Diva #252 and Australia Day?

Diva Challenge #252

This week's challenge is to use a Tangle as a string.

For my first tile I used Purk as the string and then filled each globe with an offical Zentangle Tangle. I'm pleased with the outcome and with the process. Before tackling it I reviewed the online instructions for drawing Purk and ended up listening to Rick explain what Zentangle was all about.  I recommend re-focusing on this when you get stuck or too caught up in mastering every new Tangle that comes out.

The outcome shows how far my drawing skills have come in the 18 months that I've been Tangling. While drawing, I concentrated on the each Tangle, stroke by stroke, line by line. Just as Rick explained in his YouTube clip.

My next tile is a bit different. It uses Tripoli as the string, and then Afterglo, Tripoli, Cruffle and Wired. I added the colours red, yellow and black to acknowledge the significance of today in Australia. The colours are from the Aboriginal Flag.

I'll show you my tile first then I'll explain a bit about today.

Australia Day?

Today is the 26th January. It is Australia's national day, Australia Day.  It's a national public holiday in here, commemorating the founding on 26 January 1788 of the colony of New South Wales.

When the British settled in this land, they declared that the land was terra nullius - as unowned land. That edict effectively striped the Aboriginal people of their rights to the land, despite them living here for over 40,000 years.

For Aborigines today is known as Invasion Day.

This is a topic that dominates our news and discourse - on and offline - around this time and particularly today. 

Even Google has bought into the subject. The logo is only viewable to Australian internet users. I've copied here though. Here's a link to more information about today's logo.

I'll leave it up to you to read further about this topic.

Zen-swimming

I've been Zen-swimming. This is a term I thought of yesterday while I was doing laps of my local pool.

Yesterday I swam 2.5km (50 laps), and managed 1.2km of freestyle without needing to break into a different stroke.

I was chatting to a fellow swimmer and he asked how I managed to go so far. My answer is that I focus on my breath.

For lap after lap I count my breaths. That means I count to either 2 or 4 many, many times. This is very much like Zentangle where you concentrate on each stroke and not on the outcome. I concentrate on each stroke and breath, and don't pay much attention to the laps I'm yet to complete.

If I thought about the distance too much before I started, I'd never get beyond the 1km mark. By breaking my swimming up into blocks, and into blocks within blocks, I have increased my distance markedly over the couple of weeks that I've been back lap swimming.

That too is very like Zentangle. How often have you looked at someone's completed tile or ZIA and thought to yourself 'I could never achieve that'? They did it line by line. 



So much writing and deep thinking today! Back to school tomorrow so my drawing and blogging will slow down for a bit until I get into a new routine.

Thanks for visiting. Please leave a comment so I know you've passed by.

Miss L