Diva Challenge #243 Just a Tiny Taste, SQ1 Cyme, and Throwback Thursday #6

THROWBACK THURSDAY #6 - ALL ABOUT REFLECTING - DID YOU FEEL GOOD?

This is the 6th Throwback I'm posting (a day early, even!), and I want to share why I am offering this to participants.  One of the things we are asked to do in Zentangle is to reflect on the work we have done and how it made us feel.  It is not a contest or really even a challenge.  It is an invitation to reflect on not just the last tile we had in hand, but on some we did some time back.  Today, I wanted to look back at something that made me feel good when I finished.  It was not because I completed a "challenge" (although in this case my entry was for a challenge), but because I was just pleased with both the process of creating this piece and the final result.  I recall that I was very relaxed as I added each simple element and then took my time with the shading.

I did this in the spring, hence the Easter egg look.  I love the look of brown eggs, and was happy to include some in my design. Reflecting on it now, I also see that I put in some bread.  Not exactly Italian Easter Bread, but close enough.   I love the tan paper.  This was done in my sketchbook, which is a slightly different color than the Renaissance tiles, but which I may actually like a bit better.  I just had fun doing this and was really gratified when I had it finished.  So here is my Zendala.  I rarely do them, and I felt so good when I did this!

So I invite you to click on the link at the bottom of this post and show some Zentangle work that you remember made you feel good.  That's what it's all about, really. 
 

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Diva Challenge #243 - Just a Tiny Taste

This was a very enjoyable challenge for me.  I tend to get carried away, not only with Zentangle, but in most areas of life.  I have long conversations with friends just when it is time to go home.  I always cook way too much - Honey, we really do need eight different appetizers!  If one Fannie May chocolate is good, then five must be better, right? 

So here we have been asked to use restraint.  This time we just want that one perfect jelly bean.  This is a life lesson for me.  True to my form, I didn't stop at one, though. So much for lessons learned...  Here are three that I did, the good Jelly Bellies, and maybe the booger flavored one as well.

First one I did - maybe not the best...

 

 

Are those root beer jelly beans?  Yum!  I like that tiny taste!

 

 

Maybe a taste of licorice in this one!

Speaking of taste, I thought I would put in an update on last week's tasty prospect - that Gourdgeous giant squash I had.  I did cook it, but the best part was the beautiful butterfly that grotesque thing became when I cut it open.  Another life lesson in there, I believe...

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Square One - Focus Cyme

What to do with those precious tiles you screw up?  The ones that you can't turn into "opportunities".  Well, you can cover the wrong turn with black ink and use it as part of your string!  That's what I did here.  Cyme is one of those "focus" tangles that I rarely use unless forced...er, directed to do so.  It turned out OK, and I did have fun with the pen switching.

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So that's all I have this week.  Short and simple, and hopefully sweet!

Know that I cherish all your thoughts and comments, and especially your Throwback participation.

Namaste,

Antonine

 

Diva Challenge #242 Gourdgeous; TNTM #44 "M", SQ1 Verve and THROWBACK THURSDAY #5: MOST UNUSUAL

Welcome Gentle Readers,

It's not even Thanksgiving yet and I'm already working on my Christmas dinner menu.  That's because, for ONCE in many years, I'm not hosting Thanksgiving! Don't get me wrong, I love that turkey dinner.  I've got it pretty well in hand, although when we moved to this home I had a bit of an adjustment just getting used to the new oven, new refrigerator space, new grocery stores, etc.  But this year we are to be guests of relatives, so my thoughts are drifting to that other big day!  I'm switching from the big bird to the little ones...Cornish hens.  I'd like to think about quail but I'm a bit chicken (harharhar).

Once you have the main course in mind, then there is the big question of the sides.  I have been wanting to make my old famous mushroom lasagna with the homemade pasta and five pounds of (expensive) specialty mushrooms.  But 1.) I don't have access to the local farm in Illinois where I used to buy big sacks of mushrooms for a cheap price, and 2.) the Mr. is not a lasagna fan.  To make a dish that takes two days of preparation and then have him not love it is a waste. 

This brings me to the Diva's challenge...Gourdgeous!  I am going ahead with my lasagna with a twist this year.  I'm going to use mushrooms, some toasted ground hazelnuts (from our trip to Oregon this summer), a nice Béchamel sauce with nutmeg and....THIS bad boy:

Whoa! This is some kind of Italian variety squash that is supposed to have a drier flesh, making it especially good for pasta fillings.  I'm going to cook it this week and freeze it for my new version of lasagna. 

Which, of course, brings me to the Diva challenge.  This little image seems a dim reference to the glorious real thing, but I love this new pattern anyway!

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Suzy Mosh has asked us to use the letter "M" and patterns by Kathy Barringer.  I chose Margaret Bremner's Moving Day, Carla Jennings' Maise and Kathy Barringer's Antique. 

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The Square One: Purely Zentangle focus was Verve.  I have never used this before, but I sat there on Halloween and started playing with it.  Things got a little spooky...



Something is watching you!



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THROWBACK THURSDAY #5 - MOST UNUSUAL

As I go back over a couple of years worth of Zentangle drawings that I have done, I wondered what was the most unusual thing I have done.  When I first got the Renaissance tiles, I was very taken by their aged appearance, and I started thinking about the old drawings done in the various natural sciences.  Even the most distasteful examples of life on this planet look beautiful in the hands of these artists of old.  So I decided to draw my take on some life forms.  Looking back, I see that my techniques were rudimentary, but oh, I had fun!  I'm planning a new series using some new enhancements such as colored pencil or watercolor and marker shading, but didn't feel the need to wait for that eventuality.  Here is what I did back a while ago.  My favorite part is the high heels and high top sneakers on the grasshopper!




What have you done that is unusual?  I'd love to see it, so click on the Mr. Linky and post it here!

 

Thank you for stopping by today, and know that I cherish all your thoughts and comments, and especially your participation in Throwback Thursday.

 

Namaste,

Antonine

 

 

Throwback Thursday #5 - Most Fun With a Tangle; Diva Challenge #241 Stones and Ceremony; TNTM #43 "U", SQ1 W2

 Welcome Gentle Readers,

The snowbirds are back in Arizona from their cooler climes, and temperatures have started to moderate.  What a blessed relief after a long season of heat.  Mostly, I just want to wear some of my favorite cool weather clothes which were relegated to storage for about six months!  Yes, I do own clothing with sleeves and legs! 

The trip to San Antonio that my husband and I had really looked forward to never materialized.  Even though late October is supposed to be the ideal time to visit there, dry and sunny most years, our chosen week was beset by the promise of the highest rainfall in one day ever, to be followed by a blast from Hurricane Patricia, the strongest hurricane ever recorded or some such notability. Accommodations on the river walk did not seem like the best place to be.  Oh well, another vacation scuttled by Mother Nature!

This week the Diva Challenge is about Stones and Ceremony.  My book club just finished reading a novel in which a history professor becomes obsessed with the Sorcerer's Stone, to the point at which he is ready to kill for it!  The Apostle Peter's name is associated with a stone.  Stonehenge captures our imagination, and something absolutely, positively certain is "carved in stone".  One could write an entire doctoral thesis about stones, but...I won't...

I took my gray sketchbook out of its lonely hiding place and just drew a pile of stones.  I tangled and shaded them with a marker, and here they are.  I don't know what that one baked potato looking thing is, but I guess it's OK.

 

 

 

Suzy Mosh chose the letter "U", and added artist Elena Hadzijaneva.  I used Unyuns and Elena's Chordin.  That reminds me of those metal extending thingies.  This would be a pretty cool pattern to use in a Steampunk tile if you put bolts in the center instead of the spiral design, wouldn't it?  (Hmmm...file for future reference...)  I really had fun with the shading on this (about two hours worth!), and it really shows up best when you tilt the tile a bit. 

 

 

Square One: Purely Zentangle focus this week was W2.  It looks so easy, but I will tell you I messed up twice getting started even though I practiced in my sketchbook first.  From what I read on Facebook, I'm not the only one who stumbled a bit on this.  My entry is plain and simple, but for some beautiful examples of what can be done with W2, check out Chris Titus's page https://www.facebook.com/groups/squareonepurelyzentangle/.  Each week there is a new focus tangle, and participants are to create a tile using the basic Zentangle materials of white tile, black pen, and graphite pencil.  It's a supportive and amazing group.

 

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THROWBACK THURSDAY #5 - THE MOST FUN I EVER HAD WITH A TANGLE

 

This week, I am going to be ultra lazy about this challenge and just post an oldie.  No revision or new version, no sweat, just a lookback.  I thought about some tangles that seemed dubious when I first tried them out.  Yes, I could construct them, but what could I do with them?  Sometimes a tangle is very beautiful, but so complicated that it takes all the fun out of it.  Sometimes they are so simple looking (see W2 above, or consider Knightsbridge or Keeko), that you wonder what can be done with them other than fill in the background behind some other "funner" tangle.

 

For me, when I first learned Rixty, I had a little trouble drawing it correctly.  I somehow had the shapes tapering up instead of down.  Then I got it right, but just made a big string of it wandering over the paper, and figured, "So?"  Then one day I spotted one of Maria's tiles in which she connected some of the shapes at the top with a curving "stem" portion.  Hello!!  I sat down and drew a tile that has since become a legend on my own home wall of fame.  I call it "Rixty Puzzle".  I keep looking at it and thinking I wonder if I could make it into a pop-up page.  Wouldn't that be excellent?

 

So here is the challenge:  Post a photo of the most fun you have ever had with a tangle.  That's it!  You may want to tell about how you arrived at your personal "vision", why you initially had reservations about the tangle, but then became seduced by its charms, or whatever.  Or, you don't feel you need to say one darn word because we can all see what fun you had! 

 

Thank you for stopping by today. Know that I cherish all your thoughts and comments, and would love to see your Throwback. Have a beautiful weekend, slow down, admire, appreciate, relax and have fun.

 

Namaste, Antonine

 

 

Throwback Thursday #4 First Love; Diva Challenge #240 Autumn; TNTM #42 "P"

Greetings Gentle Readers,

If it never rains in California, then it surely never rains in Arizona, right?  How wrong!  This is our fifth year in the Valley of the Sun, as the Phoenix area is known.  My neighborhood is even one of the least likely to get a downpour in this area.  You wouldn't know it from the nonstop series of rainy days we have had.  What??? We even had hail about the size of chickpeas pounding down for about three or four minutes.  The good news is, aloe plants that were really puny brown looking from the scorching summer heat are now fresh and green and turgid with all the moisture.  The golf course, that was looking a bit peaked is now vibrant.  My Meyer Lemon tree has perked up and the fruit should get nice and juicy for picking in another few weeks.  Yay!  Lemon pie time!

Which brings me to the Diva Challenge this week.  Laura has highlighted the beautiful autumn leaves that are a part of this season in most of the northern hemisphere.  But here in the desert, we don't have trees that color and drop.  Our trees keep their tiny feathery leaves all year, only softening to a dusty green for the driest times and brightening up in spring after the respite of cooler winter temperatures.  So, what to do for autumn?  Well, what we do have in abundance are...GOURDS, PUMPKINS and PEPPERS!  And kale and onions, but those didn't make the cut into my tile this week.  I attempted a sort of "Tints on Tan" take on the subject.  I'm sure I could use some firsthand instruction by Marty Deckel, but here is my offering, such as it is.

 

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For That's New To Me, the focus was on "P" tangles plus something from Sayanitka Ray.  I chose Sayanitka's Pots-n-Pans, Suzanne Fluhr's Phirst and added accents of Points and Curves by Cheryl Rotnem.  I hope it has a sort of marketplace feel, as that's what was in my head, anyway.  Fun!

 

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Square One this week focused on Nymph, which starts out like 'Nzepple, but goes all flowery on you after that.  I did two, and can say this is a relaxing tangle to draw.

 

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THROWBACK THURSDAY CHALLENGE #4 - FIRST LOVE

 

Ah, first love...When I was 16, I had the sweetest boyfriend.  He was everything a nice young man should be, and I was so happy! He wasn't at all like the bad boy I had a crush on for a couple of previous years, who never gave me a second look.  I was in heaven.  That love came to an abrupt halt, however, when my very traditional father decided that since my sweetheart was a grade behind me and a year younger, that the relationship was inappropriate.  Gee, if that's all parents have to worry about with their daughter's boyfriends, you'd think they would be grateful! But no, it was over, and I was crushed.  Sniff, sniff...

 

But my Zentangle first love has not dimmed, really.  Way, way back in August 2012, I was still identifying my tiles by number.  This was the 24th tile I ever produced, and I was totally enthralled by shiny beads. I still use them a lot, but in this tile, they were a bit of a star.

 

 

So I decided to go full bore into a shiny bead deal.  I used Akoya, which is the ultimate beaded pattern, and, gasp... I decided to color it!  Well, my colors and beads kind of got messed up when I took a sharp turn, but since that's what happens in my jewelry drawer all the time, I figured it was OK anyway.  I had fun with this one!

 



So the challenge is this:  Think back to your first Zentangle crush and revisit it now.  This is not a call to get better or fancier.  You may want to pare it down to something Picasso-esque, or make it bigger, smaller, or simply do it again just because you love it.

*** Thank you for stopping by today. Know that I cherish all your thoughts and comments, and would love to see your Throwback work in the Mr. Linky list. Namaste, Antonine

Throwback Thursday #3 I forgot all about..., Diva Challenge #239 Munchin Play, SQ1 Pokeroot and TNTM #41 "Z"

Gentle Readers,

It has been another busy week (how did I ever find time to WORK?) here in the Valley of the Sun.

In the last week:
Black Tile class on Saturday went very well.  We focused on techniques on black that you don't see every day.  The new Fabrico marker addition opens up so many possibilities.   I'm desperately seeking someone in our local art club to act as secretary.  I know, a grunt job with no glory!  Of course, everyone approached has politely but firmly declined.  Hubby is on a kick to get new wine glasses to enhance our tasting pleasure, so we have been greeting the UPS driver with a smile and a plan for the evening on several days this week.  I like my man's thinking!  Baking my first batches of biscotti of the season, this time with a twist.  I found a recipe using lavender and hazelnuts (I just happened to have both) instead of anise and almonds.  I decided I like my base recipe better than the one I saw in the magazine that purports to test the bejezzus out of everything, so I stuck with my tried and Antonine tested.  I have a recipe secret of my own... Dough is in the fridge waiting to bake later today.  I can't wait to taste them! Dinner with friends this past Sunday at a really nice Scottsdale restaurant (yum!) and dinner tonight with the inlaws who have out of town friends in.  Yum again! After last week's cooking class, all the nice dinners and cookie baking, I dread getting on that scale.  But - life is short - enjoy every minute.  Every BUSY minute.

Temperatures are beginning to moderate...the highest day this week was only 100! By the weekend, highs should only be in the upper 80's.  I just can't wait for that first crisp morning when I can throw the windows and doors open! 

So, on to the reason we meet today.

THROWBACK THURSDAY - I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THAT ONE!
There are so many great tangles out there that sometimes in the rush to try the next best thing, we forget all about some we really enjoyed in the past.  I pulled out two tiles from a while back - one in December 2012 when I was just getting started, and one a few months later - using the very unique tangle "Fungees".  You can see the stepout plus a cute video featuring creator Leslie Crumpler.
http://tanglepatterns.com/2012/12/how-to-draw-fungees.html.

This first tile amazes me because I did it so long ago, and I wonder if I have progressed or regressed.  I really love this one (she modestly exclaims)! 

This second one focuses more on Fungees as the focus, and I like the delicate look of it.

So what to do for a throwback?  I'm not sure I want to change or improve anything on those two tiles.  So, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik...

I decided to take an entirely new approach to this tangle and try my Prismacolor pencils on black, which I may actually have never used on my tiles. I laid down a layer of Zenstone, added my Fabrico shading first and then the ink and pencil.   Perhaps a clumsy first effort, but I do like the result, and I vow to try more!

So the Throwback Thursday challenge is to use a tangle you have forgotten.  Make it better, use it in a new way, whatever you can imagine with a tangle from your past that you revisit.





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DIVA CHALLENGE #239 - MUNCHIN PLAY

I have been working with Munchin in my black tile class, and were it not for Molly Hollibaugh's instruction with that tangle, I probably would never have used it.  I will say it is very relaxing to draw and requires very little thinking - just doing.  That's the best part.

Here in my first effort, I decided to get fancy and pretty much destroyed the Zen-ness of the experience because I had to keep changing pens and matching up lines and everything else that is anything but relaxing.  The little gold dots were the most relaxing part, although they don't show up so well in this photo.   However, I like the result and stand by it.

Next, I picked up the Fabrico marker - I can't quit that thing!  In retrospect, I could have gone with a lighter gray from another set I have, but that's OK.  My goal was to show a sort of floating shadow of the pattern.  This one WAS relaxing and fun.

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THAT'S NEW TO ME #41 - Z AND LIVIA CHUA

I chose Zazzy by Sue Clark and Reticulated by Livia Chua.  I actually had to abort my first attempt at this because, no matter how hard I tried to love all of God's creatures, I just couldn't warm up to this cold blooded baby. Sorry sweetie.

So, using the same two tangles, I decided to transform the rascal into a border and soften his look. This one I can snuggle up to. Haha!

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SQUARE ONE: PURELY ZENTANGLE - POKEROOT

Let me say I saw some wonderful versions on FB of this tangle.  This one is my one attempt, and although I'm OK with it, that's it.  Just OK.  I had fun with the shading.  Moving on...



So another week come and gone, dear readers.  Thank you for stopping by and know that I cherish all your thoughts and welcome your participation in the Throwback challenge. 

Namaste,
Antonine ***

PATTERN: OYBAY

OYBAY

 

Back in late 2013 when I was still fairly new to Zentangle, but already loving it, my husband asked me to do a ZIA to put in our wine bar area in the kitchen.  I took a piece of parchment look paper, printed a quote from Benjamin Franklin on it and tangled a wine bottle and glass. I burned the edges and mounted it on a really cool square plate charger from Pier One.   It is a favorite piece in our home.

 

I created a border using a "roller coaster" line and used a shell type motif on one side and filled in a variety of tangles on the opposite side of the line. I never had a name for it, but I loved it!

 

Much later, in 2015, I finally worked the stepout for this pattern. It is pretty easy to draw, and offers the potential for countless variations and embellishments in "the bay" part.   Hope you like it too!

 

 

 

 

 

PATTERN: FICHY

It's a bit Fichy to me...

I always loved patterns based on the Ogee grid, but found it difficult to make my curvy lines match up at the "touch points".   I saw a new pattern by Tina Hunziker called Discolea, and was inspired to try again.  In the description of the  pattern, Linda Farmer included a tutorial on an alternate method of constructing the grid, and that's all it took for me. 

I started working the grid, and sort of flipped Tina's approach on its side.  Imagine my surprise when the little swimmers came into focus!  So, what else?  It became FICHY!