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

It Was Bugging Me

Back again. Who'd have thunk? Two in two days. But I kind of got the Frunky bug.

Plus... Having posted, I went and looked at everyone else's Diva challenge responses for this week. Wow, there are some talented people out there. But... having looked at Katharina's whole post for Frunky, instead of just the step-outs, I realised that my little effort was very similar to something she had done. Maybe I half saw it when I visited her page in the first place and was subconsciously channelling. I don't know. But it did make me feel uncomfortable. So I went through the other Frunky tiles I had drawn (I said I'd got the bug) and decided to share another one that's a bit less similar.

On a Bijou tile, so signed with the little Tangle Bug instead of my usual monogram. I love these little tiles. There is no room for faffing around. Straight down to business and get it done. Although, having said this, I now have a 0.05 micron and am itching to miniaturise. Anyway...

Diva challenge #310, Frunky, Flux, Megan Hitchens, black ink and graphite, 2017.
Better? or too figurative now? Sigh.

And in keeping with trying to keep to a plan, I did another challenge from the Diva archive - #198, which, incidentally, is also challenge #1, right back at the beginning. Simplify. So, on a Bijou tile, because it is small, in a circle string, because that is, let's face it, one line, a single tangle, Nzeppel. Shading is simple too. Not thrilled, but not unhappy either.

Diva Challenge #1 and #198, Nzeppel, Megan Hitchens, black ink and graphite, 2017

No fussiness, no thinking, no fear, just done. Simple.

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.

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 

Being a Bit Off-Hand

Diva Challenge number 194. And look, it's the day of the challenge and here I am posting. Eliza Murphy set the challenge - draw with your off-hand.

I'm going to admit up front - I love this challenge. I was actually excited to do it, instead of the usual fretting over how to approach it.  Usual routine, looked at what was already there from people, read through their processes and the comments, had a bit of a think. But instead of the usual procrastination that follows I headed straight for my desk and got started. My poor son had to come and remind me it was time for school (he loves school - he'd go on the weekends if they let him).

This one seems to have thrown some people a bit of a curve ball. We are so used to having the fine motor control our main hand affords us. And we know we are expected to be neat. Ever since learning to write, ever since learning to colour in, it has all been about control - "keep your lines straight, write neatly, colour inside the lines". And there are good reasons for this, but it is not all there is.

My spouse was born left-handed. He is of an age where lefties were looked down on and he was made to write with his right hand. He did it, but his handwriting was awful. His handwriting is still awful. When he got his PhD the joke was that the title doctor finally explained his handwriting.

I'm right-handed, but I have long experimented on and off with drawing and writing with my left hand (enduring fascination with Leonardo da Vinci, who was not only ambidextrous, but could do mirror writing. Great brain exercise if you can cope with the bizarre results of trying). When I was in Year 8 of High School we did a sculpture component. We were each given a plaster block and told to sculpt it (after working out designs and plans and having them okayed by the teacher). I could barely make a mark on my block. I told the teacher, who said it's plaster, stop being pathetic, get on with it. For two days I worked away, barely making scratches and becoming more and more tired and frustrated. Third day, I couldn't move my arm or open my fingers without large amounts of pain. Turned out I had severe muscle strain (and was in a sling for a fortnight). At which point the teacher decided he'd show me how silly I was and he'd carve part of my block for me. He gave up after a few minutes, apologised and declared my plaster block as hard as concrete.

To cut a long story short (too late!) I spent the next few weeks writing and drawing with my left hand. It was revelatory. Our abilities do not reside in our hands. They reside in our minds. Fine motor control is another issue, but ability...

The drawings I produced were different, looser, but had their own beauty. My mum has the drawings I did then, or I'd scan a couple and put them here. Writing was do-able, but like my poor spouse, it wasn't tidy. Calligraphy got set aside for the entire time (Most nibs are cut for right-handers. You can get left-hand nibs, but they are still difficult to use. I've had left-handed students. Most give up because it is such a trial. I feel so sad for them. Thank goodness our Sakura pens don't rely on handedness.)

So here's what I did. I liked it up until I added the Bunzo. I have to learn to ignore the string when appropriate. It's there as a guide, not as a dictation. Put your finger over the Bunzo and it's suddenly a much nicer tile. As it is, it looks like something out of Doctor Who and the Green Death.

Squid, Flux, Bunzo, Tripoli, Nipa, Fescu

Here are some things I found useful, if you are feeling daunted by this challenge:

Firstly, relax. Because it is just a tile and because you'll do better if you relax.

Try not to get the pen in a death grip. You'll actually have better control if you hold the pen gently.

Experiment with line creation. If you are shaky pushing the pen, try pulling it, and vice versa. Eg. using left hand, if you are shaky pushing the pen from left to right, try pulling it from right to left. Obviously reverse if you are using your right hand.

Be confident. Hesitant lines are never as attractive as confident lines. Even if you don't feel confident, just go for it. Seize the moment, draw that line!

And in the end, have a laugh, (I certainly did after I got over the maggot crawling over the hill). So here's a laugh for you (it is actually one routine followed by two songs. I have put this up for the opening routine, about two minutes long, so don't feel daunted, but by all means go on to the songs. Flanders and Swann were marvellous).

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.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Diva Challenge 192. Well, they are meant to be challenging. And this one was. Seton is not an easy tangle to use. I looked through everyone else's and unlike last week, where I got more and more inspired, this week I got more and more depressed and uncertain. Quite a few people said they struggled with it (at least I'm not alone), but some just soared. Which was fantastic. But gosh, it set the bar high.

I did not know what to do with this. The pattern itself is not too hard, but it has so much going on that it can be overwhelming. This is the first time that I have done a tangle and thought "No". I mean, really no. I'm not always happy with every tangle I do, but even if I am unhappy I can usually find something where I think "that bit is fine", "that combination worked", "I like the shading there". My first attempt at the challenge... Well, it's sitting upstairs, turned face down, until I can do an objective reappraisal and decide if any of it is salvageable. (I use that strategy with my art. If I am not keen on something, or am at a loss of what to do next, I turn it around so I can't see it. That way, when I come back to it I am looking at it fresh. Can work wonders. Doubt it will this time.)

So there I was, sitting at my desk, completely stumped.

On the wall above my desk and all over the cupboard next to it (side and both doors) are images of artwork I like, or find interesting. They are all cut from the member magazines of the Art Gallery of NSW, which means good quality printing on good quality paper. Lovely to look at. When I get stumped I often look at the images, calming myself, letting my mind wander, seeing if there's any inspiration among the images. Today my eye settled on two I have of Anish Kapoor's amazing installation piece "Memory". You can view a slide show and short article about it here.

Memory Anish Kapoor, 2008, Cor-Ten steel. Image c Anish Kapoor

I love the photos I have of this monumental sculpture. I know it was at the MCA in Sydney, but I have a feeling I missed it.

Anyway, I was looking at the photos and thinking how much I would love to see the real thing and draw it. And then straying to the tangle issue and thinking the obvious - Nzeppel. So why not do that while I work out what to do with Seton? Well, it sort of turned into this:

Seton, Flux, and a spiral

Not great, but not bad. And I have a few more ideas and possibilites now. Not sure I like the spiral. It may well get drawn over in the next few days. I'll turn it face down and then see what I think.