It's A String Thing #26

Everywhere I look I see hearts, and it's no different in this weeks' It's A String Thing challenge from Adele Bruno.  Here is the string we were given, and the heart shape sticks out for me.

We were asked to use this string with our favourite patterns.  Well, I think I am still too new to Zentangle to have experimented enough with all those tangles out there to commit to a list of favourites.  But yes, some appeal to me more than others, so I picked a few and here they are, in the string given to us:

Drupe, Indy-Rella, Flux, Braze, Ennies, Henna-Drum

And I decided to use a Sepia pen from Faber-Castell, I simply love that ink.  I need to remember to perhaps apply my pencil shading a bit darker next time, in real life it seems more prominent, but the photo doesn't really pick it up properly.

Thanks Adele, I really enjoyed this one once I got going.

I hope you are all having a wonderful day.  We spent a relaxing evening at the beach and came home a few hours ago.  Tomorrow I am running a Half-Marathon, praying that my foot holds out although I have not managed to run more than 10km without pain setting in, but  I am just not ready to have surgery or to stop running quite yet.  So, I'll see what happens tomorrow, I am not treating it as a race, unless of course, I get to 10km and there is no pain, then I may change my mind!

A Bit More Love

As you know I participate as much as possible in Adele Bruno's weekly "It's a String Thing" challenge.   The other day she came out with a new tangle, perfect for this Valentine season, she called it LG (Love Grows), but also for the first two initials of her husband.  Then she did something amazing and made a beautiful card using the tangle, for her daughter.

I loved it so much that I asked her permission to use that as inspiration to also create a very CAS Valentines' card, she agreed, and here is my case of her fabulous creation:

I just simply love those nested hearts.  I made an ATC using the tangle and then found a little stamp from one of my SSS card kits, added a little stickles to the hearts and I was done.

I am keeping very busy trying to get all the marketing work done for my Zentangle classes!  Gosh, I just want to go and share my love for this art, who knew you had to first try to market yourself!  Not my favourite part, but I am happy that I have developed a pamphlet and a Certificate of Attendance, and a new Facebook Page!  Can't wait to put it all to use.  I've also secured a venue, now I just have to get people interested!  Wish me luck!

Have a fabulous day!

Diva Weekly Challenge #152: New Official Zentangle Aquafleur

I've been playing with this new tangle for a while as it was released to CZT's before just recently being let loose by Zentangle® itself.  And Laura Harmse's challenge is to use Aquafleur.  With Valentines' Day  coming up I have to admit that I have Love on the brain, so here is my Aquafleur Heart:

I played with another Renaissance tile, using my Black and my Brown Sakura Micron pen as well as a white charcoal pencil.

I'll continue to play with this tangle for a while so that I can loosen up my hand to flow better, but I do like how this came out.

Eventually some much needed rain and a bit cooler temperatures, just not sure how long it's going to last!

Have a great day!

It's A String Thing #25

Time to play with Adele Bruno's challenge again, this time it's a monotangle using the tangle by Lynn Mead called Fassett, which you can find HERE.  Here is the string we were given:

I love this string, the flowing lines, beautiful!  But then to decide how to represent that tangle.  Monotangles are not always easy, for me that is.  I find myself trying to figure out ways how to make it look different in each section.

For this week's challenge I decided to do three different tiles, white, black and Renaissance.  That too was a challenge as I am not really a fan of the black tiles (only because I don't have enough experience with them).

Fassett is one of those magic tangles!  Without looking at Lynn's step-outs, can you imagine how the tangle develops?  Here is my white tile example, which is my favourite, I love all the white space and the touch of brown/Sepia micron:

It's really magic to watch it unfold one stroke at a time.  Would you  believe me if I tell you this is simply made up of triangles!  Seriously!  The secret is in connecting the tips of the nesting triangles!

Here is my Renaissance tile:

I am not sure where I was going with those white highlights, I need to practice and play a bit more.  In that one section I tried to go with some curvy lines to see how it would look.

And my Black tile:

You know why I enjoy Zentangle®, because there are no rules, and you feel like an artist when your tile is completed.

Have a fabulous day!

It's A String Thing #24

(I promise I am still making cards!)

I am playing along with Adele Bruno's weekly challenge, that's how I manage to get most of my practice in and learn new tangles at the same time.  This is the string we were given:

And we had to use some or all of the following tangles:

Yabbut by Margaret Bremner, CZT
Yang by Genevieve Crabe, CZT
Yew-dee by Peg Farmer, CZT
Y-ful Power by Shoshi
Yincut and official Zentangle® pattern


Here is my interpretation:

Yabbut, Yang, Yincut, Y-ful

I opted to do something a little different with Yabbut.  I am such a stickler for the "rules" generally speaking (as there are no rules in Zentangle), that it's really hard to deviate from a pattern the way it is represented in the Step-Outs, but I am making myself try to explore a little bit more and I liked how this version panned out.

After some horrendous heat we are eventually cooling down today and it's raining, straight down from Heaven!

Enjoy a spectacular day!

It's A String Thing #23

I'm playing along with Adeles' "It's A String Thing" challenge, you can find all the details HERE.  This time I decided to play with a Renaissance tile as I need a lot of practice with these.  Instead of the traditional black & white, on these beautiful tan tiles one makes use of both a black and a brown Micron pen and then we use white charcoal pencil for highlighting and graphite pencil for shading.  (As I said, I need a LOT of practice!).

This week it was all about tangles beginning with the letters Ba - we had 8 to choose from and I decided to work with 5 of them.  Here is my interpretation of String No.23 that was used for this challenge:

Baton, Bandola, Bateek, Batch, Barberpole

All these tangles can be found on www.tanglepatterns.com.

I enjoyed spending time on this tile.  I am quite a slow tangler I think, but Zentangle® is all about the process, and not really about the outcome.  I do find that I do relax when I tangle away.

Today I have been spending time putting pen to paper in terms of some classes I want to offer in the coming months with regards to Zentangle®.  I have to admit to a bit of nerves, but my friend Moz let me practice on her the other day, and it was a wonderful experience, for both of us.

Wishing you a really wonderful day!

It's A String Thing #22

I haven't been posting my tangles, although I did keep practicing over the holiday period.  So today I made my tile for Adele's weekly string challenge, you can find all the details on her blog HERE.

Here is the original string she provided:

And because a string is simply a guideline, as often happens, it totally disappears as your tangles cross those boundaries or as you join sections formed by the string or create added sections within a section.  So don't be surprised if you cannot recognise the original string in my submission.

We were given 5 different tangles we could use on our tile.  I chose three of them only:
- Ragz
- Raindotty
- Reiculated

You can find all the step-outs to these tangles on www.tanglepatterns.com

Have a blessed day.

It's A String Thing #20

I know, it's been a month, but we have been on holiday in the USA and now back home at the beach, and what can I say, it's sooooo...... relaxing.  I have been playing around with some tangling, trying to learn all that I can.  And today I decided to give Adele's latest challenge a go, you can find all the details on her blog HERE.

We were given a string to use and only two tangles, needless to say, the string got lost in the tangle, quite frankly, it's unrecognizable!  The two tangles used today were Ahh and Afterglo.  Both these tangles can be found on TanglePatterns.com.

Here is my take on the challenge. Simple I know, but those Ahh's (the starry looking patterns) just need to be out in the open space in my opinion.  I like the uncluttered look.

On another note, I cannot wait to get home and make some cards, I have really missed not having my supplies with me, but it would simply be too much to pack and too many decisions to make.  I guess that is the one really nice thing about Zentangle®, it is totally portable!

See you again in the new year!

I Am The Diva Weekly Challenge: Duotangle : Pea-Knuckle and Well

Oh boy, did I have to think about this one.  I even did two tiles, the first one which I don't really like anymore.  Then for some reason this evening I have been wanting to tangle in a frame, so I did that with Well (an official Zentangle ­­® pattern).

And then, totally out of character for me, I started playing with Pea-knuckle to see if I could vary it (a tangleation) and I did come up with something different.  Now I am just not sure if it is a tangleation or a new pattern. I am too "young" at this art form to really understand, so perhaps a  visitor will help me out.

So, here is my take on this week's challenge.  Thank you Laura for stretching my imagination!

I absolutely love "Well" as a border in this very simple form.

I am sure that the shading could be improved, it will come, over time.

Thank you for taking the time to visit!

I Am the Diva, Weekly Challenge #145

I need to start practicing everything I learned in the CZT Seminar so that I can feel confident when I give my first classes in 2014!  No better way than to take part in challenging challenges!  I like the Diva challenges, they are well thought out and well timed.  This week it was about using the newly introduced official Zentangle® pattern called "Quib".  It has only been released to CZT thus far but will soon be made public with step-outs.

Anyway, it's one of those tangles that need their own space.  And a lot of it, especially on a small tile.  I am not experienced enough to figure out how to incorporate it with other tangles in a section of a tile, so I gave it the freedom to show off, alone, on my tile today.

Tangles: Purfs, Quib, Div Dance

I added  a touch of Brown Micron for something different.  I do love that brown, it's so antique looking.

Thank you for popping in on this beautiful Saturday here in South Africa!

Back from Seminar!

I'm back and still on cloud 9 from everything I learned I could do!  It was a fabulous CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) seminar in Rhode Island, Providence.  I learned so much, I accomplished so much and I now believe that "anything is possible one stroke at a time"™ as they say!

I was so surprised at how quickly I was able to let go and experiment with my tangling.  We did a fair amount of tangling in class, learning some of the basic principles.  The main focus was to teach us to teach, it really is Maria, Rick's and Molly's (their daughter) methodology that clinches the whole thing and puts it together so nicely that it is impossible to be dissatisfied with ones work.

Here is the very first tile we tangled:

And here, this is me just tangling at night (or early hours of the morning) before leaving to return to South Africa:

We were given a sketch book as a gift (the cover is personalised with our name in a beautiful calligraphy font penned by Maria herself), and I used this notebook to make all my notes from class, and all my practice tangles etc..  I also left spaces each day under my notes to insert the corresponding tiles we worked on, attaching them with photo corners.  So, if you see some ink showing through from the backside, that's why.

And a picture of me with Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts, the founders of Zentangle ®.

I'll be back during the week with a card or two and of course, some more tangled tiles!

Thanks for visiting, have a brilliant day!

It's a String Thing #9

Adele Bruno has posted her weekly challenge, with a given string (011),

 and we are only to use tangles that begin with the letter Y!  So, off I went to learn a few more new tangles and managed to put a tile together.  Don't look too closely, I did lose concentration once or twice and had to leave it half done whilst I dashed off to fetch chickadee from school.  But, here it is:

I used Y-Ful Power, Yincut and Yang for this one.

Have a fun filled day!

It's A String Thing #8

Adele, a CZT, has a weekly challenge on her blog.  This week she provided us with a string and we were to tangle it using tangle patterns beginning with the letter Z as the string was created by Sue Zanker, so Adele typically uses the first letter of the persons surname as inspiration.

Here is an image of the string we had to use:

Well, I quickly had to go and learn a few new tangles over at Linda Farmer's Tangle Patterns blog, practice them and then put them on my tile.  And here is my interpretation:

The other night we were eating some Lamb Knuckles for dinner and dear Natasha was taking
 F-O-R-E-V-E-R to finish eating and I got fidgety and my Micron pen was lying on the table so this is what happened:

It just happened! Tangled a Lamb Knuckle!

Diva Challenge #137 - Duotangle: Knights Over Tipple

Trying my best to develop my Zentangle knowledge by participating in Laura's weekly challenges, and they are challenging.  This week we were to use only two tangles, Knightsbridge and Tipple.  Here is my interpretation:

The Tipples went in looking one way and came out looking a little different!

That's the best I could come up with, my imagination is sorely lacking.

Try to enjoy!

Floating Zentangle

I wanted to try and tangle a tile that seemed to be floating rather than contained within a square.  So, I drew my string (without placing the four markers in the corners)  and tangled away and was rather delighted with the outcome:

Enjoy!

String Thing #6

Adele is the owner of Tickled To Tangle blog and also a Certified Zentangle Teacher.  She has been so kind in answering numerous questions I have had, just so helpful and willing.  She has a weekly challenge on her blog called "It's A String Thing" and today I am submitting this tile for the latest challenge.

Because the string was created by Mirjam Baart, we were to use tangle patterns whose names begin with Ba.  Considering that I only knew one pattern that fit the bill, namely Bales, I had some quick learning to do and these are the additional patterns I went with:

- Barberpole
- Basketweave
- Batons


My favourite on this tile is Batons, I just love those little sticks that you can randomly position at an angle.  Adding that little bit of black in the corners I think makes it extra special.  Bales was a bit of a challenge as I decided to draw it at an angle and also growing larger, so I think some of the "bales" got warped in the end.

Adele, thank you for all your encouragement and advice.

Weekly Diva Challenge #136

I've decided to give this Zentangle challenge site a try.  It's run by Laura Harms who is a Certified Zentangle Teacher and does a great job motivating people to try different things with Zentangle.  I've been following for a while and looking at what others are doing, and today I have the courage to submit something.  This week we are to add colour, as little or as much as we want to out Zentangle piece.

I opted for creating a star template and inking that in with 3 different Distress inks, and thereafter tangling away and this is what I came up with (I did make one blip, but decided to simply embrace it):

I used the following tangles: Betweet, Tipple, Riki-Tiki, Pokeroot, Pokeleaf, Plates, Navaho

I'm thinking that I may want to separate my forays into Zentangle from my card making, perhaps another blog dedicated to Zentangle is in order, but the title of this blog is so appropriate to this art form!  I'll need to give this some thought.

Have a wonderful day!

Zentangle Inspired Art

ZIA is the name they give to a piece of art that is tangled.

A friends' daughter turned 13 the other day and I wanted to make her something arty instead of buying her something that may have no meaning to her whatsoever.  She is very musically talented, I admire her so much.  I knew I wanted to try and incorporate some of my new found passion, Zentangle, and I immediately thought of a music note.

I went searching for a decent picture of one on the web and then basically drew it lightly in pencil on my paper.  After that I started tangling.  I finished it yesterday and went in search of a frame for it.  Here are a few pictures of the evolution of this piece:

Before I added shading it looked really "flat" but  just a bit of pencil rubbed with your finger or a tortillon and it makes all the difference.  I contemplated a long time about whether to add black or Sepia ink around those pearls, and I decided on Sepia, it's just such a fabulous colour.  I just hope it's not too "serious" for a 13 year old.  But I thought that the added tangles on the music lines (not sure what you call that) are sort of quite lighthearted and fun.

Then I played around with the matting and decided on a thin black border and PTI's chocolate brown cardstock to bring out the Sepia.

Lastly, a wooden frame.  I don't really have an eye for framing so I am sure I could have done a better job had I asked for some help.  But this is the final product.

I think I'd like to make another one just in black ink with splotches of water colour splatters, big ones, like pink, and blue and green and yellow just scattered in the background.

Thanks for indulging me, sorry no card today as I am busy tangling another little piece.

Here's hoping that you are going to have a fabulous day!

Zentangle Fun

I've been quite taken in with the art of Zentangle for a while now, I enjoy all the different patterns and like to think of ways to use this art form both personally and also to fulfill a growing desire to perhaps do some work with children at some point in my life.

I'm resourcing everything I can from the web, You Tube videos, Pinterest and of course such websites as Tangle Patterns and the official Zentangle site.  I actually would love to do the certification course, it's in Rhode Island, just waiting for their 2014 dates to come out.

Anyhow, I did not get to make a card yet today, so I thought I would post my two little Zentangle tiles I did the last two days.

This is my first attempt at doing a tile, my favourite part was the twisty border.

This is the one I did today, and I love that "seaweed" in the top right corner.

It's not without "errors", I still need to be more subtle with the shading and I need to figure out the "rules" although they say there are NO RULES in Zentangle.  But there must be some guidelines about composition, what types of patterns fit best in certain shaped section and next to other patterns.  Some of the patterns come easily to me but some that have a right and left side like that leaf looking thing in the first and that cocoon tendril looking bit in the second, it's a challenge to get the two sides to be evenly matched / balanced.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the process of just getting lost in the repetition.

Hope I have not bored you.  Wishing you an awesome day!