DC #320 ~ UMT: Dansk by Margaret Bremner

I 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 might not be equal. But no matter, it was relaxing to make the shapes whether they were perfect or not (aside:  most of my stuff is NOT perfect, although that's what I strive for after I have actually learned the exercise). I finished up the linework just as Laura finished streaming.

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!

So here is my first challenge tile and actually the first time I had actually used Dansk:

DC #320 ~ UMT: DANSK
Media: 4x4 Grey Toned tile, Black Micron 01, White Gelly
 Roll, White General Chalk Pencil, graphite, grey fineliner
Tangles Used: Dansk, Diva Dance, Fescu, Chainey by
Gaylene Miller and Black Pearls.

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?

DC #320 ~ UMT: Dansk by Margaret Bremner
Media: Toned Tan hand cut 3.5 x 3.5 tile, Black Micron 01,
White Gelly Roll, graphite, white General chalk pencil.
Tangles: Dansk, Joki, Tipple, Flux, Moowa, Crescent
Moon (around the circle that looks like a flower)

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.

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 here.

Thanks again for visiting and have a zen-ful day!

DC #315 ~ Molygon & DC #314 ~ UMT: Scallamps

Since 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 think I like it a bit. Anyway, here it is for you to see.  As always, comments are welcome and creative criticism is always appreciated.

MOLYGON
Black Micron, Sepia Micron, Grey Fineliner, Graphite

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.

SCALLAMPS
Black Micron and Graphite
Tangles: Scallamps, Pokeroot, Flux, Joki, Tipple, & Pinbawl

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 (here).

Thank you for stopping by and comments are always welcome!

DC # 302 ~ Hamadox (UMT) & IAST #183

First 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.

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!

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:

Diva Challenge # 302 ~ Hamadox
Tangles used: Hamadox, Flux, Moowa, Fescu, Tipple
Tools: Micron Pen, Prismacolor colored pencils, graphite 

Tile # 2 is a bit simpler, but only because I had a few oops! moments and couldn't decide how to finish it.

Diva Challenge #302 ~ Hamadox
Tangle used: Hamadox, (ghostly Printemps were the aforementioned
oops! and they showed through the black that I covered them with -
but it's okay, it kind of gives it a unique effect
Tools: Micron Pens, Prismacolor colored pencils

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.

IAST # 183
Tangles used: Zenith, Caught, and Pearls
Tools: Micron Pens, Calligraphy Marker, Prismacolor
colored pencils, and graphite 

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.

IAST #183
Tangles used: Zenith, Caught, Moowa, Luv-A, Fescu, Beadlines
Tools: Micron Pen, Prismacolor colored pencils

Thank you for stopping by and if you get a chance, head on over to the Diva's place and see what everyone else has done!

UMT ~ Orbs-La-Dee (DC# 298) and IAST# 179

Happy 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.

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.

UMT ~ Orbs-La-Dee
Tangles used: Orbs-La-Dee, Joki. Moowa, Tipple
Tools: Sakura Micron 01 and 08 (for coloring)
Graphite pencil for shading (darker that it shows here)

 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!

IAST # 179
Tangles used: Betweed, Dust Bunny, and Curl
Tools used: Sakura Micron 01, graphite pencil and Derwent colored pencil

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.

Thanks for dropping by and as always, comments are appreciated. There are many people that do these challenges, so click HERE for the Diva's Challenge and HERE 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.

Have a Zen-ful day!

Duotangle~ Auraknot vs. Meer and Weekly Tangles

Well, 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.

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....

 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!

 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.

 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.

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!

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 (Click here) , 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!

Have a zen-ful day!

Beads of Courage - Diva Challenge #271

Here 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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 HERE to see what we do.

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 HERE. Feel free to come join in the fun any time you like.

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!

Challenge # 267 ~ Drupe / Pokeroot

I'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.

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:

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*

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

Nothing fancy here, just pretty much just Crux and some Flux with Springkle and a bit of Tipple.

Here's the same picture now after I colored it and did a bit of shading. Hope you like it!

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.

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 (click here), so come and play along and find your Zen!

Any and all comments are appreciated, good or bad, and helpful criticism is always appreciated. Thank you for stopping by!

Diva Challenge #262 ~ UMT Fassett by Lynn Mead

It'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.

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.

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!

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!

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 (click here) 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!

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!

Diva Challenge #242 ~ Gourdgeous!

Well, after Rick and Maria announced this tangle, I kept looking at it trying to decide what exactly I could do with it. To tell the truth, it honestly didn't look like something I would like to play with much. So I sat down and practiced and practiced and practiced ... and I still didn't really like it. So I played with it some more.  Here are a few of my trials with it ... they aren't bad, but it just didn't feel right to me.

Just one page of many that I tried of gourdgeous...I just
couldn't make it feel like it was mine!

So, I finally decided to just jump in and try something ... anything ... to see if I could truly like this tangle. I do love that it flows nicely (at least a few of them did). Hubby decided that they looked more like an onion until I showed him what it looked like when Maria drew it...lol. But I grabbed one of my small sketchpads and decided to see what I could do with the brown pen. It looked better to me and by the time I got it shaded and tinted, I really felt like this tangle and I could be friends.  Take a look below!

I like the way that this one turned out. I used an 005 and 01
sepia Micron, Prismacolor pencils, graphite pencil, and tried
a Tombow light grey marker for the first time. It actually does
look a bit better in person, since my camera is not a real
good one and I took the picture under flourescent light, not
daylight. But I am definitely please with this one.

I am happy that I actually managed to get this posted before midnight tonight, so now I hope to go back through all the submissions this week and leave some comments. I have looked at some of them and now I want to go and see the rest of them. 

Thank you for stopping by, and as always, any comments, feedback, criticism, or even just a "hi" is appreciated. If you want to see the rest of the submissions for the Diva's Challenge for this week, head on over to her blog (click here) and check out all the other artist's work. Perhaps you will join us soon and let us see what you do too *grin*  Thanks again for stopping.

Diva Challenge #220 ~ UMT - All Boxed Up!

I'm a bit late getting my tile posted this week and I didn't even make it around to all the submissions last week, but I really did try. My hands were giving me fits again and typing just wasn't in the cards for me. This week has been not quite as bad, but it has taken me forever to get my tile done. But, I did actually look at all of the submissions last week and they were ALL beautiful. And, once again, thank you for your gracious and kind remarks on my blog. It's always to see that people are visiting here.

It's been another fairly hard week this week, not necessarily for my hands, although they have had their share of hurting, but mostly because my son is having a hard time. As those who have read here before know, he is an adult autistic who was only diagnosed recently. His birthday is coming up and the autism for him translates his excitement into debilitating anxiety. All the time he was growing up, I never understood why he was never excited by things that were coming up and the new doctor he is seeing has tried to explain to me that people that are autistic experience emotions differently than some people, so I have been trying to ease him out of the extreme anxiety this week. I did manage to get him to try drawing and he drew a very nicely done picture and asked me to show him how to do a little shading. He definitely has a talent for drawing, so I hope that I can get him to try it some more, because it did tend to relax him for the hour he sat here with me. Who knows, I may be able to get him to try a bit of tangling. Cross your fingers with me to hope it helps calm him down.

But drawing and tangling DO calm me down, so this week, we are to use a tangle selected by the Diva from submissions to her by tangle designers. This week, it was "All Boxed Up" by Alice Hendon, CZT. Step-outs can be found here  It's really a pretty tangle and even though I'm not a huge fan of straight lines, I found this very interesting to do. For some reason, after loads of practice drawings, I decided I wanted to draw it in a circle, and it actually looked pretty good, but then as I looked at it, I decided I would try a zendala (silly me!) I have been trying to do some of these because I think they look awesome. But I know that I tend to put way too much detail in things and I just know that I would overdo it. But that being said, I did it anyway. I like the way it turned out, although my hubby doesn't like the paper I did it on. I cut some of my stash of scrapbooking cardstock into a 5" x 5" square because I knew I wanted to make it bigger than a normal tile, partly because my hands are still hurting but at least it's bearable now.

So I hope you like my take on All Boxed Up this week.  I just designed the center and then in the first round used Maryhill, followed by two rounds of All Boxed Up and then finished up with just some random shapes. Enjoy!

Diva Challenge #220 - UMT "All Boxed Up"
Media: Scrapbook Cardstock 5" x 5", black Micron pen,
Sepia Micron Pen, Pencil for shading
Tangles: Maryhill, All Boxed Up, and various shapes

For those of you who haven't seen the rest of the submissions this week, please go check out the Diva's blog (click here) and see the awesome artwork this week on other blogs. This challenge is very well represented by lots of tanglers who do amazing work. If you find you have time, why not join us and share your work with us there. As always, I appreciate your visiting my blog and do appreciate any and all comments. Thank you for visiting!

Diva Challenge #216 ~ UMT Brella

First off, thank you all again for your kind comments last week. They are always appreciated.

We had a pretty good week last week although it was a little tough on my son. He is on disability for many things, but had to go through a mandatory evaluation which is something we do periodically. This time he was extremely anxious about it because they didn't give him much notice about the appointment. The therapist he spoke with understood and apologized about the lack of notification for him, but also spent a good deal of time talking with him. My son suffers from depression, extreme anxiety and social phobias, as well as a lot of pain, due in part to an auto accident we were in. But he does well in helping here around home and I very much appreciate him. When the therapist was talking with him, she asked if he had ever had a definitive diagnosis for his Autism/Aspergers and we told her that both his therapist and doctor had said that he is most likely on the scale somewhere. Well, she got busy and got her evaluation tests out and FINALLY confirmed what we had assumed for a very long time - he is autistic. Now that he is 30 years old, it's good to have a firm diagnosis. And she thinks that if we can understand it and how to deal with it, it will lessen some of his other problems. So it was a very good week for us!

The Diva, Laura Harms, had a great week also in that her youngest is showing progress in being able to eat solid food. Congratulations to Laura on that highlight for her week. Little landmarks are so wonderful when we are trying to make progress. Her challenge this week was a UMT, as is normal for the first challenge of the month. This month our UMT is Brella by Bunny Wright and since Star Wars is a big deal in the Diva's household, she chose to use a Star Wars theme for Star Wars Day - "May the 4th be with you". We are pretty much geeks in this house too, although my son is by far the biggest geek in the house and so I attempted to do something Star Wars too. I actually had this done on Monday, but have been busy running errands until today, so I couldn't get a picture of it until now. I chose to do the Rebel Alliance sigil - I know, not very creative, but I really haven't been feeling very creative lately. It was very relaxing for me to do it though, so I guess it was mission accomplished.  See what you think...

May the 4th be with you!
Media: 3.5" x 3.5" tile, Black Micron pen, pencil
Tangles: Brella, StarMap

Very simple, but very enjoyable to do also.

As always, any and all comments are appreciated. If you would like to see the other submissions for this challenge, head on over the the Diva's place (click here) and check out all the awesome artwork there. Enjoy!

Diva Challenge #212 ~ UMT - Fanz

First of all, thank you for your kind comments on my challenge last week. They mean a lot to me and I appreciate them all.

And yet again, I am posting at a late date in the week ... it has been an off week here at home. Rather hectic with kids mostly. Just a case of taking far too long to get necessary things done and an upset son that was afraid that something had happened to us. Sometimes his autism makes him afraid of things going on and he had somewhat of a meltdown. Things are almost back to normal, so hopefully I can get my challenge posted earlier next week and also get some of my other other ZIAs posted. But I talk too much, so let's get on to the good stuff.....ZENTANGLE!

Our challenge this week was a UMT and our tangle to use was Fanz by Susan Goetter. It's a rather fun tangle, but I must admit that it took me a few nights to get the rhythm of the auras right, but I was rather pleased with it. I showed my tile to both hubby and son and they both had different ideas about which was was up, so I am presenting you here with both of them and you can decide for yourself.

This one is shown the way hubby likes it...says it reminds him of a tree of sorts. I guess I can see it, but he wasn't sure what the Narwal were then...lol

This one is shown the way my son likes it...says it reminds him of Willy Wonka's chocolate waterfall and the chocolate river with candies all around.








I just think it's fun and I didn't have any idea of where the pen would take me.  What is your favorite?

The tangles I used are Fanz, Narwal, Nipa, and Printemps with a bit of tipple here and there as well. Anyway, it was a fun one for me and I think I'm going to have to play with Fanz a bit more. It looks like loads of fun.

There are more interpretations of the challenge over at the Diva's website (click here), so go take a look and maybe you will join in the fun! Thank you for visiting my blog and comments are always welcomed and appreciated.

Diva Challenge #203 ~ UMT "Athitzi"

Well, here it is Saturday again, and I really had intended (once again) to have my challenge finished the first half of the week. My life tends to be haphazard at best most of the time, so I can never tell for sure when I will have things done. But I love to sit and draw or tangle whenever the moment presents itself. I do have a bad tendency to stress over my submission for the challenges, but I am making myself a promise that from now on, I refuse to compare myself to the real artists that post their beautiful artwork.

That being said, this week the Diva challenged us with a UMT by Seven called "Athitzi". When I looked up the steps on how to use it, I drew a blank, even with her beautiful rendering. So I've been playing with it all week and not really liking most of my trials. So on Thursday night, I was just browsing the internet and sketching things of interest when I came upon some Polynesian tattoo designs. Some of them really spoke to me (my husband is of Polynesian descent) and inspired my ZIA for this week. I won't call it a tangle, because I think most of the design is not tangles but just designs that my pen decided to draw. That be as it may, I now offer you my submission this week. To me it looks very Tribal, so I guess that's what I will name it ~ Tribal!

Tribal
Diva Challenge #203
Media: 3.5 tile, Micron pen, pencil and shading stomp
Tangles: Shattuck, Athitzi, and others my pen drew

For those that are visiting here for the first time, these challenges come from Laura Harms blog "I am the Diva" and many other submissions can be found here on her website. So take a look and come and join in the fun with us.

As always, thank you for your comments, they are always appreciated and I thank you for visiting.