Awz

Awz

I have always loved cameras. I took photography in my college days and spent many long hours in the dark room transforming film into print. It was a slow process, unlike today's incredible digital cameras.

When I travel, I take way too many digital photo's. In 2010 I traveled to Australia. I have over 1000 photo's from that trip. It is such a beautiful country.

The photo above is a very large seed pod that I saw on a tree. I have no idea what kind of tree it was. I have spent time on the internet trying to find out, with no luck. So, if any of you reading this are familiar with it I would really like to know what it is. The seed pod inspired the basic structure of the pattern and when I played with it I was awed by its transformation. 

I went ahead and gave this pattern a name to reflect the country and the experience of deconstructing my first pattern.  I was planning on calling it Abuz but changed my mind. You can see where I used it in a previous post here.  It is entirely possible that this pattern has already been put out there by some one else in the tangle world. If it has, please let me know. 

I hope you have an awzome time with it. 

" A Little White Space"

Tangles used, Hollibaugh, Fluttertile, Mooka, Chainlea, Hi-CS, Bales, Poke Leaf

Ahhh, The Diva, she inspires us weekly to think about our tangle time. This week she asked us to try leaving a big open white space in out tangles. I have always liked the way this looks when tangling. I think it helps the viewer with movement in a tile Have a look here to see her challenge and others who have participated. Thanks Laura, your always there for us. 

An update on my Valentangle. I gave him both and he wants to frame them. What a beautiful compliment. Thanks for helping with that decision. We had a wonderful dinner and then joined friends at the local pub. It was a great evening. Tonight we join others at a dinner party. I need to rush out and get a bottle of wine to bring along. I better hurry. 

"Valentangle"

Tangles used, shattuck, n'zeppel, finery, featherfall

Tangles used, Bales and Fengle

It feels so good to be back to my blog. It has been way too long since I have been here. So much has happened in my life since last June. Part of that was a problem with my right eye. It was so frustrating not to be able to see properly to tangle for several months.  I count my blessings that it is in the past and I am thankful for my garden which is an endless place for creating.
Zentangle has been part of my personal journey for four years now. A dear friend introduced me to it three months after my best friend and husband died with pancreatic cancer. This mindful practice allowed me to think about something for more that 10 minutes, which was not otherwise possible. After an incredible amount of personal growth, I returned to the life that I have always been so grateful for.  I went to Bulgaria, and Greece last fall with my sister. There was something very powerful about seeing ancient history all around me, daily. It allowed me to put my life in perspective with regards to how much time we actually have here on the planet.  I have not shared any of my personal story here on this blog before. Today is the day to do that.
In January 2014 my beautiful mother passed away after a month of illness.  She was 87 years young. She died a beautiful death , at her home, with all of her seven children in her support and care.  I grieve again, with so much gratitude for having had such beautiful parents. I am one of the lucky ones.
  I have started to date a man who I have known for only three months. Valentines day is upon us. We will be going to dinner on Friday. I have created both of these tiles for the Diva's recent challenge which you can find here.

My question to you dear reader and fellow tangler is which of these tiles should I give to him?

Below is the calendar that I have been tangling in. There is a wonderful story on how I received it.
I will share that another day.

"Grid (un)Locked"

Tangles used = The grid unlocked and Abuzz

Here is my entry for the Diva's Challenge this week. If you have not already read her post you can find it here. She is inspiring and giving in so many ways. Thank you Laura for all that you do.

Of course none of us would be entering these challenges without the beautiful gift of Zentangle. Rick and Maria continue to surprise us with wonderful newsletters and share their beautiful artform. Laura's challenge is based on one of their newsletters wich you can find here.

I would love to have the time to cruise the challenge and post comments on every blog. There is so much to see and be inspired by with every entry. I hope that once July gets here I will have more time for that. Right now I just don't have that time and so the slide shows are great to get caught up with all the submissions. 

Thanks for having a peek. 

Oh yeah, Abuzz is a grid based tangle, but not your typical grid. I will get to that post, but first a visit with my beautiful and precious Mom is in order. 

Birds on a Wire By Mary Kissel

Tangles used = Birds on a Wire, Abuzz, and a few tripoli

How exciting to see Mary's tangle used this week for The Diva's challenge. Mary and I sat beside each other at our CZT training last September. She is a gentle, kind and very thoughtful woman. I really enjoyed meeting her. I still carry in my wallet a little piece of origami that she folded for me. She is very talented in many ways and also recently retired. I am sure she was excited to see this post from the Diva. She has just returned from a wonderful trip to Hawaii to celebrate her retirement. Congratulations Mary! The post from the Diva can be found here and Mary's instructions can be found on her blog here.

   It is not an easy thing to create a tangle. At least not for me, but I did it and have used it in this tile next to Mary's. It seems a fitting to use it beside Mary's tangle.   I call it Abuzz because it reminds me of a bee hive in some ways. I will post the step outs soon and send it off to tangle patterns and see what happens with it. Not today though. I have girly friends coming over this afternoon to play croquet on my freshly mowed lawn ( that is mostly weeds). It is finally above 12 degrees celsius. It has been a cold, wet and rainy spring, so today is a great day at 15 degrees, with time to enjoy the outdoors with friends. 

Thanks Laura and Mary for a fun new challenge and tangle. 

Tangleation Nation; Bales

Tangles used = Variations of Bales

The Diva set an interesting challenge this week. It appears to me that last weeks challenge crept into my tile, or maybe I just like a lot of contrast. We were to takes bales for a spin. Explore tangelations of this original pattern. I did just that on a scrap of paper and came up with at least 7 variations and then used 4 of them in my tile. Laura's challenge is here. Did you see the side walk chalk art she did with her son's. It's awesome. 

I went to tangle patterns to look for a string to use. I chose to use one I found while surfing the third anniversary challenge. There is a link to Zentangle and one of Maria's blog posts here. I used her post as inspiration for my string. 

I slipped inside today while the rain came down, again. 

I got lost in this tile and found that special place this afternoon. The one you go to when you are totally mindful of the present moment. It's very relaxing for me. So is the garden and the rain has stopped, so I'll head back out there now. 

Ebony and Ivory

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Tangles used = Lanie, Puf, Fyfe, Palrevo, Camelia, Sindoo

This weeks Challenge from The Diva was to use equal parts white and black on your tile. Laura mentions in her post that she does not have any luck with any of the white pens. I am not pleased with them either. I chose to use high contrast tangles. After browsing the tangle patterns website for way too long, I discovered that there is a section in the site that categorizes grid based patterns. It is on the left hand side, in the tags. That was helpful. 

Laura's challenge can be found here. The Zentangle post that inspired her challenge can be found here. 

I tried one with glue resist, but that just turned out grey. I have not shaded this tile as then it would include grey.  I think I will go back and do that, later though, as I am off to the plant sale at the Hospital this morning. There are so many wonderful plants from other peoples gardens. Nice big plants with lots of history. My favourite kind.