Make it bigger

This week has been a good week to draw. It's hot and humid, so I really don't have the energy to do much other other than read, what TV and draw. And eat. Trying not to eat so much.

This week I've been working on Opus tiles. I'm usually cautious about using them because they do cost a bit and I never think that I've got many on hand. However, I recently found a stash of them hidden away in a drawer. So, no excuses.

What do draw on them? Inspiration came as I looked through my tiles from this year that I've haven't filed yet. I normally store tiles in neat folders, complete with dates and tangles uses etc. But this hasn't happened for some time.

Anyway, I took inspiration from tiles I'd completed during the year for online challenges.

The first tile is from Made by Joey #131. Here's my original tile.

Here's my Opus version. Tangles used include: bubbles, crezendo, shattuck, tropicana, golven, bunzo + purk in a Zen Gem, W2, buttercup, moowa, mooka and pixioze.

My second tile comes from Made by Joey #141. 

My Opus version uses: pipez, wiffles, betweed, poke leaf, flukes, pixioze, dicso, printemps and tripoli.

Thanks for dropping by.

Miss L

Made by Joey tiles

Happy New Year people. 

Made by Joey #144 and #145

Here are my tiles for these two challenges. Both feature the new tangle Drawings. I learnt this during the 12 Days of 3Zs challenge and like it so keep using it.

That reminds me - I have to check out Tanglepatterns to see when the new ebook of Tangles comes out.

Christmas Day at Chateau L

I had a lovely Christmas Day with my family (kids, husband, furry friends) and on the 23rd a lovely pre-Christmas with my extended family (my kids, husband, my sorta-daughter and her boyfriend who is my sorta-son).  

Here's Arthur wearing his Santa outfit. Luna was a reindeer. 

Something I learnt at Christmas - no matter how careful you are, new knives can be dangerous. Here's a photo taken at around the time most people would have been having Christmas lunch. No stitches needed but we couldn't be sure. 

My happy place

I took off to the coast for a few days on my own before Christmas. Canberra would be the perfect city if it was a couple of hundred kilometres east of where it is, putting on the coast. 

Here's a photo of me on my last morning at Huskisson, taken in the rain near Moona Moona Creek. I can spend hours walking on the beach, swimming in it, looking at it or just being near enough to smell it. 

Do you like my umbrella? I bought it when I was in Launceston last July, drawing with Shelley Beauchamp. Good memories.

My other happy place is, surprisingly, the gym. I've been getting back into the gym lately. I'm really enjoying getting stronger and fitter.

Here's a photo of one of the weights machines I use. Have to increase the weights next session as the 40kg I'm pushing is too easy. Who'd of thought that!!!!  So proud of myself.

Thanks for dropping by.

Miss L

More tangle challenges

Finally found time to complete more Tangle challenges, including the final 12 days of 3Zs series from Zentangle Central.

Made by Joey

Made by Joey this week is another finish my tile challenge, this time featuring Verdigogh. I find this tangle is quite relaxing to draw. I do have to pencil in an outline first otherwise the shape gets out of hand and unbalanced.

IAST

Adele Bruno's It's a String Thing challenge was to use the new tangle Drawings. My attempt at this tangle reminded me of my favourite flower, which is a pink asiatic lily/ lillium so I added pink and yellow water colour pencils to my tile. 

12 days of 3Zs

Here are my tiles for the last few days. 

Where to next?

I think most of the tangle challenges are having a break for a few weeks. That won't stop me drawing though. I'm thinking of going back to basics for a while, using the first Book of Zentangle and the Primer, to refresh my skills and not try to be too clever.

I'm on school holidays for the next 5 weeks. It's summer here and hot. I'm taking a couple of days on my own down the coast, then back here for Moo's 20th birthday and then Christmas.


Thanks for dropping by. Happy and safe holidays to you all.

Miss L

Tangle challenges

Diva #297  - Holiday Bash!

The final Diva challenge of the year is to revisit one of the previous year's challenges. I've taken that to mean revisiting one of the end of year challenges, although it could have meant revisiting a challenge from 2016. I chose the former.

The challenge for December 2015 was to give the gift of Zentangle. Last year I created a simple ZIA with the word 'thanks' on it. Since I have a few thankyous to hand out, I thought I'd revisit that word and that challenge.

My second tile links to my first but uses the December 2014 challenge of Keeping It Simple Silly. I chose another circular tile, with Skye as the border and the number 10 in the middle.

Thanks part 1

The 'Thanks' tile is to thank all those wonderful people who create and share their Zentangle art. It's the creators, Rick and Maria; it's the hosts of invaluable websites such as Linda Farmer at Tanglepatterns.com; it's the people who create and share their tangles (just reflect on how many tangles you've learnt and loved this year!); it's the people such as the Diva, Joey and Adele who provide the online community with challenges every week; it's the people who participate in those challenges; and it's the community that has developed around this incredible art form.

I'm so grateful and thankful that this art form has entered and stayed in my life.

Thanks part 2 + 10 (years)

The second part of the thanks tile is to send virtual thanks to those people who have helped me reach a significant milestone. In a couple of weeks it will be my 10 year anniversary of being diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Or, in the language I've been using since day 1, in a couple of weeks it will be my 10th anniversary of being a cancer survivor.

My thanks goes to: my family, friends who stayed the distance, newer friends who joined the journey, and the medical staff (doctors, nurses, admin staff, medical researchers) who all made my survival possible.

12 days of 3Zs

I have been participating in the 12 days challenge, although I haven't been keeping up or posting everything on the app. However, here are my latest set of tiles. Some are not so great - still not friends with Molygon and my take offs and landings haven't been as precise as I'd like. My favourite is my last one.

Oh Christmas tree, of Christmas tree ....

Here's a little something for those of you who live in the northern hemisphere. 

My children like a live Christmas tree. Apparently it is all about the smell and how that makes them feel like it's Christmas.

So, a week or so ago the Husband and I drove out the local Christmas tree farm to buy our tree. It was hot, dusty and the air was full of flies and jumping insects. Not what those of you in colder climates get?

Here's our tree at the farm before it got cut. 

And now in our home, complete with Arthur who has discovered he can pull the baubles off and play with them. No tinsel because Luna, the other cat, ate some last year and had to spend time at the vet because of it. No harm done but now we don't do tinsel.

Have a safe and happy holiday season. Thanks for dropping by.

Miss L

Tangle challenges

After weeks of doing very little drawing I'm now doing lots. Today I completed 7 tiles. Must have something to do with a significant easing of work pressures and improved health (had bad asthma and hay fever for a couple of weeks).

Diva #296 - Moowa

Today's tangle challenges are Diva #296 - Moowa and continuing with the 12 days of 3Zs with the Mother Ship.

Moowa was relaxing and fun to draw and to shade. Hard for me not to turn it into Mooka though. Here are my tiles.

My first adds Sanibelle and a tangellation of Sanibelle that fell from my pen. I've never seen it done this way by anyone else.

My second adds Flux and Knot Ricks to Moowa/Mooka. I drew inspiration from Cris Letourneau's response to this week's challenge.

My final tile is a mono tangle of Moowa.

12 days of 3zs

I found time to get these tiles done yesterday and today.

Work news

The school year here is coming to an end. Only a week and a half to go. I will be changing schools for the start of next year. I've been at my current school for 5 years so it's time to move on and meet new challenges. I'm sad and excited at the same time. 

Last night was our school's Year 10 Formal/ Graduation. I taught many of these students when they were in Year 7 and have watched them grow ever since, even though I haven't been their regular teacher since Year 7. It was lovely night and I got lots of crazy dancing in. I'm known at school for spontaneous dance moves and terrible singing in class, so it was nice to be able to sort of dance properly maybe kinda with my ex-students last night. 


Thanks for dropping by.

Miss L

Tangle challenges

First up I want to thank people for dropping by my blog and leaving comments. The comments help me feel connected to other Tanglers and help keep me motivated to draw. I haven't been drawing much lately due to the usual end of year work and family pressures.

I did order some more Zentangle supplies which arrived a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday I started playing around with circular tiles. Later I'll get out the Opus tiles and see what appears on them.

Diva #295 - more fragments

Loved doing this challenge. I used fragments J6 and X7 on my first tile then W2 and W7 on my second with a little Hollibaugh.

Made by Joey

Not so many people do this challenge. Not sure why. Maybe people don't know about it? I highly recommend it. Joey often gets us to finish a tile that she has started. This is a great way to get back into drawing when you are struggling to find your mojo.

Here's my tile. It starts with Pipez and a zigzag string. I've used a circular tile and surrounded it with Pixioze.

It's a string thing

This week's feature tangles of Veridigogh and Cruffle.

12 Days of 3Zs

Finally, The Mother Ship has released triangular tiles and a 12 days of Zentangle Challenge. The link to the challenge is here. I've made my own triangular tiles from 220gsm artists paper.

Thanks for dropping by.

Miss L

Tangle challenges

Diva #294

This week's Diva challenge uses Reticula and Fragments from the Zentangle Primer. I've been fortunate to own this book and the accompanying journal. After a few months of using both regularly I've slacked off. This week's challenge has been a nice reminder to get both books out again and get drawing.

Here are my tiles. The first uses a fairly standard square grid while the second uses reticula R-E 3. Some of the fragments are from the book while a couple invented themselves as I drew.

After a break from drawing it's been a pleasant evening getting back into it.

Diva #293

A few days ago I drew a tile for Diva #293 featuring Keeko. I use Keeko quite a bit. This time I drew a grid first then filled it with Keeko. Normally I'm quite free-handed with it. The centre is a fragment (square fragment  X7?).

Made by Joey 

Last week the Made by Joey was a finish my tile challenge with Mooka in the corner. Mooka appears in a lot of my work, often by accident. My pen just likes those shapes! The Mooka is surrounded by Pixiote. The green interior is a water colour pencil.

Thanks for dropping by.

Miss L

Joey #138

This week it's another finish my tangle challenge. I have such fun doing these.

Tonight I sat down to draw, not intending to do the challenge, not then anyway. But I checked on the link and liked the challenge so I did it. 

Here are my two tiles.

Thanks for dropping by and adding your comments to my blog. Much appreciated.

Miss L

Diva #292 - Eaxy

This week's Diva challenge was particularly challenging. The tangle was Eaxy. I  had several practices of this one, and looked at what other Tanglers had done. Still struggled, which is frustrating at the tangle looks great on Nadine's blog.

Here are my tiles. The first uses the design of a glass object I saw yesterday at the centre piece, with Shattuck running down the middle.

My second tile uses Viaduct,  Tattle and Ahh.

Other drawing

Nothing happening this past week. Instead of drawing I've been going to the gym; been busy at and with work; suffering badly from hay fever; and writing. I'm part way through a creative writing course that I've been attending one evening a week. It's getting me writing again.

Farewell dinner for Moo

This Sunday by lovely, lovely daughter Moo flies out to New Zealand for a 3 week holiday. Australian's like to joke that travelling to NZ is not overseas at all. It is. She needs a passport and plane.

Moo is joining a tour, so she'll be with other people. She doesn't know any of them but that will change soon enough.

To celebrate this big event and to send her off, we had a special dinner last Saturday. There were 6 of us at dinner: The Husband, BoyBoy, Moo, B - Moo's best friend and my sorta daughter, Wookie - B's boy pal and my sorta son-in-law once removed, and myself. We went to a restaurant that serves food and games.

Here's a pic of their games menu.

The service was ordinary, the food less than ordinary, but the one waiter who understood the games menu and our needs made the night.

Saturday night games night has been an institution in our family since the kids were little. Other families have movie nights. We have games. Uno, Cluedo, Monopoly, Scattergories, Spoons - nothing complicated. It's a bonding thing and a chance to laugh at each other.

Gozzart

My son attends our local college. The college had their end of year art showcase and my talented, amazing BoyBoy had several pieces on display. Most of his friends had work in the display as well, making me a very proud mother.

Here's a pic of his major work titled 'A Perfect Hand'. BoyBoy's work is the giant hand in the centre of the photo. The hand is about 40cm tall, hollow and completely hand made. BoyBoy hopes to attend art school at university to study sculpture.

Have a good week.


Miss L

Diva #291 - black tiles

This week's Diva challenge was on the theme of Halloween. If not Halloween then black tiles. I only use black tiles when I'm challenged to. Never by choice, although participating in a challenge is a choice ......

Right. My tiles.  The collection below are my failures. I tried using a gel pen. I tried using a spider web as a string. Nope. Not happy with any of them.

Maybe I was simply too tired last night to draw.

Tonight I was more relaxed and I treated the black tiles the same as a normal white or tan tile. My first uses Buttercup, Flux, and W2. My second uses a spiral string and is a monotangle of Ponio.

Other drawing

I've been playing around with Ponio lately. The first tile uses Ponio with 'Dillo and Huggins. The second tile combines Ponio with Shattuch and Mooka and some random swirly things. My fixation with spray mists continues.

Thanks for dropping by. Thanks for commenting too.

Miss L