DC #290 ~ Duotangle ... 'Nzeppel / Flux

Just 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.

Media: 3.5" plant-dyed tile
Sakura Micron 01 Black
Graphite pencil for shading
Grey fineliner for additional shading

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.

Media:  3.5" self-cut tan tile (Used Creative Memories
Scrapbooking page and cut it up)
Sakura Micron Sepia pen 01
Sakura Micron Black pen 01
Prismacolor Premier colored pencils

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.















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 HERE.

Have a zen-ful day!

Labyrinths are Among Us~ Diva Challenge #215

First off, let me say that I'm sorry I didn't get around to all the blogs last week. My hands were giving me fits (arthritis and fibromyalgia) so I was basically staying away from the keyboard because it hurt to type, but I have peeked in to some from last week and I am going to be working on some of the challenges I have missed. That being said, let's move on to this week's challenge. When I woke up Monday and saw that the challenge was to draw a labyrinth, all I felt was sheer panic! To begin with, I had no idea what a bonafide labyrinth looked like, but the Diva helped us out there by sending us to a couple of websites. I looked at those and kind of got familiar with what a labyrinth should look like, but somehow I wanted something different. So...as my husband often says to me...I went into full research mode and spent a few days on Google and Google Images just looking around. Thank you, Diva, for such a challenge! I found out so much about labyrinths and the reasons for them, that it made it all so very interesting. Like she said in her post (paraphrasing here), mazes and labyrinths are not the same thing at all. I find after looking at everything, I definitely prefer labyrinths. I must have gone through all the scratch paper in the house trying to decide exactly how I wanted my labyrinth to look, but finally settled on a design that I absolutely love. This is what I would like a labyrinth to look like if I were able to build one in my back yard (I can't, my yard is barely wide enough for a picnic table).

Diva Challenge 215 ~ Labyrinth
Media:
4" x 4" tile, Micron (black and brown), pencil for
shading, green and blue watercolor pencils, white colored
pencil for highlighting and white gelly roll for orb dots
Tangles used:
Miander, Ovy tangellation, Flux, Fescu, Zinger (1)

When I started with the Miander on the path, I cursed myself for choosing that particular tangle and especially for making it so small, but I love the way it turned out and found that it was very relaxing to tangle it. In looking back at it, I find that the places that I was really in tune with the pen are the smallest design areas and the larger ones are more just trying to cover space. But I really do like the way it turned out. In fact, so much so that I will probably make another one and make it larger and frame it. Thank you once again, Laura, for your wonderful challenges!

If you would like to see the responses to this challenge and check out the Diva's blog for other challenges that she has issued, go to the Diva's Challenge blog (click here) and check it out.

And remember, any and all comments are welcomed and appreciated ... always!

Diva Challenge #211 ~ Flux

Well, this week, the Diva was unable to post her challenge as her youngest son is not doing well and was in the hospital. So we thought that there was no challenge this week.....however, Rick and Maria posted step-outs for Flux, which is one of their original tangles and they realized that they had never taught it with step-outs for us yet. Flux has always been one of my favorite tangles, so imagine my surprise when I found out there are 2 versions of it. I had only known of the version that Rick uses, but apparently the one that Maria did was first and I had never known that. I guess probably because I don't know a CZT yet, so I just watch the internet. Anyway, it is definitely one of my favorites and so I did one today (April 2, 2015) on a blue tile for my son. Today is World Autism Day and the color representing that is blue, so this one is for him. After I took this picture, I added some white highlighting to it, so I will take another picture tomorrow and post it as well.  Hope you like it!

World Autism Day - Apr 2, 2015
Media: 3.5" x 3.5" blue tile, Black Micron, Blue Micron
Blue Derwent Watercolour Pencil
Tangles: Flux (both versions), Uni, Printemps, Pearls,
PinBawl, and Florz

Same tile with white highlights added....better picture too :)

Thank you for stopping by and if you want to see the rest of the submissions, go to the Diva's Challenge Page (click here) to see the beautiful work done.