Mi2 Tree

This week's Diva challenge was to explore the tangle Mi2 by Mimi Lempart, CZT. Ha! I get it now, her name is MiMi...Mi2! Okay, I might be a little slow on the uptake, but I finally got it. Phew. Cute, Mimi. I like this tangle, it seems to have a mind of its own. I wasn't sure where I wanted to go with it so I let it just show me. So, here is my knotty Mi2 Tree.

I've been busy this week with some Bleedthrumanade tangling. It's for a swap I'm doing in the Yahoo Zentangle Inspired Art group. Bleed - thru- manade = making best of paper that has bled through to the other side when you put color down (akin to making lemonade from lemons that are dealt to you). I was given 3 ATC size cards with color spots and I was to tangle within those spots. Do you want to see what I created? Well, here they are:

Lots of little spaces of color. 

A little bit easier. I like this one.

I like this too. After tangling these I realized that I really could've gone beyond the "strings", or color. 

Here's the original instructions for Bleedthrumanade: http://lifeimitatesdoodles.blogspot.com/p/what-is-bleedthrumanade.html 

This is what the other side looks like. We are to leave them untangled so the new recipient can tangle away.

So phew! What a tangly week for me. It was fun though, and I can't wait to see what I get in return.

I also want to thank those who voted for me or attempted to vote for me. I know that it was very hard to get through the process and one had to sign up for Google +.  Ah well, I didn't do too badly considering.

Zen Olympics

Ahhh, the Olympics. Athletes from around the world working hard, preparing their bodies and minds for the chance to compete against each other. Dreams and inspiration to the rest of us.

This week's Diva Challenge was covered by Rho Densmore, CZT. She had us thinking of the upcoming London Olympics and to use the Olympic Rings as the string, or part of the string.
It was interesting to come up with something unique, something historical, informative. I have the required rings, the 2012 medal (the "back" side which includes a grid, Hollibaugh, radiating the energy of athletes and sense of pulling together, and a square balancing the circles to give a sense of place. It also has the Thames River, and some architectural symbols.) and the laurel, or olive branches.

I was thinking of my son, Cam, who had a dream of making it to the Olympics. He is a cross-country, or nordic, skier. In high school he was #2 in the country. He worked very hard, getting closer and closer to his goal, then his knees started to complain. His 6'5", 205 lb body was great for going down hills but getting it back up the hills was hard work.

He is now a ski coach, helping others achieve their dreams. He watches his friends and fellow racers continue their olympic dreams, knowing that he can no longer ski beside them at the races. I know it hurts him, but am proud of him helping others. He had a great ski racing career while it lasted and I hope his coaching career lasts even longer.

Here are the rings again, in the heart and mind of a once-upon-a-time 8th grader. This was his dream.
Let's hope that the children watching the olympics coming up will get inspired and dream of some day working towards that goal.

Get that Olympic fever! Go USA! Good luck to all the athletes!

The voting has started!

I have been nominated for the Most Fascinating Blog for 2012 in the Zentangle Teacher division. The voting started today, July 16 and will continue to July 23rd.

TO VOTE: 
1. Make sure you have upgraded to Google Plus. If not, you will find the Google Plus UPGRADE Button on the Top Left of the page. Creating your profile will only take a few minutes.

2.Click on the double arrow beside comments to view the entire list of nominees and look for your blog of choice.

3. If you hover your cursor at the end of the blog url, a red  "+1" will apppear that you can click on. Its in the same location where you see the votes for the other blogs. 

4.For blogs that already have some votes, the  "+1" should be immediately  beside the vote count, to the right.


Please vote! I'd really appreciate it.


Thanks so much. You're the best!

Eyes Crazy

Wow. The Zendala Dare #13 is to "Play with paper". Erin gave us a string and suggested using all different kinds of paper. I went with the inside of envelopes. As you will soon see, it's a little hard on the eyes, but with a little bit bigger sized pen, I was able to pull it off.

Here's the first one:

It's not too bad on the eyes. I kind of like this one. Now, hold on to your eyeballs for the next one. Yikes. Notice the nice keeko tangle that was inside the envelope. It's a little much, but I hope you like it. I had to resort to the Graphic One pen so I could see the lines!

I had fun giving this one a try. It feels good to step out of the box now and then.

Ready Auraknot, here I come!

The Diva Challenge this week, Challenge #78, is to create a tile using the brand spanny new tangle pattern Auraknot. So there I was on a lake in town which I have renamed Inspiration Lake. It is my favorite spot to go to. I was paddling around and decided to stop mid lake and get out my pen and tiles and get to work on this week's challenge.

First I drew a star and auraknotted away. Here it is, traveling through the water.

Hmmmmm, what next? Well, I was drifting atop the lily pads so I decided to give them a try. I kind of like them!

My challenge for you folks is to go outside and get inspired by nature. What can you put Auraknot on?



I might as well do some housekeeping while I'm at it. Here are some older challenge pieces that I never posted due to crazy end of the school year stuff:

Challenge #74: String Theory V X: Eccentric Circles.

and then there's challenge #75, Tanglation Nation: Cadent.

Fiore di Petro

Peter's Flower. Our Diva challenge this week is to create a special tile using a special tangle. Fiore di Petro is in honor of Rho Densmore's brother-in-law who recently passed away. I had fun with this tangle because I kept seeing flowers in different ways, depending on where you put the accent. The variations are endless. Rho, you may use this tile in anyway you'd like. So sorry for your loss.

Fiore di Petro, Hollibaugh, Flez, and a bepurk variation:)

Well, our Zen Piano is finally out in public! If you are anywhere near Hanover, NH during the month  of July, please go visit it and the 50 other pianos. Our piano is at the 6 South Street Hotel in Hanover. http://hop.dartmouth.edu/pianos/zen-piano/

There is a Piano Quest, a kind of game that takes you to all the pianos. You can find that at http://www.vitalcommunities.org/ValleyQuest/handsonpiano.htm . It's so great to see the wonderful pianos out and about in the community. Bravo Hopkins Center for the Arts! The Hands On Pianos project is a success.