Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Diva Challenge #120 Tangleation Nation-Bales

This week's challenge from the DIVA is to use one tangle, Bales.  Bales, is a wonderful tangle and one I still teach in my beginning classes.  There is so much you can do with this tangle and I look forward to seeing everyone's work this week.  I couldn't stop at one....








Friday, May 24, 2013

Challenge #119 Ebony & Ivory

This week the DIVA has us doing a tile with equal parts black and white (ebony & ivory).  When the challenge came out, I knew I wouldn't be able to get to it until later in the week due to appts, etc.  So, as the week went on I thought about how I was going to do this challenge....use tangles that had a nice balance of black and white, or use both a black and white pen.  I will admit, I am not crazy about how my work with the white gelly roll pens looks on the black tiles, but it has been awhile so I thought it was time to try again.  I even broke out a new pen to see if that would help!  I remembered Maria's words of wisdom...use a lighter touch then with the Micron's, or just tickle the paper.  It's true the pens work better when you do that, but that technique can be hard to get down for the heavy handed, like me.  I will have the opportunity to try this more, since I just got my new Black Zendala set in the mail yesterday!  Here is my contribution for this challenge:



I started by drawing some overlapping circles on my tile, and then filled in opposite shapes in black.  Then I used a Micron for the white area's and a white gelly roll pen on the black area's, and added a string of white and black pearls around it with some beadlines.  I shaded with a gray Fabrico dual tip marker. 



I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, and safe travels if you are going out of town.  My husband and I are babysitting our "grand-dog" while my daughter and her fiancĂ© go to Nebraska for a HS graduation of his sister's.  Nate is a one year old Basset Hound....don't you just love those ears!




Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Challenge #118 UMT/Kuke

Another UMT (use my tangle) challenge from the DIVA!  This time we are using CZT, Katy Abbot's tangle, KUKE.  Katy was inspired to create this tangle from looking at a cucumber slice, which just goes to show you that tangle inspiration is everywhere!  Keep your eyes open, as you never know where you will find the idea for a new tangle.   This is a fun little tangle to do.  I am showing my age when I say that it reminded me of my early teens when we used to draw the peace sign and daisy type flowers all over our notebooks.  Thanks for the good memory and great tangle, Katy!


Thursday, May 9, 2013

DIVA Challenge #117 Schway

It's time to try another official tangle for this week's DIVA challenge.  Schway was created by Rick Roberts, of Zentangle Inc. and is a very straight line pattern.  I hesitated trying this one, so I was glad that it was the challenge this week because it gave me that extra little nudge I needed.  It's kind of a fun little pattern, that I will play with more as I can see lots of room for variation.  It also has a very M.C. Escher feel to it, where the same image is going in two directions and your eye either sees one or the other.  I love how this tangle pattern was deconstructed to very few lines that create something that looks complicated, the true beauty of Zentangle!  Thanks, Rick for another tangle pattern, and Laura for another challenge!





MC Escher
 

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Challenge #116 Blind Sighted

This week the DIVA has us revisiting doing a blind string.  I find this a fun challenge to do because the string comes out so unpredictable.  So, you just make your border and close your eyes for the string, then tangle away....letting the zentangle art method do the rest