Valentangles

Valentine's Day came and went around here as my family was busy with some massive house projects.  We enjoyed making valentines and spending quality time together despite the craziness.

I was inspired by the season to create a series of rosy gems featuring the tangle Luv-a by CZT Sharon Caforio.  I love how delicately this tangle cushions the gems.  Whenever I use Luv-a, I smile a lot!  I think this tangle is one of the sweetest ones I've ever seen, and I love to use it in a variety of pieces.  It's one of those magical tangles that looks simple at first but blossoms into a real beauty with a few simple extra strokes.

I submit these Bijou tiles as my Valentangles for the Diva challenge 254.

Gone Crazy for Molygon

Are you loving the official new tangle, Molygon, as much as I am?

At first I wasn't sure when most of my shapes resembled banana bunches. If tangles make me hungry, it defeats the purpose of keeping me from snacking!

Then I tried Molygon as a bezel around my tangled gems and was hooked. I love how the "arms" look like robotic tentacle when done this way. Here are two Bijou tiles I made for a swap:

I've been playing with this look a lot lately. Here's a Molygon gem on an ATC for another swap:

I have been playing with some fills and expect I will decorate the bananas in my regular tangles. I just can't stop making them this way...yet!

Check out the Diva challenge this week for lots of amazing interpretations of the fun new tangle at http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/2016/02/weekly-challenge-253.html.

I'm Dreaming of a Gem-Filled Christmas

Inspiration can be rejuvenating.

I've been tangling off and on this fall, but I haven't posted many pieces. I still love to tangle, but the craziness of life sometimes creeps up on me (especially when it comes to recording my process).

No matter how crazy life gets, when I see something that inspires me, I pick up my Microns immediately!

There is an exciting new trend of incorporating stunning gemstones into tangling. The gems can be a focal point or a fun and colorful fill for a larger ZIA. Maybe it's because I love unique jewelry and collect funky stones, but I fell in love with this idea.

The two people who initially inspired me with this jewel of an idea are Kae Yoshino (Tangle Fan) and Eni Oken. Their work is breathtaking!

I've been experimenting with different colored pencils and a variety of tangles, but I think my favorite for the gems (so far) would be Derwent Inktense pencils.  I've also played with Prismas with different blenders.  It's fun to watch the color pop to life!

Here is one I created for a swap using Arukas and Inktense pencils. I only hope I'll be able to send this one to a lucky recipient instead of keeping it for myself.

One of my favorite pieces is this purple stone.  It was the second gemstone I created.

I see many gems in my future!  

Sand Dollars and Fireworks

Welcome back to the Diva!  It's wonderful to have Laura back blogging and inspiring us.  I wish her darling Artoo continued success in his recovery.  

The Diva has tasked us with playing with the latest Zentangle® pattern, Arukas.  I like the idea of this tangle but still haven't quite fallen in love with it yet.  I do tend to like patterns with very straight, repetitive lines, like IX, so I figured I would like this one quickly.  It is fun to create, but I think I need to explore it some more.  I haven't quite achieved the star look, but I think that many, like my Bijou tile, look like sand dollars.  

This is one of the first times I used Bronx Cheer to cover something that I deemed less than favorable.  One of the Arukas turned into a nice round shape resembling a sand dollar.  I liked it, but the other one had lines that went off the Bijou tile.  I decided that I liked the rounder look and plunked down some Bronx Cheer.  Ha!  Should I have revealed my secret, or would you have guessed anyway?  

Others remind me of fireworks or bugs or scorpions because at least one of the interior shapes always ends up looking puffy.  It's still cool because I never quite know how it's going to turn out.

I am enjoying filling in my initial spokes or rays to give a little contrast.  I like the look of that in this Bijou frame tile:

Have you been playing with Arukas?  What do you think of it so far?

And Bijou Was His Name-O

I am participating in a Bijou tile swap with fellow CZTs.  We are all loving these tiny tiles as well as our new Zentangle® friend's philosophy on life.

Our swap was to send five Bijou tiles using tangles starting with the letters:  B-I-J-O-U.  To learn about these tangles, visit TanglePatterns.com.

Each of my tiles features an individual letter.  Here are the tangles that I used:

B - Biscus and Birds on a Wire.  This was my first time trying Biscus, and I thought it was a very fun tangle to use.

I - IX.  Maybe it's because I attended my Certified Zentangle Teacher training in the IX class, but I've always loved the pattern introduced for my group.  The delicate, repetitive lines really speak to me.

J - Jetties, Jilli, and Jalousie.  This one was a bit trickier since there don't seem to be as many tangles that start with the letter J.

O - Ojo, Oke, Orbs-la-Dee, Onomato, Opus, and Organza - I had a lot of areas to fill and tried several new patterns.  It can be a fun challenge to try to fit patterns into small spaces like borders.

U - Umble and Undling.  I love the boldness of Umble.  I had never used Undling before and think I'll be using that one more often.  It has a subtle and effective look when shaded.

And BIJOU was his name-o!

Stripes: Staying Inside the Lines

For this week's Diva challenge, we were asked to play with stripes.  I worked on a 2" Bijou tile from Zentangle®.  I love these little guys!  This one was part of a Bijou swap with fellow CZTs.

I drew my pencil string as diagonal lines across the tile.  This tile features tangles starting with O including Onomato, Ojo, Oke, Orbs-la-Dee, Opus, and Organza.  It was the first time I had played with many of these patterns.

When drawing stripes or lines, it's fun to think about how to fill the areas.  Do you fill between two lines as in Onomato (the tangle with the large circles)?  Do you follow a single line as in the fluttery Organza (the one that looks a bit like fans) and fill around it?  Either way, you can't go wrong as long as you're enjoying the process.

Good Things Come in Small Packages

I am loving the new addition to the Zentangle® family--Bijou!  In addition to his lovely story, he offers a fun tin of tiny tiles.  They are 2 inch squares of the same paper as the larger tiles, and they are so fun to play with!  They're great for monotangles, creating a smaller reproduction of a larger tile, letters, and more.

I especially love Bijou's reminders to slow down, breathe, and relax.  I've been feeling a little stressed this week, and I really need a kind little snail on my shoulder to remind me about these simple things I can do to improve my life and my art.

For this week's Diva challenge, I created a mini mosaic Zendala with four Bijou tiles.  I lined them up and then loosely drew a Zendala design.  I didn't grab a ruler or stencils.  I breathed and let the shapes form.  It's okay that they don't all line up perfectly.  It was quite freeing to just guess where a line might go and to let it evolve as it did.  I pictured Bijou gliding across my tiles, changing his mind slightly, then wiggling back on his original course when my pen skipped a bit.  Pens, like snails, don't always follow a straight path, right?

I enjoyed filling in my shapes with different tangles and adding some shading.  The process was relaxing and inspiring.  I realized that I never color the tadpole-like blobs in Ennies and thought I'd see how they came out.  I really like the contrast of the bold shapes against the gentle orbs in the center.

Thanks, Bijou, for reminding me to take a little break for myself.  I needed it.