Diva Challenge #211: Unchallenge/Challenge - Flux

Was not sure what to label this post as usually I just use what The Diva puts on her blog. For a brief time it looked like there would not be a challenge this week due to medical complications for her youngest son. She chose to use the recent Zentangle® post on Flux. So that became the Challenge. I remember the two different ways of doing Flux in my CZT seminar. I taught both versions in my basic class as a way to reinforce there are no mistakes and step outs are a guideline to doing a tangle. Most people get a chuckle that the developers of Zentangle have two different ways of doing Flux. Kind of relaxes them that what they do does not have to match what I illustrate. I explain as like different fonts that you might use on a computer. some fonts have commas and quotation marks that look like Maria's Flux. Others look like Rick's version. Both get recognized as the same thing. That is the same for both versions of Flux.

 I enjoy flux and use it quite a bit. I tend to do Rick's version as it just seems to flow better for me. I did try a  little different form of Maria's version and I felt better about it. As with a number of tiles, although it is decreasing, the most difficult part of this tile was the shading. Part of this is that there was not a lot of white space. My first reaction was that the tile was too busy. It is more appealing the more I look at it. Anyway, here is what I came up with, I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Flux, Tipple, Fescu, & Zinger

Shading was done with 2B pencil

Got this done a day earlier than I usually do. Hopefully I can spend some time looking at the other tiles posted this week. Strongly encourage you to look at what is on I am the Diva. Would also encourage you to try it yourself. Join in and post what you come up with. The people that post and look at the pieces of art are pretty supportive of everyone.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Square One: Focus Tangle - Squid

This week's focus tangle is Squid. I have used this one before but not a lot. I tend to forget about it a little as it is more representational. I do like it though. It is hard for me to think of doing a tile with Squid in it without it being an aquatic theme. I am sure that I will see some that are not, but that is what I think of. Tried a few new things with it. Over all I am pleased with the result. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Squid, Sanibelle, Angel Fish, Fengle, Tipple, Not sure if the vine has a name

Shading done with 2B pencil and Micron

I think you can always go to the Square One FB page and look at the posts. There will probably be some unique ones posted. I t think you do need to be a member to post. Being a member though does not require that you post, but it is nice to see a variety of tiles.

Thanks for visiting.  As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle.

Diva Challenge #210: "Spiralstring - that's the thing"

This week's Diva Challenge was interesting. I like spirals, but do not use them much. It usually is when there is some type of prompt. That was this week's challenge - use spirals as a string. I do not usually look at what others have posted before I do mine. I did know that I wanted to go to Shelly Beauchamp's blog to look at her page on spirals. I enjoy her work but her spirals are awesome. In the process, I ran across Cris Letourneau's piece. She had posted it on one of the FB pages that I follow. Hers was also pretty awesome. As I looked at them, they had different ways of doing the spiral. Now I had a dilemma on my hands. Which style was I going to use. I decided to one of each. I did not copy the patterns they used and I did not use color as Cris did in hers. Besides the tangling, the color in her spiral added so much to the piece.

After deciding that, my next challenge is that I realized that I did my basic spiral structure in the opposite direction of theirs. Mine were in a clockwise direction and theirs were counter clockwise. Not a major issue but did take a little to work out direction of some of the lines.

Then came the really big challenge. Deciding on what tangles to use and completing the tile. Choosing the tangles was not a major issue. But as I began the tile, I experienced a real reinforcement of needing to send my inner critic on a hike. I began tangling and while working on the first spiral, had to deal with an issue that I do not usually encounter. I very rarely have not finished a tile once I started but when working on this, I seriously considered ripping it up and starting over. The thought kept going through my head that this was not going to work. I was finally able to listen a little more to the other side to just keep going. I could decide later what I wanted to do. Honestly, it was not until near the end of the tile while working on Dansk that I began to feel more comfortable with the tile. It was not until after adding Flux, Fescu, and Zinger and then working on the shading that I finally was pleased with this tile. I did not think about taking pictures until later. When I thought of it, not sure that it would have shown so much of the process of change as really took place, plus I did not have a camera with me. Maybe some other time.

Being pleased does not mean that there were not things that I can see that I would do differently if I were to do this over. It is in no way perfect. It does not have to be. I like the result. When I was done, I actually felt pretty good about what I had created. When doing these challenges and working on tiles, that is what it is about for me. I guess it is a lesson that maybe we all need to revisit periodically. Focus on one stroke at a time and the process, not what it looks like.

Well I rambled on long enough. I hope I did not bore you too much. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Dansk, Sanibelle, Tipple, Flux, Fescu, Zinger, Orbs, Cubine, Betweed, and Chard (variation)

Shading was done with standard pencils. 

If you have not all ready visited the Diva's blog would encourage you to do so. You can do so by clicking here. I am  hoping to get a chance to see them over the next few days. Try it your self even if you do not post it to the site. It would be great if you did. Would be just that much more to enjoy.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!  

Square One Focus Tangle: Mooka - More traditional

I decided to do another tile with Mooka today rather than try to squeeze it in later in the week. Actually, if I am honest about it, it also allowed me to avoid some tasks that I am not all that motivated to do read organize information for taxes. But I did enjoy doing this and it gave me some much needed shading practice. I think the shading is what makes the traditional Mooka so beautiful. Over all I am pleased with the way that this one turned out. I guess if I really wanted to be critical I could find things that I do not like but I am going to focus on the process. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Mooka, Zinger, Keeko

Shading was done with the standard Zentangle® pencil.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Square One Focus Tangle: Mooka - Gone Wild

This week's focus tangle on Square One FB is Mooka. This seems to be a tangle that people either really like or they really dislike it. I do not have a great relationship with it, but it is getting stronger. I think it is one that is a little more difficult to play with but that is exactly what I tried to do. I had done it before on a black tile. But that would not be an acceptable post on Square One. I have seen some very nice renditions of this tangle. Some have been in the traditional style. Meredith Yuhas is one of those. She just has a flair for this tangle. Have not seen one done by Shelly Beauchamp yet. She does some great looking things with this tangle also. If I have time, I may try to get a more traditional Mooka done later. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used as embellishment: Crescent Moon, Stripes. Phicops, Hibred, Tipple, Meer, Ahh, Gneiss, & Diva Dance

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Framed ZIA class

The idea for this class was born out of what I received from Cris Letourneau when she sent me things for visiting and commenting on her blog throughout the year. The mats are 5" squares with a 2.5" square cut out. There are two different ways that can do the backing. I cut sheets of Bristol vellum into about 4 7/8" squares. Placed this behind the mat and very lightly traced around the opening. They could then use this as a frame for their ZIA. When they were done drawing their tangles, used dot strip adhesive to glue the piece of Bristol vellum to the mat. The other way to do this would be to use a regular Zentangle® tile. After completing the tangles you would glue the tile to the mat and then glue the Bristol vellum to the mat. Either way you end up with a flat backing. Here are examples of what they came up with. They were able to finish one in the class and sent home the material to complete another.

This was a fun class. It allowed for time to work on tangles before we started on this project plus people could interact with each other.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #209: "Saint Patty's"

The Diva Challenge this week was a holiday theme in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Theme was to "green up" your tile. It was a toss up for me to use my Intense pencils or the Koi watercolor pens. I chose the later only in that I have not used them a lot and trying to experiment with them. I used them to lay down a wash. Was not really happy with the way that they blended but did not try a lot. I turned out okay. There are a couple of sections that turned out a little darker than I  would have liked but it turned out okay. Then came the challenge to use the wash as the string and decide how I was going to do it. I stuck with some old favorites for the tangles. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Antidots, 'Nzeppel, Shattuck, Zander, Paradox

Did not doe much shading on this one. The little I did was with the micron. The difference in the intensity is that I started using an older Micron which totally ran out of ink, Had to switch to a newer one.

I have not had a chance to look at what others have posted, but hope to be able to over the next couple of days. If you have not done so, would strongly recommend you go to I am the Diva and look at the great pieces of art that people have posted. Try it your self and post your work.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !! 

Square One Focus Tangle: OOF

This week's focus tangle at Square One is Oof. This is one that I think I did something with when it first came out but not a lot since then. It reminds me a lot of Bales, except it does not have the grid lines. I did not realize that my string for this was similar to Chris Titus's string until I was about half way through. Decided to continue with it anyway. Used different tangles to finish it so like a lot of tiles, even though the string is the same, the end result is different. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Oof ( with lots of variations), and Featherfall

Shading was done with 2B & 4B pencils.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #208 : "Duotangle - Cubine vs Pokeroot

This week's challenge is a duotangle. This was an interesting challenge as the two tangles are not necessarily good dance partners. I have not searched out what others have done. I have seen a few that have shown up on my blog reader. Not really sure what people have done to get these two to tango together. Will be interesting to see what others have come up with.

I made it a little more interesting as I have not been using a string much lately unless I am doing a class. I had readied a Zendala tile with the template from last week's Zendala Dare and never got around to doing anything with it. Decided to try to use this template for this challenge. Was not quite as easy I as I thought. After I started thought that it might have been easier to reverse the two in the different sections but was too late to do that so just went with what I had. This is one of those tiles that I think I will have to pull out later to look at and decide about it. I think that is more because it is a little different style for me and I had been allowing a little more negative space. Did not do that with this tile.  The one thing that I was pleased with is that I tried the technique posted on FB of using older microns to shade. I did this with the Poke Root and am pleased with the results. For me to say I am pleased with shading does not occur very often.   Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it,

Tangles used: Cubine, Poke Root
Shading is done with #2 pencil, Fabrico grey marker and Micron

If you have not all ready looked at the things posted on I am the Diva, would strongly encourage you to do so. Go a step further if what you tend to do is just look, try it yourself. For even more fun, join in and post what you have come up with. It is always great to see the many different ways a challenge is addressed.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.'

Go Tangle !!

Square One: Bunzo - Take 2

I really do like the tangle Bunzo. I think that the flow of the pen makes it easy for me to relax as I am not thinking about curves or where it needs to end. It is a stroke that flows easily from my pen. I started this last night when I was tired and also avoiding getting information together for taxes. I know I have to do it, but it is a lot more fun to tangle. Much like the last one I did not worry much about shading the tangles but more shading the total image. It is okay, I probably could have extended the shading around Bunzo out a little further. I did not want to take the time to add to it as I have a lot of things to get to. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it. I enjoyed creating it.

Tangles used: Bunzo, Quandary, Tripoli, &  a little Quib.

I used a #2 pencil for the shading, maybe should have used a 4B, and the white dots in the triangles in Quandary are with a white Gelly Roll pen. 

Thanks for visiting.  As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated. 

Go Tangle !!

Square One : Bunzo

The focus tile for this week at Square One is Bunzo. Have not used this one for a while. When it first came out, I did it a lot and used it as the centerpiece of a couple of cards. It is fun to see how you  can vary the size of it. Do not do a lot of other variations. This ended up being a tile with an organic nature. Was totally intended, but I did want to use Scroll Feather. This is another tangle that I enjoy using and have not used it for a while. That is really the only reason that I used it. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Bunzo, Featherfall, Scroll Feather, Tipple, & Ahh

Did something that I have not really done in a while. I did not do any shading on this tile. I thought about doing some for just a brief moment and decided against it. I was okay without it. May change my mind later and add some, but do not think so. 

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!  

Diva Challenge # 207: "UMT - Unbatz by Sandy Hunter, CZT

As is usual for the Diva Challenge the first challenge of the month is a Use My Tangle (UMT) Challenge. The one chosen is Unbatz by Sandy Hunter. I have to admit that I do not remember seeing this tangle before. I have looked at her blog before and I like the combination of tangles that she has created, but I have not seen, or done, this one before. I guess that is one reason I like the Diva Challenge, especially the UMT challenges because you get to do tangles that you may not be familiar with. I also decided to use a Zendala tile instead of a square tile. Maybe because I doubt that I will be able to get to The Zendala Dare this week. There were a few uncertain moments with this one but I am pleased with the end result. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Unbatz, Zander, Fengle

Have not looked at any of the other tiles and ZIAs that have been posted. Did not get to very many last week. Hope I can get to more this week. If you have not all ready, would encourage you to visit I am the Diva and look at the great pieces of art. Give it a try yourself.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Square One: Sez

Got to this early in the week. Probably the only way I was going to get a tile done. This week's focus tile is SeZ. I am not sure that I have used this tangle before. I have put it with a few others. It is one that I am not sure how to shade. I did minimal shading on it.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Sez, Paradox, Cadent, Betweed

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !! 

Square One: Strircles

This is actually a late post. This is the focus tangle for Square One for February 20. I have not used this tangle a lot. It is like Nipa. I know it is there, I just do not use it much. Kept this pretty simple. Mostly because I got to it later and still have some other things to do, like clear snow. Even though is not much to it, I do like it. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Strircles, Ahh

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated. 

Go Tangle !!