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 #208 ~ Cubine vs. Pokeroot

Interesting challenge this week from the Diva...we were to do a duotangle (term coined by the Diva meaning using two and two ONLY patterns in a piece) using Cubine and Pokeroot, both of which are official Zentangle tangle patterns. I have only dabbled with either one of them, just getting the mechanics of each down, but not really using them in anything, so this was very challenging. I actually played with this one more in my mind than on paper before I actually sat down and did anything. And...(I don't know if I should admit this or not), I actually looked at what others had done before I took a picture of mine, but in actuality mine was finished before I walked through all the blogs *grin*

Anyway, I had fun with this one and when I showed it to my son (as I always like to show him before I post it), he mentioned that it looked like something from "The Secret City". Now the Secret City was a fun show on TV that we watched when he was younger that taught kids to draw in cartoon fashion. Whereas I used to watch Walter Lanz and John Gnagy (I know, I am dating myself horribly if anyone even remembers these names), and they tried to teach realistic drawing, the Secret City was hosted by Mark Kissler and he has a playful, cartoony style that we both loved. As I looked at it, I could see where he would think that. But if you have ever seen Secret City, you might agree...I know I could see it.  Here it is...

Pokeroot Invasion
Media:  3.5" x 3.5" tile, Micron 01, pencil and tortillon
Tangles:  Cubine and Pokeroot

Margaret Bremner's Cubine tutorial was invaluable to me to come up with this as I could easily visualize it as an otherwordly piece, so make sure you notice the "stars" that you can see through the cubine windows. I hope all the little Pokeroots make themselves comfortable here... lol.

As always, thank you for looking at my effort and any feedback is always welcome.  Thank you for your comments, good, bad, or indifferent...they are ALL appreciated.  If you would like to see some more challenge pieces, check out the DIVA'S PAGE and if you are so inspired, come join the fun. We are a great group and love to see new ideas. See you soon!