Bales of all kinds

Funny how the world works. I had taken a picture while kayaking last week of some turtles on a log. I wondered what you call a group of turtles so I looked it up and a group of turtles is called a bale. I never got around to writing my blog about it then today Laura puts up her weekly Zentangle Challenge and it is to create a tile using the pattern "bales". How about that!

So here's my challenge entry, a bale of turtles in bales and on bales:

And here are my bale of turtles on a log:

I love having fun like this. Quirky things make me happy.

Ebony and Ivory

This week's challenge is "Ebony and Ivory" or Black and White. A lot of folks have been playing with a lot of color lately so it's nice to see a lot of black and white. We were challenged to try to balance out the blacks and whites. I'm pleased with my result:

I used Camelia, Daggerly, Demi, Eye-Wa, Antidots and Henna Drum

As always, it's fun to play with patterns that I haven't used much. I also enjoyed playing with my own pattern, Henna Drum, creating both black and white flowers.

Time to get back to our Open Studio Weekend at the Mountain Painters and Artisans Gallery during this cold/rainy/snowy Memorial Day Weekend. Come on in or stop on by our facebook page!

Coming this summer....a weekend full of Zentangle fun at Fletcher Farm School in Ludlow, VT.

Kute Kuke

I'm liking Kuke. It's a pattern brought to us by Katy Abbot, CZT via Laura Harm's Weekly Challenge #118: UMT v. XVI. UMT stands for Use My Tangle and Laura challenges us on the first Monday of every month (or thereabout)  with a tangle brought to us by one of her readers. Katy's Kuke came about from a cucumber slice. You never know when or where you might find inspiration!

I also was playing around with some color and art a la Stella (Loretta Grayson). Here's what I came up with:

 I'm liking it. Now my challenge, as always, is how to frame my work. I really have to plan ahead a bit more and choose some frames first THEN create the artwork so it will fit. I was looking at Facebook earlier today and there were some wonderful photos of northern lights taken early this morning. This kind of reminds me of those.

This Schway and that Schway

I'm a little late posting this blog, but it is what it is. The Diva Zentangle Challenge this past week was to  create a tile using the new official Zentangle pattern Schway. I enjoyed playing with Schway. I got confused a couple of times, but all is good.

I like the way some folks were able to loosen up the grid-like patterning of Schway so at first I decided to create something along those lines. I wasn't too sure about it but once I went back to it to fill it in with filler patterns, I began to like it. I decided to create some conflict (well, that was because when I was joining the zig zag columns I kind of goofed, but all is well in the world of Zentangle).

Schway, Knightsbridge, and Tortuca

Then I decided to draw a stringed tile using multiple tangle patterns. This was done late Saturday night while at my in-laws for a Happy Mother's Day/Birthday/Bon Voyage get-together. After dinner the boys settled down for a game of poker and I decided to get at least one tile finished.

Flux, Schway, Leaflet, my mistake :), and ?

Enjoy.

Blinded

This Weekly Challenge #116: "Blind Sighted" by our lovely Diva, was to draw the "string" with our eyes closed. Not bad. I had fun filling in the zentangle tile with Sampson, Kartwheel, Pepper, Yew-Dee, Shattuck, and Braze. I've been wanting to try out Yew-Dee since it was introduced to us by Peg Farmer, CZT. I love the look and the ease of creating it.

I got my kayak out on the water last Sunday for the first time this year and was so excited to see many different animals, especially the loon. It felt great to get out on the water again. Woo hoo!

I also got to finish off a couple of ZIA (Zentangle Inspired Art) pieces. This is the one I showed you in my last blog post, now completed (except the framing). Click on the image to enlarge it. The quote I used is: "Why try to explain miracles to your kids when you can just have them plant a garden." by Robert Brault

I've been having fun with the Tombow Dualbrush Markers. It has been great playing with flowers as our natural ones are slower to grow.


Have a wonderful week!