Tangle challenges

Today got off to an interesting start. I drive a Mini Cooper S and I took it to the Mini dealership to get serviced. I was given a courtesy car to drive. I was expecting something old, cheap, functional to drive. Instead the courtesy car was a BMW.

For those not into cars, the courtesy car would be worth much, much more than my Mini to buy new.  It was a nice car to drive, even just for the morning.

Diva #338 - white on black

White on black is about my least favourite combination for drawing. I tried though, using a black art journal that I have barely ever used. Here are my tiles.

Made by Joey #188 - Frunky

Frunky is a tangle I like to use but forget that it exists unless prompted in a challenge.

Zentangle Inspired Art

I've been playing around with a new set of water colour pencils, trying to get a 3D effect from colour blending. I used a variation of Mooka for my shapes.

Have a great week and thanks for dropping by.

Miss L

Tangle challenges

No blogging for me last week but lots of drawing.

The no blogging was because I spent a couple of days last week in Adelaide (a city over 1,000km away from my home) presenting at a conference. The conference was about how teachers use ICT and I was there to show people how to use a particular application.

This was the first time I'd ever presented at a conference before, of any type. It was a huge honour to be asked and a massive experience for me to actually do it. It also represents a new direction for me in teaching. These days I'm becoming good at teaching teachers how to use computers. This is not a direction I would ever have expected or thought possible. Very interesting times ahead for me.

So, no time to post but I have been drawing.

Diva #337 - Artoo

I liked Laura's triangular tile this week but don't like using them myself - I'd rather go big than small. However, I did use the triangle as a string. Here's my tile. It's on a renaissance tile as I'm running low on normal tiles - my next order should be here soon.

Made by Joey this week

This week's challenge was to use a 3D cube as a string as well as Betweed. Not sure that I like my result but here it is anyway.

Made by Joey last week

This is final week of the Tangle Mosaic challenge. Patience was something I struggled with in this challenge. Happy with the end result though.

Other drawing

I've been following Eni Oken for some time and have downloaded some of her lessons. This week I played around with her Tangled Ropes lesson.  This was lots of fun. Here are some examples.

Art Journal

My intention of adding to this every day was not realistic. That's OK. I do use it a couple of times a week. I find it good for focussing on the Zen of Zentangle - the process and the focus and the relaxation. Here's something I did last week. Dinner got delayed that night.

Have a great week and thanks for dropping by.

Miss L

Zentangle challenges

Diva #335 - Tint

This is a new tangle for me. I added Bunzo and Dicso to it after reading blog posts about #inktober. I've printed the list of #inktober tangles as a reminder to use a greater variety of tangles in my every day drawing.

Here's my tile.

Made by Joey

I don't get to these every week. Today I've done two week's worth. Here they are.

Then all together. Only one more week and one more tile to go.

Other drawing

I often browse the Zentangle App when I'm waiting in doctor's surgeries or waiting for a plane. Recently a tile from Shelly Beauch came up. I admire the way Shelly seamlessly combines tangles. There is so much to learn by studying her work. I used the lastest tile from Shelly as my inspiration/ model for this tile. My tile is on A5 paper.

Art Journal

My Art Journal is new. I'm trying to add to it regularly. Here are two recent additions. The second celebrates my 23rd wedding anniversary. Twenty three years and still going strong.

Have a great week and thanks for dropping by.

Miss L

Zentangle challenges and art journalling

It's school holidays here and spring. This week I've been away to Melbourne for a few days and have done some spring cleaning since I got home. First room to be cleaned is my study - haven't seen the top of my desk for some months and it had to be fixed!

My recent lack of Zen-spiration has ended. I'm drawing often and being more creative in what I draw. You'll see some results in this blog.

Diva #334- Crazy 'Nzeppel

I drew my first tile for this challenge after going to see an exhibition showcasing 70 years of the House of Dior. You can see the dress shape I used as my string. More on the exhibition below.

My second tile used a similar string to that used by Molly in the video. BTW - the Sakura America website has so much fun stuff to explore - check it out. Here's my tile.

Art journal

While exploring Melbourne CBD over the last few days, I found an art shop. Couldn't resist buying more coloured pencils and a new art journal. The journal is 5 inches square - perfect for Zentangle. Here's the journal and some of my drawings. I'm hoping to do one a day. We'll see how that goes.

House of Dior

My friend and I went to Melbourne to see Shakespeare played in a recreation of the Globe Theatre. We saw Much Ado About Nothing - hilarious! Nothing beats seeing these things live.

While in Melbourne we went to the 70 Years of Dior exhibition. I loved the exhibition so much I went back the next day for another, closer look. How can dresses make you feel so happy? I don't wear clothes like this. I don't read fashion magazines. I'm a jeans and boots girl and don't even own a single dress. But this exhibition made me feel joy. I had chills, it was just so breathtaking. Here's just two of my photos.

A bit of rock'n'roll

Last night The Husband and I went and saw one of my favourite singers, Dan Sultan. Dan knows how to rock a stage. And because it was held in a night club and not a theatre, the audience were able to dance. Loved it. 

Have a great week and thanks for dropping by.

Miss L

Tangle challenges and other Zen art

Last week I wrote that I hadn't been doing much drawing and that I'd lost my drawing mojo. That is something that I know happens from time to time. I tackled that problem head on by downloading a few video lessons from Eni Oken's webstore. Results are below.

Last weekend I went skiing again. Fourth day this season. It snowed all day. Had lots of different types of snow ranging from hard, icy balls that hurt, to super fine powdered sugar to clumps of torn tissue paper. 

Below is me near the end of the day when the sun finally came out.  The photo underneath me is BoyBoy mid-snow ball fight with me. Magnificent, unreal superb day with my two favourite men in the world. 

Diva #333 - Cosy

For my first tile I used the same tangles as the guest hosts combined with the string Suzanne Fluhr used. I liked the process but not how Ennies turned out. Have to take more care with my take offs and landings.

For my second tile I did tangles that relax my hand. I added some colour as I already had some coloured pencils out for another tile.

Made by Joey

The mosaic challenge continues and I continue to learn new tangles. 

Other drawing

Lately I've been watching some videos by Eni Oken. The challenge for me here is to take what Eni teaches and apply that to my own style of drawing. Here are some tiles featuring Eni's version of Peaknuckle, and tiles using Jaysix and Shnek as well as working on my rounding and line weights. 

I'm exploring Eni's tangled words video. In that video Eni uses a tangle called Mooka 3D. I need much more practice with that tangle as my style of Mooka doesn't work with the 3D effect yet. 

Other art

Last week I attended a painting event with my buddies from work. The event involved creating an artwork in 2 hours by following the instructions of a teacher. It was lots of fun and hard to imagine how we could end up with a painting so quickly. We did it and have the photos to prove it.

Have a great week and congrats for getting to the end of this post.

Miss L

A return to tangle challenges

It's been a few weeks since I've posted on my blog or completed any Zentangle Challenges. I have been doing some drawing but nothing worth showing online. I also been commenting on other blogs although I do visit from time to time.

I guess I'm having another period where my Zentangle mojo falls. Experience tells me that I'll get it back.

Spring is here in SE Australia so the bloom trees are in full flower and spring bulbs are filling the air with scent. It was even warm enough for me to wear shorts for the first time in months. But the Snowy Mountains have been in blizzard conditions on and off for the past two weeks. It's the best ski season in over 15 years. Naturally we are going down again this weekend, our 4th (and last) ski day for the season. 

Diva #332 - square strings

I got my inspiration for this tile from a tile I've appreciated in the Zentangle Mosaic App. The original tile was posted by Arva in Germany in April this year.

Made by Joey

Joey's challenge is to continue to create a mosaic. I haven't been keeping up with this but challenged myself to get up-to-date today. Not sure that was wise as I can see where I was getting tired and sloppy. Here's my tile and my partial mosaic anyway.

Unlike Joey, I'm creating my tiles as individual tiles then seeing how they all fit later. It will be interesting to see the outcome of everyone's work.

Skiing

As regular visitors would know, I've gone a bit crazy for skiing this season. I'm thoroughly enjoying the time with my husband and son, and the new strength and fitness I have in my body.

Last trip was only 10 days ago. We skied from 8.30am to 3.30pm with only one 20 minute break. Any sitting down during the day was on chair lifts. We did 27 runs, travelling nearly 25km downhill. Most of the runs were intermediate and we got to take BoyBoy on parts of the mountain we used to ski on before he was born. At the end of the day BoyBoy (who does NO exercise whatsoever) had enough energy left for a snow ball fight with me. I gave as I good as I got, while The Husband tried to be invisible. 

That was to be our last trip but a major blizzard arrived the next day, lasted several days and laid over 1.2 m of new snow over the resorts. We are going back this weekend. 

Here's my beautiful BoyBoy at the bottom of Pretty Valley. Snow is so deep that the lifts are having to be dug out.

Have a great week and thanks for dropping by,

Miss L

Tangle challenges

Another good week with lots of interesting things happening. Last Thursday I went on an out door ed trip. Photos and story below. Saturday night The Husband and I went out to see one of my all time favourite artists - Pete Murray. 

Pete Murray is a rock guitarist. His lyrics are often highly personal and moving. I listen to him often when I draw and when I'm at work and need to concentrate. His music is also good singalong material. 

Saturday night's concert was the best I've seen and heard him perform. Brought tears to my eyes on several occasions. A highlight was when Pete puts the lights down, only on him, and had the audience singing with him. A simple, heart-felt chorus followed by lots of na na, na na na na na etc (which is part of the song). Truly beautiful moment.

Diva #330 - Tangle Plates

Lucky I bought some blue pens recently. They suited this challenge perfectly. I think there was a reference to Delft ware last week or the week before? Anyway, I took my inspiration from Delft.

Here's my 'tile'. Like Jeanette, I included Shattuck on each tile.

Made by Joey

This is a sequence of challenges that will form a mosaic. Here's my tile.

Other drawing

There's an art competition for students at my school. The theme is Time. I've chosen to enter. I've created an Opus tile in a spiral shape to represent a time vortex. Later when it's dry, I'll add a little Tardis from Dr Who as well. (Dr Who is a long running BBC series featuring a central character, Dr Who, who is a time lord). My second entry is only partially completed. Here's my Opus tile: Time Vortex 1

Outdoor Education

Last week I got to be a supervising teacher on a day trip to Wee Jasper Caves. Had a fantastic day. Started the day off with abseiling. I have abseiled in the past so headed straight for the longer of the two abseils. The one pictured is about 20 to 25m high. I did it twice. Loved it, loved it. Also did the 12m abseil followed by rock climbing back up. Hated the climb - it scared me far more than either abseil - but did it anyway.

This photo is of one of the students, just after I'd completed my first abseil.

After lunch my group of students went caving. This was adventure caving - mud, dirt, ropes, headlamps only, tight squeezes, rock climbing, sliding on your back to get through small tunnels. I was pretty scared - ok, terrified - for much of it but did enjoy the experience overall.  

Speaking of 'overall(s)', here's me and my white overalls after I got out of the cave. 

The students were fantastic - supportive of each other and encouraging me when I was feeling vulnerable.

Great day. Love being fit and strong enough to do these things.

Have a great week and thanks for dropping by. 

Miss L

Tangle challenges and other good things

Life is pretty fine at the moment. Work is wonderful. Love my students, love the opportunities to be a leader in my workplace and love the friendships I'm building. 

Our bathroom renovations are done. Very, very pleased with the work. Very, very pleased to have two functioning bathrooms again.

Everyone is happy, healthy and enjoying life. Even the dog is happy as I'm taking him out walking more often. (Walking the dog is normally what the Husband does but his working hours have been long so Milo hasn't been getting as many walks.)

Diva challenge #329 - Fragment D-1

I had a real Zen period as I was drawing this tile. Had some good music on and I was totally absorbed in the tile. Who needs to meditate when you can Tangle?

I did my next tile later in the day. Just as Zen.

Made by Joey

This is first of a 9 part ensemble project. Our first tile had to feature Africa Artist. This will be an interesting series I think.

Other drawing

I've been doing lots over the last few weeks. Here's just two. The first is another Opus tile with Zen Gems. This time I used less shading and shaded as I went to see if that made it possible to finish the tile within a reasonable time ie before I got bored. It worked. 

The tile is heavily influenced by a tile made by Shelly Beauchamp which she posted on the Zentangle App. I had it up on my iPad as I drew.

The second tile I'm showing is a Dingbatz style tile. This style is something that has come up on the App in the Kitchen Table Tangle series.

Ski season - yay!

It's peak ski season here. I live a good few hours drive away so it takes a bit of effort and organisation to get there. We drive part way there the night before, ski all day then drive all the way home. 

We went skiing again last weekend. The weather was terrible. Rain, snow, high winds, low visibility. Within just two hours of skiing we were wet. After four hours of skiing we were freezing, tired and thoroughly wet. Ski gear is great but cannot withstand hours of rain. The rain did stop for a while but then it snowed. The snow was OK except when the winds blasted it into our faces. Four hours in and we had to stop.

For the first time we got the GoPro to work properly. Below are some stills from it taken while I was wearing it. You can see that visibility was terrible. Poor visibility makes skiing dangerous as you can't see the shape of the snow. 

The second photo is BoyBoy (18) and on the left and the Husband (50) on the right taking our first break of the day, two hours into our ski. 

Highlights of the day were the joy of being on the slopes with my two favourite men. So, so special to share this love of skiing with these guys. We tackled a number of intermediate runs and some easier runs that we new to us. Great day. Pity the weather was so bad but it is peak snow season in the alps. Got to have bad weather sometimes. 

The place we ski'd was where I first learnt to ski over 30 years ago. It holds a special place, especially since those are the slopes where BoyBoy learnt to ski last year. 

I found myself getting quite emotional rewatching the video. I love my son and husband. I love spending this time with them. I truly, deeply love the place I was skiing in. And I'm so damn proud of myself for being able to do this. Breast cancer survivor of 10.5 years and counting. Yay me.






That's all for this week. Thanks for dropping by. Thanks for your comments, thoughts and prayers. 

Miss L