I’m so glad to have the Diva’s challenges back! In her 368th challenge, Laura Harms has challenged us to use only straight lines in our tiles this week. Although straight is tough for me, I threw in some MicroTangling (from the lesson of the same name by Eni Oken), Baton, and some Shattuck with a bit of Knightsbridge for embellishment and called it done. I have a real appreciation for simple and basic right now so this was great for me. Although, it’s not fancy, I enjoyed the process very much and was pleased as much with the stress relief as with the tile itself. While sitting in the chemo chair today my blood pressure started at 183/90…not good at all, but when finished, after tangling the hours away it lowered itself to 132/85. Perhaps not scientific, but proof enough for me that tangling is great for the body, mind and soul! Here’s my tile!
Hello everyone! Welcome back to The Tireless Tangler! The last 2 weeks have been crazy busy with school starting and preparations for my trip to CZT32. My little one has managed to get through the last week with no problems, so (deep breath) I hope things will even out now (knock on wood!).
Almost by accident this week, I happened to catch that the Diva was back online and had finally issued a new challenge! This was great news, as I have truly missed the Diva Challenges and felt this summer was just lacking something special. Welcome back Laura! You have been sorely missed this summer! Dealing with anxiety and all it’s many forms in life is really hard! Dealing with these things and trying to create with purpose and on a schedule is daunting. It is so difficult to be a creator in any artistic area, but dealing with anxiety and depression while being forced to produce artistically brings a completely different set of problems. What happens to the schedule when the artist is empty inside? I will tell you, it’s a lot of nothing! So, I offer the Diva some encouragement and hope that she is able to start off and keep it up! While I do that, I hope this challenge will put my own emptiness to rest and start my creativity flowing again. Thank you Laura, for your weekly challenges that go back for years! I am in awe!
This week’s challenge was to go “back to basics”. A tile, pencil in dots and border, string and black ink using Zentangle original tangles. I chose to repeat the Lesson One in my Zentangle Primer. I’ve done this lesson many times and was hoping to change the look a bit this time. Instead of doing the tangles in the order of the lesson (crescent moon, hollibaugh, florz and printemps), I switched the order up and started with printemps, then moved backwards along the list. It was a real surprise to see the difference! For fun, I added my other 3 Primer Lesson one tiles. It’s clear to me that “florz” and I have a long-standing issue that hasn’t improved with time! LOL! It’s amazing to see the difference over time!
Welcome back! It’s time for the weekly diva challenge and I’m grateful to have it finished early this week! In keeping with her heart “strings” in February, the Diva challenged us to used nested hearts this week. Basically, one heart string inside another heart string. The challenge flowed easily this week and here is my tile. The pattern on the heart is Lily Moon’s Drogon. This has been a “go-to” tangle for me for quite some time and I use it constantly! On the hollibaugh stripes is a half shattuck, and 2 variations on my Marito pattern. I finished off with Printemps, Apcross (Step-out in the menu above), and a background pattern I learned from one of Eni Oken’s lessons (Treasure Frames I believe).
My pattern Marito can be found in the pattern Menu above, as well as a video step out with added embellishments you can find right here! Thanks for stopping by!
Diva Challenge 351 came very late this week. I should have been inspired by the Olympics but I lost focus when trying to tangle the rings! It became more about weaving the rings and not the Olympic games. I eventually got it but I didn’t feel it represented games, instead it became about the result. Bad tangling karma, yet it happens!
Here’s my finished (finally!) tile.
I love the Kitchen Table Tangles video series published via YouTube by Zentangle ® founders Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas! I always finish in a better mood than I started and I always gain a different perspective on whatever tangle or technique they present. They usually stay with the basic tangles but then help you to see it in a completely different way. This video is called Wholly Hollibaugh and talks about a new way to tangle the Zentangle ® Original pattern, Hollibaugh. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!
This is a “use my tangle” week at Casa Diva and this week’s focus pattern is “Frunky” deconstructed by Katharina Koenigsbauer-Kolb. Feel free to visit her lovely blog for the Stepout!
Here’s my tile. In addition to Frunky I used the tangles crescent moon, hollibaugh, tipple. Step outs for these and many more can be found at the wonderful tanglepatterns.com.
It’s a new year and I’m full of awe that I am still surviving in 2017. 2016 was easily the worst year of my life and I have never been so relieved to see a year slip into the past. I’m praying this year will be boring and uneventful and full of love and art!
Speaking of art! I have not been blogging but I’ve been creating at a frenetic pace! I’m so relieved I’ve gotten my creative spark burning again, so assuming the sky isn’t currently falling, I’m dedicating myself to an art centered blog once again (life willing!). If you still follow this blog I appreciate your patience with my occasional digressions.
One of the joys of this new year has been the progression of my Zentangle® Method journey. I’ve been happily tangling for over a year! One of the most enjoyable things I’ve done is join the Zentangle® Mosaic App. It’s free to look at the art but to post or comment you just pay a small fee per month and you can create and post all the art you want and become part of a wonderful community of like minded. encouraging people and sometimes, if you’re lucky, Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts (founders of the Zentangle® Method) will come along and appreciate something you’ve done! It’s a wonderful feeling to be a part of this supportive, artistic community! I’m making friends and starting artistic collaborations that I’m quite excited about! If you love tangling, this app is well worth the small monthly fee!
I was influenced by another blogger to go ahead and purchase the Zentangle® Primer, Volume 1. Dr. E. Miller (Tanglesxm.com and Write of Passage) wrote a wonderful post about the Primer and the differences between it and the cheaper alternatives out there.. It is a very good look into the purpose behind each book and why they were written. I decided after reading this post I would go for it and buy it. It was something I had to save for but as with all things Zentangle®, it’s worth the price. This is a beautiful, hardbound, coffee table type book filled with original art by Zentangle® founders Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. It has been described as a CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) training program in book form. If you are curious about Dr. Miller’s post you can read it in it’s entirety here.
People frequently ask me why the Zentangle ® Method is so meaningful to me and why I’m so driven to share it. This is not a drawing lesson, but teaches a drawing method so simple, children can learn it. It teaches you to draw by practicing a method that helps you let go of anxiety about what to do or where to start. Let go of worry about the end result and appreciate both the moment and the result. There are thousands of “non” artist types out there happily sharing their art. I know this, as I am one of them. If you have always wanted to learn to draw or if you love to doodle, you should try this. If you are struggling with depression or any number of other things, this can give you new purpose while relaxing and meditating, and help you to create something beautiful of which to be proud.
I can’t describe how this method has changed me and been a catalyst for positive growth personally and in overcoming my fear of rejection. I have seen my depression dwindle and have a fresh purpose for the first time in years. Gratitude is a weak word for the way I feel about Zentangle. There are hundreds of books out there now, both ebooks and physical copies, about Zentangle so I won’t give long descriptions. I will just say that never in my wildest dreams did I think drawing would save my mind and heart, but it did.
I thought I would post my tiles from lesson one and show you that anyone really can do this method of drawing and meditation! If you’re like me and want to get right to it, head over to Zentangle® central at Zentangle.com. I don’t have the words to tell you how drastically it’s changed my life.
This is “Crescent Moon”, the first tangle they teach. It’s very easy to learn and looks really cool when shaded. Notice that the shaded section lifts off the page giving a 3D effect. Extremely simple and you can do it. Shading is done simply with a standard #2 pencil and blended with an inexpensive paper stump (or tortillion).
Shading lifts the drawing off of the paper.
This is Printemps, a simple spiral. Shading brings out individual shapes and adds depth.
Shading around these will add dimension to a very simple tangle.
The other 2 tangles used in Lesson one are Florz and Hollibaugh. Step outs for these can be found at Tanglepatterns.com
This post became really long and for that, I apologize! To wrap up, here is my first tile followed by the same 4 tangles in a different order on a 2nd tile. This illustrates that you can draw the same tangle over and over and get something that is completely different each time.
Lesson 1 tile
I absolutely must learn more about this site and how to make sense of everything. *BIG smile!* like how to make these pictures look smaller. 🙂 Look forward to a new Diva Challenge tile tomorrow! See you all soon!
The Tireless Tangler 