The next challenge.

I was very challenged by this weeks Duotangle Challenge over at The Diva. I love both Punzel and Wells but I have a hard time making Punzel play nicely with anything else... it looks good on its own or 'in front' of other background type patterns but it does not easily integrate into a tile as a whole. I am anxious to see what others have made of this challenge. This was my tile after beginning one that ended up being a bunch of trials of different ideas.

I have been trying to work my way through the string patterns on Tangle Patterns. Last week's Diva Challenge entries were Strings 001 and 002. This week's tile follows most of string 005 - maybe I should do another that uses all the sections. String 004 fell victim to my Punzel experimentation so I will have to make that one up this week and below is string 003. I used the tangle I posted instructions to last week, Hillndale in the bottom right f this one.

And I have been remiss in not updating on my March "Art Every Day" effort - there were some tiles, I just did not get around to posting them. I will try to do that later today in another post. 

Use My Tangle challenge

I was inspired this week, well OK, mostly last night, to get some drawing done. I had been thinking about this week's Diva Challenge to use her new tangle, potentially named "Somnee" but I hadn't actually done much with it yet. Just a few trials, letting it stew in my head for a few days. This is what came out of the pot.

I will say that I was not immediately in love with this tangle. It has much in common with its sibling tangle Bridgen which I have a hot and cold relationship with... I have trouble with the structure, or lack thereof along with the number of straight lines and amount of open space. I am happiest with the look of these examples because they are pretty 'full'. I did come up with a cute variation that I could not work out completely to my satisfaction in which the circles are faces (like in Lara's step outs) and are connected with 'arms' that have little hands at the ends so it looks like they are reaching out for each other. It gets a little odd looking when the little faces all have multiple arms and are surrounded by tiny little fat cartoon fingers... but the sentiment is nice.   

I have been looking through some older things in my binder and came across a pattern that I don't think I ever posted, or at least I can't find it. It is called Hillndale. I thought I would put it up here and try to use it some in my tangling this week. I am trying, during the break between classes to do some tangling each day and use the strings on Tangle Patterns beginning with 001. The two challenge tiles above are the first in the series, string 001 and 002. There will be many more to come, hopefully - I need the practice and the peace and to get in the habit of doing some everyday before my crazy summer begins.

Have a great week!

Semester is over...

Do you know how you can tell the semester is over?

I actually had time to do and post a challenge before the deadline!

This time is was Adele Bruno's It's a String Thing  for last week.

BOY, am I out of practice!  Sheesh, put the pen and pencil down for a few months while you are madly typing papers on the computer and teaching teenagers physics and you definitely lose your mojo! Here is the one of two I am willing to share...

I have had occasion to look over some of my work from past years recently and I realize that I badly need some practice.  I intend to get it over the next few weeks before summer classes begin. I have decided to start at the beginning of the string list on Tangle Patterns and try to do one new string every day. My previous effort of 'art everyday' did not last very long, but I was still in school at the time. I hope I can keep drawing regularly when classes begin again. It is so relaxing for me and I will need that outlet once I start my first year of teaching in the fall. Beginning in about the middle of July my stress level will sky rocket and my spare time will become non-existent. However, one good piece of advice I heard from a first year teacher is to find one thing that eases your stress and allows you to unwind and do it often. Drawing would fit the bill nicely. I will keep you posted as to my success. 

I also got a great peice of news between my last post and now... some of my work will be published in a new tangle book coming out in December 2014. I don't know how much more I can say right now, but I am kind of excited. Maybe I can get a few copies and do a give away on the blog! We will have to wait and see. 

Have a great week!

Every Day Art

So, this week wasn't nearly as regular as the first partial week, but hey - we didn't have any weather realted emergencies or previously scheduled school holidays this week and I actually had to be at school ALL 5 days this week - whew! After so many partial weeks this one felt like it was a month long! I am sure I will get back into the groove of it soon (like I have a choice, right?).

This one is my favorite.

Here are all the tiles for this week, including a few I have included in some other posts about the Diva Challenge and the "Its a String Thing" challenge for this week. The first two were not included elsewhere. What do you  think? Am I getting back in my groove?

I like the Punzel in this one but the oval thing was a big fail in my opinion.

I like the dense feel of this one

This was the "String Thing" entry and the last two were the Diva Challenge entries using wavy grids.

Wavy grids are the best grids!

This week's Diva Challenge was to use patterns that begin with a grid, but to make the grid wavy. That is one of my favorite things! Not only does the wavy grid give you fluent lines it can also lend a huge amount of depth to a piece should you choose to make it little on one side and large on another (think of the look of a tile floor with a 'vanishing point' in the distance) or bend it around a curved object. My entries are below...

This one's grids are pretty tame - just a little wavy. It works better with the one on the bottom - which I still can not recall the name - than it does with the Sindo at the top - which I don't think I did quite correctly.

I also have a few tiles from  a few post back that show really crazy grids effectively... the first and third tiles from the Aquafleur challenge in January. Strangely, one of those is Sindo done correctly and it looks much better... imagine that. Maybe I was thinking of that tile when I chose Sindo for this one - and then could not remember how to do it!

All three tangles in this one begin with a grid. The one in the tear drop shows my favorite effect with grids - it lends a three dimensional aspect to it quite easily.  

I have an update about my efforts to do Art Every Day, so check that out to see my progress. 

I also decided to participate in a "Its a String Thing" over at Tickled to Tangle and posted about that as well. Trying to do so many more than usual in a week was really putting the pressure on for coming up with new strings! This should help that. In the spirit of 'monotangle' only with strings I may try to use one string all week sometime and see how different the tiles are. Interesting idea, no?

Have a great week!

Stringing along...

Well, since I have been trying to do more lately on a regular basis and not think about it TOO much I have been a little pressed for string inspiration. So, I thought I would try out the weekly "Its a String Thing" challenge at "Tickled to Tangle". So check out the original string over there and see how I've done this week.

Maybe one week in the future I will use the same string all week long and see how different they all are! That might be cool, especially if the string was one where the lines would coincide from right to lef tor top to bottom if you did rows and columns of them... hmm. interesting.

I also have Diva challenge entries posted here and news on the progress of the Art Every Day quest, here.

Art *Almost* Every Day

So, this is the first week of the "Art Every Day" experiment. A few years ago I accepted a similar challenge to do a little art every day for a month and it was a great experience. I have gotten woefully sloppy and out of practice by only drawing a little here and there when I have a moment or in class. I wanted to see if I could manage to get back to the 'roots' of the Zentagle practice and do a little piece every day, small, quick, not too much thought...  of course the weekly challenge to leave a blank space was included in a few!

The one above has a pattern I have kind of done before, but not seen anywhere else in the bottom right corner. The one below originally had a blank spot where the netting is and it just looked wrong so it got filled in, however, it does have the sparsely populated Printemps area that gives a sense of light emptiness. 

So far I have managed doing one everyday. One day I only managed half, but the next day I finished and did another a well. I have a ways to go in really doing it 'quickly' and without too much thought. I have been trying to pick tangles that I haven't done in a while and don't pick often so I am looking through my book frequently so I don't fall back on the 'old familiar' ones. Here are the rest so far this week...

Have a great week!