DIVA Challenge 236/Tangle Unexpected

This week the DIVA challenged us to tangle on something unexpected or something you wouldn't ordinarily tangle on. If I was home this week, I probably could find lots of things. But, we are away for awhile in our new RV, having lots of fun I might add! So, my husband is off fly fishing and I am looking around the RV wondering what I can tangle on. Hmmm, the outside is white with some beautiful designs, but too new to tangle (even for me, LOL). I think I will work up to that, and maybe someday add at least a little Bijou to the back! I tangle on the walls and doors at home, but just can't do it inside either. Aha, I spot it it now.....the Kleenex box! Although a lot more boring then the inside of outside of the RV, it will have to do...for now!

It will have tangles.....some day!

 

DIVA Challenge 235/String Theory-Stripes

This week the DIVA has challenged us to put stripes on our tile for the string and tangle using any tangle patterns we want. I did a zig-zag with my stripes across the tile. I started with Beelight (4th from top), and ended up doing the tile with tangles that began with the letter "B".......Bales, Beeline, Betweed, and Bunzo.

 

 

Tangle Deck by CZT, Lynn Mead (A review)

Lynn Mead/CZT  has announced that her Tangle Deck is now available to the public.  I was fortunate to purchase one at the CanTangle CZT retreat I attended this summer in Canada. 

I really love this Tangle Deck of 52 cards!

As Lynn states on the back of her card deck, she created these cards as a durable and portable reference to copy-right free tangles introduced by Zentangle® Inc.  It is a resource that includes step by step instructions, provides ideas and inspiration, and is as portable as the rest of your Zentangle supplies.

I can attest that they are very durable coated cards that appear to be as strong as a deck of playing cards. Although they are bigger then playing cards they are very portable.  I have taken them on a couple of camping trips with my other Zentangle supplies.  I also like the fact that they are bigger than playing cards!  On one side they clearly show the steps to completing the tangle pattern with a finished example.  They also show which of the 5 elemental strokes are needed to create the tangle.  Some of the cards have tips included.  On the other side of each card, is a large beautiful variation of the tangle, which is bound to inspire you.  Well, all of the art work in the deck is inspiring! 

 

 

If the cards weren't enough reason for you to purchase the deck, Lynn also added a 35 page booklet titled Tangle Deck Techniques.  It's a wonderful little book that has a host of information.  The Zentangle terminology, the materials, the steps in the processs, all about the tangle deck itself, tanglenhancers, shading, and her famous way to draw a dew drop!  All of these have pictures included!  The last section is all about tangleations and tangos.  Again, with written instructions and pictures.  Then at the very end she gives you 12 exploration exercises, which I look forward to exploring! 

All in all, I think it's a must for your Zentangle collection! 

Where can you purchase this deck....here is the link:  Tangle Deck
Note: Lynn is offering 20% off thru Sept. 30th! 

DIVA Challenge #234 CanT

My, how Laura's boys are growing so fast, and such cute back-to-school pics on her blog!This week's challenge is to use the tangle, CanT, which was created by Chris Titus at the CanTangle retreat in Regina, Canada this past summer. I was at the retreat when she shared it with all of us, and knew right then it would be a hit. Chris shares a lot of variations for this tangle and once I tried it I find you really can take it in so many directions.  I did all of mine as monotangles so I could really get the feel for it.  Love it, Chris!  Glad to have you back, Laura!





Zenspirations Inspired Piece

Zenspirations dangles and designs were created by Joanne Fink.  It you just do a Google search you will come up with all of her wonderful designs and books.  I love her work! 

I was commissioned to do a wedding piece with the Zenspirations dangle letters.  The bride and groom both like lots of bright vivid colors...lucky me!  Congratulations to Janette & Brad!  This was a fun piece to do! 

DIVA Challenge #233 ZENITH

Our DIVA is back from her summer break!  We missed Laura, but had some wonderful challenges from the guest CZT's.  This week, Laura has asked us to give the new official tangle, ZENITH a try. I haven't played with this one too much, and I quite like it. I kept it simple and added some Florz with a wonky grid, and a Zinger. 

As I have posted previously, I was fortunate to attend CanTangle (a CZT retreat) this year and to meet Laura in person.  She was kind enough to post our picture, along with many others, in her challenge blog post.  Yes, it is true that I have done all of the DIVA challenges, as I have written about  HERE,  AND HERE.  Even though I am retired, I really do have quite a busy life, and I guess this is just one of the things that I enjoy and got hooked on!  Besides that, it's given me things to blog about over all these years too, LOL.  Thanks again, Laura!  Hugs! 

DIVA Challenge 232 Duo Challenge: Audio vs. Betweed

This week over at the DIVA's weekly challenge, Holly Atwater, CZT of Ha! Designs is the guest blogger.  I had the pleasure of meeting Holly this year at TangleU in Santa Fe!  Holly has been producing some audio Zentangle meditation tapes and posting them to her blog.  She was inspired to do these from Molly Hollibaugh who leads a voice only meditation at the CZT seminars.  I was one of the earlier CZT's and didn't get to experience this (although all my students who became CZT's raved about it) until this year at the CanTangle retreat.  Molly was there and she lead us through a voice only meditation tile.  It was a wonderful experience!  When I saw that Holly had this as a challenge versus doing a tile of Betweed, there was no question about what I would do, even though I love Betweed too.  Holly, your tapes are wonderful!  I really enjoyed doing the first Bijou tile so much that I ended up doing all three.  I guess I am one of those overachievers that Holly talked about in the challenge....who would have guessed, LOL!  Thanks for the fun challenge! 

DIVA Challenge 231: Undulating Tangles

This week at the DIVA's  challenge we have CZT Sharla Hicks as the guest blogger.  I was fortunate to meet and take a class from Sharla this year at Tangle U.  Her beautiful work has a very organic style, as you can see from her examples on the challenge post.  Her challenge to us is to use an old favorite undulating C or S curve tangle or find a new one.  I have played with Isochor and Verve before, but have not used Abundies, so I put them all together on this tile.   Thanks for the fun challenge, Sharla! 

DIVA Challenge #230 "Let's all be ZenDivaDala"

The guest blogger this week at the DIVA challenge is Erin Olson, CZT. Erin is the host of the Zendala Dare on her blog, The Bright Owl.  I love her Zendala Dare, but don't often get the time to do one, so was really happy to see her as a guest blogger!  Thanks Erin, for another great template!

More CanTangle

Yesterday I did a post on the CanTangle Retreat I attended in July in Regina, Canada.  It was a long post already, so I decided to write about it in a couple of posts. 

First off, I want to emphasize that I loved every class at this event and I thought all of the CZT's who taught were wonderful!  It was also wonderful meeting so many CZT's that I only knew online or through blogs.  The atmosphere was so positive, friendly, and kind!

I do have to admit that two of the reasons I wanted to attend were to meet CZT's, Margaret Bremner and Laura Harms, both from Canada.  I have been inspired by both of these ladies for a long time now, and wanted to meet them in person. 

I will start with Margaret Bremner of www.enthusiasticartist.blogspot.com.  A lot of us CZT's think of her as one of the "rock stars" of the zentangle world because her art is incredibly gorgeous and she shares so many wonderful tutorials on her blog.  I have followed her blog for years now and have always been so inspired by her work.  One of the things I have always loved are her house landscape pieces!  They are so whimsical, fun, charming, and full of details that Margaret is known for.   When I heard she was teaching her techniques for them, my decision to attend was set, I had to go.  The class was great and it reminded me of drawing classes I had taken many years ago, no planning, letting the paper speak to you about what it should be.  It definitely took me out of my comfort zone and I really didn't think I would like my piece, but I am happy with it, from where I started anyway.  I am anxious to try another one soon.  Here is my wonky little house landscape piece from class.  If you would like to see more of the pieces from our class take a look at this link. Thanks again, Margaret!

 

 

Then there is Laura Harms of www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com fame.  If you have been part of the Zentangle world for awhile chances are you have heard of the DIVA weekly challenges.  If not, click on the link and check it out.  I have been following the DIVA challenges since the beginning and according to Laura, I am one of the few people who has done them all.  She celebrated her 200th challenge in 1/2015 which I wrote about at this link., and she is on #230 this week!  I told her that I have told myself that I would quit at 100, 150, 200, well you get the picture, and she said if she can't quit, then I can't quit either, LOL!  We'll just see how long I last at this!  Kidding aside, it has been fun and inspiring to follow her blog for the challenges, her beautiful art, and to see the amazing Mom she is to her two little boys!  Great job, Laura...you have inspired a lot of people with your blog! 

 

She kicked off the retreat and her class was great She had all of us dancing in our chairs while we tangled and laughed.  We did 3 fun tiles and I am posting the one with a montangle of Diva Dance, the tangle named for her.  Not many people can say that! Thanks again, Laura!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



CanTangle Retreat

I am home again for awhile and will tell you all about the CanTangle Retreat in the next couple of blog posts. 

The CanTangle Retreat was in Regina, Canada from 7/16-7/19 and was a continued learning experience for CZT's.  I am so happy I was able to attend!  I was fortunate enough to be able to travel with Nancy Smith, a CZT from Denver.  Nancy and I went back to the CZT certification training together in 2010 after meeting in the airport for the 1st time.  It was so great to reconnect with her! 

I can't think of enough good things to say about the retreat, it was that wonderful!  1st off Lisa Heron a CZT from Regina was our host.  She was great at welcoming everyone and making sure we were all having fun throughout the event.  She also taught a class in using color which was great!  Laura Harms, a.k.a. The Diva taught the first class and had everyone dancing in their seats!  What a fun class and good way to set the mood for a fun retreat (more on Laura & her class in another post).  Molly Hollibaugh, CZT and Product Manager at Zentangle Inc. did a wonderful meditation class in which we drew tiles based on her voice instruction alone.  She also taught us some other techniques and a new tangle from Zentangle Inc.  (Zenith, which has now been released).  Bette Abdu, CZT taught us about bookbinding and we made a beautiful 6x6 book to keep our tiles and mementos from the retreat in.  I never did anything like this before, and it was great!  (I hope to show pictures of it another post too).  Cris Letourneau, CZT of "Made in the Shade" and "Pattern Play" fame did a great class using Bijou tiles and one tangle.  As in the Pattern Play book, she has us take that one tangle and vary it in all different ways.  Brenda Shaver, CZT told us wonderful stories of her experiences teaching "differently challenged" people.  She also had us start making a large story landscape piece, which I will also post when I get it done.  Margaret Bremner, CZT who we all think of as a "rock star" in the Zentangle world, taught us how she does her famous wonky house landscapes.  (more on Margaret & her class in another post). 

I have followed Laura Harms, the DIVA, and Margaret Bremner for a long time now and was so happy to meet both of them, that I will be doing another post on each of them. 

I loved every single class and learned so much from each of the CZT's that taught!  It was so great to meet all of them, most for the 1st time!  It was also wonderful to meet so many of the CZT's that attended who I only knew through Facebook.  What a wonderful community CZT's are!!!



ALL THE WONDERFUL GOODIES WE RECEIVED

More goodies and giveaways (Lots of giveaways)

PURCHASED AND TRADED (MORE ON THESE LATER) 





DIVA Challenge #229 Negative Space

The guest blogger at the DIVA Challenge this week is CZT, Sandy Hunter. The challenge is to leave some white negative space and make that a focal point of the tile.  Fun challenge!  Thanks, Sandy!

DIVA Challenge #228 Guest Blogger, Cari Sultanik, CZT

While the DIVA, Laura Harms (I met her in person at CanTangle...more to come on that later) enjoys some much needed time off with her family this summer, we have another guest blogger, CZT Cari Sultanik.  Cari has challenged us to do something natural and organic.  I love all of the organic tangles and love to do organic ZIA. For the challenge, and for the sake of time (in between two camping trips) I decided to stick to a tile.  I started with Henna Drum, added some Cat-Kin, Mooka, Sekips, and Tipple. I didn't want to crowd out the other side so I made auras around the middle flower of Henna Drum, which I think turned out really cool! A few Zingers and here's my organic tile. Fun challenge, thanks Cari!

DIVA Challenge #227 Circus Life

We have another guest blogger at the DIVA challenge this week, CZT, Lee Darter.  Lee has asked us to create a tile using the tangles Tropicana, Cack, and one other of the 3 she picked.  I choose to add LinQ to the mix, since I rarely use it and it looks so lively and fun!  I started the same way I always do, with a string and just start tangling to see where it takes me.  I think my tile conveys the excitement of a circus.

 

New Tangle: TROPICAPOD

This is the last in my 4 week series of new tangles, and is another easy organic tangle named Tropicapod. I hope you have fun with it! 

New Tangle: SEKIPS

Another tangle for all of you organic tangle lovers.  This one was so simple that I had doubts about even publishing it.  When I showed it to a couple of my CZT friends, they absolutely loved it and have kept asking when I would publish it so they could use it. They also reminded me that what makes a good tangle is 1-3 steps. They are the best! 

DIVA Challenge #226 Simplicity

This week we have another guest blogger, CZT Katie Crommett over at the DIVA challenge.  Katie has asked us to practice the art of simplicity.  In her words: 

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. 

I made a very simple looped string and used the tangles, Purk, Paradox, and Fescu.  I really enjoyed this challenge!  Thanks, Katie!

DIVA Challenge #225

This week's DIVA challenge is brought to us by guest blogger, CZT Jen Crutchfield.  Jen asked us to challenge ourselves with color.  I have use all kinds of color now, markers, gel pens, colored pencils, watercolor washes, but I have never tried just painting with my watercolors.  So that's what I did to challenge myself.  I learned that it takes very little on your brush to get a lot of color.  I also learned that it is not as easy to blend as markers or color pencils.  I am sure that it probably is once you learn the technique and practice with it, but please remember it's my 1st attempt.  Also, in the photo the Betweed looks Blue and it's actually Purple.  Who knows, a watercolor class may be in my future!

New Tangle: TUBERIZ

I love organic tangles and I am always looking for more flowers to add to my organic ZIA (zentangle inspired art) pieces, so I created this new tangle.  I hope to see it added to some of your beautiful tangled gardens too! 

click on picture to enlarge



Square One on FB

ZINGER

PURK

FLUX

ARUKAS

MEER

MUNCHIN

I just realized I haven't posted my Square One entries for quite awhile now.  This group on FB has now gone over 5000 members, WOW!  I don't enter every week, but try to get them done as often as I can.  It is so much fun to see everyone's tiles and all the different interpretations of a tangle. 



New Tangle: JAYBARZ

I have created a new tangle pattern named Jaybarz.  Actually, I have created 4 new tangle patterns that I will be releasing once a week, starting today with Jaybarz.  I hope you have fun with it!

DIVA Challenge #224 Tipple

Our challenge from the DIVA this week is a Monotangle (use one tangle only).  The tangle we are using is Tipple and is one of my favorites because it can be used in so many ways and area of a tile!  I have never used it as a Monotangle though, so this was fun!  I drew a spiral string and used Tipple to create the tangle Marasu. It looks to plain, so I added some larger Tipple around it.  Thanks Laura, have a fun summer with your family!  I am looking forward to meeting you in a couple of weeks at the CanTangle Retreat!

DIVA Challenge #223 UMBLE

This week's challenge from the DIVA is to use the official tangle Umble.  I used to find this tangle pattern frustrating because I tried to keep it very uniform, but the more I do it and just let the ribbons go free flow where they may, the more I like it. 

DIVA Challenge #222 Colors of the Rainbow

The challenge this week is to use color, any kind of color you choose!  I had not made a mandala from scratch lately, so I made that my challenge along with the color.  Instead of doing a lot of tangling on it, I concentrated on the color.  I used a piece of tan paper (I can't tell you what kind, because someone gave me a few sheets awhile back) and then used my Prismacolor pencils to practice blending and shading.  When I was done I used some Sakura gelly roll pens to tangle and highlight on top of the pencil. 

Hocus Pocus on Opus

I couldn't wait to do another Opus tile (10.5x10.5) in traditional black on white.  I drew (well traced actually) a bunch of circles overlapping each other for my string.  Then you know the rest, just tangled away.  I was really happy with how this turned out!