Diva's Challenge: Heart(string)

Another busy week chez Sparrow! I'm just back from spending 3 days with my "grans":

Their (human) parents were away for a few days, preparing an upcoming move to a new home. I enjoyed having some quality time with the grans, and I believe they enjoyed it, too!

While I was away, I managed to pay tribute to my adoptive home on Bastille Day. I have never been a car person, but I must confess my amour for the Renault 4L. It is to France what the VW bug is to Germany: a simple yet functional car for the people. I found a coloring page that had a picture of one, and tangled it Friday night. I used a Pigma Pen 10, whose thick line made this easy on the newly achy hand and forearm.

If I ever have another white 4L, I'll do this to it!

On Saturday, I did my rest, icing, compression and stretching exercises that I recently discovered during a workshop last weekend at the Durham Comics Fest: Injury Prevention for Artists. The teacher, Kriota Wilberg, is an artist, choreographer and massage therapist from New York.  Her illustrated guides "No Pain" and "First Aid for Drawing Injuries" are comical, yet informative. Once I had done my warm-up, I drew my heart string for the Diva's challenge. (I had in mind a tile on the cover of "The Book of Zentangle".) Still a bit wobbly in the hand and wrist, I used a Pigma Pen 05 for an easier and more comfortable experience.

Before I sign off, just a tip I learned last weekend. I know some of us tanglers struggle with wrist pain. I learned that wrist and hand stretches, while beneficial, may not be enough to do the trick. Frequently, the wrist and hand pain are caused by tightness in the chest and shoulders, even back. Stretching the whole body gets everything loose!

Thank you for your visit! I wish you a pain-free and zenful week!

Diva's Challenge #323: Home

This week the Diva challenged us to "create a tile that reflects your home". Home. Hmm. As a former ex-pat, I identified with Josephine Baker: "J'ai deux amours. Mon pays et Paris." (Well, France, not just Paris.) Home was France, for 12 years, until I married Lar and settled here in the US, now 20 years ago. My bi-continental notion of home was making this week's challenge, well, a challenge.
Then I remembered my invitation to our neighborhood's Fourth of July parade, which began "E pluribus unum, out of many, one." Our tiny neighborhood of 62 homes, boasts neighbors from all over the world who live side by side and put on parades and games for the little ones,  potlucks and book clubs for the older ones and generally look out for each other. It is my home, as of almost a year now. On a larger scale, it represents the symbol of the US, the melting pot. And on a still larger scale, it is my dream for our planet.
I had been practicing Pea-nuckle, a tangle that had its own challenges for me. It seemed to fit the bill for this idea of home. Each stitch is a whole, yet dependent on other stitches to weave this cloth that binds us all together. I would have preferred that my tile not have a gaping hole in the middle of the stitches, but it is what it is.

Thanks for visiting! Have a thoughtful week.