Diva Challenge ~ Duotangle AuraKnot and Mooka

Here is my Diva challenge tile featuring Auraknot and Mooka.  I decided to tangle a tan Renaissance tile.  This one was a challenge indeed. Like the Diva, I also have a love/hate relationship with Mooka. It boggles my mind. However, tangling all those Auraknots was very meditative and isn't that what it's all about? Keep on tangling everyone!

Diva Challenge ~ UMT

Hello Tanglers!  This week the Diva created a new tangle for the challenge.  It's a good one and you can see it and read about it here.

This week I played around with some watercolor pencils that a friend of mine dug out of her art supply stash.  I  decided instead of discarding the tile I played on, I would use it for the challenge and use the Diva's new tangle as a resting spot for the watercolor pencil "Purk" experiment.  Why not?

Happy tangling everyone, and Happy Mother's Day to all.

Diva Challenge ~ Camelia

Hello Tanglers! In response to this week's Diva Zentangle Challenge I have a couple offerings using the tangle Camelia.  If you would like to see steps to this tangle and the beautiful Zentangles created by Ann Marks, an art teacher in Victoria, Australia,  here is her blog. 

As easy as it may have been for others, this tangle was difficult for me for some reason. I really enjoyed using it on the Zendala even though I made a mistake......repeat after me: "there are no mistakes in Zentangle, there are no mistakes in Zentangle".  As a CZT I always say that in all my classes, so there you go.


I don't always show my ZT tiles to my husband, but he had some great feedback on these.  He thought the Zendala looked "flowery" and the tan tile looks like "pizza and something".  Maybe he's right! 

Happy Tangling!

Diva Challenge ~ Earth Day

Hello Tanglers and Happy Earth Day!  You guessed it, Earth Day is the theme for the Diva Challenge this week.  Or Earth Amanda Day as the Diva's son Chewie calls it.  Whatever you like to call it, it's a wonderful idea to celebrate taking care of the earth and appreciating all its beauty.  I made a couple tiles with organic-ish tangles for Earth Day.   I've been loving the more flowy curvy tangles lately and taking a break from the more grid based tangles. It's a bit of a different feeling tangling these and I like it!  Anybody else going through an organic phase?

Diva Challenge ~ Rixty

I've been having fun with wonderful tangle Rixty ever since it was first introduced so here are some  of the tiles I've made.  Some scanned a bit crooked, some shaded, some not.  Most of all I love Rixty because there is no end to what you can do with it and I feel like I've just scratched the surface so far.  In any case, here are my Rixty tiles, one through five.  And here is the link to the Diva Challenge so you can take a look at all the incredible Rixty entries.  It is also extra special that Maria created this tangle to honor her awesome partner and Zentangle co-founder, Rick.

Diva Challenge ~ Initially yours

Hello Tanglers!  Yay, the Diva chose an relatively easy challenge for this week.  You can see the Diva Challenge here  .  The challenge is to use your initials as your string.  My initials are KW and I did remember to snap a picture of the tile while it just had the string on it:

And, here is my tile after I tangled it while sitting outside on a lovely spring afternoon.  This was one of those tiles where you say, am I done yet?  I didn't really have a plan when I started, but I expected that I would tangle away until you couldn't easily tell that the string was my initials. But, I decided, along with some help from my tangling companion, that it was just done, simple as that.

Happy Tangling everyone and enjoy your own Zentangle journey~

CBS SUNDAY MORNING SHOW

I am happily participating in the Zentangle community effort to encourage this TV show to do a feature on Zentangle.  Today, April 1st, (no foolin'!) I will send in my envelope and the Zentangle card I made from a Zendala.  I can only imagine how much fun it will be for the person who sorts the mail at CBS to receive all the Zentangle goodness coming their way!

WHITE ON BLACK -- DAVISVILLE MIDDLE SCHOOL

The Zentangle Club at Davisville Middle School chose tangling with white pens on black tiles for our second series of classes. We had a great time tangling with white Sakura Gelly Roll pens on black Zentangle tiles, learning new tangles along the way, including the brand new "Rixty". We also had a chance to talk about music preferences for tangling and using white charcoal or white pencils for shading.   On day 3 when we tangled black Zendalas, students chose from a variety of pre-strung or unstrung Zendalas and used tangles of their own choosing.

  All in all a great group of creative and curious kids.  Breathe, Smile, Relax:)  Thank you for the chance to teach Zentangle!

DIVA CHALLENGE DUO-TANGLE CRESCENT MOON AND DIVA DANCE

As many Zentangle enthusiasts know, the Diva Challenge is an opportunity to create a Zentangle using the particular directions of the Diva herself in a given week.  So this week's challenge is to create a duotangle or a Zentangle using two tangles only.  In this case, Crescent Moon and Diva Dance.  I was glad to see these two fun tangles in the challenge and happy to have had a chance to participate. I am not sure how I feel about this tile, as sometimes happens, but I decided, in the true spirit of Zentangle and Diva Challenges to post it anyway.

BeTangled, everyone, and have a good day~

Cumberland Public Library - Zendala Class

With a good sized group, and many returnees from the class in the fall, we had a great Zendala class at Cumberland Public Library on Saturday.  First, we warmed up with an introductory tile with Crescent Moon, Purk, Yincut, and Keenees.

Then we learned several more new tangles including Zander, Paradox, Pepper, Printemps and Keeko.  From there the class participants created Zendalas using their choice of tangles from any of those we learned in this class or in the class in the fall. 

Although time did not permit completion, the Zendalas will be finished at home and you can see how lovely they are and will be.  Many of the students asked if we can have another class and I am certainly game.  It was suggested that the next class be white on black, a favorite of mine.  This is a great group of tanglers and I am more than happy to return to Cumberland Library as soon as we can schedule it.  I will try to post the date on this blog.

Davisville Middle School - Zentangle Club Zendalas

In our third meeting of the Zentangle Club at Davisville Middle School, the students created Zendalas using their own choice of tangles from any of the three sessions we had.  Some had to take time for homework and finish later, but as you can see, the results speak for themselves.  It was a pleasure to work with this group and see the creativity and results of the time spent tangling.

Zentangle Club -- Davisville Middle School -- Part 2

Today was to have been meeting number 3 for our Zentangle Club, but, once again, we have a snow day.  So, instead of meeting 3 weeks in a row we are meeting every other week.  Oh well, New England winters are what they are. 

Our second meeting included a review of the tangles and Zentangle language from the first week.  We talked about "no mistakes" and how "anything is possible one stroke at a time".  Even though two weeks had passed the students were able to recall all 7 tangles from the first meeting and also much of the information we covered.

The first thing we did was put together a Zentangle ensemble (puzzle) as a group exercise.  Next, everyone created a tile as we learned the following tangles:  PURK, KNIGHTSBRIDGE, RAIN, and KEENEES.  The students are wonderful tanglers and eager to learn.
Next meeting we'll learn some new tangles and then the students will create Zendalas using their choice of all the tangles we've learned so far.  I can't wait to see what they create.  Let's hope no more snow days.

Zentangle Club Davisville Middle School

Here is a picture of the first tiles created by the Zentangle Club students at Davisville Middle School.
For the first tile, we learned the following tangles:

Crescent Moon, Tipple, Static, and Florz.

It was really interesting to see how everybody has their own style and interpretation.

We also had a short time at the end and we used it to do a pass-around tile with group participation and a chance to learn a few more tangles.  These are lighter looking and have less contrast but it was a way to work together by passing the tile to the person next to us after completing the tangle in the  string section.  These tiles include the tangles: Printemps, Keeko, and Msssst.

The students have already chosen the tangles they want to learn next time, and we will be making Zendalas in our third session.

Here are a couple white on black Zendalas that I made recently:

Looking forward to more fun with the enthusiastic Zentangle Club!

CHALLENGE- IT'S A BUG'S LIFE

For the weekly Zentangle Challenge, Laura, at "I am the Diva", shared a fantastic stop-action animation video and challenges her followers to create a Zentangle inspired by the video.  Color, bugs, and nature inspiration are all encouraged.
Probably the most challenging part for me was including a little bug, since I usually stick with the non-representational aspect of making tangles.  This was fun, using some favorite "mac and cheese" standby tangles.  Anybody else enjoying their "mac and cheese" tangles lately?  You know, the ones you can tangle without thinking too much.

Happy Tangling everyone!

Great Zentangle Class at Cumberland Public Library

A great group of enthusiastic people took a beginner's Zentangle class on 11/9.
The mosaics made up of the students' tiles speak for themselves.  We had a nice group of men, women and a few kids too.

Many thanks to the library staff for the warm welcome and wonderful setup for the class.  Happy tangling everyone!

CHALLENGE ~ YEAR OF THE SNAKE

So this week, the Diva Challenge celebrates Chinese New Year and the Year of the Snake.  My "snake" in the top tile is pretty abstract, but you can -- hopefully -- imagine a little snake!

The second and third tiles are ones I tangled for the previous week's challenge using Margaret Bremner's wonderful tangle, Dansk.  This is a fabulously fun tangle and if you haven't seen the step out instructions they are here.  I had no time to post, as here in New England, we were just a wee bit distracted by a wild blizzard.  We had snow, thunder snow (!), high winds, trees and branches down, and, many people were without power for quite some time.  It makes you appreciate the things we take for granted, like electricity and heat!

Happy Tangling, one and all and thanks for the feedback!

Weekly Challenge #104: String Theory v. XXIII - TanglePatterns String #003"

This week's Diva Challenge is to use this string to create your Zentangle tile or Zentangle Inspired Art.  I made two attempts, with and without border,  and definitely am more pleased with the second tile than the first.  Nevertheless I really am grateful for Diva's dedication to maintaining this challenge, especially with everything she has on her plate.  Thanks Laura, and Happy Tangling!  And thanks to everyone who commented on last week's post.  Feedback is always appreciated.

Weekly Challenge #103: "String Theory v.XXII - Moebius Syndrome Awareness"

The Diva's Weekly Challenge is more than just a fun exercise for Zentangle enthusiasts.  It is a community where tanglers share their art, and also get to know each other....one stroke at a time. The Diva aka Laura is also a mom who shares her heart with her readers and has a son with Moebius Syndrome.  She's doing her part to spread awareness about the disorder and this week's challenge is to use the symbol in your Zentangle art.  Mine both might look a bit more like a pretzels, but in keeping with the challenge, here goes anyway:)  The round Zendala is on lavender paper, which I used to try to incorporate purple, the color for MSAD.

Happy tangling~

Diva Challenge #101 UMT v.XI: "Phicops"

Happy days are here again.  The Diva Challenge is back from the holidays and the UMT (use my tangle), chosen for the challenge is "Phicops", a really interesting tangle that B-rad, Diva's husband, created.  The post about this challenge is really cool as it explains the origin of the tangle and also has Laura's (aka Diva's) reflections about passing the 100 challenge milestone. 

Phicops might seem a little tricky at first, but once you practice, it is well worth the effort for the interesting Zentangles you can make using this tangle.  I'm sharing three tiles  with Phicops and the first one happened to come out like a butterfly, although at first that was not my intention:)  The second is a monotangle with Phicops, and third one was a chance to use the new tangle with a few old and new favorites.  And, then I also decided to share another recent tile.  Happy Tangling~

Phicops, Diva Dance, Tipple, random N'Zeppel

NINETY-NINE.... ONE HUNDRED... Dancing Divas!

This week we celebrate the 100th weekly "I am the Diva" Zentangle Challenge with a special new tangle.  Introduced and offered by Zentangle founders, Rick and Maria, the Diva Dance is pure fun.  Check it out yourself here.   I used the tile I started for last week's challenge with the looped string.  I ran out of time to complete it for last week, so I decided to combine efforts on this go-round.  Sort of like multitasking I guess. 

So today, December 20, the Diva Challenge is two years old, and guess what?  So is our wonderful chocolate lab, Mocha.We got Mocha as a little puppy in Feb 2011 on the day my mother-in-law passed away.  He turned out to be the best therapy in the world for our family and the sweetest darn doggie around. Here is his picture.

Happy Birthday Mocha!

Finally, let me take this moment to wish everyone peace and love and the comfort of family and friends during this holiday season and, as always, happy tangling everyone!