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.

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.

Uramaki

Another week, another Diva Challenge, this time set by Sandy Hunter. If it's a grid pattern, make it free form. If it's free form, make it a grid pattern. And use our favourites. Basically we are turning our favourite patterns inside out.

I am an over-sharer. Sit with me long enough and you'll hear more about my life than you could possibly want, and especially more about my children. I have three blogs, for crying out loud. Three.

This is only the sixth post on this blog, but already I've shared that I have favourite patterns. Squid, for instance. Flux and Nzeppel have been mentioned, Xyp too. Five posts and you know four of my favourite patterns. Like I said, over-sharer. And here it comes to bite me on the bum because I cannot lie about which patterns I have to work with.

Last week's challenge was supposed to put us out of our comfort zones, but I loved it, revelled in it, had so much fun. This week, however, this week the comfort zone was definitely somewhere on the horizon. I could see it, but there was no way I could reach it. My lovely, comfortable, familiar patterns were about to become unrecognisable, out of control.

It wasn't that bad. But it wasn't "bulk fun" either (favourite phrase of an old school friend).

Drupe, Squid, Tortuca, Nzeppel, Beelight, Well, Mucha, Seton

There was nowhere to put Xyp, Flux I had seen on some other responses to this challenge so I left it for fear of subconsciously copying. I went with what was left of my best favourites, and then others that I often turn to, and a new favourite, Seton. Some of this I would do again, other parts - no.

Beelight is quite nice, although I wouldn't call it freeform. Take the grid out of Nzeppel and you just end up with crazy paving, or at least I do, so that's a big no. And Well just becomes a series of little flowers (boring). Tortuca? I could draw spirals until the cows came home, read for a while and then tucked themselves in and turned the lights out. Mucha in a big grid is quite fetching.

Seton without a grid was so much fun. I'm going to be doing Seton without a grid A LOT from now on. They look like Dorset buttons or fly wheels or something. So many possibilities.

 And oh look, there's Squid. Again. Because I always seem to do Squid. But that was the point of the exercise.

I can do a freeform Squid
I can do it in a grid
I can do it here or there
I can do it anywhere
I do so love to draw a Squid
I do so love it, and so I did

- with apologies to Dr Seuss 

Xyppity Doo Dah

I thought for a moment I might skip this week's challenge. There seemed to be so much to fit in. Mind you, it has made me look on Seton more kindly. I even went back and worked on the first effort for last week. It is coming along but still not yet fit for human consumption. And I did alter the spiral on the finished one, just a little, but it works well now. No longer a bump on a log.

The challenge for this week, to use three tangles (Trio, Huggins and Xyp), was a bit tricky. They are each great tangles (Trio is a new one to me, but I can see it rapidly becoming a favourite), but to put them together? Well, I suppose it is called a Challenge for a reason. It has taken me some days to work it out. Every morning this week I have woken at 4 am, on the dot, for who knows what reason (alarm is set for 6 am). But it has afforded me good thinking time for a number of things, including 'how do I put these three together?'

So here's the end result:

I didn't like it much until I loaded it into my photo-edit program to reduce the size. Funny how you can find ways to look at things anew. Turning them over for a few days (like last week), or putting them on a computer screen. I actually quite like this. 

Xyp was my starting point, with a two-pencil string. I love Xyp, as in really love. It has a lovely calligraphic quality, which can be really played up. Little Baroque flourishes, extra embellishments, all sorts of possibilities. I often play with this. My very first paying job was when I was twelve, using calligraphy to write names on invitations for the local music store (they had monthly concerts). So anything calligraphic I'm there.

And three cheers for the lovely brown Sakura pen. How to stop Xyp and Trio merging or competing in one easy step.

Oh, and you know how Maria says no erasers because nothing is ever wrong? Listen to her. Really, no erasers. I went a bit gaga with shading under the Xyp ribbon and hated it, so for the very first time I rubbed out something on a Zentangle tile. The paper really, really does not like it. It does not take it at all well. Next time I'll just live with it.