Diva's Weekly Challenge #387: HaWy

I've always admired Holly Atwater's work. Her recent tangle, HaWy, reminds me of inlaid wood and quilt patterns. Simply stunning.
Trying to replicate HaWy gave me some not so stunning results. Drawing an offset dot grid, the first step, had me in a less than Zen state! Connecting the dots, once I saw Holly's tips, was a pleasure. High focus, indeed, but doable. But that dot grid!!! I resorted to printing out an offset grid, just to get me started with the pattern. After several practice rounds, I was ready to try it sans template. (I confess to using a straight edge to help me keep everything in line. ) On the first tile, I had the dots right, and then I drew the asterisks in the wrong places! So I took my white paint pen and inked over them. Deep breath. Start over. The result left something to be desired! I really wanted to get the feel of the inlaid wood and quilt patterns, so I took another piece of cardboard. Deep breath. Begin again.

A good lesson to remember in life: Deep breath. Try again.

Thanks for your visit! Wishing you a peaceful, patient week.

Diva's Weekly Challenge #386: Pick up where you left off

Isn't our Zentangle community wonderful, in so many ways? We come from different cultures,  different languages, different backgrounds, different age groups, different everythings! And yet we all love this relaxing and fun method of creating beautiful images. This week's Diva challenge--to pick up a tile that you never finished--pointed to one of the differences I see in how we practice the Zentangle method. Some tanglers have a pile of tiles that they never finished. Some don't! I fall into the latter category. I enjoy sitting down to draw, and finishing the tile. I may not be excited about every one, and I may go back and add something later, but I have a sense of "done". But there was this one 5 x 7 inch piece of gray card board, the side of a cracker box, with some blue ink orbs that had been sitting on my desk for a couple months.
And here's what became of it:

Blue Micron 01, Prismacolors, white Gelly Roll on 5x7 recycled cardboard

This exercise has reminded me that, with a little love and patience, we can take something that might be discarded and transform it into something to appreciate. Just like the burl, a cancer-like growth in trees, may look ugly to us. When the tree is cut into boards, it has a beautiful pattern.  There are things in my life that seem ugly and undesirable, but I believe that I can find a gift in them if I stay open to that possibility. 

Appreciated on a walk earlier this week

Is there something in your life that hides a gift underneath an unpleasant exterior?

Thanks for stopping by! I wish you a peaceful and insightful week.