Saturday, April 30, 2011

More Morris, Challenge #19

It was a pretty hectic & crazy week for me so all I got was one zentangle completed, and that was done while waiting for my husband's surgery to get finished. Long day...or two. I'm glad that I took my zentangle supplies with me (including the white gel pen). Hubby's doing okay and is on the road to recovery, albeit a little gingerly. It certainly has been a crazy week with the weather as well. My heart goes out to all those whom have been affected by tornadoes and flooding waters. Yikes, what a week.

Here's my tile:

The bottom left is my own design "Twist" which I'll give directions to when I have the time.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Eggsactly

Just what we needed...eggs to tangle with! It was a pretty busy week but I got two eggs tangled for Laura Harms' challenge. I also got a new iPad so this is going to be fun to see if I can take pictures with this new contraption and post them up to the site. Well, here goes nothing (actually, I hope something...). Okay, it was nothing. I couldn't figure out how to upload a picture from my dropbox to the blog. Now I've changed to my little netbook and will finally show you the pictures:


I'm trying to figure out if I can find a way to take a picture and have it blog ready instantly. I think that I might drive myself crazy. ah well.

I will later post some pictures of an egg a friend of mine tangled up for a local egg contest. It's beautiful!!! I'm happy to say that it was I who got her into zentangles.

Friday, April 15, 2011

15 Minutes of Fame, challenge #17

Wow, 15 minutes sure flies by when you're having fun! I tend to take my sweet time when I'm tangling but I thought that I'd give the 15 minutes a try. Being prepared was an important factor here. I didn't set the timer until I got everything just so. Now I wondered which patterns to use. If I decide before I get started is that cheating? I first had some pattern ideas in front of me and jumped in. Woa, that timer must be fast! I saw that time was ticking rather quickly so I used my Sundoo because I'm pretty quick with it. Not quick enough. The Ennies were beginning to look like pollywogs, no time to get distracted, keep going. Oops, no time for adding shadows. Here's the result:
Roll up the sleeves. Get more patterns out. BREATHE! Smile. Okay, here I go again. I felt rushed but I got more done. Even the shadowing! I even tried out something that has been knocking around in my brain for a bit. It's the grass/wheat seed head. I also threw in some white gel pen afterwards. Attempt #2:
I'm liking this one a little better. I had a few days off so I could head south to CT to visit cousins and do some family genealogy digging with my sister and cousin. It was a nice break. I saw some drawings my 4x Great Grandfather did while being an architect in New Haven, CT. Great work. Lots of patience. He would have been great at Zentangles! I was inspired and rejuvinated. Thank you Rufus Gustavus Russell (1823-1896).
You've got to appreciate all those little lines!

Back to Zentangles.  This next one I also got inspired by a picture of a henna drum a friend showed me (the flowery part).
Last one. As you see, I got away from the 4 points in the corners and went for just the string. Less to fill. I do thank Laura Harms once again for these great challenges. They do get me going. Big hugs out to you and your family.
It reminds me of someone tripping while trying to dance. It's a little bit how I feel this go-around. I did have fun, though, as I always do.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Mooka Challenge #16

Ahhhh, a new Zentangle tangle! Thanks, Maria! And a new challenge from Laura Harms which I decided to get a head start on this week. In weeks past I always seem to finish up late on Saturday. Here it is Monday and I've already got three tangles done. It must be the Mooka.

Tee hee, I did have fun creating the creatures. The Mooka just seems to lend itself to critters. Okay, next attempt:


Then on to my last attempt of the day. I decided to use a brown pen for this one.


Well, that was fun. We'll see what the rest of the week brings.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Curvature...Love your curves, baby! Challenge #15

Ahhh, Laura certainly does keep us on our toes. This weeks challenge from Diva Laura Harms gets us out of line and into the curves. This was lots of fun for me. I wanted to try to go for those tangle patterns that normally were straight and make then nice and curvy, but I kind of started thinking curvy from the start with some. I did enjoy the time with the waves (I must have been thinking of being out on the water while seeing the snow flying here in Vermont). So here's my first one:

And because I just wasn't satisfied enough, I made a second attempt. This one was a little easier to do and was a lot more fun.

I think that it looks like more fun as well. I'm still trying to find the right combination for getting a picture of the zentangle posted on the blog. Which camera do I use? Should I use a scanner? Do I fix the picture up a little bit in Photoshop Elements first? Sometimes I like my camera in my phone and just put in Dropbox. Other times (maybe because of the different light?) I rather use my little Nikon Coolpix. I still haven't found the right combination that works 100% of the time. Perhaps there isn't just one combination. I'll keep fiddling around with it. Speak up if you have any words of wisdom for me. In the meantime, I did use my sister's handheld scanner she just got to scan this April calendar. I wanted to try to see if I could get a good enough scan to be able to use this as my desktop background on my computer. Well, it works, and you may use this on your computer if it doesn't make you crazy. It's a little busy, but I like it.
Enjoy.