Challenge #142 - Outside my comfort zone

Grid-based sort of tangles Zendala (sort of)
Reverse white on black with white gel pen,
and soapstone for shading

Grid-based tangles Zendala - not perfect!
Reverse white on black with white gel pen, metallic gel pens,
and soapstone for shading

The Diva's challenge for week #142 asks us to step out of our comfort zone, stick our toe in the water or do a full jump free-fall. My comfort zone is organic swirly, curvy, non-grid based tangles. Black on white with grey shading is my preference so this week I pushed all the above. Check out all the great solutions for this week's challenge.

I first loosened up my white gel pen on black paper with a free-form Zendala (style) tile, it's wonky and has a few grid-based tangles but then I also incorporated free form fall tangles. I used the new Zentangle soap stone for shading - Love it! If you haven't tried it you should! It's so neat to work with this beautiful stone tool.

Next I drew a circle (using my trusty sip cup) and then divided it up to create sections. I used all grid-based tangles in this Zendala design, they morphed a bit but the end result was pleasing. I also pulled out some fun color Sakura Gel pens to enhance my work. The white was a little overpowering and the metallic elements of color helped break it up. This was a totally different tangling process. I needed to concentrate, take my time and really address each aspect of the grid tangle process. Uncomfortable and unfamiliar but still a great process. I so love the beauty and precision of some grid-based tangles. That's not my typical methodology so I just tried to remember there are no mistakes in Zentangle.

I can't even name the tangles I used fairly because they morphed into other things. I used Dragonair as a ruffle, C-Bun (sort of), Ciceron, Archer (tangelation).

My final version was totally free form using Zenplosion Folds and Flukes. Some of my faves (especially since Zenplosion Folds is mine). It fell free and easy and brought me back to the flow I love in my tangling process. Putting this into reverse was out of my comfort zone. White gel pen, touches of gel metallic gold for accents, and shading with soapstone and the white chalk pencil.

I need to work on this process much more to feel comfortable but that's the name of the game, right? Thanks for another chance to stretch my creative muscles Diva.

I found these images difficult to scan. I couldn't get the essence of the shading and the metallic without lighting my images quite a bit. This made the black paper a little more grey. Ahhh, another learning experience to continue...

Free form - Zenplosion Folds and Flux
Reverse white on black with white gel pen, gold metallic gel pen,
soapstone, and white pencil

Challenge #141 - Duotangle - Fengle & Quandry

Duotangle; Fengle & Quandry
A little line work, pointillism and it's done!

Weekly Challenge #139 and 140 - UMT 8's and Pointillism with a Tangle Viewer

Pointellism with Crescent Moon, Hollibaugh.
Zinger, Flux, and some leaves

Challenge #140 - Pointellism:  I often use dots and lines for shading on my tiles so I thought this Challenge would be no big deal. Making the entire tile with dots really makes me think in a whole new way, the way to get from point A to point B is... many dots. I used a variety of size pens which helps give a little depth and graduation in greys, What a lot of dots to create this tile and boy were my hands screaming.

It's always fun to look at techniques and challenge ourselves as creative individuals. I used Crescent Moon, that reached out into Hollibaugh, added some Flux, Zingers and Leaves. I found that doubling up on my dotted lines gave the feel of shadows. This was a great exercise, thanks for a another fun challenge Diva.

Tangle Viewers:
I created some Tangle Viewers using the paint chip samplers I got at Lowes. They have an interesting finish and smooth coating that takes the micron pen strokes beautifully, because of the coating the pen strokes will smear if not affixed with  workable spray fixative. Once sprayed, its stable and no movement or smearing of micron lines!

The "Tangle Viewer" is a great way to focus in on details in my tile. The little window is a very effective tool to zero in on small details and areas in a tile. The Zentangle process talks about looking at the big picture and viewing your tile from all directions, no ups or downs but being able to isolate sections to study details is a good thing. I'm going to use these in my classes to give students a closer look at section details.

Tangle Viewers, one black and white,
one color with little leaves berries and little"windows"

I'm also including my Challenge #139 tiles from last weeks' UMT challenge of 8s Parte Dos" by Jane Eileen. I completed these last week but never got around to posting them.

This was not a tangle I would have attempted without this challenge to spurn me on. This tangle was hard to get into, finding the rhythm and flow of this tangle was difficult for me. There was more thought and concentration than I look for in a tangle. But once I tried it a few times it did grow on me.

The way I found the rythm and flow was by looking for the shapes rather than trying to figure out the diagonal line portion. It's much easier for me to see shapes.

My first version went a little wonky but I combined it with some fun tangles and it seemed to flow well. Allium, Betweed, and Mooka added and the final was pleasing.

I felt more comfortable with 8s on my second version, there was the ease and flow I look for when working the Zentangle process. Once I got through my initial frustation I was able to really look at the tangle and find it's flow.
  

Version on - 8's gone a little wonky, added Betweed,
Mooka, Allium, and Shattuck

Version two - 8's in the rythm, added some Knightsbridge,
Mooka, Tipple, Fescue and black!

Challenge #138 - Fun with Borders

Spikey Wire, Chains, and Baubles

Twigs, Leaves, and Embellishments

 Diva's challenge for week #138 is titled Fun with Borders and is sponsored our Zentangle founder's Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. Their Zentangle Blog post this week focused on finding inspiration in everything around us and borders.Check out their blog post.

I found my inspiration in wire and metal on the first tile. I love old, rusty barbed wire. Not the new shiny stuff, but the bent-up wonky wire you can find in old farm fields, craggy and weathered from years of exposure to the elements. I also love wire, twisted, hammered, shaped into lovely jewels. My sister Nancy is a wire jeweler and has exposed me to many fun techniques and beautiful wire creations. She has a studio and we have spent many an hour hammering and shaping wire.

That's my inspiration, my bauble is fashioned after one of my sister's wonky metal wrapped beads that I find particularly inspirational. That and some of the chains she has shared with me.

I've been working on deconstructing Spikey Wire and realized some of my studies had the look and feel of grapevines. I also love twigs, grapevines, and leaves - yet another inspiration!

On my first tile I added some color with my wonderful Derwent Inktense pencils. I like the juxtaposition of the hard wire against the soft hues of the pencils. Hard and soft, they play beautifully together!

The second tile is twigalicious with luscious little plump leaves sprouting throughout. I embellished it with a curvy twisted ornamental decorative string.

Spikey Wire Process Studies and Variations

Catch Up on New Zentangle Well Challenge #135

  Well, Flux, Gum Dropz, Beadz, and some Dangles 

Rick and Marie have come up with another wonderful tangle with so many options and possible variations/tangleations. I found it challenging, but once I got the hang of it, got into the rhthym, and went with it. I look forward to exploring this tangle in the future. I had played with this a couple of weeks ago but never got it scanned in and uploaded.