DC # 296 ~ UMT - Moowa

Here 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!

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 (link here to IT blog). 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!

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!

That's it for today, but I know that this is definitely one that I will want to explore more. Stay tuned!

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 (click here) 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!

Have a zen-ful day!

DC # 295 ~ Reticula/Fragment Part 2

When 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.

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 ....

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!

If you are interested in more challenge pieces, stop by the Diva's place (HERE) and check all of the beautiful work being done. Maybe you will want to join us with your piece soon. Have a great day!

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!

DC # 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!

An indignent Salem...with Nicky and Mistoffellees totally oblivious to
the outrage of our youngest kitty...lol

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 ...

Media:  3.5" square tan tile
Brown Micron 01
Black Micron .005
Sepia Micron .005
Prismacolor colored pencils

Media:  3.5" square black tile
White gelly roll pen

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.

Media: 4" square watercolor paper
Dye ink background
Micron Sepia Pen 01
White Prismacolor

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!











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*

Media: 3.5" tan tile
Micron Black 01
Micron Sepia 01
Prismacolor colored pencils ~ Mulberry/Terracotta

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 (click here) 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!

Relax, Bro! DC # 285

It'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.

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 (click here) and you may decide you want to join us each week. Until next time .... 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!

Circular World ~Diva #277

So.....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.

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.

Tangles used: Onamato (variation), Copada (I think),
Hibred, Arukas, Tipple, and a couple I don't know if they
are actually tangles.

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?

Tangles used:  Leaflet, Cat-Kin, St John's Cross, and Zen Bud

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.

Tangles used: Static, Tipple, and Crescent Moon

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 Intermountain Tanglers, 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...

So there you have it, my small submission for this weeks challenge and a few more goodies.

Thanks for stopping by and if you have the chance to see what all of the other artists have submitted, head over the the Diva's blog  and check them out. As always, I appreciate comments and helpful critique on my work. Thank you again for stopping by!

Have a zen-ful day!