But in the last couple of weeks, we have only had a handful of days below 100 degrees F here. So I have spend my time indoors and have been tangling and playing with new techniques...it's been fun, but as I look at my meager output, I wonder why I don't have more to post. Could be that I am a blasted perfectionist. I had 3 or 4 great ideas for the Peace challenge, but seems I couldn't even get one finished. I'll just keep them in my "to be finished sometime" box.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tangles used: Onamato (variation), Copada (I think),<br />Hibred, Arukas, Tipple, and a couple I don't know if they<br />are actually tangles.</td></tr>
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But this week, the Diva (Laura Harms) is back home and has challenged us to "Go Round in Circles", with a circular inspired string or circle tangles. I really enjoyed this challenge, because I LOVE circles and I love circular tangles. Just something soothing in drawing orbs, maybe because they are infinite...no beginning and no end, just smooth infinity. Anyway, here is mine for this week. I wasn't able to do any editing on this so that the shading actually shows, but it really does and is actually beautifully shaded. My hubby loves it (which is unusual) and suggested that it cried out for brilliant colour, and not pastel, wimpy colours. What do you think?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tangles used: Leaflet, Cat-Kin, St John's Cross, and Zen Bud</td></tr>
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I also did an It's a String Thing challenge by Adele Bruno, but didn't finish it in time to submit it, I plan on using this one for a card front. I like this one too, but again, the shading doesn't show up well. I've got to find a way to load my Photoshop program onto this computer ... it doesn't have a drive for me to load from, so I guess I need to get a high capacity USB memory stick to load it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tangles used: Static, Tipple, and Crescent Moon</td></tr>
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My birthday was earlier this month and I bought myself something that I have been debating on getting for a long time ... the book "One Zentangle A Day" by Beckah Krahula. I have started working in it, but I am not likely to do it daily like is outlined. I will do it in order, it's just that I like to take longer. At our last tangle get-together here in Salt Lake with the <a href="http://intermountaintanglers.blogspot.com/">Intermountain Tanglers</a>, we were talking about how our attention gets diverted, something that my family and I call "Bright and Shiny Syndrome". You know, you're in the middle of finishing or doing something, and something else catches you eye, so you stop what you are doing and do something else. Well, that pretty much sums up my life, so it kind of takes me forever to get things done, and that related to everything, even my tangling! But I did finish the first day and actually quite liked the result, so here is is without further ado...<br />
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So there you have it, my small submission for this weeks challenge and a few more goodies.<br />
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Thanks for stopping by and if you have the chance to see what all of the other artists have submitted, head over the the <a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">Diva's blog </a> and check them out. As always, I appreciate comments and helpful critique on my work. Thank you again for stopping by!<br />
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Have a zen-ful day!LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-36446680169029422632016-06-30T14:19:00.000-07:002016-06-30T14:19:30.289-07:00Diva Challenge 273 ~ Tangle Remix and Playing Catch-upWould you believe it? It's only Thursday and I am actually posting today instead of Sunday night! It's been a pretty good week for me and I have a huge stack of tiles that need help badly. Our challenge this week was to take an old tile that we had in our stash and find one that could be helped by a remix or fresh coat of ink. I picked 2 and sadly, only 1 of them actually looks better. So I think I will show you that one first *giggle* I hate to show my worst work first....<br />
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So here it is initially....minimal shading and pretty much just Plain Jane. I suspect this was one for a stripes challenge and was done either in late 2014 or early 2015. When I looked at it, I felt it could be helped by a bit of a facelift (I could use one too, but that isn't quite so easy as it is to change artwork). So here is the modification that I did on it - mostly shading and just a few additions.<br />
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I really like this one much better, even if it doesn't show the shading as well as it looks in person. Sometimes I think that I prefer taking pictures to scanning, but at least they are getting finished by using the scanner.<br />
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This second one was done in July 2015 for a Simplicity challenge for the Diva. I really thought that I could help it out by adding to it, since it looked rather empty to me. I love simplicity, but sometimes even the simplest ones could use a bit more. So here is the original tile from 2015...<br />
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Just a bit too bland for me and I don't think I liked it even then. The shading on it is really that poorly done, so I thought I would dress it up and shade it a bit more. But I think I just made a mess of it. I may try to redo it again one day, but you can make up your mind. <br />
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Here's the remix, such as it is....<br />
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It really didn't turn out anything like I pictured. Oh well, sometimes I like them and sometimes I don't.<br />
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I missed the Black and White and Red all over challenge and I did a few of them, but this was the first one that I did and I did it in my sketchbook. I really wish I had done it on a tile as I really like it. But I am going to try it again on the front of a card and see if I can get it the way I like. There are several people that I really need to write to, and it's so much easier to send a card than to find my stationary again.<br />
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Thank you very much for stopping by. I always appreciate seeing some traffic here. As usual, I appreciate ALL comments, good or bad, and any creative criticism is appreciated. I have learned so much from this group and am so glad that I have joined in these challenges.<br />
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Now I can go back and see everything that everyone else has submitted, since there are so many talented artists here. If you would like to see what everyone else has done, please head over to the Diva's blog (HERE) and check it out. There's always time for you to start joining us. Come try it....it's fun!LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-15812973066853842252016-06-19T18:36:00.000-07:002016-06-19T18:36:28.626-07:00Beads of Courage - Diva Challenge #271Here we are again....late as ever, but at least I am actually posting this week. I can't believe that it has been what, 3 weeks since I posted? I don't know where the time goes; one would think that since I am retired, I would have more time to play, but it just doesn't work out that way. But, at least I am here for this challenge.<br />
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I have, over the past couple of years, made ZIA's for Laura's Beads of Courage challenges, but have never posted them. I asked myself this year, what's wrong with me that I don't get things posted? Since I couldn't answer that with any kind of an answer that actually sounded plausible, here I am.<br />
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This week, we have been asked to use the Beads of Courage program as inspiration for our challenge. Beads of Courage is an arts in medicine program to help sick kids deal with their chronic or life threatening illnesses and be able to better share their medical journeys. Whenever these children have a medical related procedure or appointment, they are given ceramic beads rather than lollipops so that they can document their specific challenges. It sounds like a wonderful program to help these kids be mindful of just what they have overcome in their lives.<br />
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I chose to use a stamping technique for my background for my bead tile. This is called "Bokeh" technique and gives a soft muted background with flashes of bright white reminiscent of photographic lights. Anyway, I like the way this background looks and you can Google bokeh technique to find out how to do it. Without further adieu then, here is my tile for Beads of Courage.<br />
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I also have some older challenges that I have finished and would like to share with you. Up next is my take (after tons of tries to get it right) on Skye. I love the way this tangle looks and am going to try to include it as I get a bit more proficient.<br />
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And since I missed posting my Ellish tile, I have GOT to post that one. Of COURSE, I love it, after all, it resembles my initial "L" and makes a beautiful monogram!<br />
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For our local Tangle group, we have just started with monthly challenges, and the challenge for our last meeting was a monotangle of our choosing. I have been playing with Aquafleur lately and trying to get it right (finally), so here is my Aquafleur monotangle.<br />
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For any tanglers or tangler wannabee's, our local group meets on the second Sunday of each month (unless notified). We have a very nice group, which is headed by Dave Hunter and Heidi Sue. Check out the Tanglers blog <a href="http://intermountaintanglers.blogspot.com/">HERE</a> to see what we do.<br />
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Also, for those of you new to this blog or to Zentangle, check out all of the artists that have submitted their artwork for this challenge. The Diva posts a new challenge each week and they are a lot of fun. There is always so much diversity and inspiration in the work we see. Check out the Diva's Challenge <a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">HERE</a>. Feel free to come join in the fun any time you like.<br />
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As always, I am thrilled that you have chosen to visit my blog and always appreciate any and all comments. They make me happy. Have a great zen-ful day!LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-64915084517414596982016-05-22T00:48:00.000-07:002016-05-22T00:48:37.546-07:00Diva Challenge # 268 ~ "Bit-o-black"Just a short entry tonight because we've all been a bit under the weather here. I loved this challenge, but since I tend to use quite a bit of black anyway, I was hard pressed to know what to do. So I decided to try to play a bit with a Mooka monotangle and darken the spaces. Also, I tried to draw it a bit closer to the way the stepouts indicate, even though I tend to normally do mine a LOT different. Anyway, here's my entry for this weeks challenge....hope you like it :)<br />
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I did this in black ink on a Strathmore toned tan 4" tile and used graphite to shade with with accents and a few highlights with a white chalk pencil. Not quite what I had in mind, but still nicely dramatic, which fit with what I had wanted.<br />
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Thank you for stopping by and, as always, CC are always appreciated. If you want to see what the other artists submitted for this challenge, please check out the Diva's blog (<a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">click here</a>) and see what everyone has done for the challenge.<br />
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Have a zen-ful day!LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-1135053825388543352016-05-14T21:10:00.000-07:002016-05-14T21:10:41.945-07:00Challenge # 267 ~ Drupe / PokerootI'm behind again and here it is Saturday (but hey, at least it isn't quite Sunday yet). I got my challenge tile done last week, but for some reason, I just was exhausted and didn't get my blog written. I think it must be something going around, because both of my sisters have called this week and we are ALL exhausted with no discernable reason, except perhaps allergies. My younger sister and I are both allergic to cats and she has 2 and I have 3. Can't seem to give up the fur babies and don't want to even try! But my older sister and I figure that it's just because we are getting old....her birthday was last week and she was 70 and I will be 64 in July and we both have physical problems, so I guess we can blame it on that *giggle* Ah well, I guess I will just take responsibility and say it was just tired and just flat didn't get it done.<br />
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But now that's out of the way, this weeks challenge was to make a duo-tangle using Drupe and Pokeroot. I have seen these both many times, but in actuality I have never tried either one of them that I recall. I think that somewhere along the line, I probably tried to draw them without knowing what they were, but I just really don't recall using them. After practicing them both for a bit...I decided that I could actually use them, but trying to get them to play nice was a bit difficult. I have several half done tiles and attempts, but I finally got one done. It took me all week though, I'm afraid because the weather this last week has been making a mess of my arthritic hands and I just couldn't hold the pen well. But here is my attempt:<br />
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After I finished the penwork, I decided I would like it better with color and after I made my Pokeroot into some weird color (Prismacolor PC937~Tuscan Red) of cherries, my son suggested that I put yellow with it (I usually listen to him as he has a great eye for color...he gets that ability from his dad). I didn't have a yellow that I liked, so I used one of my orange colored pencils (Prismacolor PC1003~Spanish Orange) and liked the way it turned out. So I guess it was worth all the time it took for me to finish it *smile*<br />
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As I mentioned above, I actually DID do challenge #266 ~ UMT Crux. I rather like the way it turned out too and I actually did scan the penwork just in case I didn't like the colors I had chosen. So I have my penwork for this one before shading and color. I need to get into the habit of taking pictures before I do any shading or coloring to see where my linework can use improvement. So here is the basic linework for Challenge 266 ~ Crux<br />
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Nothing fancy here, just pretty much just Crux and some Flux with Springkle and a bit of Tipple.<br />
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Here's the same picture now after I colored it and did a bit of shading. Hope you like it!<br />
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I signed this one different than the normal signature I use, but I didn't really like it, so I guess I will keep trying different ones out until I am thrilled with one. Anyway, that is my meager offerings for this week.<br />
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If you haven't seen all of the artists that have submitted their tiles for the Diva's challenge, please head on over to her site and check out the submissions there for this challenge. Scroll through and take a look of some of the fabulous artists that show their work each week and if you would like to join us, please do. It's a great learning opportunity each week. You can find the Diva's site here (<a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">click here</a>), so come and play along and find your Zen!<br />
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Any and all comments are appreciated, good or bad, and helpful criticism is always appreciated. Thank you for stopping by!LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-8313834889287775062016-05-01T20:07:00.000-07:002016-05-01T20:07:13.929-07:00Diva Challenge #265 ~ StripesHere we are at the end of the challenge week and although I was very busy this week, I only have one tile to share with you. We had family get togethers this week and it was great to see some of the family that I haven't seen in awhile. My cousin and his wife had spent the last 3 or 4 years over in Russia as missionaries and had a lot of wonderful stories to tell as well as some of the strife the Russian people had suffered over the years. It was fascinating to hear the stories they told, and sad to hear of the trouble and fear that went along with living in a country that doesn't want you there. Evidently where they were was very close to Ukraine and they were very fearful on several occasions and taken by the KGB on several occasions for questioning. But now they are safe and sound and we are glad they are home.<br />
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I have worked on a couple of Zentangles and did finish my stripes tile for submission. I was going through some of my older work and found a few that I am going to try and finish up in the next few weeks and so will get them posted when I get them done. So here for your perusal is my tile for this week:<br />
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I chose to go minimal on this because of the tangles I wanted to use. I don't actually remember the names of them, but I like the way they look together on here. As always, comments good or bad are always welcome.<br />
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If you would like to see what the other artists have shared this week, head on over to the Diva's blog (<a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">click here</a>) and see what everyone has shared. There are some beautiful pieces there this week, as always.<br />
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Thank you very much for stopping by and have a zen-tastic day!LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-20003781645326194402016-04-24T22:25:00.000-07:002016-04-25T21:22:17.302-07:00Diva Challenge #264 ~ String Theory: String into SpringOur challenge this week was to use a spring-like string and create something using that string. I actually had a picture of the string I was going to use and had the linework all done, but when I went and shaded it, it became a disaster, so I may actually try that one again (I do have a picture of the linework before shading, so I can just do it again!) But the one that I actually finished (yes, I started several and none of them spoke to me, so I have a pile of half-finished tiles hanging around - maybe for another day) turned out better than I thought it would. The only problem is that I did finally get my scanner working (YAY!) but it tends to drain all the color out. And since it's dark out now, I didn't want to be taking pictures to upload, so please forgive me for the washed out color. It's far brighter than it looks.<br />
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I do actually have a 3 looped spring string under this one, but it kind of got lost. I started drawing the Abundie and in actuality, wasn't going to have it be Abundie, but the pen insisted and then just took over from there. After I finished the linework and was trying to decide how I wanted to finish it, it screamed for color. So since I haven't used my Inktense pencils in quite awhile, I thought I would give them a try, I am actually quite pleased with this....hubby thinks it looks like a Martian garden, but I just think it's a colorful ZIA. Hope you like it!</div>
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I missed last week's challenge completely, but it looked like fun, so I had to give it a try. I have had quite a problem with my hands this past few weeks, I was doing so miserably that I could barely hold my pen and I missed our local Tangling Get-together this month. I actually did try about a dozen grids for the Globular Grid challenge, but they drove me crazy, so I didn't get anything posted last week at all.</div>
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This is the Global Grid that I finally ended up finishing and again, I am still playing with the scanner to get the colors right here too. This one is done on kind of a light pink paper, so the scanner kept trying to pick it up white and washing everything out. But I liked this one too!</div>
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That's it for this week and I know it is really last minute, but when my hands don't want to work, I can't get 'er done as quickly as I wanted to. These will be used on some cards going to family that I need to get in touch with. I love being able to use them like that.</div>
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If you haven't already seen the rest of the artists doing the Diva's challenge, you can go <a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">HERE </a> and see what everyone else has done. There is a new challenge most every Monday, so if you want to go ahead and join in the fun, keep you eye on her blog. </div>
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Thank you for checking this out and to all the other artists this week...I have been looking at all of your blogs, but wasn't able to make comments this week. Just know that I am always impressed with ALL of the work here and inspired by each and every one of you. Thanks again and have a wonderful zen-day!</div>
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LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2663110722140118175.post-36049331986637720662016-04-10T14:32:00.000-07:002016-04-10T14:32:46.919-07:00Diva Challenge #262 ~ UMT Fassett by Lynn MeadIt's been an interesting week here for me and my family. The weather has been beautiful the majority of the week, with soft spring rains and warmer temperatures. Of course, that meant that the pollen is on overdrive and consequently, I have spent a good deal of the week with sinus issues due to allergies. I don't really want to go out (although I would love to go out and about) because my eyes are so swollen with the allergies and I can't wear makeup and have it last more than a half hour (Yes, I tend to be vain about going out not looking my best). But worse than that, when I try to blow my nose and unstuff my sinuses, it feels like I am going to pop an eye out. That has just been a new thing with my allergies and it's the strangest feeling ever. So, I have been doing lots of experimentation and relaxation with my tangling.<br />
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I know that I have mentioned my beautiful kitties before and here is a picture of the oldest and youngest keeping me company while I am tangling and/or on the computer. (Yes I have a pillow on the table for them to sit by me.) The black and white handsome boy is Mistoffellees, who just turned 16 a month ago. He's the main reason that there is a pillow on the table. He has problems sometimes getting comfortable when he is trying to sleep. The black baby is Salem Saberhagen and he's a beautiful Bombay. I think he's about 8 or 9, but I'm not sure. Our other one, Nicholas, usually isn't on the table with them because he and Mistoffellees are still discussing who is the alpha male, but they don't know that it's actually Salem....lol. Anyway, these are my companions who keep me company.<br />
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This week's challenge by the Diva was a UMT (Use My Tangle) and we were challenged to use Lynn Mead's tangle FASSETT. This was one of the first tangles that I learned because it was actually similar to some of the doodles I have been doing all my life. Not quite, but almost. Anyway, I find it relaxing to do tangles like this one because my pen essentially takes over with the rhythm of the lines. I used a Toned Gray Tile by Strathmore for this first one and loved how it turned out. I was not only trying out the gray tile, but also used an actual string, something that I rarely do. They tend to confuse me, but I actually liked using it on this because it gave me some direction when I started my tile. Hope you enjoy!<br />
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For my second one, I used a Toned Tan Strathmore Artist Tile. I'm not sure which one I like the best, so I'll just continue playing with them. On this one, I did some of the shading with a light gray marker and it helped me to achieve the look I was going for. I was proud of both of them, because hubby actually liked them this week. He normally says he likes them, but this week, he practically gushed, telling me that he really liked them both and told me how well I was doing with composition on these. Maybe there IS something to using a string? Well could be ... at any rate, here is my second one. Hope you enjoy!<br />
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Well, that's it for this week and I have got to say that I thoroughly enjoyed myself on this challenge . If you get a chance, head on over to the Diva's Place (<a href="http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/">click here</a>) and check out what everyone has submitted. It's fun to play with our tangles, so if you are a tangler, come join in the fun!</div>
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Thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment if you are inclined. It's good to know that people are out there. Have a zen-ful day!</div>
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LezliBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07207801337395514834noreply@blogger.com2