Starting about 2.30 this morning--a bad case of insomnia resulted in this tile.  And then once I began, I couldn't stop tangling as the day wore on.

Yesterday I finished unpacking the house (after "only" ten months, 4-5 of which I was useless because of the broken wrist.  But still! 

I next need to hang pictures, and organize supplies and furniture in my studio.  But it feels fabulous to be unpacked finally, and to know in general where things are.

I haven't been allowing myself to indulge in art in order to get the house stuff done.  But starting with the above tile--and now that I know where most of my art supplies are--I couldn't help myself today.  So I went a little nuts.

WHEN A GOOD TILE GOES BAD...

Oh my, the above tile was meant to be a practice of the Delft technique.  But it fell apart when I thought I'd use Copic Markers (about which I clearly know nothing!) to shade a bit under the bands.  The result:  uneven shading and a "hard line"--I tried to save it with graphite and a tortillion, but really it was a hot mess. 

But hey.  No fail, no learn, right?  So I'm posting it. 

JUST KEEP ON GOING...
Once I finished that one I just couldn't stop, and did this one (I left off the Copics until I learn more about them).  Enjoying the blue-and-white a lot.

And if that wasn't enough, I indulged myself in some glitter markers that were recommended by an artist friend (see her review of them here):

Have not tried these yet but will certainly report back when I do.  They are very inexpensive (About $10 or so for all these)--and the package even arrives with refills.
You can see the refills above the markers.  I got these on amazon.

Tomorrow I have to "stuff the art genie back in the bottle" in order to get some required tasks done...and I have to keep her there for awhile, probably.  But today was a total indulgence.

Following Maria's instructions and working with the small Bijou tiles from the Zentangle® folks' Project Pack 02 resulted in this tile.  Yes, it's a mash of half a black Bijou tile and half a tan Bijou tile, using the tangle Mollygon.  I used a black Micron PN pen, graphite, an 08 White Gellyroll pen, and a White General's Chalk Pencil. Such  fun to do!

My second tile.  Same type of mashup as above, same materials used.  The tangle here has been named by a few people over the years but I know it as Curtinz by Kate LaMontaigne..

 Of course, it was immediately obvious that one could put the 2 tiles ( = 2 Fragments) together and turn them different ways to achieve different effects.  This was one way.

Now, of course, I had to make a couple of additional tiles--I wanted to make 4 and I had just enough supplies to do so.  Here was tile #3.

Same materials used.  This tangle is a seldom-used one called Sedgling.  I wonder why it has been forgotten.  I like it a lot and think I'll be using it more often.

The last tile I did was based on the tangle Toodles.  I tried experimenting with Toodles and did 2 versions of it, one a kind of "Pokeroot-based" version and the other a kind of "Pokeleaf-based" version, mixing them together.

And now to put all four fragments together.  This is where turning the four fragments created different effects.  I'll spare you all the variations and limit it to just two.  Here's the first mosaic with the black halves in the center:

...And then, just by turning the tiles, here's another effect with the light halves in the center.  This is the power of working with fragments.  Very fun indeed. 

I'm enjoying the wonky look.  I'll definitely want to do a few more of these.

The thing about Zentangle® is that you never know where it's going to take you.  Much like life.  I began this tile 2-3 years ago--it didn't look anything like what you see here--and left it totally unfinished.  Abandoned.  I re-discovered it two days ago while unpacking (yes, I am still unpacking after 9 months of being here) and somehow just couldn't throw it out, though I was tempted.  It stared at me and challenged me to reconstruct it or make it work in some way.

Basically it began life as a black tile which had been roughly shaded sort-of-white with the use of a soapstone, and then I think I had used some type of tool to see if I could score the tangle "Tripoli" into the soapstone background.  It didn't work and I loathed the look of it.  So put it away.  I find it hard to believe that I didn't just toss it.

I finished it today in a very fast, sloppy way--because it was "just an experiment"--and now I rather like it.  It has a pastel or oil paint-y look to it.  I completely ignored the unpleasant beginning and re-built the entire concept.

This reminds me of something I learned in my childhood:  A family member once accused me of "never finishing anything you start."  I thought about it for awhile,  got mad, and then decided she was right.  So I made a major effort over the next few months to go around and finish all my unfinished projects.  I must have been about ten, and I remember the resulting satisfaction.  Although I hadn't liked the criticism, it spurred me to develop discipline.

Since then, it's rare for me to put something away unfinished.  If anything, I've gone to the opposite extreme--I sometimes finish things immediately that might benefit from a longer pause.

(I do have one quilt that has been "paused" for 40 years.  Er...it may be time to get back to that one!)

The other tile I did today was this one below.  I'll put the completed tile first and then include two photos of the very beginning and the middle stages.  (I know the tile background looks different in the photos but it's all the same tile--just different lighting)

Some things--like unpacking--take me longer to finish, because I just don't like doing them.  But eventually, that learned discipline from childhood takes over and they do get done.  It just takes me 50 times longer to get to the finish line than it does if I enjoy what I'm doing.

As a non-holiday celebrator, I appreciate this quiet time of year (especially tonight, Christmas Eve, and tomorrow) and always give myself permission to do whatever the heck I feel like doing for a couple of days.

That does not include unpacking.

It does include reading, drawing, tangling, and general lollygagging. 

Happy Holidays to all, and to all a good night!

To my mind, tonight is Solstice Night.  The longest night.

Winter Solstice is  late morning tomorrow.

When I sat down to tangle at sunset today, it didn't dawn on me just how much the result might express the season.  In retrospect, this was certainly a Solstice Tangle.  As I worked, I was aware of the gathering dark, and deep silence. 

May all beings be safe. 
May all beings know peace. 
May we all celebrate the return of the Light tomorrow.

.
In the bleak mid-winter    
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,    
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,    
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter    
Long ago.

--Christina Rosetti

Continuing on today with my drawing meditation (aka Zentangle®).  I began tangling my journal cover last night.  At first I thought I was done.  Here is the first version.

Don't ask me to name all those tangles off the top of my head.  I used a Micron 01 black, graphite, and a white chalk pencil on this.

But I knew I would need to seal the cover somehow.  Otherwise, the two pencils (white and black) would smudge and wear off.  So today I dug out the Mod Podge for Paper, since I wasn't sure what else to use.  Meanwhile, in meditation this morning, it came to me that I wanted to add a tangle (created by me, no name yet) on the right hand part of the cover.  So I did.  Then I put 3 layers of Mod Podge on the cover, waiting at least a half hour between each.  I hope this works!  It seems duller (I used Matte Mod Podge) but then I also photographed it in a different light from yesterday, so it's hard to tell.  Here's the finished journal cover.

Yup, big difference in light as the teal color on the binding of the first photo is accurate and it looks brown here.  I think I like this.

So tonight I finished off the day with this tangle on the theme of "Striping."

I also did my usual silent meditation practice today, but I am always reminded, after a long session of tangling, how similar these two meditative practices are.  They are each so calming.  So grateful to have found Zentangle all those years ago, and to the truly wonderful people who teach it as a meditative practice.  Thank you.

Really needing a break today, I just allowed myself to follow along while watching Zentangle® instructional videos.  My plan was to follow instructions diligently, but somehow I just kept getting off track.  I tangled for several hours though, and really enjoyed it.  Here are the results.

Sometimes ya just gotta allow for odd things to happen.  This was one of those times.

Yes, I did it.  I bought a hand drill.  No big deal, you say?  Then you don't know me well.  I'm a disaster with hand tools.   If you live anywhere in the northeastern United States, it might be time to consider moving away.  You don't want to be around when I turn this thing on.

YouTube, here I come.  I'm determined to learn how to use this.

More material that fits neatly into the "no-fail, no-learn" category:  The Zentangle® folks put out a Project Pack recently that included lots of new goodies to try.  New white Gellyroll pens from Sakura.  New black apprentice tiles, new black triangular tiles (called 3-Zs).  Plus a new tangle and some experimental techniques.   And some very fine videos.

Along with everyone else, I've been experimenting.  Here are a couple of initial results.

More to come from that Project Pack.

Last but not least today.  I am pretty chuffed about this one.  It has been eluding me for well over a week.  I think I tried it a good 4 times and couldn't figure it out (and it looks soooooo simple!), but I kept looking at it and thinking about it.  Today I decided to tackle it again--on crappy copy paper, but I was thinking there was a good possibility I'd fail again.

But no.  I succeeded!  I really failed my way to success with this one. 

Now, of course, I wish I had used better paper.  But succeeding came as a total surprise!

Just to make sure I got it, I tried it again on a tiny scale a couple of hours later--and once again, failed.  But I know I *am* getting it and will continue to practice until I feel I've got a good handle on this.  If I was able to do it once, I know I can do it again.

I hope you will take a careful look at the above piece.  It's made from 28 triangular tiles placed together.  Each tile is unique, and was tangled by my good friend AE.  The overall effect is stunning.  And, they can all be moved around easily for a completely different look. 

Take another moment to look at each individual triangle and you'll see the level of creativity at work here.
                                                                            * * *
This afternoon I returned from spending five days with AE..  She's been dealing with a particularly challenging and confusing illness for months now, and coincidentally (or was it...?), she learned Zentangle right around the time that the illness announced itself.  For the last several weeks she has been receiving intensive and intrusive treatments, and I can't emphasize how often she has mentioned that tangling has enabled her to cope.

And while coping, she has been producing these mini-beauties.  Here are a few more examples (with thanks to her for letting me post these):

The meditative nature of Zentangle has been extremely helpful while she has been in treatment.  Tiles are the perfect size for portability and for tangling while waiting to be seen in a doctor's office.  One of the things I truly love about tangling is that it is a form of moving meditation, and enables a person to focus completely on the present, line by line, and not get caught up in past or future.  This is a huge advantage if you are waiting for a treatment session, a doctor's appointment or any stressful situation.  AE has been making the best of her time, as you can see here.
                                                                             * * *
We have known each other for almost 40 years (how the hell did that happen?) and have a lot of shared interests.  We met while pursuing a particular spiritual tradition and soon discovered a mutual love of art and crafts.  For years we both did bead work (she focused on loom work, I focused on bead embroidery) and between us we accrued enough beads to open a bead store.  Not that that was our intention; as we are both "tool hoarders," we never considered selling our stock and each still have pounds of seed beads.  We are constant knitters and each have huge yarn stashes.  We both enjoy writing and have blogs; she has also written a novel.  We've each accumulated way too many art supplies.  We each meditate daily.  We both read constantly, and our home libraries have many similar books.   I wouldn't even want to speculate about how many books each of our homes contain...too many.

I have to laugh at the similarities--we are each hopelessly determined and obsessive in pursuing our interests.  In just a few short months, she's produced as many tangles as I have in all the years I've been tangling.  She has taken her tangling kit to every doctor's appointment and treatment session, and used that time well.  It's an honor to share some of her work here.

And yet we are also very different, something I also enjoy.  I value our discussions, whether we are agreeing or disagreeing.

I am fortunate to have her as a friend, and hope we continue our crazy, obscure, satisfying interests for years to come.  She is kind, resilient, talented, hilarious and courageous.  A gift in my life.

"Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down."
– Oprah Winfrey

"There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate."
― Linda Grayson

i heard the sound of crickets last evening for the first time since last year. 

to be more specific, i heard one lone cricket, and then about a block or so later, a second lone cricket.  there is something about their sound that makes me so happy.

today i experimented with drawing a cricket (thus, the "hope" part of the title, as it was only the second day since i broke my wrist (mid-june) that i began to feel i was getting better.  more about that later...

here is the very silly result--the first sketch is a cartoon cricket (from the jiminy cricket species), and the second one only a tad more realistic.  both were done from youtube videos that i found when i typed in "how to draw a cricket."

below is my contribution to IAST 209 (the "it's a string thing" challenge).  i was so happy to feel well enough to try this tonight.  this makes two days of less swelling and pain,  i'm almost afraid to feel hopeful, but i'm going with it tonight!

This piece was done quite literally in a moving meditation with 120 other people.  You could have heard a pin drop in the room.

And below is another piece I did for a challenge project.  I used a white gellyroll pen and a gold metallic pen. 

Underneath here, you can see a photo of what a few other participants did with the same challenge--look at the differences.  I love that.  I wish I had a photo of the entire grouping of these--I'm betting the final collection had at least 60 tiles in it, each one different.

Well, after scaring the pants off of readers with yesterday's post on my new shoes, I thought I'd post something more subdued today.

I really needed those silly shoes yesterday as I was in a dark mood all day.  Really not sure why, and that is very unusual for me.  Part of it may have been weather-related as it was dark, gloomy, and rainy out, but normally that's not an issue.  Who knows!  The shoes cheered me up, and doing that tile cheered me up just before I went to bed.

BYDP (Big Yarn Dyeing Project) DAY 6:
After getting nothing done yesterday except cleaning the house, I was back in the dyepots today.  Three more skeins are just about ready to come out of the oven, and with them, I will have officially finished 1/4 of the dyeing for the background for this large rug.

The background will be 4 colors of dark purple, and today's haul completes one of the four.  I need at least 8 skeins of each.  I have 6 more dyed of color #2 already, and 2 skeins of color #3, so I am nearly halfway there.

Doing a small batch and then cleaning up today was easier than just leaving my kitchen set up for dyeing for several days in a row.  That was incredibly disruptive.

I will be busy for part of this week at the upcoming opening of the tarot rug show in Vermont (see my earlier posts for details on that);  this means I needed to "park" the Big Yarn Dyeing Project today.  It will be several days before I can resume.

I am in yarn dyeing heaven.  Or hell.  Depending how I look at it.  Am not making my daily goal, and my house truly looks like a tornado has struck full-force.  But more about that later.  This is quick post just to record what I did for the Joey Challenge this week, the monotangle Yuma.

I have spirals on the brain this week, so wanted to use a spiral string. It's debatable whether I did a true form of Yuma here, but what the hey.  Here's a mirrored version, using the iPhone app:

Back to the yarn dyeing saga:  I only managed to get 3 skeins done again today.  And I won't really be able to see them until daylight tomorrow.  Next step:  stop until I've spent a couple of hours coloring sketches, and make a semi-final decision about which lighter colors to use.  Then, calculate how many of each color I will need, creating a map that will govern the rest of the process.  I think I've done enough testing.  Time to get down to business.

The Diva Challenge #245 this week is on Hollibaugh.  Oh, how I love this tangle.  I know there will be some fabulous renditions of it, so please click on that link and treat yourself to what others have done.  Here is my quick version (on the left), very different from what I usually do.

And to round off the Hollibaugh celebration, here is the same tangle done by several first-time students, below.  I had only 7 minutes to teach this tangle in a meditation class (all the students were training to be meditation teachers):

You can see the meditation chimes on the left.  I do love Hollibaugh.  Not bad for seven minutes of coaching.  We were focused on the meditative aspect of the tangle.

And now on to the
BIG YARN DYEING PROJECT, Day 2.

Life is full of surprises and today is no exception.  I will only get 3 skeins done today.  My goal is six, but...not gonna happen.  Much busyness with other people.  And my car is in the shop.  (Praying to the god of cars that it is an inexpensive fix)  Plus, I have an afternoon commitment.  I will end up dyeing yarn tonight, just to produce the third skein.  As I write this in the early afternoon, I've just taken two out of the oven.  So here are some photos of the process:

...and some of the results:

And of course, no dyeing process would be complete without what's in this last photo below.  At least--that's true for me.  I am apparently a dyeing slob.  I get dye all over my hands, despite wearing good rubber gloves.  It's a mystery how I do this; other people come out with pristine hands, but mine are always gross at the end.  (No, the gloves do not leak.  It's definitely something I am doing...but what?)  Without this stuff, I wouldn't be able to go out in public for days afterwards.

Legend has it that Pearl McGown, the diva and doyenne of rug hooking in the 1950s, used to dye wool while dressed in an evening gown to demonstrate that it could be done without being messy.  (NOTE:  She is an entire story to herself--she singlehandedly kept rug hooking going in the U.S., but she was quite the dictator.) 

Hey, if I owned an evening gown, I too could dye wool while wearing it without getting spots on it.  I never get dye on my clothes either.

But I note that the legend of Pearl Dyeing in Her Evening Gown says nothing about her HANDS.  Perhaps they were blue up to the elbows when she finished.  Mine are all colors when I am done. 

Long live ReDuRan.  (No, I don't get a commission.)

More experiments with black gesso.  But today, I put it on black tiles rather than a white one as I did yesterday.  I am really enjoying experimenting with this.

Am also enjoying good company and the pleasure of spending time with dear friends.  You know who you are!

That's what I'm thankful for this week.

A few weeks back, the Diva (Laura Harms) talked about using black gesso on a white Zentangle® tile, rather than using an official black tile.  She had a lot to say about this and why she preferred to gesso a white tile to create a black surface (you will have to scroll down her post to get to the part about the gesso and why she uses it), and I was intrigued.  I finally got hold of some black gesso and tried it out today.  I never intended to post this tile--it's terrifically wonky and certainly not one of my best.  But somehow, it's growing on me, so here it is.

I'll be experimenting more with this.  The Sigma Uniball (white pen) and the white and Rainbow pencils definitely handled better on the gesso surface than they do on the traditional black tiles.  Hmmmm.

Meanwhile, while I was downtown the other day I ran into this guy:

Yes, it's Mr. Edgar Allan Poe with his raven and tell-tale heart.  I knew the statue was there, but this is the first time I'd seen it.  Very well done.  The poor guy looks miserable and stressed out, which he was in real life--and he truly hated Boston even though he lived here for awhile.  Now he's a permanent resident and looks like he would rather be anywhere else.  It's a great monument though. You should be able to move your cursor over each photo and click them better if you are interested.  The heart was particularly disturbing.

“When I was young and filled with folly, I fell in love with melancholy”
― Edgar Allan Poe

The Joey Challenge this week (#86) was to do a W-2 monotangle.  Quite a challenge...in fact, monotangles are always difficult when one is trying to do something creative, rather than just using the technique to learn the tangle for the first time. 

I did want to do something different.  I've done W-2 in the past with great success using just a Micron and graphite--it's a lovely tangle that looks tricky but really isn't, with patience and with a mindful approach.  But making it look different?  I dunno...

Then I decided to crosshatch it rather than using gentle graphite shading.  And while I was at it, I decided to add Rainbow Lead pencil to it.  And I decided to crosshatch the first try with a Micron (no erasing with that!) and to do it messily rather than carefully.  What result would I get? 

Well, here it is.  It's messy.  It's different.  It reminds me of ribbon candy.  Do I love it?  No, but I'm glad I tried it.

There is something jagged and edgy in the result that reminds me of my feelings about the terror attack in Paris.  (I do NOT mean to compare my scribbles to the gravity of what is going on there...just saying that despite the soft coloring and ribbon-candy look, it's got darkness going on and that reflects a bit of what I was feeling.  i can only imagine what Parisians are feeling this evening...here in Boston, we know something about the effect of this type of shocking, senseless, brutal violence.)

I did this in my Tangle-a-Day calendar.

I then decided to try this on a black tile to see what would happen.  Once again I used cross-hatching, both with the Signo Uniball Pen and with the Rainbow Lead.  Here's the result, which I find interesting but also troubling.  It seems that tangling was bringing out some of those rough feelings over last night's terrorism.  In doing this mindfully, I reflected my awareness of right now, right here.

Will we ever mature enough to know peace?  To embody peace?

The tangle challenge from the Diva this week was a brand-new tangle called "Gourdgeous." 

I was not too interested in this tangle when it was published.  And now, having drawn it twice, I'm still not enamored.  But hey, these things sometimes change with practice.  Perhaps in a few months I'll view it differently.

After all, I didn't like meditation at first, either, and now I'm 40 years into it, still "practicing," and although it's as challenging as it ever was, I certainly am reaping the benefits.

But I don't see myself doing this particular tangle for the next 40 years, even with more practice.  Even though Zentangle® is a form of moving meditation, some tangles increase the meditative experience, and some don't. 

Which tangle works or doesn't work to increase Zentangle's meditative aspect differs from person to person, which is one of the interesting things about the technique...just like different types of meditation work for different people.  Neither process is "one size fits all.")

Here is Gourdgeous, drawn in my Tangle-a-Day calendar.  Since Maria Thomas (my idol) came to this tangle by simply using lines and spaces, I thought I'd add a few lines and spaces behind it.  This was my first-ever attempt:

For the actual challenge, I put it on a black tile, using Signo Uniball pens (broad and narrow), a General White Charcoal Pencil, and a Rainbow Lead Pencil.  So here you see attempt #2:

Meh.

I'll try additional practice with it, both black and white and in color, to see what develops. 

Right now I'm going over to the Diva's page to see what other folks have done with this.  Usually I don't look until after I've submitted my own work so as not to be influenced, but this time I've accidentally seen a couple of the submissions on other people's blogs, and they are truly stunning.  Looking forward to seeing what everyone else did.

Just a quick simple tile for this week's Diva Challenge #239 (Scroll down the page for the challenge; the tangle is Munchin).  She includes a great video made by Molly Hollibaugh on this tangle.

I did this on a black tile with gold colored pencil, shaded with the Rainbow Lead pencil.

Good to keep this simple after having just had some eye surgery.

The Diva comments in her post that she's not a fan of the black tiles.  I have reserved judgment about them as I haven't worked with them all that much--I need a lot more practice before I decide if I like them or not.  She used black gesso on a white tile for her challenge tile this week.  I am intrigued and think I will try this at some point.  Love getting new ideas!

I did manage to walk to the studio today and the rug is coming along.  If you are interested you can compare this photo to this one from six days ago (I have been there for a short while on each of four of the six days since):

That long border is coming together slowly but surely.  Making me very happy.

Oy, it's been a tough week.  And it's not over.  By tonight I was ready for some relaxation-inducing tangling.  Here is my response to the Diva Challenge #235.  Still practicing on black tiles.

White UniBall Sigma Pen, White Faber Castell Pencil, Metallic Blue Colored Pencil. 

Tangles include:  Nymph, Up n Down, Scrawlz, Frame Over, Leaflet, Balo.

And of course, I had to play with the mirror app on my iPhone, so that result is below.  I had photographed the tile on my knee while wearing bluejeans, and didn't crop the photo before I tried the mirror app.  Who knew the result would be so interesting?

One of the things that is certainly true about art is that it sometimes takes us down strange pathways.  Is it art, or is it just a mess?  I guess a lot depends on taste and opinion; there are no absolutes in either.  So when is something "art"?  And who gets to determine that?

I got to pondering this last night and today when I worked on the Diva Challenge #234 for this week.  I need more practice on black tiles, so that's what I chose to use.

Well.

Absolutely nothing turned out the way I thought.   I deliberately drew a wonky grid to start with...but oh my. 

This went in directions I couldn't even imagine.

Do I like it or hate it?  I don't know!  I certainly is bizarre. 

What do you think?

I am reminded of how often this happens with art; you start out thinking to make one thing, and the thing won't cooperate and you end up with something completely different and startling. 

Just like life!  You start the day with a few plans, perhaps, and then life comes along and something totally different occurs.  And all of us just have to roll with it and adapt.

Sometimes what happens (versus what we had planned) is so startling that we can't even make out how we feel about it.  Only time will help us sort that out.

So I'll give this little tile some time to settle, and then determine if I like it or not.

That's the point of Challenges, yes?  In art and in life.

Technical information for those of you who care about that stuff (the rest of you will be bored by it): 
The Diva Challenge asked us to use a tangle that's new to me, CanT.  I didn't even practice it before trying it out on the tile.  It has a million variations, so I just picked up my white UniBall pen and gave it a go.  What emerged was Florz (from which CanT derives), and a few squares of CanT.

Besides the white pen, I used a white colored pencil, a Rainbow Lead pencil, and a metallic gold colored pencil.  Oh, and a bit of IdentiPen to cover up some things I decided to remove, since I thought my black Micron might clog if I tried that.

Still scratching my head over this one!

Recently I've found myself struggling to get to sleep at night.  A lot of people have this experience, and I've occasionally had it in the past.  But now it's stretching into weeks.  Not every night, but most nights.  So unusual.  I've checked my food/caffeine intake, and my screen time, as well as my stress level, but there's nothing I can tag as a cause.  All is well...yet I often cannot get to sleep.

When this happens, I get up and leave the bedroom entirely and read or tangle.  Or meditate, which I also enjoy doing late at night.  Here's a blog post on the connection between meditation and insomnia--bottom line:  it may help, it may not.  But (for me, anyway), it feels good while I'm doing it, so I usually will give it a try if reading or tangling aren't helping me get sleepy.

WHAT I'VE BEEN WORKING ON DURING MY INSOMNIAC SPURT:
Alas, I can't post the main thing I have been working on in the last week because it's a gift for someone and until it's given, I will have to hold off.  Check back in the next week or two for the full picture.   It's a piece of Zentangle® inspired art, and I can only post enough of it that it won't be recognizable, so here is that bit.

That has taken much of my time (it's much larger than what you see above), but then the Zendala Dare #108 came along and I decided to participate in that.  It's been a while since I have done one of these challenges. 

The Rainbow Lead pencils I ordered from Oriental Trading Company arrived at the end of last week; it was time to try one out and see if I liked it as well as my other Rainbow Lead pencils.  If you want to know what I'm talking about, see my long post on using these pencils here, including information on where to find them and how to identify that you are really getting a Rainbow Lead, not an ordinary lead.  (Actually, every post since then has related to that topic, at least in part)

Here was the template for this week's challenge:

So far so good--I decided to do two tiles, one white and one black, and use the new pencil on each, and see how it worked.  Here was what I did with the black tile at 3 a.m. today:

 I was pretty happy with this except that it looked...well...DULLER than I thought my other older pencil does.  But maybe not?  I mean, who knows, at 3 a.m. in the pitch dark?  I took a photo (several, actually, but more about that later) and did some additional meditation, and finally went to bed.  I say "additional meditation" because I find that Zentangle is a form of moving meditation.  Like yoga.

This morning I got up and had another look.  Yes, it seemed duller.  So let me try it on a white tile and see if maybe I'm imagining that.  I had a chance to sit down and re-do this zendala template with different patterns this afternoon and here it is:

You know, I like this too.  But the colors of this Rainbow Lead pencil are dull, dull, dull!  At least so far.  They just do not have the p-zazz of my earlier, older RL pencils.  (I am sorry I cannot distinguish them by name--unfortunately none of the styles have any identifiable names.  Darn!  Makes them hard to discuss.

I used a variety of tangles on this:  Marasu (center), Scarabou, Enyshou (oo oo oo, do we have a sound pattern developing?), Paradox variation, Indy-Rella, and Perfs.

So here is a picture of both types of RL pencils I'm comparing

The pencil on the top left is by far my favorite.  You can get it at ????? (Good luck finding these--I know Oriental Trading had them years ago but they don't anymore.  See my previous post, referenced at the top of this post, to see more about finding these.)  Frankly, every time I see them I buy up every one I can get.

On the lower right is the pencil I just got from Oriental Trading.  In fact, Rainbow Lead pencils are cheap, so I got 2 dozen of them. 

Now look at the leads...you can see the way the colors are distributed.  Also, see how much brighter the lead on the upper left pencil is?  So it truly is not my imagination; these new and readily available RL pencils are definitely more dull.  Darn!

My overall assessment of them so far:  MEH.  Good if you like subtle dull colors.  I have a lifetime supply--anyone want to buy a couple?  (Kidding--I may use these in classes)

Here is what these new and currently available pencils look like, in case you want to get a pack from Oriental Trading:

AND NOW FOR THE OBLIGATORY PICTURES WITH MY IPHONE MIRROR APP:
Ok, if you got this far, you didn't think I could resist playing with my iPhone mirror app and these zendalas, did you?  Of course not.  Here are two pictures of the black one, mirrored a couple of ways:

Yes, I cannot resist; I admit I am addicted!  The last one is from the white tile.

Perhaps it's not so bad to have occasional insomnia.  I had four lovely meditations today:  two regular ones, and two moving meditations with Zentangle.

Today I was reading a very helpful post on white-on-black tiles by Betsy Wilson, and tested out some of her techniques (which is why my result below resembles a highly mediocre version of one of her her originals).  I think Betsy will be my new idol--from the little I've seen of her other posts I really love her work.

I often like my own work too, even though I know that I need practice.  But I don't particularly like this tile below.  I also don't think comparisons are often useful, but even I can see, when I compare my tile to hers, that I have a long way to go.  I understand, however, that practice will be my savior here.  I will keep at it.  Holding out Betsy's technique as a model will be useful, not discouraging, even though I am not at all thrilled with this first try.  

This tile started out with the central Meer motif; I was using a white Broad UniBall Signa pen, and the ink was NOT going on well at all.  It was not fun to use.  Next I repeated the Meer motif in the upper left with a Faber Castell white colored pencil, testing that out.  Better, but so much fainter it seemed to be disappearing on the black paper.  Not happy with that either.  Finally I did the Meer motif on the lower right with a white GellyRoll pen.  Surprisingly, I liked that best--which isn't saying much.  The coverage on all three was not that good. 

At that point I thought I had finished, but then threw in some Rainbow Lead pencil for a bit of color, and added the Beadlines.

My overall feeling:  Meh.  (Live and learn)

Well, since I wasn't thrilled, I couldn't just leave it alone, so I went into my iPhone and used my mirror app on it.  I don't know if that made it better or worse!  I am definitely fascinated with this app...see below.

And just one more try with the app...see below.

I find this mirroring app mesmerizing.  These hardly resemble the original at all.

More practice (and perhaps studying more of Betsy's blog) should help me improve my technique. 

I can feel a major research project with the black tiles coming on!

While I'm on the topic of inspiring blogs:
If any of you reading this are confused about what Zentangle® is and why it should not be called doodling, take just a moment and read this post by CZT Sandy Hunter.  I love what she's written here.

Don't get me wrong; I'm a big fan of doodling and I doodle all the time, but doodling has a different genesis and purpose, as I discussed in this post which I wrote in June of 2014.

A little freeform Betweed done on a black tile to begin the day.  This was done with a single multicolor pencil on a black tile, with a dash of white Prismacolor for highlights.  Done for the Diva Challenge, part II (see yesterday's post).

Next, an entirely freeform Betweed mandala, done with the same multicolored pencil, a gray Prismacolor, and a spot of Uniball Sigma Broad White pen.

NOTE:  Unless you are an art nerd, no need to read the text on this entry!

I have way too many Sakura Gellyroll pens that I haven't had time to use, and before today I didn't really know how the different types differed from each other.  So this afternoon I did the same tangle on 3 black tiles using 3 different types of Gellyrolls:  Moonlight, Metallic, and Stardust.  (The Stardust pens produced the big mystery)  My thinking was that if I used the same tangle, I'd be better able to see the differences in the pens.  I had a variety of colors in each of the 3 types, and hoped to use all the colors in each type on its own tile.

Results:

I learned a lot doing this (will spare you the lessons).  But the big mystery was...where the heck did the color go when I used the different color Stardust type on that far right tile?  Here's another look at just that tile, which turned out to be my favorite even though it did not have different colors...

Love that one.  But the colors--???  So I asked my CZT friends about it and Donald Wilka said yes, they do disappear on the black but they show up on the white tiles and the tan tiles.  Which meant, of course, I had to try them out on a white tile.  But before I show you that, I liked the look of the tile above so much that I decided to run it through the mirror app on my iPhone (if you've been reading you know I'm obsessed with playing with this app) and that produced this piece below, which I also love.

I admit I am a fool for that mirror app.

Finally I got around to doing a Stardust Gellyroll experiment on a white tile, and darned if Donald wasn't right.  I never really doubted him, but check this out.  I used the exact same pens in the same order of colors, and here is how they looked on white. 

On the actual tile, they are as glittery as they look on the black--but they do not photograph with any glitter showing at all.  You'll have to trust me on this.

So to sum up, here are the 4 of them all lined up.  All use color, but only 3 of them show color.  The Stardust Gellyrolls lose their color entirely on the black tile, but I ended up liking that tile the best.

Today's work made me realize I need to do a lot more of this type of comparison.  I'm inspired.