Pushing the Limits

This week's Diva Challenge gave me a bit of pause for thought. Much as I love looking at Aquafleur, and I think it is a lovely tangle, it is one that I struggle with. So having it as the feature tangle for a tile? Well, I felt a bit of dread.

So what did I do? Did I just concentrate on Aquafleur and make what I could of it on a non-challenging white tile? Did I couple it with a comfortable or comforting tangle? Did I make my life easy? Hahahahaaha. No.

Renaissance tiles give me the heebies (which is weird, given I draw and paint on coloured grounds as a preference and love trois crayons), so I got out a Renaissance tile. In for a penny, in for a pound, perhaps.

Diva 322, Aquafleur, Molygon, Crescent Moon, Paisel

Surprisingly, the Aquafleurs worked okay. Still not quite right. I can't quite get my head around how this tangle flows, but they are, for once, on the right track. Crescent Moon and Paisel just seemed to work, so that was okay. So far, so good. But it took me another 45 minutes or so just staring at the tile or maniacally flicking through my tangle notebook before I finally decided what to do. Molygon. Another struggle tangle. That's two pennies in the pound now.

Actually, I'm really happy with the Molygon. I really like the way it turned out. But it and the Crescent section have very different things going on. I wonder if I should have just done one or the other. The Molygon makes the Aquafleur pop while the Crescent Moon sort of... I don't know... behaves differently but equally well. I think later I'll experiment, producing a tile that's just Aquafleur and Crescent Moon and another that's just Aquafleur and that particular version of Molygon, and see how they compare. That could be interesting. And it will make me practice those tangles a little more. Maybe I will find the flow. Can't hurt either way.

Overdid the shading a little. Knowing when to stop is also another challenge. So a challenging challenge this week. It's good to push ourselves.

Gone Tangling

Another week has gone by. Another week of running around after kids and appointments and whatnot. I had a biopsy taken from my left arm last Thursday, so I haven't slept well since then as every time I roll onto that side at night I wake up. So much fun. But fortunately it's my left arm so it hasn't stopped me drawing. I have been able to work on several detailed illustrations and have been tangling in the evenings. Catching up on challenges, tangling for my own enjoyment, trying out new things and techniques from the very talented Zentangle community. There are some truly amazing artists out there. The internet does have its benefits - we get to share in a much wider artistic community.

The Diva Challenge for this week was to use Molygon. I have trouble with this one. A lot of my crescents end up looking like squashed bananas, so I really have to slow it down.

Diva Challenge 315, Pepper, Molygon, Xyp, Crescent Moon

This attempt at Molygon isn't too bad, although I am not sure about the Pepper in the top corner. As a single element it feels too large, and the subtle shading is too subtle for my camera. Oh well, live and learn. One must try these things. I do like the Crescent Moons in the bottom corner, even if they do have smiley faces. And some of them definitely aren't crescents. I haven't really got the swirly thing happening with the Molygons. It sort of starts and then peters out. Ah well, it is what it is.

Far more successful from my point of view was my attempt at challenge #298, using Orbs-la-Dee. Going for a contrast between tangles that are flat and others that can be given a bit of dimension. While not there yet, this is definitely on the right track.

Diva Challenge 298, Bunzo, Orbs-la-Dee, Squid, Flux, Fescu

I had originally put Bunzo in every third diamond on the outside and Nzeppel in the others, but it wasn't working. So Nzeppel got drawn over with more Bunzos. The white gel pen was needed to get rid of the lines that showed, so the Bunzos ended up with more grey than I had planned. But it worked. Serendipity is a splendid thing.

And finally, challenge #290, using Nzeppel and Flux. I love these two patterns, they are on my list of go-to patterns, or comfort tangling, or whatever you want to call it, so I suppose this also takes care of the "Mac&Cheese" challenges of the past as well. Two with one stone. Although this was not entirely comforting to do. Leaving white space is always a struggle for me. I have a strong urge to cover everything.

Diva Challenge 290, Nzeppel, Flux, Cirquital

My eldest child keeps urging me to colour tiles before I start. When I paint, I always paint on a coloured ground, so I can see her wisdom in this, and I suspect it will calm that desire to cover all the surface. I certainly don't get the same drive with the black or Renaissance tiles, so she may well be on to something. There's no shading on this (I only just noticed), but I don't know that it's needed. It seems okay the way it is.

Couch Potatoes

I can't believe I am actually posting on the same day the Diva Challenge was issued. It's been quite a disrupted week, with school holidays not ending till Wednesday and then both kids being off sick Friday and off again today. Which means I have been able to get some drawing done amidst all the boring things, like washing and cooking. They both seem to like snuggling on the lounge with me while I beetle away with the pens and pencils. Plenty of Goons or Goodies because, let's face it, laughter is the best medicine. Or at least good for taking the mind off things.

Scallamp is an interesting tangle. I overdid the decorations, something more plain may manifest tonight, with more chances to play with shading. We shall see.

Diva 314, Scallamps, Printemps

The week also gave me a chance to work on archived Challenges. I found the tile I actually did for #189, before I was brave enough to post anything. Yuma, which is now a regular part of the repertoire.

Diva 189, Yuma

I've had a lot of fun with others, but I think to finish up I'll go with Challenge #305, using Marasu and Molygon. I use Marasu a lot, but Molygon bamboozles me a little. It requires some concentration to keep track of where the next little crescent goes. So this was good practice.

Diva 305, Molygon, Marasu (spot the curve where the cat jumped on my lap. Sigh)

There are plenty more with that came from, but I'll save them for another time.