Category Archives: Challenges

Valentangles

Heartswell

It’s difficult to believe that it’s been so long since I last posted. Suffice it to say that life has been hectic for me recently. Back in September I rejoined the labor force (after being a stay-at-home mom for a good while). I got a part-time job as an Administrative Assistant at a childcare center, and I am really enjoying it. In addition, I am also going to be an assistant art teacher with a local art studio. So happy!

So, back to posting about my latest artistic endeavors. A good place to start is with tangling. This week the Diva’s challenge is to create a Valentangle. I’m a little late, but I have four valentangles (all monotangles) to share.

The first one features Heartswell by Helen Williams of A Little Lime. The step-outs are here. This tile was created as a gift for a coworker.

The second one is Cross-Ur-Heart, deconstructed by Jenna Black. You can find the step-outs here.  This radial pattern can also be thought of as a zendala. I like the feeling of depth which results from the shading and the radiating lines. This tile was also made as a gift.

The third tile is a Heartsmeet monotangle. This heart-y grid pattern is by Lynn Hensley, and the step-outs are available here. Let’s just say that I was on a heart-themed tangling roll which continued on with the fourth tile.

And lastly I did another “hearts-in-a-grid tangle” featuring Heartfully, also by Helen Williams.

Hope everyone had a lovely Valentine’s Day!

Thank you for visiting.

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Straight Lines and Other Things

Diva Challenge #368 is to draw a tile with straight lines only. Cool idea! For my tile I decided to focus on Frost Flower by Karry Huen. Stepouts are available here.

As my string I drew five squares, with one on top of the others in the center.  Then I filled each of the squares with Frost Flower and added shading. The result is straight lines going every which way! There isn’t a single curvy line in this tile.

Straight Lines
Frost Flower

It’s been a busy several days in tangling. This week Adele Bruno is celebrating her It’s A String Thing challenge’s 5th Birthday! To mark the occasion I submitted the following tile:

IAST Happy 5th Birthday
Knightsbridge, Kitl, O, Prestwood

My intention was to add color to this tile. Things didn’t work out according to my vision though. The watercolors caused some of the ink to run, and the gel pens I used were simply too dark. Anyway, luckily I scanned the tile before applying watercolors and was able to send in the black and white version.

One more tile to share in this post. I love rose patterns and had seen Helen Williams’ video on how to draw her pattern Spiral Rose. So of course I wanted to try it out.

Spiral Rose
Spiral Rose

I will add color later, but I do think it is very striking in black and white!

 

 

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Nzeppel

Another week brings another Diva challenge. This time the challenge is to create a tile using ‘Nzeppel, one of my favorite patterns. Stepouts for ‘Nzeppel and Crazy ‘Nzeppel can be found here.

For months I planned on preparing some of my zentangle tiles with watercolor washes, and I finally got around to it! For this challenge I chose to tangle on a tile with a blue, green, and yellow wash. The wash was done with watercolor crayons and a Pentel Aquash brush. It’s really easy to do and I like the effects.

Carrying over last week’s Back to Basics theme, I decided to stick with official Zentangle patterns again. My tile features Crazy ‘Nzeppel, Crescent Moon, and Tripoli.

Diva challenge #367
Nzeppel

As long as I have you here, I’d like to call attention to two new tangles/tangleations which I have worked out. They are called Zazzle and Palmetta. The stepouts can be found on my Patterns page. Also, I made a blog post announcing Zazzle here, and there is an older post about Palmetta here (later revised to include stepouts). They haven’t gotten many views so I thought I’d mention them again here.  I would greatly love some feedback, especially since these are my first attempts at introducing new patterns.

Thank you for visiting!

 

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Back To Basics

The Diva has returned! This week the challenge (#366) is to go Back to Basics by revisiting several official tangles: Hollibaugh, Meeko, Printemps, and Crescent Moon. It is nice to have the opportunity to return to these very familiar tangle patterns with a fresh eye.

Here is my tile:

Diva Challenge #365
Printemps, Hollibaugh, Crescent Moon, Meeko

I had fun with this tile, and like the effect of filling in the quadrants of the rough diamond shape with the patterns.

Following a similar theme (at least as far as Hollibaugh is concerned) is this week’s “It’s A String Thing” challenge.  In this case, the challenge tangles include Hollibaugh, 7Keys, Sling-Slang, and Diamonte. The goal is to practice layers and fills, utilizing IAST string #259 by Adele Bruno.

My tile appears below.

It's A String Thing #259
Hollibaugh, 7Keys, Sling-Slang, Diamonte

The surrounding three bands of Sling-Slang, 7Keys, and Diamonte made a nice frame around the Hollibaugh. It was fun to learn the three less familiar patterns.

Thank you for visiting!

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Diva Challenge #364 – Puf

Diva Challenge #364 Entry
Tile for Diva Challenge #364

It’s been a while since I last posted here on the blog. I’m happy to be back and have another Diva challenge tile to share. This week the Diva’s challenge (#364) is to draw a monotangle featuring Puf by Carole Ohl, CZT. The step outs are available on her blog here.

Puf is a lot of fun to draw and is very aptly named! In her post about the pattern Carole Ohl mentions that it can also be done with different shapes  other than squares. I liked the idea of having most of my tile consist of a boxy square grid, but I also thought it would be interesting to place Puf in triangles at the corners.  Fairly heavy shading really gives the tile some depth I think.

Thanks to the Diva for another great challenge!

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Diva Challenge #350 – Heart Strings: Rimana (UMT)

Rimana with Hearty
Rimana with Hearty

It’s a little late in the week to be posting, but here is my tile for Diva Challenge #350  Heart Strings: Rimana (UMT) by Nadine Roller, CZT. You can find the stepouts here.

So, I had a little bit of difficulty with this challenge. I think my main problem had to do with placement and spacing. Rimana is a very pretty and versatile tangle, and I hope that with more practice I’ll get technically better at it.

Anyway, I decided to combine Rimana with Hearty, by Margarete Gilge. Stepouts for Hearty are available here. Hearty and Rimana are both quite similar to Rixty, and also I think they are comparable to Pokeleaf and Pokeroot. Given the appropriateness of Valentine’s Day related themes, Hearty seemed a great match to  use with Rimana for this challenge. Of course part of the string is a heart shape and I outlined it with Hearty. Then I surrounded (framed) the heart with Rimana.

After drawing the basic tile I felt it needed more contrast and detail. Thus I sought a way,  or ways, to make the tile more intricate and interesting. After thinking about it I realized that the answers were: color (Derwent ink pencils), auras, and shading!

The Diva’s video reminded me of the usefulness and beauty of auras, so I outlined the heart shape with auras, and also “aura’d” the areas of Rimana. Another valuable tip in the video was to scribble on a scrap piece of paper with a soft pencil, and then to pick up the graphite for use in shading the tile. Blend with a tortillion. Great idea!

Comments are loved, and many thanks for visiting!

 

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Diva Challenge #349 – Rumpus

Tile for Diva Challenge #349
Rumpus

This week’s Diva challenge is to draw Rumpus. Rumpus is a new official pattern which was introduced as part of the Twelve Days of Zentangle program. Rick and Maria demonstrate how to draw Rumpus in a video on their official YouTube channel.

Rumpus produces a complex pattern which can be embellished in all sorts of ways. Following the Diva’s example, I added Tipple (or orbs?) to the unfilled areas. Highlights are in white pencil and shadows were done in pencil. I drew this tangle on a Renaissance zendala tile using a sienna Micron pen.

Comments are welcome. Thank you for visiting!

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Diva Challenge #345 – Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays Zendala
Happy Holidays Zendala

The Diva’s challenge this week is to create a holiday themed zendala or tile. I had a pre-strung zendala that I hadn’t used yet and thought that this was the perfect time to do so! The interior string sections of the zendala are outlined in green Sakura micron pen, and the outer perimeter lines are in red. The tangles included are Flux, Printemps, and Paradox. It came out quite festive!

Over at Square One on Facebook the current focus tangle is Sea Wave by Ginny Lu. Step outs are available here. My tile appears below:

Sea Wave
Sea Wave

I had fun learning to draw Sea Wave. For whatever reason I decided to draw the waves diagonally on my tile, and then added Mooka, Msst, and a little Tipple. The Msst seemed to go well with the water theme, and I like how the Mooka resembles  curling or cresting waves next to the Sea Wave.

Prior to Sea Wave, the tangle of the week at Square One was Hypnotic by Elena Hadzijaneva. Step outs can be found here. My tile turned out to be monotangle zendala:

Hypnotic Zendala
Hypnotic Zendala

Since it is not done on a regular square tile I didn’t post it on Square One. It’s pretty cool looking though, so I thought I’d share it here.

Thank you for stopping by, and I want to wish everyone a joyous and safe Holiday Season!

 

 

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Diva Challenge #343 – Dewd

After a couple of months of little to no posting, I’m back hoping to renew a routine of sharing my tiles and other projects. During my absence I was busy working on rebranding the blog (there’s some more to do). In addition I was laying the groundwork to start a home business.

This week’s Diva challenge is to explore the latest official tangle, Dewd. This brand new tangle was introduced in a recent Zentangle.com newsletter, which also featured a video of Maria demonstrating how to draw this new pattern.

Diva Challenge #243 Entry
Dewd and Paradox

For my tile I chose to combine Dewd with Paradox, and I also added a touch of Tipple. Dewd reminds me a lot of Fescu and adds a cool variation on the aura.  I had a little trouble with the spacing between the fescu-like elements, but overall I enjoyed working with the new pattern.

Square One on Facebook recently also had Dewd as a focus tangle. I posted a different tile to that group which I think has a real botanical look to it:

Square One: Dewd
Square One: Dewd

As long as you are here, I’d like to bring your attention to a previous post I made concerning a possible new tangleation. Would you mind taking a look and letting me know what you think?

As always, thank you for visiting!

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