Diva #286

This week's Diva challenge is a quick draw for me today as I'm just about to go away for a couple of days. The trip is just me and my car, Bertie. Bliss. Look out for photos next week.

Anyway, this week the Diva challenged us to use straight lines. I thought I'd quickly do a spiral. Alas, box spirals are hard to draw free hand. Here's my first fail (I had a second using a ruler which turned out even worse!).

Below is my third attempt. All the tangles are fragments from the Zentangle Primer, except for the tiny red paradoxes in the corner squares. 

Zentangle Journal

This entry incorporates fragments from the Zentangle Primer and layering of tangles covered in one of Eni Oken's books.

Other drawing

Staying with Eni Oken, I have some of her shading guides. For a change in pace for myself, I tried to follow her instruction closely. Normally I use instructions as a rough guide. 

Here is Tri-Roda and Aquafleur shaded as per Eni's guide. The only ink in the Aquafleur is in the outlines of the shape. The dark bands are graphite.

Lunch date

This coming weekend is our 22nd wedding anniversary. To celebrate The Husband had a couple of days away, or 'down the coast' in local Canberran speak.

We had lunch at Rick Stein's Bannisters by the Sea. Rick Stein is an English celebrity chef. He's made lots of cooking shows, owns a few world class restaurants and writes cook books.

Lunch at Bannisters was one of the best meals I've ever eaten. The was simple, complex, fresh, tasty, textual, lovely. Here are some photos.

 

Have a great week.

Miss L

Tangle challenges

Diva Challenge

The Diva this week asks us to relax. She also asks us to draw with the sole purpose of relaxation and for show. Mmmmm.

I'm putting these images on my blog and I'm hoping for comments. I get a sense of recognition and value from the comments themselves and from the number of comments. I get the most comments when my work is good. But I need to put that aside and just draw. OK.

My first tile is a play with colour. Mist sprays, coloured pencils and lots and lots of Mooka. There's some Diva Dance around the edge of the red blob and 'Nzeppel within the blob. I enjoyed creating it but not sure that I relaxed that much. I was very focussed though.

My second tile is a play with two favourite tangles: Flux and Shattuck. This one uses black and grey and a simple string of wave-like lines. 

Made by Joey

This week's Made by Joey challenge features Buttercup. I combined it with W2 on a colour-misted tile.

It's a String Thing

I struggled with the IAST challenge. It uses Andante, Flux and Cruffles with a curly string. This tile is so bad that I doubt that I'll submit it. It goes on my blog because I like to show failures as well as tiles that I like. This one is a fail.

Postscript to IAST

It's a day later and I've created another tile for this week's IAST challenge. This one is better.

Other drawing

I've spent a bit of time with my travelling tangle kit this week. My page shows me playing around with CreZendo, which is a tangle recently featured on the Square One Facebook page. 

Spray mists

If you looked at my blog last week, you'll see that I've been playing with spray mists. I got the idea from an Eni Oken book about making distressed tiles. While I have downloaded and printed the book, I have gone beyond glancing through it. That was enough for me to get out my old scrapbooking materials or from buying some new colours.

Here's what I've been using.

Have a great week and thanks for dropping by.

Miss L

Tangle challenges

I've spent a quiet morning listening to some new music and drawing.

I treated all my tiles this morning with shimmer mist.  I saw someone else recently using so thought I'd have a try too.

Here's another Diva #284 tile featuring Tripoli.

Then there's Adele Bruno's It's String Thing challenge. This week the tangles were Hollibaugh and Bubbles. I tried to be a bit unexpected with Hollibaugh and really highlight how this flat artform can look 3D.

Finally, my Made by Joey tile which is a finish my tile challenge.

My verdict? get some more colours of Glimmer Mist because I like the effect.

Thanks for dropping by and adding your comments.

Miss L

Diva #284 - Monotangle of Tripoli

This week's Diva challenge uses one of my favourite tangles - Tripoli. While it is a favourite and one that I use often, I still can't get the little tripolies to fit into even 6 tripoli circles. Mine tend to form circles of 5 or turn into crazy paving. I still like using it though.

The interior design of my tripolies come from the Zentangle Primer which has a page of triangular fragments.

My first uses a tile I coloured months ago. I thought the colours would work with the simple repetition of the one shape and one fill. 

The second tile uses something I'm not used to: restraint and lots of white space.

My final tile tonight is inspired by my latest purchase - an eBook by Eni Oken called 3D Tangle: Overlapping Tangles. I've only had time to skim through it. School holidays are soon and that's when I'll explore it in more depth. My aim in this tile was to create a 3D effect within and between the Tripoli stones.

Health and fitness update

I achieved a significant personal best yesterday: I did 60 full push ups. That's right, 60. They were on my toes too. I did them in blocks of 10 with a few stretches in between sets to give me time to recover. Feeling very proud of myself. In April I could barely do 5. I'm not able to get all the way down but my personal trainer said that what I'm doing still counts and does require strength.

Let's repeat that. I did 60 full push ups. Not bad for a woman getting close to 50. 

Have a great week and thanks for dropping by.

Miss L

Tangle challenges

This weekend I've been drawing (and cooking, and exercising and sleeping).

Here's my latest tile for Diva #283. I wasn't happy with any of my previous efforts so had another go. I think I got the balance between light and dark better.

Adele Bruno's IAST challenge #161 was hard. Like Diva #283, I had trouble with the balance of light and dark, with rain insisting on dominating my tiles and  I could not get raindotty on there at all.  After several complete failures (which ended up in the bin, they were so bad) I finished a tile I was happy with.

Finally, I tried my hand at a Made by Joey challenge. I've been intending to do one for ages. 

Here it is. 

Thanks for dropping by. Comments are always welcomed.

Miss L

Diva #283 - Centre Square

New features of this blog

My blog and my pseudonym (The Creative Miss L) have just turned 1. Happy birthday.

I have received over 11,000 page views in that time. Not sure how good that is but I like it. A lot.

An update to my blog includes the ability for visitors to rate the blog post by simply clicking a box. This so I can get feedback on my drawings and on my short stories.

Creative writing is my first creative love and I'm getting back into it. I've following a short story challenge called 30 Days of Inspiration. I'll be posting one or two short stories a week.


Have a good week and thanks for dropping by.

Miss L

Diva challenge

This week's Diva challenge is to use the tangle Centre Square. This tangle is one I've seen before but not used.

My first tile this evening is one I'm quite disappointed with. I got the balance of light and dark completely wrong. Plus, the finished tile looked nothing like what I was aiming for but then that is what is meant to happen when we tangle, isn't it?

The Zentangle Primer reminds us to accept and value mistakes. So, here's my tile.

Earlier today while at work I had some time to sit and draw. This is a VERY rare event in my job. I did a quick attempt at today's challenge. Later this evening I took that idea and reworked it.

Here are my two tiles. The first in my travelling Zentangle book and the second on a tile.

Other drawing

I've been playing around with reticula and fragments lately, from the Zentangle Primer. This ZIA took me some hours to complete over several days.

Health

Last week The Husband was in hospital having emergency surgery. Since then he has been slowly recovering. Energy levels are low but getting better.

I'm continuing to learn meditation. The program is called Headspace and is an app that I've downloaded onto my phone. It's a life-changer.

If you ever suffer anxiety, depression, panic or if you just get really stressed sometimes then try this app out. You'll know you've got the right one if the guy speaking is called Andy and he speaks with a lovely English accent.

Arthur

Here's a random picture of my cat Arthur. He is 9 months. He hates closed doors so will loudly yowl to have them opened. He also likes cuddles and toys. We often wake up to him playing with toys on our bed during the night. He brightens our lives.

Arthur at 9 months old.

Arthur at 2 months old.

30 Days of Inspiration - Day 2 writing challenge

I've decided to start writing again. This time I'm going to publish my work on my blog. 

I'm following the writing prompts in an ebook called 30 Days of Inspiration by Creative Writing Now.

Day 2 prompt: Write a story that includes: a tombstone, a first kiss, and a butterfly collection... 
Here's my short story. Constructive comments are welcome.

Enjoy. 

Miss L 

If only he hadn’t decided to show her his butterfly collection, then maybe, just maybe their date would have been magical and not the disaster that it was.

Dylan had been interested in Maddie for ages. Eons. A life time. What he didn’t know was that she liked him too. He found this out only when, to his absolute shock and amazement, she asked him out.

It's a string thing #160

This week's challenge features Shattuck and Fengle.

Here are my tiles.

Have a great week.

Miss L

30 Days of Inspiration - Day 1 writing challenge

I've decided to start writing again. This time I'm going to publish my work on my blog. 

I'm following the writing prompts in an ebook called 30 Days of Inspiration by Creative Writing Now.

Day 1 prompt: Your character moves into a new apartment. On the surface, the place seemed ideal, but his/her first night there, your character discovers a terrible problem with the place that he/she didn't take into account...

Here's my short story. 

Enjoy.

Miss L

My first night. My first place. Let me introduce you to my flat.

My flat is on the 1^st floor of a 2 storey block. There are about 10 flats in my block and about 16 flats in the block just down the hill from mine, still within the same, 1960s era complex. Think red brick, with white wooden doors and window frames, and a dark tiled roof. No verandas or balconies, just functional windows to let in the light at the front and back of each flat.