Diva Challenge #231 ~ "Undulations"

This week has been a rather interesting week for us. The wildfires in the Western US have made the outside air almost intolerable to breathe. While there are no fires *yet* here in Utah that I have heard of, the fires in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, as well as California all seem to be blowing their smoke our way and it has been getting stuck in the valley where we live. Even the cats don't seem to want to go outside in this stuff. But the National Weather Service keeps telling us that it should be getting better soon. At least lets hope so. So as a consequence of all this horrible air (I have asthma), I have actually been inside most of the week and getting some things done in the house and garage.....I even managed to throw away some boxes of stuff that I don't need! AND I found some more of my beautiful paper stash. I was a stamper and scrapbooker before I discovered Zentangle and have tons of beautiful paper and art supplies. I am just starting to get back in to experimenting with some of my stuff and hope to post some of my experiments soon.  So I took some of this paper and cut it into tiles of various sizes to tangle on because I love the colors.

After reading the challenge this week on the Diva's blogspot, I was ready! Our guest blogger this week, Sharla Hicks, challenged us to use an old favorite undulating C or S curve tangle and work in a series OR find a new one and begin a new series.  I love all of the undulating curve, but never really worked with them much knowingly. But I just really like to use curvy, organic tangles, so I just chose  to let my pen take me where it would. I have been sketching all week, but I have a couple of tiles that I want to post now. I have several more in various stages of being finished and will post those as I finish them.  So here they are and I hope you like them!

3.5" tile, Micron pen Sepia, Black, white chalk
Inktense pencils

This one is a bit bigger, since I wanted to try working a bit bigger because I really like working with these fluid, undulating tangles. I'm not sure if I like this very well, but it turned out ok.

4" tile, Micron pen black, white chalk, graphite
pencil for shading

I hope you can check out all of the wonderful challenge pieces that have been shown this week and if you want to try one yourself, you can find it all at The Diva's blog for inspiration and beautiful pieces.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to get around to all of the blogs sometime in the next week or so. Have a beautiful day!

Diva Challenge #230 ~ ZenDivaDala (& I'm Late Again)

Yes, it's me and I'm late again as per usual. No excuses, just fingers wouldn't work and then I was having all kinds of problems doing a zendala using a template. Erin Olson of  The Bright Owl  fame has designed a zendala template for us for the challenge this week and provided us with a link to 3 different sizes to print off and play with. Well, I printed off all 3 sizes and decided on the standard tile size thinking that it would be the most comfortable format for me. I honestly did try several times to make something decent with this template, but I wasn't very pleased with either of the ones that I actually finished. But.....I will present them here for your perusal anyway.

This one was my first attempt and I swear that there really were tangles in those spaces that just look like messy lines (oh yes, my hands and fingers were not doing the greatest), but my hubby generously said that he really kinda liked this one. I would love to get him to try some of these because he is a painter of miniature wargaming figures and has probably the steadiest hand I have ever seen. But he really isn't interested :(.  Anyway, here it is.....

Media: 3.5" square paper, Micron Pen Black, and pencil
for shading

I like this second one a bit better, and I think I may actually try again some time in the near future to use a zendala template. My son liked this one much better too. And yes, I always ask them for their opinions since they usually offer me good advice.

Media: 3.5" square, Black and Sepia Micron pens,
Pencil for shading

I can tell I need a lot more practice on using templates.  Here is a zendala that I worked for quite awhile on that was just drawn as I went. I think it probably took me a good 12 hours when all was said and done and I haven't shaded it yet as I was waiting to make copies of it so I could decide whether or not I wanted to color it. I really like the detail in this one and even though it was fussy and meticulous, it was at the same time very relaxing for me to do.

Size:  6 x 6 inches, Micron black pen only

Even though this is not strictly zentangles, it IS a ZIA and I now have ink, so I can make copies and attempt to color it. Wish me luck....LOL

I also have some tiles that I finished up for some of the challenges that I missed, but this post has been going on long enough, I think and I am getting tired. I'll post them next week sometime.

As always, thank you for visiting my blog and any and all comments are always read and very much appreciated. I have been lax, I'm afraid, on getting comments posted on the submissions lately. I have been looking at all of the wonderful work being done and I will try to do better next week on leaving comments. If you want to take a look at all of the submissions to this challenge, just go to the I am the Diva blog (CLICK HERE) and check out all of the artists submissions. Once again, thank you for stopping by!

Diva Challenge # 229 ~ Negative Space (Sandy Hunter)

It's good to be back and able to do a bit of drawing again....feeling much better and learning to take it easy on my hands to be able to do a bit more. This weeks challenge came from 'Guest Diva' Sandy Hunter, CZT, a very accomplished tangler in my opinion. Her challenge was to shift the focus to the negative space in our tile. When I read the challenge, I was watching one of my most favorite operas . . . the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera" from the Royal Albert Hall, so of course that influenced my piece.  I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed tangling it. I am planning to do another one, a bit larger to hang in the house because I liked it so well.

"The Phantom"
Media: 3.5" tile, Black and Sepia Micron, Pencil, White
Gelly Roll pen for highlights
Tangles: Putki, Meringue, Abundies, Tipple and
1 or 2 others that I don't recall

I may play with the shading on the negative space as well, but all in all, I quite like this and hope that you are too.  Thanks for checking out my submission this week and as always, any and all comments are welcomed. I have been watching all the submissions over the past few weeks, but haven't been able to leave comments because of very sore hands, but I will try my best to get comments out this week. I'm so glad to be back playing again!

If you want to play too, then check out all the submissions at the Diva's website (click here) and hope to see you all joining us there!

Diva Challenge #226 ~ Simplicity

This week Laura (the Diva) had a guest blogger while she takes a well deserved rest. Our hostess for this challenge was Katie Crommett, who has challenged us to simplify. In her words

Your first step is to breathe. Reconnect to the vital activity we do all day, keeping us alive, whether or not we’re aware of it. Place your hands on your paper or tile and take a minute or two with your eyes closed. (Really -- go ahead and close them. I'll still be here when you open them.) Now that your eyes are open, I'm going to give you simple directions/tips for the challenge, but take this where you feel you want to go. Keep your tangling space manageable. If you don't have an official Zentangle tile, you can cut a piece of paper into 3.5" x 3.5." Pick two or three tangles, at the maxium. After you draw each tangle, be conscious of when you've reached your point of "enoughness." White space is your friend. Or, even, it's more than a friend. And that's it. Simple.

So here is my somewhat late challenge tile and yes, it is difficult for me to make a "simple" tile.

Simplicity
Tangles used: Abundies, Murmylies
Media: 3.5" square, black micron, and pencil

I have a few more that I have been working on, but I wanted just to get this one up this week. Hopefully, I will be back and joining the challenges again very soon. In the meantime, please take a look at the Diva's website (CLICK HERE) to see what everyone did with this challenge. And, as usual, comments are always appreciated. Thank you :)

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 #219 ~ Straight Lines *EEK!!!*

EEEK!!! That's what I said when I read that the challenge this week was all about straight lines. I don't like straight lines, probably because I can't make mine very straight and I tend to try to be a perfectionist. So I have been trying hard to come up with something that I remotely like and I think I may have 1. This first one isn't it however.

Diva 219 - Tile 1

This one was the first one and definitely didn't work for me, especially after I tried to use a Spectrum Noir to add some shading. I had thought it was going to turn out pretty good, because I liked some of the tangles I was using, but in the end, I had to try again.  So here's attempt #2....

Diva 219 - Tile 2

This one didn't have the kind of *oomph* that I was looking for, so I just kind of haphazardly shaded it and called it done.  Strike two!

Diva 219 - Tile 3

Actually, I quite like this one and it is probably my actual submission...lol. Hubby thought it needed something else added to the background, my son and I thought that any more would ruin it, so I left it as is.

Diva 219 - Tile 4

This one turned out fairly nice, I think. I didn't want definite edges, so I tried to stipple the ends out to fade it, Not sure it turned out the way I envisioned it, but it is still pretty good. I may have to actually work on this one or redo it and shade it, but i kind of like it this way with only the minimal shading on the lines in the background.

So that's it for today, but I learned a lot about me and lines. I definitely prefer organic or curvy shapes, but there is a lot to be said for straight lines too. For one thing, after I got into the rhythm of drawing the lines, it was quite relaxing...something I never thought I would say about drawing straight lines. And also, it's not always necessary to fill all your space or shade everything. So I guess it was a good week.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments last week, they are much appreciated. There are so many wonderful artists here and I appreciate comments from all of you. There is so much to be learned from each other here and I'm glad I found this place on the web. Thank you for stopping by and all comments are very much welcomed. If you would like to see the other submissions for the challenge this week, stop by the Diva's place (click here) and check them out. Better yet, come and play with us and show your own artwork. Thanks again for stopping by :)

White on Black or Found.....Diva Challenge 218

First off, as always, thank you all so very much for your very kind comments. It means a lot to me to have people visit my blog. This is such a fabulous group to be involved with and I always learn something from everyone's posts.

So....this week, the Diva challenged us to use white on black tiles or tangle on a found object. I don't have any black tiles, but I "found" some black scrapbooking paper in my stash, so I guess it covers both criteria, right? I cut it into 3.5" squares and sat looking at it. I couldn't for the life of me get any kind of idea to gel in this thick skull of mine. So, I started to look through all my sketchpads and sketchbooks and half-baked tiles that were started and never finished (I have a LOT of those) and decided to try an idea that I was working on with a spiral design sort of.  The pen I used is the Sakura Gelly Roll and on the paper I was using, it was perfect as long as I didn't try to draw too fast. So this first one was an experiment and although I loved it, I had absolutely NO idea how to highlight this. Couldn't shade, because it already was a shade. So I left it as is. Here it is for your perusal....

 Although this isn't exactly a zentangle tile, I think it can qualify as a ZIA (Zentangled Inspired Artwork). I don't actually know if I used any actual tangles at all, since I just let my pen do the walking on this one and I just went along for the ride.








I decided that I had best try an actual Zentangle, so I thought about some simple tangles that might be

suitable for white on black. It seems to me that since the pen puts down a much thicker line, it would be much easier to use much less complicated tangles. So for this one, I used Ing, Fescu, Zinger, Flux, Mooka, Dragonair, Tipple, and Luv-A, as well as a quilting design that I liked called feathered clam. I only put one of those in there because it just seemed to fit in the space *grin*.





The highlights in this tile were made using a white Conte Pastel pencil and blending it with a very small tool that I actually don't know what it is called. I had these from years ago when I was using pastels to color in stamped images on cards that I was making. They are very tiny, but are almost like using a cotton swab to delicately blend the color. I like the way they worked out and this is a picture of the tools that I used.

So that's it for this week, but I think I really enjoyed working with the black and may have to try it some more. If you want to see what other people in this challenge did with this, just head on over the the Diva's website (click here) and check them out. It's a fun group of people and I always learn from them, so if you want to play with us, give it a try!

As always, comments are always appreciated and I am trying to check out the other blogs to see what has been done. It takes me forever to type some days due to arthritic fingers, so if I don't leave a comments, I will try to get to you next week.  Happy Tangling!