Challenge ~ Home

Home is where the heart is.  Or, sometimes, home is where the luna moth is!  The Diva's challenge inspires us to use the "home" prompt this week and I decided to create a piece of Zentangle inspired art (ZIA) by tangling on a photo image of this spectacular luna moth that has just taken up residence in our garage!  We feel so honored to have him as a guest.  It was tricky to work on the glossy photo paper with the pen, but what the heck.  The simple tangled background is merely there as a platform to highlight this natural beauty.  If you'd like to learn more about luna moths go here.  Enjoy!

Challenge ~ Crescent Moon

Crescent Moon is one of my favorite tangles.  It was probably the first tangle I learned when I took a Zentangle class and very often a tangle I teach in my introductory Zentangle classes.  It doesn't require lots of concentration and has a great playful look to it.  It is the Diva's theme for her weekly challenge and my two entries are below.  As I was copying the link to the challenge I just realized that it was supposed to be a monotangle.  Oh well, I am posting anyway because Crescent Moon and tangleations of it are featured prominently in both tiles!

CHALLENGE ~ Sepia

This week the Diva challenged us to use sepia or brown in some fashion within the Zentangle tile or ZIA.  I love using color once in a while and then I love going back to black and white!  I created this Zentangle sitting outside enjoying the beautiful weather.  I made a stab at Molly's new tangle Pea-Nuckle, but I had just glanced at the instructions and, well, I should have printed them and brought the instructions with me as I really did not "get" it.  However, with Zentangle and the Diva challenge and life's usual time constraints, I embrace the idea of moving forward no matter what!  Once I posted this, I spotted a cartoon-like smile--- do you see it?  Have a great week everyone!

Challenge ~ Earth

Hello!  A flexible challenge was offered up this week by the Diva.  The theme is to use the EARTH prompt and I decided to rest my tile on a bed of moss I'll be attempting to transplant between the cracks of my stone patio.  I think moss is an example of mother nature at her finest~ soft and yielding, low maintenance and beautiful.  This time of year is a lovely reminder of the natural beauty around us.  Something to be relished, for sure.

CHALLENGE: Spiral Vs. Paradox

I missed the last couple challenges because I took a wonderful trip with my mother to St. Maarten.  We had a great time, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, taking in a butterfly farm, the beautiful beaches and some fabulous restaurants on the French side and the Dutch side.
On coming back to reality I looked forward to jumping back into the Diva Weekly Challenge.  It is always a chance to stretch and do a Zentangle following the Diva's direction.  This week I wasn't sure I was up for it once I read that we were to use a spiral string and use paradox to tangle within the spiral!  But, thankfully, Margaret Bremner's paradox tutorial boosted my confidence, and I finally sat down and tangled my entry.  It might not win any prizes, but here it is!

Thank you to Certified Zentangle Teacher, Marizaan van Beek, all the way from South Africa for the challenge suggestion.  The submissions are quite amazing.

Challenge~ Mardi Gras!

The theme for this week's Diva Challenge is Mardi Gras or, in other words, time to roll out the fun! For my first tile, I used Sakura gelly roll pens in the Mardi Gras colors and, in Zentangle fashion, just let the tangles unfold without any intention or expectation.  I don't know if I like it or not.  It is very different and I wish I didn't use any black.


While I had the color pens out, I used the purple for the second tile and there is something about this one that I do like. And, for the fun of it, I am also including a couple other tiles I tangled made this week.

Thanks, once again Diva and Zentangle community for the opportunity to enjoy this delicious relaxing art form!

Diamonds Challenge

So this week's Diva challenge to use Four Diamonds as a string  was one that I was happy to take on. Anything with a  grid seems to be a grounding starting point for me when I am stymied as to how to begin a Zentangle tile.  I decided to fill in the background with black, inspired by how Maria described doing so as a meditation in itself.  What with all the various rumblings in my head, some meditation seemed like a great idea!  The diamond string offers so much versatility it will be an idea to use again and again.  So here is my tile.  I am not thrilled with the results, but the process was great!  I used a white Gelly roll for the little border tangle.  I do not have a name for it, but I do seem to be using it here and there in my tiles.  Hint, hint, names welcome:)  And if you haven't already done so, do read the post that tells the story of the Four Diamonds Fund to fight childhood cancer and how it came about. 

Challenge: Sanibelle

I really enjoyed making my tile and using Tricia's beautiful tangle, "Sanibelle" for this week's Diva Challenge.  It is so lacey and delicate and easy once you take your time with it. Patience is  always the virtue needed most, isn't it?  This  tangle reminds me of the sea anemones we used to have in our tropical fish tank.  I loved watching the way they flowed back and forth and filled with water.  Maybe that was on my mind with this tile, because I seemed to be pulled towards the organic "fern" which looks kinda like seaweed and an underwater feeling overall. Even though we are having such a mild winter it is still nice to dream of tropical places!

I am so glad Tricia's tangle was chosen for the challenge.  She is an incredible CZT and creates amazing Zentangles and Zentangle Inspired Art (ZIA).  If you haven't seen it, check out more of Tricia's work at her blog: Tangle with me

And special congratulations are in order this week for Laura, aka Diva as her blog was voted Most Fascinating Blog in the teaching category.  Her sense of humor, creativity, and dedication to the Diva Challenge and the Zentangle community are really special and she so deserves this honor!  Go Diva!

Non-Dominant Challenge

After taking a couple weeks off from the Diva Challenge I have been itching to get back in the fray. 
This week's challenge is to tangle with your non-dominant hand and, oh boy, it was not easy!  It was a very humbling experience to say the least and it REALLY made me appreciate how much easier it is to work with my right hand. I started another tile immediately after creating this one just because I wanted to experience the ease of doing just that.  Using my left hand was quite entertaining -- sometimes it seemed like I could make several pretty good strokes in a row then WHAMMO  the hand just wouldn't do what I told it to.  Filling in the black that I so enjoy was a real test of patience. It was all I could do not to grab the pen out of my left hand! 

On the positive side, it was eye-opening and made me appreciate the acceptance and support within the Zentangle process and community.  There are no mistakes in Zentangle!

CHALLENGE - Fife Tangle

The Diva challenge offered up this week is to use the new tangle, Fife, created by Molly Hollibaugh.  Its a good one, for sure, so if you haven't had a chance to try it out, the directions are here in the recent Zentangle newsletter. Fife is  a tangle that quickly gets you into the "Zentangle Zone". 

Fife and Knightsbridge

Red Thread Challenge

This week's Diva Challenge is guest-hosted by Cris Letourneau, CZT, challenging us to create a Zentangle using a single RED STRING.  This idea ties in with THE RED THREAD PROMISE, an organization dedicated to helping those in need of medical assistance.  Check out  Cris's blog if you would like to help by sending in your own tile from this challenge.  They will all be made into a poster and proceeds donated to the organization.  Cool idea.
After missing last week's challenge, I was glad to be able to jump back in and had a great time with my simple red spiral string.  Even had a chance to play with FIFE, a brand new official Zentangle pattern/tangle.
Thanks Chris and Diva for this great challenge and for generating awareness for another great cause. And Happy Thanksgiving to all in the US.

Poppies Remembrance Challenge - Lest we Forget

The Diva challenge this week is about poppies and remembrance.  I started thinking about my father.  My father served in WWII, but also sacrificed for his family every day. He's been gone a long time, but I miss his "one sentence" advice like, "Do the hardest thing first, and then everything will be easy after that."

I relied on some favorite standby tangles for this challenge like tripoli, a crescent moon variation, dex variation, and pendrills.  For the poppy I used a dual brush marker. I tried to keep it simple, like my father did.

Spooky Tangle Challenge

In keeping with the spirit of Halloween, this week's Diva Challenge is about a spooky or haunting Zentangle or ZIA.  My two offerings are kinda spooky for different reasons.  The first one is haunting because the weird colors clash so much! The second one, which I tangled on Halloween, made me imagine some sort of hole in the night sky. 

Punzel Challenge

"Punzel" is a new Zentangle pattern introduced in the latest newsletter (subscribe here) from Rick and Maria, AND its the Diva's choice  for this week's challenge.  This was my first attempt  and  I was not going to use the tile for the challenge because I was not too pleased with it.  Then my son told me he liked it and it looked like it was floating so I decided to add  color using a simple splash background technique from Marie Browning's book Time to Tangle with Color.  

For the next two I tried out Punzel on black tiles with a metallic gelly roll.  I still need practice on this tangle, but as I was going along, I found myself relaxing into a wonderful Zentangle meditation and that is such a benefit in today's stressful world! I am so grateful to have this art form and process.

 

"String Theory v. VI: Tangled on the Inside"

The Diva Challenge for this week was based on an idea from Jo in NZ to use a tangle as your string and tangle within a tangle, so to speak!  After  pondering about the best tangle to use, I settled on classic Shattuck and tangled a large version on my tile.  I didn't think to take a picture of just the string, but here is the end result in all its tangled glory.  It is kind of busy so I am not sure if you can even tell that Shattuck made up the string!  This was a creative challenge idea, for sure.

Sunflower Challenge

I LOVE SUNFLOWERS!  They are tall, cheerful and hardy and they are the theme for this week's Diva Challenge, courtesy of a Penny B, Zentangle enthusiast in South Africa, who tells us that "In Republic of South Africa, on 12 October we have Bandana Day, which is run by the Sunflower Fund.   This is an organization founded in 1999 in support of the SA Bone Marrow Registry for people suffering from leukemia" 
My grandfather died of leukemia and so this is for my Opa.  He has been gone a long time, but he was a great guy and I still remember him riding a bike in the backyard (he was Dutch) and I also still have some of his letters with his incredibly gorgeous swirly handwriting.  I had fun making this Zentangle-inspired sunflower and used a Sakura metallic gelly roll copper star pen for the petals.  I hope the sparkles show online.  Forgive me that this looks like maybe another flower more than a sunflower:)

Hope Challenge

The Diva Challenge for this week is about HOPE.  My humble entry combines the duo-tangle with Jonqal and Opus that I created for last week with a wee sign of hope springing up in the corner.  I ran out of time to submit last week, but I love these challenges and am so glad to participate whenever I can.  If one person finds renewed hope from this week's challenge it is all worth it. Sometimes all you need is a little bit of hope peeking through a crack.

Challenge ~ All you need is LOVE

Laura, aka Diva, always comes up with a great idea for a weekly Zentangle challenge, and this week is no exception with LOVE as the theme.  I tend to shy away from red, but LOVED it so much, I made two tiles with the red gelly roll.

Challenge ~ Paradox ~ Pair of Ducks

Yes, you do have to concentrate to tangle Rick's Paradox! I completed this tile for the Diva Challenge and then decided the border would be fun to add to the mix.  Gold does not show well online(as in the shiny aspect), but the Sakura gold gelly roll pen is smooth as can be and lovely to work with. Maria, Zentangle co-founder had a great idea to use this tangle for the challenge. Paradox is not one of my "go to" tangles, and I bounce back and forth with love and fear of using it.  I will say that focusing on this tile was great for shifting my attitude and that is a bonus of making Zentangle art!

Weekly Challenge ~ GRIDS ~

Tangles based on grids are some of my favorites, from Knightsbridge to Bales to 'NZepple, Emingle,  and more, I find the grid tangles especially enjoyable.  So here is my Zentangle tile for this week's Diva Challenge.  Lots of grids with just a couple non-grid doodads thrown in for the fun of it.