Joey's Weekly Challenge #115 / Salad Days

Yesterday at lunch with my husband, I remarked that I had never been really clear on the expression "salad days". He whipped out the tablet and read: "Salad Days: noun. The period when one is young and inexperienced. The peak or heyday of something." Those two definitions, to my mind, are contradictory, and have always confused me. To my further puzzlement, I learned that this expression originated in 1606, in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, when the latter lamented her "salad days, When [she] was green in judgment, cold in blood"!
I digress.
Joey's challenge this week was inspired by her spring planting and the Roman numeral XV. The patterns all related to veggies: Chard, Corn Rows, Black-eyed Peas, Garlic Cloves and Seedlings. Pretty clever, that Joey!

Happy Planting, Joey! In closing, I "leaf" you with a picture of my salad days, circa 1992.

The Diva's Weekly Challenge #268: Ellish

Urbandictionary.com defines "ellish" as "a word used in the northeast for "great / cool / good". News to me! And also the newest tangle from the ZT mothership, as well as the focus of this week's Diva challenge. I wasn't particularly "drawn" to this tangle, but once I got started, I had an ellish time! I did leave off the bottom loop, which made it more 8ish, and even flipped one around for fun.

Thanks for visiting! See you next week!

PS: A second ellish! (It's starting to grow on me!!) This was done on Elephant Poop Paper. I love the feel of the microns on it. It's quite rough and very absorbent. Graphite doesn't really work on it, so I used some cross hatching and rounding for shading.

Joey's Weekly Challenge #114

My son-in-law messaged me on Sunday. "Thought you might find this interesting...You could always try doing a reverse of one of your zentangles." Glue gun stencils. I had a glue gun, and this looked like lots of fun. When I saw Joey's challenge on Monday, I knew I had to give it a try. I didn't have any ink spray, but I did have an old perfume bottle and a old pen nib that needed cleaning. I soaked the nib in the remaining perfume and watched a lovely teal appear.

(NB My attempts at Skye in the background!)It wasn't very dark, but I decided to continue. I'm rather pleased with the results. This might just be a first in the Zentangle community: a scented tile!!

Thanks for the inspiration, Drew!

And thanks to this week's visitors for stopping by! Have a wonderful week!

Back for Black!

I can hardly believe it's been over a month since my last post! With your permission, I'd like to share what I've been doing instead of blogging!

On April 24, I took off for a 10-day visit with my best girl friend, who lives in Normandy. She was about to celebrate an important (we'll leave it at that!) birthday, and I wanted to join her. She treated me to road trips to Rouen, Etretat, Les Andelys, Honfleur and Monet's house and garden in Giverny.

I returned to my beloved Lar on May 4, and a few days after, enjoyed  a visit from my dear English friend, Sonia, who now lives in Atlanta. It was quick, but delightful!

On May 14, my daughter graduated with her degree in web development.(Here's the card I made with her favorite quote.)

And on May 15, I started a new series of "Introduction to Zentangle" classes at our local library.

Whew. I rarely have that much going on at once!!! Interesting how I am easily overwhelmed now that I've retired!

Any hoos, I have been trying to get back into my Zentangle world. There were a few drawings in airports, and a couple to help me "digest" everything I'd seen in Normandy, but I'm still feeling a little rusty!!

The Diva's Weekly Challenge #268--"A bit-a-black"--was my first endeavor to pick up where we left off! I chose to use the demo tiles I made for my class last Sunday. (Apologies for the poor resolution. My scanner apparently reset itself to 60 dpi while I was away, and I just now caught it.)

Before:

After:

The next day, I decided to use the same string and tangles on a Strathmore black tile. I wanted to try my new white Uni-ball Signo, which Margret Bremner recommends for a hotter, more opaque white than the Gelly Roll.

By the way, you have probably seen Margret's new tangle "Skye", which is based on a Celtic knot pattern. It is GORGEOUS, and I have been desperately trying to learn it for the past 5 days!! Here's my latest attempt, which I had to sketch in pencil first :( 

Well, it's a start! 
So good to see you again! Thanks for stopping by, and for indulging me in this lengthy return to our wonderful Zentangle community. Have a wonderful week!

Joey's Weekly Challenge: VIII

Another "busy" week. April is National Jazz Month. Before you say, "So?", let me explain. I love music--classical, opera, rock, folk, world, you name it!--but jazz? Jazz is one of my vital organs. Durham, my city, is fortunate to have an incredible local jazz station, numerous jazz venues, 3 university jazz studies programs and more. Saturday last, Lar and I heard the Heart of Carolina Jazz Orchestra, with the amazing Stephen Anderson. Yesterday, we caught a free (!) show at the University of North Carolina with guest artist Bobby Floyd on a Hammond organ. Tonight, you'll find us at the Sax Appeal concert with the outstanding North Carolina Central University Jazz Ensemble from the UK! (Last night, Mary Stallings headlined there.) April in North Carolina is good for spring flowers, especially azaleas, and jazz festivals.

All this just to say that I finally sat down this morning to try to meet Joey's requirements for this week. As I am running low on white tiles, I took a crazy colored one and, colored pencils in hand, intensified the color. Out came my black 08 micron, just to embolden things a bit, and voilà. (The funky crescent moon came out of the Zentangle Primer. I had never thought to use triangles instead of half moons. Now that I have, I'm thinking it may be another pattern.  But this girl's stickin' to her story.)

Hope your week is filled with springtime or autumnal beauty and the music that makes you vibrate!  If you've got a moment, I'd love to hear what that is! If you need some new tunes, click on the links above.

The Diva's Weekly Challenge #263: Globular Grid

A globular grid??? This week, the Diva almost scared me away!!!! But then I remembered all the things that I've learned from her and other amazing artists. "Anything is possible, one stroke at a time." I thank her for teaching me how to make a globular grid. (Mine is pretty wonky, but that's okay!) When I started to fill it in, I saw all these little bits of different shapes and sizes and thought, "This might be an opportunity to try the new concept of reticula and fragments, as put forth by Rick and Maria in the new Zentangle Primer." I see this as mosaic work, as opposed to "color" work. (Maria says that tangles are like colors, right? Well, for me, the reticula and fragments are like little bits of crockery and tiles in a mosaic.)
If that doesn't make a bit of sense, no worries. Here's the finished product.

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be making the rounds of your blogs (a little late!) on this rainy Tuesday and look forward to seeing your work!

Joey's Weekly Challenge #107

Waiting to see my doctor this morning, I somewhat self-consciously pulled out my small sketchbook and thought I'd try Joey's Roman numeral VII challenge. I was almost finished with my Eye-Wa, Bubblz and Purk when I heard, "Ms. Sparrow?" Once in the examination room, with a proper desk, I decided to add in Gotcha, which I was practicing a few days ago. A pat on the back: I had almost finished!

When I got back home, I decided to check Joey's challenge again. Oops. I had completely forgotten to include her requested tangles.
Nipa, which I had never used, happened to fit in with what I had already done.
Do you ever tangle in waiting rooms?
Thanks for stopping by! And thanks for the many well wishes for our house! The first company came today to do an estimate. They assured me that we would need at least two good rains before we're sleeping with the fishes ;)

Diva's Weekly Challenge # 262

This week's Diva Challenge was to use Fassett, a fairly easy triangle tangle that looks really architectural when you finish. I sat down to draw while my husband was on the phone trying to save our house from washing down the hill into the creek. I knew this was really stressful for him, so I handed him an albeit fake tile and a ballpoint pen. The Good Wife. I totally zenned out with the blue ink on the renaissance Zendala tile. And I think our house is going to be okay!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!

Joey's Weekly Challenge #106

Roman Numeral VI this week was our string for Joey's Challenge, with a special request to use the top and bottom bits. This frame-like space drew me back to the cover of the Zentangle Primer, volume 1, where Maria tamed Pokeleaf into a band. (I just love studying her work, don't you?) My other inspiration came from the Mosaic app, which I mentioned briefly last week. If you're not yet familiar with it, let me recommend it for the following reasons:

• It connects you to the Zentangle universe that exists beyond blogs. You'll meet so many gifted artists that you may have never seen online, including lots of Certified Zentangle Teachers (CZTs).
• Everyone--Maria, Rick, the Diva and all your favorite tanglers--meets up in ONE place. No need to visit different websites to stay connected.
• This social media is supportive and appreciative. You can "appreciate" artists and receive notifications when they've posted new tiles. You can appreciate tiles, as well, and, by doing so, create your personal mosaics, à la Pinterest boards. You can leave comments, too. You can search in so many helpful ways: by pattern, by medium, by artist, by geographic area, by style, by subject (for example, Diva challenges).....
• If you're using the Primer, you can post your work for the exercises in each chapter and see what others did. It's like being in a global classroom!
• Zentangle HQ posts regular tips to take you further in your journey.

A few days ago, Maria posted a tip that encouraged us to use graphite, or, as she calls it, "the new black". I elected to use graphite for my Joey tile. I used my favorite pencil--an old number 2 pencil that I found when I was teaching middle school. (I was always on the look out for wayward pencils to replenish the pencil bucket in my classroom!) I don't know what it is, but this pencil feels sooooo good in my hand, and is soft enough to melt into the paper when I blend it, without getting muddy. Do you have a favorite pencil, or pen? Or perhaps an "unofficial" Zentangle tool?

Thank you, Maria! Thank you, favorite pencil! And thank all of you for stopping by! See you next week!

The Diva's Weekly Challenge #261: Stacked

When I first saw "stacked" in this week's Diva challenge, by guest blogger Jane Reiter, I was thinking of stacked tangles. When I saw the stacked papers, I thought, "Whoa! This may be out of my league!"
But then it all came together, with leftover card stock from my French teacher days and Moonlight Gelly Rolls. I had fun doing the line work, "one stroke at a time." The final result reminds me of a Day of the Dead fiesta with the papel picado. I've decided to send it to an 11-year old friend in El Salvador who wants to be an artist. I thought he'd have fun deconstructing it!)

Thanks for your visit! Comments are always welcome! Have a colorful week!

Post #101: Joey and the Diva double feature

It's Friday??? Where has the week gone? I guess quite a bit of my waking hours were spent outdoors in the warm weather we've been having here in North Carolina. My race against the clock has begun: can I do my garden spring cleaning before the mosquitoes, the pollen and the weeds force me to flee? This week, I felt quite confident, until this morning, when I awoke to find that that familiar yellow- green film had covered my world. Ugh. Pollen time in the south. (Does this happen to everyone? I never saw it as much when I lived in France.)
After a quick trip to do some food shopping, I came back home and decided to hunker down, Zentangle style. With itchy, swollen eyes and runny nose, I grabbed the pollen-est colored tile I could find for Joey's High Five challenge. (That was sooo clever, Joey!) Hopefully, it won't make you sneeze!

Earlier this week, I had done the Diva's challenge with Shattuck as part of my Zentangle Primer exercises for Lesson 2. If I may, I'd like to recommend that you get your hands on a copy ASAP. Here's why:

• to re-discover the magic of the basics and all the possibilities they offer.
• to slow down,focus on making deliberate strokes and shading in different ways to change the way a tangle looks.
• to learn how the basic tangles can be used in an infinite number of tangleations. For example, in lesson 1, with 4 different tangles, you'll get almost 30 different patterns.
• to discover the new Zentangle concept of reticulata and fragments. This will blow your mind. And I'm not going to say anything else.
• to admire the amazing work of Maria, Rick and Molly.

I've also purchased the new Zentangle Mosaic app. I highly recommend it, too, and will speak more about it in an upcoming post. I don't want to test your patience any more than I already have, especially since this is my 101st post and I value my readers!

Thanks, as always, for visiting! Have a w o n d e r f u l week!

For our Belgian friends

Today, our hearts were saddened by the terrible news from Brussels. As I tangled, I thought of friends there, and of my fellow CZTs in Belgium: Rita, Jella, Francine and Karin. Tink, by Carole Ohl, reminded me of the Atomium.

Peace and hope to all.

The Week in Review

I hope my title won't scare you away, but this week was special. I contemplated keeping it private, but you are my Zentangle family, so I thought I'd share. That's just what we do, isn't it?!
On Tuesday, my only child, Gabrielle, married her soulmate, Drew. (Pictures will follow in a later post!) They chose a simple, very private ceremony, so that it would truly be their day. (I heartily approved, since Lar and I had done the same for our wedding day.) They will have a family celebration later this year, after Gabrielle finishes her degree in web development. (She is also busy starting her own company right now!)
Lar and I had lunch with the happy couple on Monday. I offered them a sentimental gift: a piece of stained glass that my dad had given my mom, with the inscription "Je t'aime plus qu'hier et moins que demain." ("I love you more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.") This had captivated my attention as a child every time the sun shone through it. So I took it off my window sill and wrapped it up. I wanted to give something that was part of Lar's and my wedding, so I took a button from my antique wedding dress, sewed it on a Bijou tile I had done, and slipped it into the wrapping.

On Tuesday, I was afloat somewhere in the clouds. Don't ask me what I did, other than check my phone for pictures!

Yesterday, I finally landed and decided to look at the challenges. Joey used a Roman numeral IV for the string, and suggested we use "4" tangles. The Diva requested green, in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. Hmm. Challenging! I decided to combine them, and that's probably where my struggles began! Add to that the fact that I've had a hankering to use color on Renaissance tiles, after trying a blue one on Sunday.

Thus it began. Roman numeral IV, green and a Renaissance tile. I haven't used any gems for a while, so I fit in two triangular ones. I wanted some kind of metallic pattern, so I thought about the crystalline triangles of Phroz and added Fassett, then Tripoli. Then I realized I hadn't included Joey's "4" tangles! 4Mom became an edge of Phroz. Yikes. I started feeling lost, so I added some layered ink auras and white ink Tripoli. It still felt so disjunct as a whole, so I added a white aura to try to pull it all together. Still not happy, I went for the zenstone and my emery board. This morning, I was about to scan it and decided to add a third round stone, then soften it with more zenstone. Then, basta! Not "Eureka!" Just, "Basta!"

If anyone knows where I can study composition, please advise!

Perhaps the beauty of this tile for me is not in the final result, but in the adventure of trying new things on a Renaissance tile. As I worked, I noticed the really soft, fuzzy feel of the tile. I wish we had a Feel the Fuzzy app so I could share!

Thanks so much for visiting, and indulging me in this lengthy post! Have a wonderful week! And Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Happy International Women's Day!

To all of my female friends, happy Women's Day! You are all divas in my book, in the Latin sense of the word!
This week it seems that I am surrounded by new and challenging tangles! This afternoon, rather than enjoying the great outdoors (and mosquitos--already!), I took my sketchbook and had a go at Namody, by Simone Menzel, and Rautyflex, by Kathrin Bendel. I managed to stay focused for both! (I am convinced that I "caught" ADD from teaching middle school for 20 + years!!! But I digress...)
I'm not quite ready to show my Namody efforts, but here's my Diva #258. I really messed up my first tile when I made the diagonals go the wrong way, but once I realized my mistake--and this was indeed a mistake, not an oops or an experiment!--I started a new tile and...voilà!

I liked the bold op art look of Buttercup and Rautyflex, and left them unshaded. Pokeroot and Pokeleaf satisfied my organic fix.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and for sharing this common passion that is Zentangle! Have a wonderful week!