Little darling, the smile's returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun,…
(the Beatles)

There are so many things to be thankful for today, but let me begin with seeing the sun.  Where I live we haven't had a sunny day in a long time, and although it's extremely cold out, I notice how much the sunshine has lifted my mood.  I can't be the only one feeling this way.

I've a long list of things to be grateful for, including the fact that I was able to do some Zentangle® last night and today, a process that is so meditative and so centering that I feel extremely lucky to have stumbled on it years ago.  Here's last night's tangle:

Next, I did a tangle for Diva Challenge #377.  This piece definitely has a "What the hell happened here???!!!" feel to it, as it ended up in such an unexpected result, with colors I rarely use.  But that's ok--I like it.  Later today I'll treat myself to going to the Diva's page (see link above) and see how everyone else handled this "duotangle" (combining 2 tangles).  I expect I'll be astounded and intrigued by all the different approaches, as always.  Here it is:

I also had time to find a place for the lovely little Buddha my good friend P brought back from her month-long trip to Asia.  There is now another tiny altar in my house:

Gratitude today, in no particular order, for:

• Sunshine.
• Heat, hot water, food, shelter.  So many people do not have some or all of these.
• Dear, dear friends.  How do they put up with me?  I'll never understand, but feel so happy that they do.
• Health.  It ain't perfect, but whose is?  It's "good enough." 
• That my friend who recently had surgery is on the road to recovery.  It's a long road but she is making good progress.
• Zentangle.  And art in general.  They keep me sane.
• Meditation, and all those who practice, including our teachers.  With metta.
• Our beautiful Mother Earth, who supports us even though we are making a mess of Her.  May we wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee, and change our ways before it's too late.
  

A few years back, I was fortunate enough to get a copy of C.G. Jung's The Red Book.  It is a gigantic, larger-than-coffee-table volume.  I just acquired a music stand/lectern-type piece of cherry furniture on which I can finally display it  and have begun looking through it.  It is inspirational--just for the paintings, and I haven't even started to read yet.  One of the paintings inspired me to do this sun-and-moon linework on a Zentangle® tile.

It's my second entry this week for Diva's Challenge #368, in which she asked us to focus on straight lines (see yesterday's post for the first version).  It is so relaxing.

This is the original tile, without the rosy-glow added by the filter.  I like them both.

This is Sonya Yencer CZT's lovely tangle SOULSTAR.  Sonya created it when one of our other CZTs lost a beloved husband and a home because of a senseless crime resulting in a housefire and his tragic death.  They caught the person responsible, but that is cold comfort.  A sad story mitigated just a bit by this thoughtful gift of Sonya's tangle.  I've tried a variation of it here which is like SoulStar "extended."  I have done this tangle before, but it was calling to me today for some reason.

And here is the original linework, pre-shading.  You can see I added some additional linework after the initial shading was done and then I shaded that.  It is fun to see both the non-shaded work and then the end result.  Sometimes I don't know which I like better.

I did this for Diva Challenge #368, in which Laura-the-Diva focused on drawing straight lines as one of the most meditative and soothing parts of Zentangle®.  I totally agree with her on this and often remind myself that just doing plain linework is incredibly relaxing.  Doing this tile certainly was.  Thanks, Laura, for the reminder.  And thanks to Sonya Yencer CZT for her inspirational tangle.  Our thoughts  of love and hope are still with Chris S-LT as she adjusts to her new circumstances.

Determined not to be late again for this week's challenge, I decided to do a second tile and post twice in a day.  The challenge was to use tangle 'Nzeppel and/or Crazy 'Nzeppel on a tile.  I believe these are the "least 'Nzepp-ly" 'Nzeppels I have ever drawn, partly because I thought I'd try both types ('Nzeppel and Crazy 'NZeppel) within an orb.  The orb softened the grids so much the tangles are less recognizable than normal.

Here is the same tile set into a mosaic created with an iPhone app using the original photo above.  Of course, this is only one possible way to rotate the tile.

The Diva (Laura Harms, CZT) of the I Am the Diva blog took the summer off from issuing tangle art challenges and a global groan was heard--people really missed her.  But everyone deserves time off. 

While I rarely get to participate, i wanted to participate in her "return challenge" to honor her and say thanks.  (True to form, I'm very late and she's already issued #367.  Arrgh!)  Check out her challenge page here; scroll all the way down to the challenge (always at the bottom) and check out the wonderful tiles people produce and post.  And if you read their comments to her, you'll see how loved she is.

Here's my tile for #366, which was a "back to basics" challenge with dots, string, and basic tangles.  After doing the dots and string I decided I wanted to put the tangles (mostly) OUTSIDE the string, not inside.  So, I did.

And below is a recently-finished Zentangle® journal cover.  I've yet to seal it because my brand-new can of sealant isn't spraying right.  Don't you hate when that happens...grrr.

After weeks of playing peek-a-boo, leaves are exploding on the trees here.  Yesterday I could see houses clearly through the trees in my backyard.  This morning when I looked out, all I could see was leaves.  Overnight.

Of course, it's not actually overnight as  budding and growing has been happening for weeks, but something in the weather of the last few days has caused an explosion of leaves from their buds.  They are so green, tender, and beautiful.

I haven't deserted the blog; my lack of entries is only due to the fact that I have been focused on punch needle embroidery and am working on two large projects that I haven't been able to get permission to show.  The designer is dead, unfortunately, and I've no idea how to get in touch with his estate.  I'm still working on it.

But since I'm teaching a Zentangle® beginner's class in two weeks, I'm now focusing on that.  I found out today that the class is full and has a waiting list.  I warmed up this morning with the typical beginner's tile (including tangles always taught and one frequently taught in a first class.  If was fun to go back to basics.

I'd hoped to use my new projector and ipad for teaching this time, but in trying them out over the last couple of days, I've been unable to make them work well.  Argh!  I'll figure it out. 

My "beginner tile" above was done while I was holding up the projector with my left hand and tangling with my right.  Talk about awkward...even so, I could feel myself slipping into the meditative state found when doing Zentangle.

Next I decided to try a new tangle:

The Diva Challenge in mid-April involved two of my favorite tangles, Shattuck and Tripoli.  A "duotangle."  (Click on that link for eye candy--scroll down to the bottom of her blog for the location where everyone posts their response to her challenge)  Here's my response.  You really never know what will happen when you sit down to tangle, as this just proves.  This one's just...odd.  I like it though.  Other than the two tangles requested for the challenge, the tile includes random linework.

I can't express how good it feels to be tangling again after several weeks of working on other art.  Tangling has a unique place in my heart.  Rug hooking can be so relaxing and meditative.  Ditto with any type of drawing.  Punch needle embroidery is also extremely relaxing.  But tangling just takes me to another place, a quiet place, a place of focus and calmness.  And it happens almost as soon as my pen hits the paper.

"The last time I checked, it was still legal to take long, deep breaths."
--Jeff Davidson

Sometimes things just surprise you.  (Like every day, perhaps?) 

They just don't turn out the way we expect, and we have to roll with the punches.  Take this oddity:

 After weeks of not being able to tangle because I was working on other projects, I had a few moments today to sit down.  So how did I come up with this bizarre piece?

1. It's a tile for the Diva's Weekly Challenge # 357.
2. The challenge is to do a monotangle based on the tangle Paradox.  Believe it or not, this is what came out when I sat down to do that.
   
3. Yes, it's Paradox.  Or started out to be.  (The irony of the tangle name is not lost on me.)
   
4. I have no idea where this came from or how it developed.
   
5. It's weird.  But I like it.
   
6. I had cataract surgery 3 days ago, and cannot see well.  Which hopefully explains some of the less-than-stellar line work.  I like it anyway.
   
7. Just sayin'.  You can tangle even when not able to see well.  Because...
   
8. Who cares about the result?  The process itself is just so soothing.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....
   

Well, before I get to the story of the dreaded putty, let me start with some tangles.  Here are two entries for this week's Diva Challenge # 332, a square within a square.

Every tangle in each tile is brand-new to me, and it shows.  I consider both tiles "first tries" and drafts.  Not bad, but of course they'd get better with practice.

In the first tile, three totally new patterns:

On the lower right corner:  Kinnggo by Susie Ngamsuwan.  Don't blame her--this is my first attempt!  I like it though, and will use it in future.

Center/right-ish:  Andromeda by Lily Moon.

Upper left:  Bealis, by Aurora's Artwork.

My square-within-a-square for the challenge was formed by the Andromeda tangle.  This was a fun exercise, even though not very meditative since I was in learning mode.  I would need to practice a lot more with each of these, and I intend to.  I thought I would try them in this challenge since I'd been wanting to try each of them for a couple of weeks now.

Another brand-new (to me) tangle called Sunspots, by Rosemary Turpin.  This is one repeat of the pattern; it's simple and meditative to draw.  I figured it qualified for this challenge because there are 4 squares, visually, inside the one repeat.

It would make a great quilt, don't you think?
Hmmm.

Lastly, here is the Dreaded Putty--the hand therapy material that is making my hand go crazy with pain, but it's also really helping.  The two culprits are Red Putty (softer), and now my wonderful OT  has added the dreaded Blue Putty (scarily harder).  I have to squeeze the red one and do various torture-y exercises with the blue one.  Ack.  Ouch.  But I know it's helping. 

I want my hand back so I can end this "Broken Wrist Series" of tangles and get on with my life. 

Impatience has taken over!

another tangle from "the broken wrist" series. 

the hand is hurting, so i took this monotangle challenge from the weekly diva challenge (with a guest challenger this week) and vowed to keep things as simple as possible.  here is my 'nzeppel.  micron 01, graphite. period.

just about all i could manage today!

<--here is the reason i can't type much. 
or type well.  or use capital letters. 

but this is a vast improvement over the first cast i was in, which included a sling.  that meant i was totally one-handed.  with this cast, i can cheat a little.   not much.

in yesterday's post i discussed how i ran amok with the tangle peanuckle, which was this week's diva challenge.  see that post for the details and result. 

well...!  one of the other participants, susie ngamsuwan, also ran amok, only much more effectively.  not only did she produce two gorgeous tiles, but she came up with an easier way of drawing the same tangle.  so creative.  see her work and her step-out here.  it's so worth reading--and check out the rest of her blog!  fabulous.

after seeing how she did it, i had to try again.  result:

on the left side of the tile i tried drawing it according to molly's original instructions (molly came up with the pattern), but did it very large.  i liked it ok, but got lost  near the end and had to fudge some embellishments. 

on the upper right of the tile i tried it again, very small, but used susie ng's instructions.  easy!  not only did i not get lost but i experimented with the 'join' between the peas.  i liked the effect. 

i threw in a couple of mooka and then tried it a 3rd time, using susie's instructions, on the bottom of the tile, and this time fooled around with an inner spiral on the peas.  once again, i never got lost and it was fun to draw.

thanks, susie!  you're so clever.  i'll actually be using this tangle now.

prepare for a tangle gone completely amok.  this was in response to this week's "i am the diva challenge #325," from guest challenger Jessica Davies.  click on that link to see what this tangle is SUPPOSED to look like.  note: nothing like mine. 

the challenge tangle is "pea-nuckle," one of my least favorites (sorry, molly!).  rather than doing it in a solid block, i wondered what would happen if i 1) tried to bend it in a circle, 2) made the insides of the "peas" something other than straight lines, and 3) connected them to each other not using the usual straight lines.  oh dear...

which begs the question, is this even the pea-nuckle tangle anymore?  or just a hot mess? 
i'm hoping i can use my current broken wrist as an excuse.  though there's probably no excuse for this!

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

Diva Challenge #243 was to keep things simple and "leave the majority of the tile empty."  So I did.  I just used my own tangle, Miss Fisher, and a tiny bit of Mysst, along with a few random other lines.  Colored with the Rainbow Lead Pencil. 

Very simple.  And easy.  I think I will try a few more tiles in this fashion today if I have a chance (and I did, at the bottom of this post).  I'm not sure if "Miss Fisher" actually qualifies as a tangle, since if memory serves me right, a tangle is defined as being formed with no more than three lines.  (I'll have to look that up)  But I like it anyway.  It's based on a stenciled decoration in the living room of the PBS-sponsored mystery series of the same name.

Ok, off to do some yarn dyeing, which is my main goal for today.

 With the exception of the last skein, the dark purple skein, I was focused on lighter colors today.  And in so doing, I learned a lot.  I'll say more about that next time I post, once these skeins have dried and I've had a chance to wind them up so they look more presentable.  Finally, another "simple tangle" for the Diva's Challenge?

Tangles are Mooka and Niuroda with a few embellishments.  I enjoyed the simplicity of this challenge. 

Now I get to go to the Diva's site and see what everyone else did with this, and I know there will be wonderful tangles to see there.

All in all, a very good day--I'm exhausted!

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.

You know, sometimes you have one thing in mind when you start drawing and you end up with another.  In my experience it's the same in meditation...I sit down with one intention and end up going somewhere else entirely.  It's all good, even the really hard bits.

Today was one of those days.  I sat down to do Diva Challenge #238, planning on doing Tri-Bee, a new tangle by CZT Beata Winkler.  So far so good.  I see a strong connection between Trie-Bee and Zenith, the tangle introduced recently by Zentangle® Headquarters (don't ask me why I see a strong connection, I just do).  So the plan was to put Zenith around the edges and put Tri-Bee in the middle.  Instead, this is what happened.  Or to put it another way, what the heck did happen???

Ok so you can kinda recognize Zenith around the edges, but Tri-Bee just flashed up from the bottom of the tile without ever showing its "TRI" part (it starts with a TRIangular center, if you look at the stepouts on the Diva's page, but somehow that center didn't want to show itself here).

I used a 4B pencil for the shading, which is a bit darker on the actual tile than it looks here.  It was kind of one surprise after the other when I was doing the tile.  I had drafted a tentative plan for it yesterday in my tangle-a-day calendar.  I knew it wouldn't look exactly like that, but I didn't expect this.  (go here to see--scroll down to the bottom of that post).

I like it, though!  That's the thing.

Now that it's done, I get to go to the Diva Challenge webpage and see what others did with this (I don't let myself look before I do my own tile; otherwise I'd be endlessly copying, or intimidated out of ever trying).

The same thing happened in meditation this morning.  I started going one place and ended up going somewhere else totally.  Generally, I don't think of myself as someone who likes surprises.  But maybe, just maybe, Zentangle and meditation are teaching me to learn to roll with them...and even enjoy them.

Diva Challenge # 237 this week was by guest Charlotte Carpentier, CZT, and involved finding something around the house that one could use for a stencil.  I knew right away that--since it's fall--I wanted to use my apple corer. 

After all, fall is all about apples, right?

I love my apple corer, and I love the many varieties of autumn apples.  

And I often use the corer as a quick way to draw the string for a Zendala.  It works like a charm for that.

She also suggested we use a spray color with the stencil to form a string for our work, so I puzzled about that and thought about a watercolor wash, but then realized that I have a bottle of Walnut Distress Spray, never used, and I decided to give that a try. 

So, spritz, spritz, spritz...and I came up with this.  Alas, I began tangling on it before I remembered to take a photo, but you can still get the idea of what the string looked like--kind of a cross between a Renaissance Tile and a plain white one.

WHERE THE TITLE OF THIS POST CAME FROM:
As you can see, the instant I had the string I thought of using the tangle Foot-lites by Carole Ohl, CZT for some of the sections.  But I couldn't quite remember how to do it since it had been awhile.  And...UNFORTUNATELY...my aging brain remembered the title as "Spotlights."  So off I went, googling Spotlights and getting nowhere.  A couple of puzzled and frustrated hours later (it was pretty late at night by my standards, so being tired was not helping), I put out a call to other CZTs and Lauren Spiegel Eldon came to my rescue, asking if perhaps I might be looking for Foot-lites, not Spotlights?  She was very tactful and of course I had a massive "DUH!!!!" moment.

Ah, the aging brain. 

It matters to call something by its right name.

But I was on my way.  Here is the resulting tangle for the Diva Challenge:

I'm not quite sure what I was intending with the white pencil on the brown sections...I may have to re-do some of that, but overall I like it.  In addition to the Walnut Distress Spray, I used a Rainbow Pencil, a Prismacolor White Pencil, and a Brown Micron 01.

And now for a little iPhone app fun with the tile from this challenge:

The Diva Challenge this week (Diva Challenge # 236) is to "Tangle Unexpected"--in other words, to tangle on something you wouldn't ordinarily tangle on.

My life is "unexpected" at the moment for sure.  If you choose to read more about that, see the text at the end of the post; otherwise, I hope you just enjoy the pictures.

Here is the original untangled photo that I chose for this challenge.  I took this picture of the kitchen door at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, a place I love to go for long meditation retreats.  I don't think I even noticed the door until the second time I went there (not very mindful of me!) and when I saw it I was transfixed by how lovely it is.

As you can see, the lotuses are transparent and the rest of the background is frosted glass.  At the moment I took the picture, something turquoise-y was behind the lower lotus, while the one on the upper right showed kitchen equipment the reads gray-brown.

I love this image and it almost seemed sacrilegious to tangle it, so that was the challenge.  Here is what I ended up doing.

Tangles are Printemps and Scrawlz, along with some random work.  Using Sigma Uniball White Pen, and a tiny bit of Derwent Colored Pencil.

Not sure what I think about this.  Part of the challenge was to keep it simple.

THE "UNEXPECTED" CHALLENGE FOR THE REST OF ME:
I wanted to work on this image because, as I said in my last post, I need some zen!  And looking at this picture reminds me of the work I do every day in meditation, and every time I go to IMS.  Just stay in the now. 

Without going into detail, this is the worst episode of back pain I've had in 30 years.  I am confident that I can work it out and get back to my usual sturdy self, but the last two weeks have been totally unexpected and a big challenge to my remaining mindful.  I want to do anything BUT stay in the moment when I'm in pain!  Which of course makes it even worse.  Thankfully I found a new chiropractor (and I think she's very good) and I'm slowly recovering.  I was without a chiropractor when this started and that's what allowed things to get so out of control.  Glad to be on the upswing again!

It's been a real test of my willingness to be mindful.  Not to mention civil.

Auntie Acid says:  "It's bad news when you get to the age when your back goes out more than you do."

Stay healthy, everyone!

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!

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.

Wow, hard to believe August is coming to a close.  Summer is rushing by.

This week's Diva Challenge is all about meditation.  It's from Holly Atwater, a CZT who has been experimenting with recording Zentangle® meditations like the one Molly created so successfully.  I enjoy doing these and I thought I would give it a try, so here are the three pieces I created as a result. 

They were supposed to be done with regular black and white techniques, but I couldn't help using a multicolored pencil for shading. 

The only multicolored pencil I can now get makes shading MUCH more difficult to do; the lead is not at all soft the way good monochromatic colored pencils are.  It's very hard and can't be smudged with a tortillion at all, so once you put it down on the page, it's immovable.  I did the best I could--I just had to have some color...

About meditation three:  If you also participated in this challenge and you wonder why this looks different from yours, it's because I added Paradox in both corners.  I just could not resist breaking rules for this Diva Challenge.  Sorry!

There is a second challenge which I haven't yet had time to do; will post that later or tomorrow, if I can get to it.

Meanwhile, look what just arrived in the mail from Shutterfly--my heart mirror-tile cards from the mirror-tile I made the other day (see my original in the August 19th post).  I love them!  Cannot wait to inflict one on somebody.