Diva Challenge #202: Copada and Chebucto Babysitting Blues

I started this challenge on Monday, and here it is Friday and I am finally posting...something...  I was excited to see two patterns from one of the artists I most admire in Zentangle Land - Margaret Bremner!  Her work is amazing!  Crisp and fully developed and perfectly balanced. Her tiles often take my breath away, and that doesn't even begin to say how I admire her beautiful ZIA work.

I had a vision in my head of something with a bit of red and a good amount of strong black.  I tried.  Tried again.  My sketchbook is full of pages of nopes and well maybes and ugh, not even close!  I felt like a frustrated babysitter who just could not get the kids to play nice!

I abandoned the task and thought I'd just skip this week.  My pride stepped in this morning and said you better do SOMETHING!

 

OK now, you two kids stand on this line face to face and don't move.

Copada and Chebucto

 



I did much better for the Square One Focus, which was Rixty.  I had fun with this one. I keep wishing I could do a paper pop-up for the second one.

 

Rixty Plant

Rixty Puzzle

 

 

And then I just did a couple more tiles that I figure I would add here just because.

 

Enyshou



'nZepple on a Plate

 

 

 

 

 

Diva Weekly Challenge #201: "Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day 2015"

I am confident I am not the only person out there who was entirely unaware of Moebius Syndrome before Diva Laura Harms began blogging about her little Artoo.  We all followed as he has grown before our eyes and cheered him on when he recently underwent surgery to improve his eye alignment.  What a difference in the current photos! 

It is difficult for a bright, charming child to be different, particularly when there are so few others who share his condition.  My husband had polio as a 2 year old child, and lived with misconceptions about his condition, as he does to this day.  I'm encouraged to see research going into treatments for Moebius Syndrome, and pray that Artoo will benefit from every advancement.

Laura asks that we dedicate our work this week to Moebius Syndrome Awareness by using the Moebius shape in our work.  At first, I found this intimidating.  I have never drawn it before, and am not so good with ribbon-y strings, but I started anyway.  Then she suggested we might like to add in some purple.  Oh, run and hide, because I am somehow afraid to adulterate my Zentangle with color.  (why?  Maria colors her ZIAs?  Lots of beautiful work out there!)

So, I plunged in, mixed up some purple watercolor (first time I have used any), and forged ahead.  Here it is, in all its grapey glory.

 

 

Uh-oh, I'm getting a bug now!  I may make some copies of some former works and add color to see what happens.    I'm thinking the one in my previous post (That's New To Me #3) below would be a good candidate.

 

Happy Martin Luther King Day - one man whose dreams changed the world!

 

 



That's New To Me #3: V

A fellow Arizonan, Suzy Mosh, has posted a challenge to try a new (to you, anyway) pattern and  post the results.  She picks a random letter and you must choose a pattern starting with it.  This is her third weekly challenge (I missed the first two - sorry), so here goes on lucky #3!

After they ran that creepy TV show "V", the letter has never seemed the same, has it?  I used to associate it with velvet, violets, verdant green, that kind of thing.  Oh well, time for new thoughts on that letter!

I chose Vache 1 by Canadian CZT Geneviève Crabe.  It seemed like a good choice for tangelations, and now I wonder why I never used it before.  I'll add this to my pocket for future use now, as I like it. 

The pattern itself is based on cow spots, but not being a country girl, I couldn't verify that.  Somebody commented that it looks kind of like a map, which I can see.  Mine looks a little industrial with some fishy things going on.  Oh well... This was a very Zen, quiet drawing experience for me, so I count it a success!

da-da-da-DAH-da-dah: #200 Bi-ZEN-tennial

Now, how special is this?  200 challenges!  I have not personally participated in even a quarter of those, and I salute those of you who have faced these challenges for the whole ride.  What Laura Harms has done for the Zentangle community is phenomenal, and I so admire her.   What an inspiration!

 

This week she has challenged us to use our favorite tangle, top to bottom, side to side, all on its own.  At first, that sounds so simple.  Then you start to think about how can I make an interesting attractive tile with just one tangle all over the place.  Oh no!  It will look like a step-out and everyone will say, oh, you just copied that...

 

I had to think long and hard about what my favorite tangle is.  It's like picking your favorite child - how can you?  Why would you??  My favorite seems to change day to day, week to week.  Every time I look at someone's masterpiece.

 

Finally, I chose MI2.  It was my "first" favorite, and I still love it every time I use it.  Something about it reminds me of violins and music.  In this version, the curved dark part looks like my old (actually would be antique now) telephone receiver.  It is shiny black and shaped just like it appears here! 

 

 

 

The weekly focus on Square One: Purely Zentangle was N'Zepple.  I love this one, and did three tiles, two of which I'll post here.  The first one was a big hit with the Zentangle community, so I thank all my fellow Tanglers for their comments and accolades.  I love this stuff!!

 

Lacy looking Printemps on nZepple meringue

 

The second tile, below, has a Tim-Burton-esque feeling to me.  But then I'm weird that way...

Tim Burton grows a helium filled egg



 

Thanks for helping me celebrate The Diva's 200th!

#199: Hitched - Diamonds ARE a Girl's Best...

Happy New Year, everyone!  I have to say I am always relieved to reach this point in the ongoing cycle of things.  This means I made it through all the fall-we're-all-back-in-the-swing things, made it through Thanksgiving dinner, through the cookie baking, package-sending, card-writing, partying, tree-up, tree-down, and vacuuming up all the glitter (yesterday, actually).  A little coasting sounds good right about now.

Happily, where I live now, winter means I actually need socks and I get to wear my cozy sweaters.  I sympathize with those of you who must scrape, shovel and slide your way through Januaryfebruarymarchapr until MAYBE it quits by Easter.  Stay warm!

We welcome our Diva back after the Holidays, and look forward to another year of inspiration and encouragement.

This week's UMT comes from Heidi Sue, with her tangle "Hitched".  Excellent!  I got hitched last year, and just received news that my beautiful daughter Meredith will be getting hitched soon. I don't know about my girlie, but I know I couldn't stop looking at that diamond ring I got.  Still can't. Thank you, Love! Something about diamonds is so compelling.  So I really like this tangle with its line of diamond rings. It's fun...easy...versatile...plays well...  When I finish this, I'll look at all the other great work posted by all you great Tanglers!

Another one I used in my tile is a new one from Mary Sergeant  called "Kuba". See it at her blog, artkettle.wordpress.com.  Her story is interesting and inspiring, and I really love this tangle!  My version of it has a vague automotive look to it, so I guess there is another tie to the term "hitched", right?  I added in Footlights and Florz to complete the design. 

Diamonds seem to be all over, as the weekly focus for the Square One group on Facebook is the tangle XYP, which is based on Xs that turn into diamonds.  I did two tiles for that group. 

So, we salute diamonds, getting engaged and hitched, and 2015!

To see more inspiring work by talented Tanglers, go to Square One: Purely Zentangle at https://www.facebook.com/groups/squareonepurelyzentangle/ and to http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/.

Thanks for your interest in my page and for all your comments.