Black and White Challenge

Wow, this week's Diva Challenge was to use equal parts black and white in a piece. I will admit to having snuck a look at many before I ever embarked upon my own interpretation. I really loved the positive/negative ones I saw, but that is not the way I went with it. I just kept seeing all those tangles that rae nearly equal parts black and white like Bunzo to name the first that popped into my head. So I went that direction with it. I ended up using one that is not necessarily half and half normally, a version of Diva Dance, but I liked the way it came out. Given the black/white nature of the challenge I chose not to shade at all.

Then I thought I should finish up the second entry for last week's Zendalla challenge. It was finished except for shading., so I finished that up and will include it here. It is VERY different than the first entry, even though they use the same zendalla template. That is why I love doing more than one, to see how they differ when they 'grow up'.

Have a great week!

A problem of scale.

I hit the Zendalla Dare this weekend and printed out both the large and small templates because I 'saw' immediately what I wanted to put in part of the larger one. Then I ended up doing the smaller one first because I 'saw' what to put in a different part of that one. Why, you might ask, would both things not go in the same Zendalla? Well, it is a matter of scale. One pattern needed the larger areas of the large version, while the other needed the slightly smaller space available in the smaller version. So there I was, struggling with finding things for the other sections of both sizes! I did manage to finish the smaller one. The larger still sits unfinished. I will update this post, or do another, if I manage to come up with just the right thing, or decide to cast fate to the wind and roll the dice!

NOTE - I finished the second and published it in my next post here. The second is very different than the first, go check it out.

Kuke... and other yummy tangles.

This week's Diva Challenge is to use Kuke, a tangle inspired by lovely, crisp and tasty cucumbers. I love cucumbers and a whole lot of other yummy veggies... but I am not a huge fan of this tangle. Not sure why, I enjoy it in other people's work but it just never seems to look right in mine. I have a similarly hard time with a few other circle-based tangles that are fine in other's work, but look awkward in mine. So, I chose to not do it in "circles".

And I also blended a little Fescue and Allium into it as well. Can anyone tell me the name of the sine wave tangle I used in the two areas on either side of the fescue-kuke? I love that one and can not recall where I saw it or what it is called. I can see maybe using Kuke again sometime so I am glad I tried it, but it will likely not ever be a huge favorite. I will be honest and tell you that I did one other piece that I did not have time to scan but I didn't really like it much. I used small circles and the pattern definitely looks better larger in my opinion. The smaller scale really makes it just look busy in my other example. Hope everyone has a good week. We are headed into summer here and I have a few more weeks off before my summer classes begin. I intend to enjoy every minute.

Before I go I will share two other pieces I worked on these last two weeks...

This one just came out of wanting to use Phicops again and explore the Frickle and Fern like tangle that was inspired by the tea box the other week. I also love leaving sections blank, which I hadn't done in a while.

This one came out of trying to decide what tangles to introduce during my 15 minute spot on Zentangle during an end-of-semester cultural celebration for a class a couple of weeks ago. I ended up using Socc and Betweed and Kunstler.

Which 'Schway' do I go?

This week's challenge over at The Diva is all about the new official Zentangle pattern Schway. Its name reminds me a lot of the 'valley speak' craze of the early 80's in which cool dudes and 'valley girls' would respond to everything with... "Way?" or "Way!" or "Totally!" depending on which fit the circumstance. Of course, as a scientist, the square sine wave that makes up the foundation is exciting (OK, so it doesn't take much for me to be excited anymore ... I did grow up in the 80's after all). I was afraid that it wouldn't be very fluid, but I managed to get some curvy lines out of it in the second piece, although, ironically I like the first one better. Which would be your choice?

In other Zentangle news this week... I get to share the Zentangle method in a class in which we are having an end-of-semester cultural celebration. I sort of jokingly told the organizer that I could not do a music or dance or poetry performance (which is the bulk of the program)... all I could do would be teach people to do the patterns I do in my notes during class. He was unexpectedly enthusiastic about that prospect. I hope the rest of the class is too, and I hope I do a good job of representing the method in 15 minutes! Have a great week.

Snowflakes in May

No, it did not snow here in Georgia on May first. However, I have relatives in Colorado that sent photos of (cold) hummingbirds in the yard eating from feeders covered in snow, so it did snow some where on May 1st, including in my drawing book!  I saw Erin's Zendalla dare the other day and knew I had to save this template because it was so nice and curvy and symmetrical  (a huge draw for me!). And I knew instantly what it was screaming for in the way of tangles (Auraknot) so I just had to do it. Fortunately, between class last night with a lot of group presentations that I did not have to take notes for and getting a little maintenance done on the car while I waited this morning I had plenty of time to work. It is not as symmetrical and perfect as I would like... there are a couple of errors in there, but it all blends and looks, well, like a snowflake.

The one to the right was my first scan of this piece... I don't know if this ever happens to you, but sometimes I look at a scan of a piece and see something that needs adding or changing that I didn't see before. Its like stepping across the room from a large painting or a quilt to get a better perspective. As soon as I saw this I knew I needed to beef up the straight lines. I only added them in the first place because there was a dent in the paper there from tracing the original template and there was no getting around that, but the thickening of the inside ends of the lines really makes a difference I think.

Now I have to do another one with all the other ideas I have for this template!

Inspiration from a Tea Box

I had fun with this week's Diva Challenge to use a blind string. I grabbed my book, scribbled two quick strings, snapped a photo of them with the IPad (a really blurry kind of dark photo-sorry) and headed out the door to my daughter's gymnastics lesson. Before I left I made a mug of tea and the box the tea came in has some very Mehndi-like patterns decorating it and I was inspired! The designs pictured above are from the box. OK, mine aren't nearly as beautiful as those, but the inspiration is there. I added some more images at the bottom of the post so I could keep track of what inspired me. There are definitely more patterns there I want to explore.

Here is the original string...

and the large one below is the finished piece. 

The next one has a lot more straight lines and was not nearly as big as I thought it would be when I was drawing it. It was kind of a challenge. I had to break out of 'straight' eventually and added the curvy elements to soften things up a bit. Again, the string... and then the finished piece. Have a great week! Who knows, with almost all my classes over I might have time to do the Zendalla Dare too!

This is another inspiring image that I found  while looking around for more this evening. The photo on the left is from HERE. And below is the rest of the box. I like the leaves and the rest of the pattern, but really love the tendrily bits on the outside edges.

and the inside of the box is covered in this yummy pattern. and not only is the box so nice to look at, the tea is pretty good too!