A Shaky Start

I've missed the last few Diva Challenges. When things get difficult I get a bit social media phobic, which is silly, but there you are. I've read the blog each time and looked at all the wonderful creations, and even done some drawing late in the evening when the kids are finally in bed and I can breathe for a few minutes. But posting anything has been too confronting. Funny that this challenge takes all the pressure off.

Drawing with the off-hand is surprisingly stress-less for me (see this post from way back in 2014 as to why that's so, if you are so inclined). There is no way it can be like the things I draw with my usual hand so my brain just switches off its self-criticism motor, which is normally in over-drive, and I just go with whatever happens. So what we have is shaky and shonky, and the lines don't all join up in places, but I kind of like it. About halfway through I questioned the wisdom of choosing Auraknot, but in for a penny in for a pound and I managed better than I had expected to.

Diva Challenge #321, Auraknot, Frunky, Msst, some random auras

I went back and revisited the diptych issue. Reading through some of the other blogs, I realised I had not quite got what a Zentangle diptych involves, so I had another go. Two cards this time, with a paper hinge behind. The two halves are more echoes than reflections, but it works. Next is to cut a tile in half and attach the two halves either side of a whole tile so they swing out like doors and thus become a triptych. If I can get up the courage to cut a tile. Whole other thing than simply folding one. Aaargh. I'll work up to that.

Diptych, flat and standing. Xyp, Paradox, Arukas, Tipple, Hollibaugh, Tripoli,
Printemps, Noom, Copada

And finally, as promised some weeks ago, my "Jetties as a string" tile. This is the last of the "use tangles as strings" tiles that I began with Lianne Wood back in 2015. So this little tile spans about two-and-a-half years from start to finish. Slack, but I got there in the end.

Tripoli, Jetties, Meer, Flux, Bunzo, Coaster, Printemps, Pearlz, Purk, Finery, Tipple,
Zander, Crezn't, Chartz, and two that I can't for the life of me remember the names of.
I'll find them and put them in. Bear with me.

Know When to Hold 'Em, Know When to Fold 'Em

Yes, I missed last week's challenge. And I was almost a week late with pressing publish on some lovely comments (I moderate all comments. Prevents spam), for which I apologise. Thank you, everyone, for your lovely comments. I do value them. Things happened and I wasn't online. I haven't been online very much at all lately, and last week I didn't even manage to keep up with the Diva or the other blogs I follow. I looked at a couple of Challenge responses and then events overtook me, and that was that. There's a bit more of an explanation, along with a drawing technique, on my art blog, if you are so inclined.

Things are a bit less ga-ga this week, so here I am again.

This week the Diva posed us an interesting challenge. If you are going to be absolutely pedantic a diptych does not have to be reflected, just a hinged painting on two panels, but I did actually go with the instructions, so reflected it is. Which was a lot of fun. I don't think it would have been anywhere near so interesting to do if the reflection aspect wasn't there. But do you know, I found it really difficult to fold that tile. Part of me felt like a vandal. It was like the first time I made a note in a textbook (which I owned, by the way. I have ever since treated reading textbooks as having a conversation). I may as well have been sacking Rome. Once done, however, it seems churlish to stop. Tile done. Not the greatest, but not bad for a first go.

This is it lying flat. Flux, Squid, Dex.

I was going to gatefold it rather than wingfold it, but I had this idea of mounting it on red card. Which wasn't really successful.

The same on red card. No, the image is not squashed, it really does look this distorted.
Weird, isn't it?

So instead I stuck it, folded the other way, to my book stand on my desk, using my kneadable rubber (so many uses). I'll do this exercise again, gatefolded I think, and also on separate tiles with a paper hinge.

And suddenly normalcy is returned. This bends the same amount as the one on red,
just in the opposite direction. Go figure.

I was going to post the tile with the Jetties string, but today's photos were taken very late as my daughter had borrowed my phone for the day and my camera is on the blink, so I rushed to get the challenge photos done and forgot the Jetties tile, and now the light is fading. Maybe next time. 

Instead, in keeping with the idea of a diptych, but extending it (because I really do not know when to leave well enough alone), here's a set of three tiles that I did a number of years ago. If I hadn't sold them (yay!), I would be joining them and mounting them differently. I think on wood with metal hinges, in a concertina set up. That could be really interesting.

Cipher (yes, it got given a name), Tripoli, Jetties, Rixty, Shattuck, Web, Squid,
Msst, Hollibaugh, Nipa, Paradox, Waves, Tipple, Ixorus,
and a great big stripey snake thing (what is that, exactly? Barberpole?)

And now my brain is full of Patrick Woodroffe and his beautiful diptychs and triptychs (no, seriously, follow that link. His work is stunning. A great loss), and I'm thinking of Zentangle wooden panels, amongst other things and wondering about the possibilities.

In the meantime this was much more fun than I thought it would be (after the folding trepidation), and as usual I have been absolutely blown away by everyone else's Challenge responses. This is such an inventive and gifted community. Thanks to Laura for spurring us on each week.

The Four Corners of the Circle

I've been away for the weekend with my eldest. Went down to Canberra to see friends and family and the Treasures of Versailles Exhibition. We had a great time, but I was quite tired when we got home. Four hours plus of driving, with two near misses due to idiot drivers who weren't paying attention and clearly weren't expecting for someone to be doing to the speed limit. Still, home safe and sound, so yay for us.

Regardless of the tiredness, I couldn't help looking at the Diva Challenge last night. I figured it would be up, even though I hadn't got my email alert yet (time zones - one of the perils of living on a sort of spheroid planet). And when I saw it, oh, I was so excited. I nearly grabbed my pens and paper there and then. But instead I went to bed. And slept like a log. And spent all this morning running around doing the things that needed doing and itching to get drawing.

Laura has set a challenge that is right up my alley - a string with circles and squares.

See, here's the thing. I love sacred geometry. And the thing about sacred geometry, or classical geometry if you prefer, is that circles and squares are really important. And the presence of one implies the presence of the other.

I was reading recently "The Science of Discworld IV: Judgement Day" by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen¹. On p.52, writing about varying cosmologies, Stewart and Cohen point out that to "many [ancient central American] cultures the world was both square and round". Which when you think about it makes perfect sense. The Four Corners of the Earth, anyone? A circle is the basis from which a square is constructed and they share the same centre point (which is often considered the fifth point of the square). Prior to the invention of the set square the only way to reliably draw a square, with accurate right-angled corners, was to start with a circle. Frankly, it's still the best way to do it, as far as I am concerned. And you can do it with just a compass and straight edge. No fussing around.

A circle can easily lead to a square. A square has to have come from a circle. No wonder I couldn't wait to get started. Although of course, life gets in the way. So here I am at nearly three in the afternoon and I have only now found time to put pen to paper.

Diva Challenge #311, CircleSquare, Bunzo, Cyme, Knightsbridge, Marasu, Printemps, Wasser and a spiral
Megan Hitchens, black ink, brown ink, white ink, graphite, white chalk on tan paper. 2017

It's a little wonky as I did it free hand, but using a mandala tile really helped. I think the Knightbridge was a mistake, or needs something else happening in it. And I should have gone much more carefully with the spiral, but otherwise... well... it will do.

For squares and circles I much prefer this, which I did with a compass and straight edge, but it's not the formal challenge piece as it was done for INKtober last year.

Playing, Paradox, Knightsbridge, Hollibaugh, Meer, Tipple, other patterns that I should go look up their names
Megan Hitchens, blank ink on white paper, 2016

You can really see the difference a straight edge makes. Oh well.

Squares within circles, circles within squares, turtles all the way down.

No archived Diva Challenge today as I still have stacks to do.

1. Pratchett Terry, Cohen Jack, Stewart Ian, The Scicnce of the Discworld IV: Judgement Day, Ebury Publishing, 2014

Back in the Saddle

Two and a third years. That's a loooooooooonnnnnnnggggggg time between posts. But that's the way life goes sometimes. All my blogs have been on hold, or only dealt with very sporadically. And as for tangling - hahahahaha. It has barely happened. But....

I'm trying to get back on board. I have still been drawing when I can, but not painting, and doing calligraphy when I can. And it is way past time I got back to tangling.

Do you know the funny thing about that? I was scared to start back up. Everything felt rusted shut. Over the last two and a bit years I have been maintaining my tangle manual (all the patterns I like, with the step outs), and checking out the Diva's challenge each week, and reading the Zentangle blogs and newsletters. And, of course, The Tangled Way (Lianne Woods - great teacher), Enthusiastic Artist (Margaret Bremner) and the incomparable Magratscraft (this is a must). I just haven't done more than read. Well, a tile here or there, but otherwise no (I might share them another time, I might not).

Other things have been drawn on Zentangle tiles in the meantime - the paper is so beautiful that it can't be ignored. Things that are quite detailed and need to be mapped out carefully, and corrected where necessary. And I've found out another reason why you don't rub out when tangling. One, it's not wrong. Two, the paper HATES rubbing out. It pills and shreds and generally reacts very badly. And then bleeds like no one's business. So never, never feel tempted to rub out what you've done. It's really not worth it. Turn a bug into a feature, as the computer people say, or turn it upside down, a la Mr Squiggle, or something. But Don't. Rub. Out.

Life is getting back on track, very slowly, and fingers, toes and eyes crossed that I have not just jinxed that. Some canvasses have been prepared (that's a story for one of my other blogs), some serious drawing undertaken, and actual research done too. So I felt I really, really should get back to tangling.

The fear was still there (I know that's silly, but there you are), but the Diva challenge made it easier. UMT challenge with a great pattern, Frunky, by Katharina Königsbauer-Kolb.

Diva challenge #310, Frunky, Megan Hitchens, white gel pen, white chalk, soapstone, 2017

For a black tile, this scanned remarkably well. The soapstone can be quite reflective, which makes images problematic. Not this time. I'm very happy with it. Frunky is a lovely pattern, and a great one for dusting off the cobwebs, or blasting off the rust.

Of course, then I got enthusiastic. Several half-finished tiles dating back to 2015 got finished (yay), and I thought "why not catch up on the missing challenges?" So I looked at the last one I did (#195) and then at the next one (#196 - the sort of Christmas/dolly one), which I have decided to sit on for a while. And then found in my box the tile I did for #197 way back when it was set, but never posted (nor shaded, I just realise. That could be why). That's handy. So here it is. Finally.

Diva challenge #197, Arukas, Paradox, Nzeppel, Bunzo, Flux, Megan Hitchens, black Sakura micron, brown Sakura micron, 2014

I had decided to use Arukas, the set tangle for the challenge, as the string and then fill the spaces with whatever took my fancy, including Arukas. It's a little busy, but I like the two ink colours. Bunzo worked well. The brown ink makes the graphite look steely grey.

Now to keep the momentum going and catch up on all the others in-between. But, the best laid plans of Mice and Megans. We'll see long this lasts.