Diva Challenge #330: "Zentangle Plates"

This week's Diva Challenge is courtesy of Jeanette Clawson. She is a graduate of CZT #27 although she has been tangling for a number of years.  You can read about her story here on The Diva's blog. She explains a little about what lead her to this art form.  Like many, it was a tool in dealing with things.  It isn't that tangling is the only one that can do this but I think its portability makes it easy to use anywhere.

The basis of her challenge is her love of mandalas.  When she was at the CZT seminar they discussed tangle plates, which is really a mosaic or arcs and when you put 4 tiles together, they form a plate.  You can get as symmetrical and as intricate as you want.  She did 4 tiles but indicated that it was not necessary to do 4 for the challenge. You could do only one.

I like mandalas also and have about 100 that I have done over the years.  I have not done the mosaic style of this challenge.  Was not sure that I was going to participate due to time and I knew that I would not be able to do 4 tiles.  My intent was to do one tile.   It is similar to the stripes challenge that was done a couple of times.  Well when I was ready to start, I found out that I did not have a full size tile. I had some Bijou tiles. I only had two of them. Which I decided to use. So mine is a "broken plate".

As a time saver, I decided to do the same tangles on similar rings.  Here are the two tiles that I completed.

Tangles used: Tipple, Cubine, Hibred, Meer, Bird on a Wire

Shading done with HB pencil

Here are the two together to form my "broken plate" ( see the jagged line along the bottom?)

I have only seen a few of the pieces posted. Those are ones that show up in my feed list.  I plan on trying to look at them over the next couple of days. Would strongly recommend that you go and look when you have the chance. You can do so by clicking here on I am the Diva.  

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

Go Tangle !!

Square One Focus Tangle: Meer

This week's focus tangle on Square One is Meer. I have not used it a lot but it does have some interesting possibilities. I have to admit, I was not feeling particularly creative when doing this. I decided to keep it simple. I have seen some really creative uses of this tangle posted in the FB page. That being said, I am not disappointed with the way that this turned out. Probably one  of the biggest challenges was trying to decide what orientation I would use to photograph it. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Cubine, Meer, Jonqal 

Shading done with #2 pencil.

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

Go Tangle !!

Square One Focus Tangle: Arukas

I am posting this with a little trepidation. Just recently checked out a site that is stealing peoples' images and then selling them on posters. This really makes me angry as some of the images were posted within the last couple of weeks. Do not really know how many of mine are on their site, but saw probably about 10 before it stopped letting me look at images. Do not know if they have sold any posters using my images. I would post a message to them in this blog but I am sure they do not read the blog they just steal the images. The information that I read indicates that it somewhere out of the US. Probably makes it impossible to do anything about it. Have to come up with some easy way to watermark my images so it will make it hard for them to use.  Enough venting, on to the Focus Tangle.

Arukas is a fun tangle to do. Not always sure how to get it to "play well" with other tangles. Just started and let it go where it wanted. Not sure what I think of this one. Do  not hate it but to me is a little disconnected. Did have a chance to try a new tangle which if I can remember it, will use in other pieces. The new tangle is Intwine.  Here is what I came up with. Hope you enjoy it,(except you Wallpart!!!)

Tangles Used: Arukas, Shattuck, Meer, Cruze, & Intwine

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 !!

Diva Challenge # 189: UMT "Yuma" by Tina-AKUA, CZT

Has been a busy few couple or weeks. This is the first Diva Challenge I have participated in for about 3 weeks. In between two classes, and a couple of days of the flu, I also did a presentation at the Art Educators Association of Indiana Convention on the Zentangle® and ZAP ( Zentangle Apprentice Program). I am barely getting this is under the wire. This is an interesting tangle. There is not a lot of difficult lines to draw, but not sure that I got the hang of it. Had a little difficulty deciding how to finish the tile. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Yuma, Meer, Hi-Cs, and vine

Hopefully I will get a chance to look at what some others have done. If you have not all ready done so, would encourage you to go look at the great art that others have posted. click here to go to the Diva's blog. 

Still have lots to do before the end of the day and the start of the work week. Hoping to participate again regularly.

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

Go Tangle !!  

Square One Purely Zentangle®: Betweed

This week's prompt on the Facebook page Square One: Purely Zentangle® is Betweed. This is not a challenge like a number of others. It is designed to focus on the basic Zentangle method. There are usually a lot of other nice tiles posted besides the one using the prompt.

I like this pattern. Have not used it a lot lately but it is versatile to fill in spaces and provide a little perspective. I am not sure about this tile. I may have attempted to do a little too much. What will probably happen, as does a lot of times, is that if I pull it out later I will find more I like about it. I think I need to pull out Made in the Shade or some other resources for a refresher. If for nothing else for me to feel more comfortable when I do a lot of shading.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Ennies, Meer, Marasu, Betweed, Quib

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #179: "Be like Bijou"

The Diva changes things up and instead of the usual UMT challenge on the first Monday of the month, she chose to use the recently released Bijou tiles from Zentangle®. I did not have any of the official tiles so I cut some 2"x 2" squares on some vellum paper.  To be honest, I am not sure about these. They are easy to work with and I think they are great for monotangles. I am a little surprised as I usually like things that are small. I guess that I should clarify as it is not that I do not like them, I am just not as excited as some others have been about them. Here is what I came up with. I did two of them. I hope you enjoy them.

Tangles used: Left - Meer, Cubine, Right - Mumsy, Ribbon petals, Zinger

The one in the upper left on the left tile does not have a name. It is one that was the result of experimenting with one of the basic strokes. 

The shading on Cubine was done with a graphite pencil and a Fabrico grey marker.  All other shading was with a graphite pencil.

I have not looked at many on the Diva's site, but I did see that there are all ready a lot things posted. Would encourage you to go and visit by clicking here. It may also encourage you to give it a try or participate yourself. If you are unsure, or have questions, feel free to ask. 

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

Go Tangle !!