a tangle well-traveled + tripoli monotangle

Hi, friends!

You may have noticed that my tangling has slowed down a little this year, and it's partly due to thumb pain. The Very Expensive Specialist said, "Well, you don't have arthritis, so..." (*shrug*)"... here, have some knee meds"! I can still draw ok, but my thumb often aches afterward. I should have expected this, to be honest. George Clooney warned me this would happen when he said, "After forty, it's all about pluggin' the holes in the boat." How true, Mr. Clooney. He knows me so well.

Anyway... onward! It's been way too long since I jumped in on a Diva challenge. I've always liked Tripoli. I liked it more once I figured out that drawing it successfully, like many other patterns, is more about drawing the spaces in between the shapes than the shapes themselves. Keeping parallel lines the same distance apart as much as possible = magic. My unsolicited advice for the day. :oD

My mind went in different directions while I was drawing, so there are a couple of variations here. Monotangles really take discipline for me because I like to throw a lot at my tiles. It's a good exercise to rein it in once in a while and find ways to make an old dog do new tricks, though. Once it was done, I tried rotating it in different directions and saw a variety of things with each rotation. I have chosen PegLeg Chef Tossing Pizza Dough for your viewing pleasure. 

Remember being a kid, when it was actually fun to get mail? Well, if you're missing those days, hop onto the Traveling Tangles bandwagon to spruce up your mailbox. Nothing good ever arrives in a window envelope, after all... and getting mail from all over the world is exciting. No pressure though- if you're not sure about jumping in, lurking in the shadows is perfectly acceptable. I love the ones where the artistic style of the participants is vastly different and yet the tiles are just come together. Just another example of how this art community brings people together.

The following are all tiles that were partially tangled and snail-mailed to me for finishing. I debated posting before-and-after scans but it's more fun to guess who did what. It's been a few days anyway, so even I'm not completely sure.

I'll keep all the Diva-ness together... the next three tiles were started by Laura (Canada) and finished by me. Somebody remind me to ask her what she used for color- my micron skated over that sparkly, glorious sunset mishmash like an olympian. I'd like to tell you that if you show up on my doorstep I'll let you see it in person, but I really don't want you to. You can just take my word for it.

so... Seussy.

This one's probably my favorite. 

This was a very satisfying collaboration for me. All three tiles are so happy.

This one was started by Alice Hendon (Maine) and finished by me. She's got a pattern called All Boxed Up that I love to play with... I could monotangle that sucker til the cows come home and go out again. I love it so hard.

Emily Classen (Massachusetts) sent me this black tile to finish. It was a surprise, actually... I went a little bonkers over the pic when she showed it to me, and the real deal landed in my mailbox a few days later. My mailbox is a magnet for good things lately, y'all! So grateful for good friends.

Glenys Sykes (UK) sent me this lovely Renaissance (tan) tile.  It was so unbelievably pretty as is that I was afraid I'd ruin it, so I just added a few touches of white. There have been many tiles on the TT page that I wouldn't change... they were already perfect. This is definitely one of those. 

Barb Mavraganis (Pennsylvania) sent me this one. It took me a while to figure out what to do with it... I saw another tile with chainging on it and it made me want to play with the pattern. The gold highlights Barb added are my favorite part. It's a perfect gold... not too green and not too orange. 

Last but not least (I did this one first, actually) is this one from Sue Olsen (Ohio). I maybe should have stopped drawing (way) before I did, but it was really fun to finish! 

Edit: adding on a couple of older ones that I never got around to posting....  this one was started by Margaret Bremner (Canada). I love how she sneaked in her initials.

This one came from Lynn Mead (Washington) and is a good example of one that was already perfect upon arrival. I just added the raindotty variation and the gold touches, but let's be honest, it didn't really need either one!

Thanks to all my trading buddies!

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Thanks for stopping by... 

feel free to visit me here!

Weekly Challenge #206: "Tools/Trade"

The Diva's weekly challenge is to use a tool we don't normally use to draw our tangle... and while my attempt at using colored microns begat a sad day in sandyland, using gold gouache on black cardstock more than made up for it (if you're an appreciater of little things, it's kinda fun to watch the gold particles travel around on the water's surface tension before soaking into the paper).

Hope you enjoy all four of these nearly-identical photos that *almost* capture the shiny, strappy, sun-drenched essence of the original piece. ;o)

Thanks to Laura for the challenge... I will definitely be trying these particular tools of the trade again. And now I have a whole new respect for people who can successfully photograph shiny/metallic things, 'cause boy is it ever tricky. :o)

• ❃ • ❋ • ❁ • ✿ • ✽ • ❀ •

Thanks for stopping by! 

Feel free to join me here, 

where I frequently share artsy things that inspire me, 

invite tanglers to share art,

crack silly jokes, 

and offer up the 

occasional 

tangle 

prompt. 

:oD

❀

Weekly Challenge #205: "Year of the Goat"

The Diva's weekly challenge this week is to do a tile inspired by the Chinese zodiac.

My own personal challenge is to get this posted before my laptop battery dies, as it's currently down to 2% power... so with no ado at all, here's my year-of-the-rabbit tile:

Sure hope it wasn't supposed to be a goat. 

• ❃ • ❋ • ❁ • ✿ • ✽ • ❀ •

Thanks for stopping by! 

Feel free to join me here, 

where I frequently share artsy things that inspire me, 

invite tanglers to share art,

crack silly jokes, 

and offer up the 

occasional 

tangle 

prompt. 

:oD

❀

diva challenge no. 195: 'turning old into new: jailbreaking tangles'

The Diva's weekly Zentangle challenge this week: take a freeform/flowy/scatter pattern and stuff it into a grid, or use a grid-based tangle and break it out. If I hadn't been so tired when I wrote that challenge (late-night, last-minute as usual... 'cause that's how I roll), I would have realized that nearly all of my examples were stuffing tangles into grids and only one tangle pattern got liberated in that post. So I've got a few more examples to show you.

Just a few things to ponder (because I did a terrible job of explaining this in my original post):

• Putting a pattern into a grid is usually easier than taking one out. If you don't know where to start, try a grid first. Lines, dots... start with whatever you like to draw the most.

• Don't be afraid to only use a piece of a pattern you like; it doesn't have to be the whole thing. Picking a pattern in the first place is just so there is a place to start, a jumping-off point to get inspired.

• No grid doesn't necessarily mean no structure, unless you want it to. It just means you don't start with dots or lines in military formation.

Rick's paradox (Zentangle):

Starbarz (Jane Dickinson):

Sunflower (Anne Marks):

I loved this one so much it got its own Bijou tile. 

Drip-drop (Debbie Perdue):

Bronx cheer (Zentangle):

Assunta is the focus tangle on one of my favorite facebook tangle groups this week, so I'm giving it a little legroom too.

and Veezley, which is one of mine. Helloooo, Christmas trees! Very Seussy.

I know this is a tricky challenge and there isn't much zen to it... but it's fun to shake things up and I've already seen some really inspiring tangles out there. Thank you, brave souls...it makes me so happy that you're taking this challenge and running with it. 

Happy jailbreaking. :oD

• ❃ • ❋ • ❁ • ✿ • ✽ • ❀ •

Thanks for stopping by! 

Feel free to join me here, 

where I frequently share artsy things that inspire me, 

invite tanglers to share art,

crack silly jokes, 

and offer up the 

occasional 

tangle 

prompt. 

:oD

❀

Weekly Challenge #172: Duotangle - Auraknot vs Mooka

I tried a few variations of the Auraknot/Mooka combination until I got one I liked.

A four-point auraknot:

Five points:

 Eight points:

I liked the six-pointer one the best, so that's the one that got shaded. 

Sooo lazy.

Thanks for the challenge, Madame Diva!

• ❃ • ❋ • ❁ • ✿ • ✽ • ❀ •

Thanks for stopping by! 

Feel free to join me here, 

where I frequently share artsy things that inspire me, 

invite tanglers to share art,

crack silly jokes, 

and offer up the 

occasional 

tangle 

prompt. 

:oD

❀

weekly challenges 170 & 171: bugles & beads of courage

Haven't jumped on the merry bandwagon in a while, so I sat down recently and did a couple of weekly challenges. I couldn't decide to go with color or shading for the Bugles one, so I went with this (it wasn't a total waste; at least next time I'll know what not to do). I'd go back and add a little shading to make this better, but I've spent so much time looking at it today that I'm ready to be done with it. I like the pattern, at least.

...and here are my beads of courage for the Diva's son. He earns one bead of courage for every medical poke and prod and illness and overnighter, and he's got quite a collection going. So, this one's for him.

• ❃ • ❋ • ❁ • ✿ • ✽ • ❀ •

Thanks for stopping by! 

Feel free to join me here, 

where I frequently share artsy things that inspire me, 

invite tanglers to share art,

crack silly jokes, 

and offer up the 

occasional 

tangle 

prompt. 

:oD

❀

Weekly Challenge #164: "Amanda (Earth) Day"

I spent Earth day at my allergist's office (seven hours of it, anyway) taking part in RUSH immunotherapy. One shot of my own personal allergen cocktail every 30 minutes, for the purpose of reaching a maintenance level dose faster. Fall is my suckiest time of year, so I've got some time to build up my resistance to ragweed and mountain cedar. I'm also ok with rounding it all up and burning it down to the ground. I'll even bring the marshmallows.

Anyway, my mom kept me company the whole time. I beat her in one round of hand and foot out of nine (almost two), and that's kind of a big deal in sandyland. My mom's a total card fiend... she's not completely unbeatable, but there is some high-level strategy going on upstairs... whereas I'm usually pondering whether she's got all the ingredients in her pantry to make chocolate chip cookies as we play. :o)

mom's:

mine:

• ❃ • ❋ • ❁ • ✿ • ✽ • ❀ •

Thanks for stopping by! 

Feel free to join me here, 

where I frequently share artsy things that inspire me, 

invite tanglers to share art,

crack silly jokes, 

and offer up the 

occasional 

tangle 

prompt. 

:oD

❀

Weekly Challenge #154: valentanglin'.

The Diva challenge this week: a little Valentine's day-themed tanglin'! I did two zendalas: one in honor of my brother, who is getting hitched on Valentine's Day, and one in honor of his wife-to-be. I love him to pieces, and she is so perfect for him. Totally thrilled for them both.

Both of these are six-inch zendalas on Fabriano Tiepolo paper. 

04 sensei, 01 and 005 microns, stardust clear gelly roll pen for sparkle, 2B pencil for shading, Daniel Smith watercolors to make 'em snappy. Granulating ones... that's why they look a little grainy. I think. Gotta watch those perky cobalts.. they'll turn on you faster than you can say 'valendala'!

• ❃ • ❋ • ❁ • ✿ • ✽ • ❀ •

Thanks for stopping by! 

Feel free to join me here, 

where I frequently share artsy things that inspire me, 

invite tanglers to share art,

crack silly jokes, 

and offer up the 

occasional 

tangle 

prompt. 

:oD

❀

the 'merry happy' Diva challenge.

***UPDATE***

Done! Nothing makes it feel like the holidays like some chilly winter weather.

When I first posted these, I hadn't actually *done* the challenge yet... but I did make a few templates for it while I was horsing around with my Wacom tablet. Of course, you don't actually need a template... but if you wanna just get to the fun tangling part without a whole lot of left-brainery, one of these just might come in handy (think of them as themed picture frames for your art). You have plenty of time to do as many as you like, as the Diva is taking a well-deserved break until January.

Happy tanglin'... I don't do many of the Diva challenges these days (mostly because I am incredibly bad at time management), but I do love to go look at the things other people post now and then. So far, this is my favorite post for this challenge... lol.

• ❃ • ❋ • ❁ • ✿ • ✽ • ❀ •

Thanks for stopping by! 

Feel free to join me here, 

where I frequently share artsy things that inspire me, 

invite tanglers to share art,

crack silly jokes, 

and offer up the 

occasional 

tangle 

prompt. 

:oD

❀

Diva challenge no. 142: fengle & quandary duotangle

I can't believe it... two Diva challenges in two days! All is right with the world. 

This week's challenge- and it really was a challenge- is to draw a tangle using only fengle and (variations of) quandary. It's not exactly my favorite tile ever, but since Zentangle is about the process and not the product, I'm gonna go ahead and put it out into the tangleverse. This is a truly agonizing process for a perfectionist, because I can't stop thinking about how much better this would be if I'd just drawn ONE fengle with the other stuff radiating out from one central point. It's not that I hate this drawing... I'm just sayin'. 

. o O (Let it go, Sandy... just let it be what it is!)

I tinkered with this tile in photoshop and got a rather cool effect. Thanks to Laura for the challenge (and to Adobe for their 'glowing edges' filter. hee hee).

Well, I couldn't leave it alone after all... much happier with this one-- 

done with a micron, watercolor and a waterbrush, and one verrrry sparkly Swarovski crystal. 

• ❃ • ❋ • ❁ • ✿ • ✽ • ❀ •

Thanks for stopping by! 

Feel free to join me here, 

where I frequently share artsy things that inspire me, 

invite tanglers to share art,

crack silly jokes, 

and offer up the 

occasional 

tangle 

prompt. 

:oD

❀

Diva Challenge no. 141: pointillism, hold the comets.

It's been a while since I jumped in on the weekly Diva challenge, and the recent one on the exploration of pointillism (stippling, technically, since I did mine in a single color) really grabbed my interest. Just FYI... if you think it takes a long time to do a tangle, try drawing it with teeny little dots instead of flowing lines! For me, this was an exercise in patience. And it really did force me to slow down, since dots tend to look a little more like comets when rushed. I think it was supposed to be a monotangle- using just one tangle pattern- but I wanted a more solid frame for contrast. So I settled for limiting myself to roundish things.

I'll definitely try this again... thanks to Laura, as always, for prying me out of my comfortable-habit zone.

• ❃ • ❋ • ❁ • ✿ • ✽ • ❀ •

Thanks for stopping by! 

Feel free to join me here, 

where I frequently share artsy things that inspire me, 

invite tanglers to share art,

crack silly jokes, 

and offer up the 

occasional 

tangle 

prompt. 

:oD

❀

Weekly Challenge #111: "Mooka"

Well... the Diva doesn't call it a challenge 'cause it's cake. 

If there's one tangle pattern I struggle with, it's Mooka. On the rare occasion when I use it, I get better results making it a mishmash of Mooka and Flux. Tried it a couple times... here are 1.0 and 2.0:

Is it still a monotangle if I made it a hybrid of two tangle patterns and threw in a third (Puffle) as a string? I vote yes. 'Cause WE are the music-makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.' 

...and am I the only one that sees Odie ears when they look at Mooka??