Friday, August 22, 2014

Diva Challenge #181: Water

The Diva's challenge this week was all about water, as she and her family recently enjoyed some time frolicking in various aquatic activities.  Like many of you, sometimes a challenge speaks to me and other times, it is a struggle to catch the wave, so to speak. 

For this city girl, aquatic sports growing up consisted of a run through the sprinkler and getting my bathing suit on to help dad wash the car. 

I did a tile with a beachy theme, and even pulled a few out of my archives that are somewhat oceanic (the archives being a couple of repurposed Illy coffee pod cans that hold about 100 tiles each - I don't organize well in notebooks, etc.)  Still, I wasn't feeling that personal connection with the theme.

Thinking back on my feelings about water, I found I do have one really emotional connection to water.  I remember reading an article years ago in, I believe, Readers' Digest, that definitely had my number.  A writer was on a book tour in Wales.  The weather was dismal and the surroundings were rather bleak, and she wasn't having any fun at all.  She checked into her hotel, which was a rather shabby affair with a small, gray and chilly room  She thought she was in for a miserable stay until she opened one more door.  There, in the bathroom, was a magnificent oversized copper tub, shining like the Ark of the Covenant in the wilderness!  The rest of the article was a rapturous description of steamy, fragrant bubble baths in that tub.  I love this woman!

Total bliss!

I am a bubble bath aficionado from way back. As a child, I would start the bathing experience by setting my Garfield Goose bath pellets (a Chicago thing) under the tap and watch the colors fizz and swirl into voluminous bubbles.  I would "swim" and float in the water, draping the washcloth over my torso to keep every surface of me warm.  I would sing and imagine myself as a princess in a beautiful castle with a maidservant to add fragrant bath oils and ready my giant fluffy towel. As an adult, I have been known to stay in the tub for hours, reading by candle light, sipping a glass of wine, refilling with hot water as necessary to prolong the bliss.  My poor husband anxiously inquires "Did you die in there?" No, Sweetheart, but I have gotten close to heaven!  The bubbles, the fragrance, the soothing warmth and buoyancy of the water, all contribute to daydreaming and a decidedly meditative state.  That is my water life. 

But, to continue the theme, here are the other tiles I did, one this week, the others in 2012 and 2013.  Happy waterways!


I enjoyed using Agua and thought just a touch of blue fit.
 

 
Fun octopus and starfish  imagery.
Not exactly aquatic, but still has the feel.

An early tile on Bristol board before I started using Zentangle tiles.

26 comments:

  1. Wow lots of lovely work! I really like the bathtub! I'm with you on hanging out as long as I can! This is such a fun way to have done the challenge!

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    1. Thank you! There are those who "get it" about bathtubs and the rest of that sorry lot. :-)

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  2. How creative! I love how you put multiple patterns together.

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  3. Wow, your tiles are amazing, I love them! The bathtube is so creative ♥

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    1. Thank you. Truth be told, the tile with the Fungees is my favorite of the bunch.

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  4. Total bliss, indeed, and not just the bathtub tile.

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  5. Your work is amazing, lovely line work and composition!

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  6. Lots of great work. I remember the old footed tubs that people used as planters in their yards for a while. They were not the easiest to get in and out of.

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    1. You really do have to hang on to get out safely - my daughter still has one. But the bath is so nice you don't want to get out!

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  7. WOW! All of these are beautiful. The bubble bath looks inviting, and the undersea …. well - I love them!

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  8. lots of great work. I especially love the bubble bath!

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  9. The bathtub and it's story is great. My favorite of this lot is the 4th, I love that one.

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    1. Thanks, and I like the fourth tile best too!

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  10. So many beautiful tiles! I like them all! Very nicely done!

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  11. Absolutely love these, Antonine! I do love the story of the bath tub and think that this is my favourite tile.... but it's very close. Axxx

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  12. wow, your first one is amazing, I love it and the fourth is beautiful too

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  13. A treasure of tiles. What a prolific journey.
    I could find an eye candy in each and every tile. The shells, the star, the textures. Beautiful.
    If I need to choose a favorite - it's the last one. "the water globe"

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    1. Wow, thanks! The last one was from my earliest days of tangling, which proves you don't need to be an "expert" to produce something that makes you happy.

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  14. They're all very nice tiles! I prefer the bathtub, very delicate, and the octopus of course ;-)

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