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, 

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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.