Diva #282 - Spill it

This week's Diva challenge was to use a tile that we'd spilt something on. I chose to drop some food colouring onto some tiles.

Here are my tiles. Lots of them this week. You'll understand why there are lots in a moment.

Where I was when I did my Diva tiles

The last couple of days have been challenging for our family. My husband became very ill on Sunday night. I took him to hospital Monday morning. On Tuesday afternoon he had emergency surgery. The good news is the surgery was considered a day procedure, so he was allowed home that evening.  The bad news is that he will require more surgery in several weeks time and who knows what other follow up. 

The positives out of all this is that the problem was caught and fixed. Thank you Medical System that we have in Australia. Top notch. Wonderful. I was able to care for him and be by his side, which is pay back for the countless days The Husband did the same for me over the years with my health issues (cancer survivor of nearly 10 years). Moo also stepped up by sitting with him Monday night, while BoyBoy did his part keeping the house and pets going.

How does this related to the Diva Challenge? I did the tiles while sitting waiting in hospital. All them done on my knee, not a table in sight.

So grateful for this art form, particularly how portable it is. 

My travelling Zentangle Kit

I have made up a little travelling Zentangle Kit. It includes a lovely, small, hard cover Jasart sketch book with 200gsm pages. This, plus pens, pencil, tortillon, and eraser all fit in a pencil case. This case goes with me to work and to medical appointments, any where where I expect to have to sit and wait for a while.

Here are some drawings I've done lately, based on the chapter about reticula and fragments in the Zentangle Primer. 

Head space

Last week I wrote about being in a black place. That has lifted somewhat although it takes daily effort.

Thanks for the messages of support. Your comments did make a difference. Gotta love this Zentangle community!

Lately I've been reminded of the Serenity Prayer. You would have heard it - it is used by the 12 step programs. I'm not in one of those and don't need to be, but the words of the prayer do resonate.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

One last thing - I've been skiing again

This blog post is soooo long! But I have to share some more pictures.

Last Saturday The Husband and I had another day skiing. The weather was frigid cold, the snow was deeper than it was last time, and our ski fitness levels had increased. We managed to ski for 22km, over 16 runs, over 6 hours. It was a brilliant, brilliant day. So happy to have rediscovered this sport and to have worked out how to get ourselves down to the snow.

Looking up Pretty Valley from the chair lift

Me about to drop down into Pretty Valley. Copper Head Rd, my favourite run, is way off to the left of the photo.

Me taking a break, bottom of Pleasant Valley. It was COLD!

Thanks for taking the time to visit my page. I will get back into visiting yours. Life just needs to settle down a bit, that's all.

Miss L

Diva #281 - ING

This week's Diva challenge is to use the Tangle ING. I have only used this tangle once before, and that was last week. 

I've been working through the Zentangle Primer and Chapter includes ING. My attempt at it, and some other tangles, was bad. Very bad. So, no photos.

Here's my challenge tile for this week. Only the one tile - this is not a tangle I like at all. However, I do like the tile I ended up with.

That's all for this week. My head is in a pretty dark place so not much to share. 

I have started participating in Adele Bruno's It's a String Thing challenge, after many weeks of absence.

Here's my favourite tile for that challenge.

Have a good week.

Miss L

It's a string thing #158

It's been a while since I've participated in this challenge. I still find using other people's strings hard to do. Much more comfortable just drawing something myself.

I chose to participate this week because the challenge features a tangle by Lily Moon. I admire Lily's work, especially her attention to detail. Every stroke of the pen starts and finishes perfectly.

Here are my two tiles.

Have a good week and thanks for dropping by.

Miss L

Diva #280 - Rio Olympics

This week's Diva Challenge is about celebrating the Olympics.

I found this challenge hard to do as I haven't gotten into watching the Olympics much this time round. Maybe that's due to Netflex (Broadchurch for edge of your seat drama, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt for laughs) and Zentangle - two things I've been spending time on lately.

Anyway, my first tile uses the motif of a oars, as this sport has given Australia one of its' few gold medals for these games. Diva Dance for the water, Printemps for water highlights and Ahh for sky highlights.

My second tile draws inspiration from an Olympics games that I did watch - in person. This was the 2000 Olympics held in Sydney. The Husband and I got to see beach volley ball (loud, fun and the only time I've visited Bondi Beach), hockey (which we used to play every weekend) and some athletics. I also got to be in the grandstand for a dress rehearsal of the opening ceremony. 

The funny looking set of coloured symbols on the bottom right of the tile are taken from the top part of the Sydney games logo. From there I've added ribbons of Finery, Shattuck and Twing, with a touch of Flux at the edges.

Other drawing

This week I've been reading Chapter 6 of the Zentangle Primer. This chapter is about learning more tangles rather than exploring techniques of shading, enhancements or tangellations.

These are some tiles that I've drawn, influenced by this chapter. The way I'm drawing Shattuck at the moment is directly from chapter 6. Zen gems and Twing are continuing to show the influence of my visit to Shelley Beauch over a month ago. 

Thanks for stopping by. I'll try to drop by your blogs too.

Miss L

Diva Challenge #279: "Duotangle Meer vs Auraknot"

This week's Diva challenge asks us to combine two tangles: Auraknot and Meer. I decided to keep both tiles simple. The second uses Hollibaugh to create layers of Meer. 

Other drawing 

Not much drawing at all over the past week or so. Last week is a blur. I cannot remember what I did at all. Maybe I've just been tired?

I did spend time adding to my Zentangle Journal. I'm actually enjoying working on this more than using normal tiles. 

Recently I finished reading the chapter about strings where we are encouraged to venture beyond them. In this tile, however, I stayed closely within the strings. Normally, however, I'm pretty relaxed about staying within them and often don't use them at all. Maybe that's what I took away from the chapter - that it is OK to stay within them on occasion? I'm most proud of my strings of Mooka that coil up the tile and my Huggins, which is a tangle I worked on with Shelly Beauch recently and which still causes me grief. Not in this tile though.

Skiing

Last weekend was a real super wonderful amazing treat. We went skiing. The Husband and I can both down hill ski at an intermediate level although we choose to stay in green runs, which are the easiest level. Although we live only 3 hours from the snow, we haven't been able to get onto the slopes very often since before BoyBoy was born.

Speaking of BoyBoy, we took him with us. He is 17 and has never down hill skied.

After a difficult start and nearly giving up, BoyBoy got the hang of skiing and was beating me down the hill on most runs. Whether that was deliberate or because he was slightly out of control, we don't know. His crash rate fell away and he understood why The Husband and I love skiing so much.

I got quite emotional at times over the two days. It was such a joy to be back on skis after a long break. It was also a chance to enjoy skiing the slopes that I'd first learnt on in my teens yet doing so with my husband (who is THE BEST husband ever!!!).  Ah the memories. 

Most of all it was an incredible, powerful, wonderful feeling to see my boy skiing confidently down the slopes. On the Sunday I was racing down this lovely wide open valley, with BoyBoy right behind me. I was a very proud mother then!

The Husband and I overlooking Perisher Valley.

BoyBoy with an ice crystal 

Snow gums while waiting for the chair lift, Pleasant Valley. 

Have a great week and thanks for dropping by.

Miss L

Diva #278 - UMT KLnightstar

This week's Diva challenge is to use Knightstar, which is a tangle by Daniel Lamothe.

I highly recommend reading Daniel's blog. He is young - late teens? - and the youngest CZT. His blog posts are funny, insightful and full of his unique take on life and art. And his art is incredible.

http://thetanglecorner.blogspot.com.au/

My first tile started life this morning as I was doodling before a meeting. I'd arrived early (did not know what to expect from the traffic) so filled in time by experimenting with this week's challenge.

Here's my doodle and my finished tile. The finished tile includes tangellations of squill, ellish and knightstar. Not sure I like it much but I did like the process.

Since I wasn't too happy with my first tile, I had another go. This one owes a little inspiration to CharKat and the way she shaded knightstar. I added something extra to the white spaces - a product called Glossy Accents.  But, of course, the gloss didn't come out in the photo. 

Other drawing

I haven't been Tangling much this last week due to life, the universe and everything. I did, however, complete a tile on Monday, which I posted on the Zentangle Mosaic. 

Bertie

A huge, huge, huge event in my life recently has been the purchase of a car. This is my first new car, just for me, that I chose, that I could have customised if I'd wished.

My car is a Mini Cooper S. That means almost nothing to me other than it is a Mini and that it's a sports model which means the driving should be fun. And it is very, very fun to drive.

Why Bertie? Apparently it is customary for Mini Cooper owners to name their cars. I named mine Jeremy for a few days, which is a reference to a British TV show called Top Gear. However, the name didn't suit. So now it is called Bertie.

Here's a piccy. The angle is bad because I didn't want to post a photo of my number plate.

Health, fitness, weight loss

I haven't posted about this topic for a while. I guess it's because my fitness program has become such a normal, almost everyday part of life. It's common for me to go to the gym up to 5 times a week and spend an hour or so working out. If I miss the gym then I walk our dog, Milo.

Results in terms of weight loss have been gradual, if not a bit slow. Have to work harder on cutting down sugar and refined carbs. 

Results in terms of losing size has been noticeable. Clothes are looser and the body is toned.

Results in terms of strength have been amazing. Today, for instance, I did 10 x 5 sets of full push ups and 3 sets of 30 stomach crunches. Did the same yesterday as well. Feeling quite proud of myself.

The other activity I've taken up is meditation. I've been using an App called Headspace. So far I've meditated for 10 minutes a day for 22 days straight. Looking at the time now, I'd been finish this so I can get a session in before bed. 

Thanks

Thanks for dropping by. Thanks especially to people who add comments. Love to read them and then visit your blogs. Page views for my blog are now well over 10,000 and it's not quite 1 year old.

Have a great week

Miss L