Step away from the box

Going out of the box, or stepping away from the box. That's our Diva challenge this week. Hmmmm, kind of tough concept for me. I've tangled a piano, ski helmets, shoes, rocks as well as Zentangle tiles, books, different papers, etc. What to do? I decided to go with stepping out of my comfort zone. Okay, since I do mostly black and white, I'll go with color. There are some tangle patterns that I don't feel comfortable with yet or haven't tried yet, I'll go with those. So here's my tile from today (our 5th snow day of the winter - over 10" of beautiful snow).

Mooka, Flowervine, and Jeewels

Here are a couple of pictures from my snowshoe hike this morning:

First day of spring is tomorrow - I don't think the sap will be flowing.

Zentangle Quest Challenge

This week's Diva challenge was to create a tile using Maria Thomas' Zentangle Quest as she explained in her blog. Okay, that will be fun but I also have to get started on my 9 piece curvy string ensemble for next weekend's Tangle U 2013. Here's the ensemble (which will be mixed around and shared with others) using the effect of the Zentangle Quest:

Some tangles are: Whyz, Knightsbridge, Leaflet, Echoism, Henna Drum, Tipple, Shattuck, Ammon, Purk (I can't remember them all)

Sorry that its not a great picture, but I couldn't scan it due to the size. Try clicking on it to enlarge it.

I taught a Zentangle Workshop to a group of educators yesterday at the Southern Vermont Educators Symposium at Maple Street School in Manchester. I had a wonderful time and here's the group tile picture:




A couple of weeks ago I taught a newcomer to our town. She did a super job with her tangling. Great job, Lola!



I sure do love teaching and I sure do love Zentangle. Lucky me that I get to combine the two!

A Whyz Week

Wow, what a week. First of all, Laura from Iamthedivaczt.com chose my tangle for her UMT (Use My Tangle) challenge this week. I have had so much fun seeing everyone's creations using my tangle, Whyz. I was just so impressed with the creativeness and variety! I had no idea that it was so versatile.

I also was engaged in the second week of Jennifer Lee's Right Brainers  In Business Video Summit. It was  wonderful to watch the videos and learn so much from her different speakers. While listening to the speakers I tangled away along the edge of my notepad. Here are some of the tangling pages this week. As you can see, I was playing with whyz. I also love the look of the previous page's tangles showing through the thin paper. Very cool! If you click on the pictures you will get an enlarged version of it.

No Whyz here, just some sunstars. 

Here I was playing a bit with Whyz as well as others.

This one has my sundoo (top) and henna drum (within knightsbridge) with whyz along the bottom.

More playing with whyz and the money grows symbol.

Even more playing.

This is how I take notes. I really did have the right side of the sheet filled in with great ideas, sayings, tips, etc from the many speakers. It was a wonderful experience and I feel all charged, ready to create more and get our Mountain Painters and Artisans Gallery to the next level. Wooo Hoooo!

So, after playing around a bit and watching others come up with tiles/artwork of their rendition of my tangle pattern, Whyz, I finally got around to creating my own tile.

I found it interesting how different the pattern can look depending on how you orient your Y's. It is a tough tangle to learn. I would put it right up there with the challenging patterns, but once you start playing around with it, you'll find that it gets pretty addicting. How else can I change the look?

A big thanks to Laura for putting it up as a challenge and a big thanks, also, to all of the folks who took on the challenge. Your work is beautiful!!! Please go take a look at the other creations.

What a quandary

This week's Diva Challenge is to create a tile using a new official zentangle pattern called Quandary. It's an interesting pattern, keeping one's mind thinking of triangles, or groups of three. It's easy to try to create the flower shapes but then one can get lost. To get back on track I had to remember the triangle. Keep present. Breathe. Enjoy the beauty as it unfolds.

It was certainly a lot of fun to play with. I have a few forms of Quandary, Zedbra, Keenees, a variation of Chillon, and ? (sorry, can't remember the name of the tangle used inside the huge Quandary).

Year of the Snake

In the Chinese calendar, 2013 is the year of the snake. After doing a little research, I found this on hanban.com: The Cosmic Element and Color of 2013 year of Snake
The 2013 year of Snake is Water Snake, Water Snakes are lucky with finances, they always seem to have money flowing their way. They are adventurous spirits and love to take risks. They are also very intelligent and often a wellspring of creative ideas. Water Snakes love to socialize and meet new friends.They are proud of their achievements, and also very thoughtful and considerate of others.
The colour of the 2013 year of Snake is Black. Black color is the Space, Arctic night, darkness on the Abyss, this is a color of deep waters. The Black Snake will bring people unexpected changes, instability, and changeability. That is why it is important in the year of Snake to plan everything beforehand, and evaluate adequately before taking any actions. You need to be more careful and cautious than ever. 

Here is my entry for Diva's Year of the Snake challenge:

I used Scoodle, Golven, and Sand Swirl.

Enjoy.

Nemo in VT

Well, we didn't get as much snow as our southern neighbors, but the 10-12" was good enough to put people back in good spirits. You see, in Vermont we like to see the snow. It means that the skiing, snowboarding, sledding is much better. People come visit to play in our snow at our ski areas and parks. They buy groceries, stay at our inns, eat at our restaurants, buy gas, and go to our unique stores. Everyone seems to get in better moods. We like snow.

I do feel sorry for the folks in MA, CT, RI and southern NY whom are not quite as prepared for the snow (and they got a lot more than we did). I hope that they can get shoveled, plowed out and life can resume as it should. In the mean time, I did see a lot of pictures of people playing in the snow which warmed my heart a bit.

Speaking of hearts, I went for a snowshoe hike on a local lake this afternoon and decided to try another snowshoe art a la Simon Beck. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera with me (or a high enough vantage point to shoot a picture from), but when I got home I told my husband that his valentine card is at the lake. Hmmmmm. When I got home and got rested, I decide to draw my snow art.

The inner design is what I tromped out in the snow. The outer design (LOVEtangle) I added for the drawing.

Fun in the snow, with an added bonus: exercise!

Dansk Challenge and the helmet

This week's Diva Challenge is a UMT, or Use My Tangle challenge. Margaret Bremner, CZT had entered her own tangle, Dansk, to be used in Laura's challenge and it has been chosen this week.

Margaret said that she got the idea of Dansk from a soap dispenser in a friend's bathroom. You never know when those designs will hit you!

I saw the challenge on Monday morning and then as I was walking in to work I noticed that someone had an interesting shoe sole pattern in the snow. Ha, look at that! It's the beginning of Dansk!

When I got home from work I took out a tile and began my tangling. I decided to do a mono tangle of Dansk.

Last week I told you I was tangling my husband's ski helmet. Well, it's almost finished. All I need to do is apply some automotive clear coat to it and (hopefully) it will be done. He has gone out and skied with it as is and it seems to be holding up quite well. Lots of people have been attracted to the helmet and he has been kindly giving out my business cards. Who knows? Perhaps someone else would love a  hand designed tangled topper!

Egads! I almost forgot! Do you want a chance to win one of Carole Ohl, CZT's Tangle A Day calendars? If so, go on over to Diva Laura's site to enter. I'm in! It's a great calendar for you to tangle in.
Good luck.

Until next time......tangle on!