Diva Challenge #221 - Beads of Courage

This weeks challenge is Beads of Courage. This wonderful program awards very ill children with a beautiful bead as an award for undergoing scary proceedures during their health care. Collecting these beads displays the courage of these brave children. The beads challenge can also be used as an inspiration to create a tribute. Last year my response to the Beads of Courage were for my Son who died of Cancer, This year my Tile is to honor Artoo, the bravest little boy I know, and my wife who passed away in February. A simple clean tile for a loving wife, mother, and friend. She would have liked this tile as she commented on every Tile, Tangle, and Pattern I drew. Losing two loved ones in one year is very tough. I love Zentangles, and the Diva Challenge community. I appreciate the support and encouragement I receive in the comments and art that each of you share each week.

Patterns: Stone Necklace and Holiday Ornaments bySuzzane McNeill,
LoLo by Hsin-Ya-Hsu, Printemps, Ribbons and Auras.

Thanks to everyone for your comments on last weeks Challenge.

To see other challenge tiles for this week's Challenge and past Diva challenges, visit "IamTheDivaCZT's" Blog site.

Diva Challenge #220 - UMT - All Boxed Up

The Diva Challenge this week is "Use My Tangle." Alice Hendon has a delightful pattern that she created called "All Boxed Up." This pattern, in its original form, is designed to use straight lines. Last weeks challenge was to use straight lines. I had to go curvey and more organic to regain my balance and re-align my pens creativity. I like this pattern a lot and I hope Alice will allow me to shift from her original design. Only "All Boxed Up" was used in this Tile along with auras and some ribbons. It was a fun Tile, and I really appreciate Alice's wonderful Pattern.

Thanks to everyone for your comments on last weeks Challenge.

To see other challenge tiles for this week's Challenge and past Diva challenges, visit "IamTheDivaCZT's" Blog site.

Diva Challenge #219 - Straight Lines

This weeks "IamTheDivaCZT" Challenges, is to use only straight lines. Drawing only straight lines is not so easy, fun, sure, easy, no. Trying to make some curves out of straight lines is possible if the lines are short. I like the movement this created.

I thought I would be cute, and try to draw Printemps, using straight lines. They turned out looking like a six-sided Emingle instead. Thus, everyone gets to choose their preference for what to call them.

The other patterns I used are: Hollibaugh, Ing, Paradox, Meer, Cubine, Stripes, my pattern Putki, and Arukas,

Thanks to everyone for your comments on last weeks Challenge.

To see other challenge tiles for this week's Challenge and past Diva challenges, visit "IamTheDivaCZT's" Blog site.

Diva Challenge #218 - White on Black on Found

Laura Harms, "I am The Diva Challenge" this week is to create a Tile using a Black Tile and draw using White materials. Laura gave us a great tip to get the best results using the Sakura White Gel pens. "Draw very slowly." It worked for me. I always got dots at the beginning and ends of my lines when drawing with the Gel pen, but going a lot slower gave a nice solid line which is dot free.

I used the Official Pattern, "Striping" for this challenge. I created a string using the Zenstone, drew the Striping pattern using the Sakura Whte Gel pen, then filled in the solid areas with the General's White Charcoal Pencil. A lesson well learned using the General's white pencil....Do Not Touch the Tile with your fingers. I did, and there are several places where the Chalk Pencil would not adhere to the Tile due to my clammy paws. I started holding the tile with a paper interface between fingers and Tile. It worked perfectly. I was worried about the holding of the Tile as the pencil chalk got closer to the edges and having the chalk wear off from finger contact. The paper interface took care of that possibility also. This Tile, though very simple, turned out better than I had expected.

Thanks to everyone who commented on last weeks Challenge. It is your delightful comments that keep me going.

To see other challenge tiles for this week's Challenge and past Diva challenges, visit "IamTheDivaCZT's" Blog site.

Late night Tangling.

A fun tangle, drawn while "Listening" to one of the remaining David Letterman Shows. Patterns used are, Pokeroot, Pokeleaf, Verdigogh, Shattack, Flux, Stripes, Stipple, and Pearls.

Tile: 3.5 square, Tiepolo Stock.

Sakura .01 pens, red, black.

My Grand Daughter, Ivory, (age 7) is Tangling with me as I post this Tile. She is going to town with Crescent Moon and Mooka Patterns. Here is her Tile. This is her first shot at shading and the use of  a smoothing stump.

All Zentangle® Pattern Practice.

Just practicin'.

This Tile is created with Zentangle official Patterns only. Fracus,, Paradox, PokeRoot, Mooka, and Tipple.

Diva Challenge #217 - Duo Tangle- Dex vs Bunzo

For this "I am The Diva" Challenge, we are asked to create a Tile using only two Patterns, "Dex, and Bunzo." Dex is a grid pattern, and Bunzo is free flowing pattern. It was fun letting Bunzo play around with a distorted limited-grid version of Dex.

A very happy Birthday to Laura Harms.

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful comments left on last weeks Challenge.

To see other challenge tiles for this week's Challenge and past Diva challenges, visit "IamTheDivaCZT's" Blog site.

Diva Challenge #216 - "Brella"

It has been a while since I last posted a Challenge. Life turned upside down when my wife, Linda, passed away last February. I want to thank each and every one of you who so graciously sent your heart-felt notes of condolence. They were wonderful and meant so much to our family.

Being the first Monday of the Month, our Challenge from Laura "The Diva" is the regular feature, "UMT", use my tangle. This weeks challenge pattern is by CZT®, Bunny Wright and is called, "Brella." Monday is May 4th and is Star Wars day. "May the 4th be with you." So a Star Wars Theme element is encouraged.

Patterns used: Brella, Niuroda, Knights Bridge, Star Map, Tipple, Stripes, Lava Juice, Mssst, and Flux

Materials used - all the usual suspects.

I had the awesome opportunity to catch up with two of our wonderful fellow contributors, Suzanne Durville, and Antonine Koval at the Zentangle® #19 CZT Seminar. It was a wonderful time and everyone there had a lot of fun, and enjoyed the outstanding hospitality of Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts along with their unparalleled Staff. It was a joy meeting these warm and wonderful people. The Seminar was beautifully run and concluded way to quickly. There were 109 students in attendance and 108 of them were gifted artists and tangled up a storm. I was definitely pedaling hard to stay afloat with all of these talented ladies. The mosaics created from the many projects were very impressive. Of all those students, I was the only fellow there. I enjoyed every minute of the Seminar. 

Blessings to everyone contributing to Laura's wonderful weekly challenge. You're all very special artists.

To see other challenge tiles for this week's Challenge and past Diva challenges, visit "IamTheDivaCZT's" Blog site.

Diva Challenge #205 - Year of the Goat

It's Monday, and Canada is celebrating "Family Day." That means a three day weekend for the Harms family. The weekly challenge will be on-line tomorrow, Tuesday. So my Tangling rhythm, being all set for a Monday Challenge, fell prey to one of my own choosing. I just received some Stamping ink pads. Never having used these materials before, I pounded a tile with a variety of colors in a kind of uncontrolled barrage. Obviously I got too intense and learned to use a scrap sheet of paper to eliminate that hot blast of full-blown ink color. I had fun with this Tile, despite its, "In you face," color pallet.

I learned about making stamps out of Mars Plastic erasers from the very learned members of the Intermountain Tanglers group. I need to gather some tools to carve these stamps. A single edge Razor Blade, and a Tooth Pick carved, poked and eeked out a pattern on a brand new Mars Plastic eraser for experimental purposes. That eraser carves so nicely. With practice and some sharp tools, one could sculpt anything out of this stuff.

I'm so glad that there are no mistakes in the Zentangle® lexicon. (Even though color only exists in ZIA's.) This art form truly "Rocks."

Patterns used on this crazy tripped-out Tile:

1- Mooka

2- N'Zeppel

3- Squid

4- Button

5- Flux

6- Fescu

7- Tipple

8- Starmap

Colors: Jim Holtz Distress Inks, Wild Honey, Mowed Lawn, Seedless Preserves, Fired Brick, and Salty Ocean. ( Are these not the most creative color names ever???)

Pen: (The usual Suspect.)  Sakura Pigma Micron, .01.

Tile: 3.5 x 3.5 Fabriano Tiepolo.

That brings us to the end of Monday, 

--------------------------------------------

Now it's Tuesday, Official Diva Challenge Day. 

This Thursday is the Chinese New Year. 2015 is the Year of the Goat. This weeks challenge is to do Goats. Not only is there a goat string in my tile, but all of the patterns begin with the letters in "Goat". I also included the Chinese Character which is related to the Goat. This was an interesting Challenge.

Patterns Used.

1- Gnarly, Barbara Finwall

2- Oke, Michele B.

3- Ahh, Zentangle®

4- Aura, Zentangle®

5- Athitzi, Seven

6- Tearce, Pam Pincha

7- Tipple,Zentangle®

8- TrentWith

Pens used: Sekura Pigma Micron, Black-.005 .01 .03 .05 .08, ,Red- .01

Color: Blick Studio Colored Pencils

Tile: 3.5" square Fabriano Tiepolo Stock.

Thanks to everyone who commented on last weeks Challenge. The challenges just keep getting better and better, and the submissions are fantastic, 

To see other challenge tiles for this week's Challenge and past Diva challenges, visit "IamTheDivaCZT's" Blog site.

Zendala or Zendalette?

The Exploration of Zendala's continues. This is a very low level Zendala. Perhaps it should be called a Zendalette. All Tiles finished are great practice even if the result is not within specs. This piece was colored with Water Color Pencils, but no water was applied, as I liked the pastel look. Completing the process may have invited chaos to prevail.  Here it is, for better or worse, and is included as a sample upon which future pieces may be gauged as an improvement or advancement in technique. (Or not.)

Patterns:
1-Poser
2-Ing
3-In a Pod (version thereof.)
4-Tipple
5-Trentwith

Tile: 3.5" Fabriano Tiepolo, Pen: Sakura Pigma Micron .01: Loen-Cornell Water Color Pencils.

Diva Challenge #204 - "Valentangle."

This weeks Diva Laura's Challenge is to get into the Valentine Spirit. This was a terrific challenge. I kept it clean and simple this week. Paradox is an Official Zentangle® Pattern, and one that I have had a hard time using. I spent an evening exploring Paradox in my sketchbook and could see it developing into its beautiful potential as I tried different approaches to this Pattern. It is looking very nice now, and is on my favorite list. My heart shaped pattern is Heartfully by Helen Williams. The first time I tried this pattern I was fascinated with its potential and beautiful flow and form. I drew it here without inking in the Grid Lines. This Pattern is also on my favorites list.

Patterns:
1- Paradox - Zentangle®
2- Heartfully - Helen Williams
3- Stripes - (?)

Tile: 3.5" square Fabriano Tiepolo Stock.

Thanks to everyone who commented on last weeks Challenge. I so much enjoy sharing our responses to Lauras Challenges and to each others art. You are all special friends and I appreciate each one of you.

To see other challenge tiles for this week's Challenge and past Diva challenges, visit "IamTheDivaCZT's" Blog site.

Exploring Water Color Pencil-Pre Color

Today I finally tried to pre-color a Tile with Water Color Pencils. Pens used Sakara Micron Pigma 01, black and red. Water Color Pencils by Loew Cornell.

Patterns: Finery Zen; Cruffle, Sandy Hunter: FeatherFall (?): Jetties,Zen: Msst, Zen, Athitzi, Seven; Onamato, Zen; Meer, Zen; Shattack, Zen, Stripes (?), XYP, Zen; Croon, Margaret Bremner.

This was a fun Tile to draw. I like the way the color turned out. It was interesting to ink on top of the color rather than Ink first, then color. The over all design is a bit simplistic and could have been carried a bit further. 

Zendala effort continues...

Zendalas are a wonderful challenge. I'm still practicing them on 3.5" square tiles, and having too much fun exploring these fabulous designs to stop long enough to create some 4 5/8" Zendala Tile Stock. Official Zentangle® Tiles are awesome, and that has been my focus, now the Zendala format is getting some attention, and just around the corner are inchies. The Bijou Tiles are beautiful tiles, and the new Opus Tiles open up yet another mind boggling adventure in larger sized Tangling experiences.

Here is my latest Zendala attempt. I like how it turned out.

My First Zendala

Well it was bound to happen. Dave is now into Zendalas. I have admired the wonderful Zendalas being created by so many of my Zentangle Communitee friends, that I knew it was inevitable that I, too, would eventually over came my fears concerning these awesome creations.

I am amazed at the number of folks who have also started Creating Zendalas at the same time. HeidiSue and Annette Carlo are a couple that come to mind. If you are also starting to explore these round wonders, please leave a comment about your experiences.

I have always been amazed at how these designs were constructed and kept so angularly correct. I've seen videos of folks folding paper to create a circular fan arrangement, then using the creases to project onto a tile. I got into one of my favorite graphic packages, Rhino, and created a Polar grid of radiating lines of various colors. Placing a tile in the middle of this pattern, it was a simple matter to project the lines across the tile. It worked like a charm. My biggest hurdle was overcome.

The four small squares near the center of the radiating lines, are cut out. A removable sticky tape is then placed on the back of the sheet, looking through the square holes. Turning the sheet back over to the front, the sticky side of the tape is facing out. These sticky patches will hold your tile while you lightly scribe the radiating lines with a ruler and pencil. I use the term lightly to mean, very very lightly and with a sharpened (or not) 2B pencil. Do not dent you tile, as a sharp 2B can get right in there, and create deep groves in you tile. (Especially if you are using the Official Fabriano Tiepolo stock as these tiles are very soft.) The beauty of this layout is that centering your tile is arbitary, and off center designs can easily be created. I used a regular 3.5 x 3.5 Tile as I didn't have any Circular Tiles. The circle you see on the pattern is 4 5/8ths inches in diameter so regular Circular Tiles can be centered exactly. The whole Polar Grid is roughly 7 1/2 inches on a side so it fits on an 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of paper. (My first attempt at using this tool it was printed out on regular copy paper and it worked great. It will be redone on some index or card stock for a more durable tool.) 

It is hard to see, but there are three colors used to create the lines in the Polar Grid. Red, Blue, and Green. Using only the Red Lines you create 8 grid sections. Using the Red and Blue Lines you create 16 sections. Using the Red, Blue, and Green lines yields 32 sections for the truly gifted and highly detail minded advanced, post-graduate Tanglers. 

Once your Tile has undergone the Polor Grid treatment, use any method, of your choosing, to create circles to create areas in which to tangle your design.

Now for the rather dubious and unremarkable first Zendala attempt is my moderately oriented Valentine's Day effort.

I'm looking forward to working with this Polar Grid Tool to make many more Zendalas. Isn't this artform the greatest endeavor since learning to ride your first bicycle?

Being a first edition of the Polar Grid Tool, there are refinements that I can already foresee as being helpful in making this tool more effective and easier to use. (It's pretty easy right now.)

Have fun my friends, and thanks to Rick and Maria for this wonderful Zentangle® experience.

Diva Challenge #203 - UMT- Athitzi- Seven.

This weeks Diva Challenge is the "Use My Tangle," challenge. Seven designed "Athitzi." It is a versatile pattern that can be used in many different design motifs.


Patterns:
1- Athitzi - Seven.
2- Jack's Stack - Texas Doxie Moma
3- ZenPlosion - ?
4- Lola - Sandy Hunter
5- Linq-um - David Hunter

Pens: Sigura Pigma Micron, .01: black,  Shading: Graphite pencil, 2B.
       
Tile: 3.5 x 3.5 inches, Fabriano Tiepolo stock.

Thanks to everyone who commented on last weeks Challenge. It is your wonderful comments that keep me going.

To see other challenge tiles for this week's Challenge and past Diva challenges, visit "IamTheDivaCZT's" Blog site.

Diva Challenge #202-Duo Tangle-Chebucto and Copada

This weeks Diva Challenge is to create a Tile using only two patterns. This is a Duo-Tangle Challenge. The two patterns are Chebucto and Copada. Both of these patterns are designed by Margaret Bremner, CZT.  The Chebucto pattern has the red sections in my Tile. The Copada pattern has the wishbone stucture.

Both of these patterns are brand new to me. The Copada pattern was a breeze to learn. It just flows. The Chebucto was more difficult for me. I found that I needed to create a new step-out that I could use. Once I got my ducks in a row, it was Tile Time. I really got into the Zen mode this week. Once this tile was started, there was no stopping. I could not believe that three hours had passed. It doesn't look like it should take that long. This was a great Challenge. Thanks, Diva Laura, and Margaret Bremner.

Patterns:
1- Chebucto-Margaret Bremner
2-Copada-Margaret Bremner

Pens: Sigura Pigma Micron, .01: black, red. Shading: Graphite pencil, 2B.
          Blick Studio Colored Pencils
Tile: 3.5 x 3.5 inches, Fabriano Tiepolo stock.

Thanks to everyone who commented on last weeks Challenge. It is wonderful to hear from you.

To see other challenge tiles for this week's Challenge and past Diva challenges, visit "IamTheDivaCZT's" Blog site.

Diva Challenge #201--Mobius Syndrome Awareness Day 2015

This week, Laura is challenging us to help raise awareness for Mobius Syndrome. An affliction that her beautiful son, Artoo, is afflicted with. I am using the Logo for the Mobius Syndrome Foundation, as a string, which Laura graciously provided us with.

My Patterns for this Challenge:
1- Artoo - a pattern designed by Laura Harms in tribute to her son, Artoo.
2- Crecent Moon - Zentangle
3- Various Emblishments

Pens: Sigura Pigma Micron, .01: black, purple, pink.
Blick Studio Colored Pencils.
Tile: 3.5 x 3.5 inches, Fabriano Tiepolo stock.

Thanks to everyone who commented on Challenge Tile #200 Bi-Zen-Tennial Celebration." It is wonderful to hear from you and I appreciate every ones sense of humor.

To see other challenge tiles for this week's Challenge and past Diva challenges, visit "IamTheDivaCZT's" Blog site.

Diva Challenge #200-Bi-Zen-Tennial Celebration.

This is a very special weekly challenge in the Laura Harms camp. She is celebrating her 200th Challenge. Congratulations Laura. I love your Blog, it is such a warm, welcoming place on the cold web landscape.

Our challenge is to make a Monotangle Tile using one of our favorite patterns with no borders and the number, 200, large or small somewhere on the Tile. One of my favorite patterns is Poser. As if you couldn't tell. It shows up in many of my challenge submissions of late. See if you can find where I hid the 200. If you don't see it at first, step back twenty yards and it will appear.

Pattern: Poser, by Beth Snoderly.
Tile: Tiepolo, 3.5" x 3.5"
Pen: Sakura Pigma Micron .01

Thanks to everyone who commented on Challenge Tile #199 "UMT Hitched." 

To see other challenge tiles for this week visit "IamTheDivaCZT's" Blog site.

Diva Challenge #199-UMT Use My Tangle- Hitched

This weeks challenge is "Use My Tangle." HeidiSue is the creator of this weeks challenge pattern. Congratulations HeidiSue, and thanks for the wonderful Pattern. This was a fun Challenge and HeidiSue's Pattern certainly offers many Tangleation possibilities.

HeidiSue's new Pattern "Hitched,"is now on TanglePattern.com. Congratulations HeidiSue.

My Tile this week uses the following Patterns.
1- Hitched-HeidiSue
2- Drupe
3- Poser
4- 'NZepelle
Tile: Fabriano Tiepolo 3.5" square.

Thanks to everyone who commented on Challenge Tile #198 "Simple." Amazing.

To see other challenge tiles for this week visit "IamTheDivaCZT's" Blog site.