Ode to Jazzy

A sad thing happened on the weekend. My neighbours had to put down their beautiful dog Jasmine. She really was a great dog.
Margaret Bremner posted a wonderful set of templates to use on a  Zentangle® zendala tile. You can find that post here on her beautiful blog. Thank you Margaret for sharing that super cool idea.  I really wanted to try this technique, and got to thinking about what to put in the template. With Jazzy on my mind I created this tile. I wrote on the back of the tile "Ode to Jazzy, It's a dog bone world" It's not technically and ode but it felt right at the time. I gave the tile to my neighbours. She will be missed by many. Pets are such a wonderful part of our lives and when they leave us our hearts are touched by the joy that they gave us. She loved to come to my place for a visit. It always included a dog treat. That was my way of ensuring I would get visits and it worked. She came to see me regularly and I got to pet her and tell her how pretty she was. Such a joy for me and for her.

Out Of The Box Challenge #110

Out of the box and the attic......

.....came my fathers very old watercolours. I have been meaning to go in there and get some things for a very long time.  Thanks to Laura for getting me there today. It's Friday so I almost missed the deadline for her submissions. You can find her challenge here.

She asked us to do something we have never done before. I have not done a Zendala or used watercolours on my tiles. In fact I have not used watercolours in over 25 years. I started with a pre-strung tile and thought I would change the centre a little, so I got out my pencil and drew some lines to split up the centre. I immediately saw a box. What? Where did that come from. I went with it. It was meant to be. Out of this box came some new found creativity. It looks very green in this scan, but in reality it is lime green, which is one of my favourite colours, and perfect for spring. Will it ever get here. I am still skiing. 

Patterns used. Lotus Pods (or a variation because there are no mistakes), Croon, Meer and Shattuck.

A banner day :)

A banner or a header as some would call it. That's what I made today. I plan to change that image over time, so this post will show todays image for future reference to me. Maria Thomas did the lettering in this image. She sent it to me along with the beautiful tile that I won, which I wrote about here :))

Weekly Challenge #109: Zentangle Quest

I really enjoy the challenges that Laura puts out at I am the Diva.  Each week she comes up with some wonderful ideas that get so many people to put pen to paper. It is a pleasure to learn a little bit about Laura and see what others come up with. She has asked us to use the very cool technique that Maria Thomas posted on the Zentangle blog a couple of weeks ago. You will find that post here. I did the two tiles above in response to The Diva's challenge today. The process is what I am after with this method of drawing. I really do get to a place of relaxation when I tangle. 

Rick and Maria are looking for a name for this technique. I think a fitting name for this technique might be "blip". We all have them and refer to them as "blips in the road". Sometimes they are small and sometimes they are huge. We just continue to try to conquer them, "one stroke at a time".

I did a tile earlier this month in response to Maria's post. You can see that tile here. 

Whyz

Tangles used = Whyz, Shattuck, Finery, IndyRella

This tile was done for the amazing Diva's inspiring challenge, which you can find here. This week we were challenged to use Jan MacKugler's very cool tangle Whys. Have a peek here to see her actual pattern. The shading needs some work. I think I need to get out my shading workbook from Chris Letourneau and do some work. Have you seen it yet? She has done a wonderful job of shedding some light on the subject. You can find her book here.
I am finally caught up with my challenges from Laura. I have had a couple of very full weeks with Family. All good times and lots of great memories.
Have a look the post before this one. I won a tile from Maria Thomas. It's so awesome :))

Quandry, Tea Time and Tangle Heart

Tangles used = Quandry, Keeko, Flux, Tripoli, Moocha, Betweed, 

I plan to add to this post in the near future. I am excitedly waiting for a piece of mail to arrive before I finnish this post........ 

...... and it arrived today. It felt like Christmas or my Birthday when I opened the mailbox and found this beautiful envelope from Maria Thomas. 

I won a tile from the Zentangle® blog. I posted a comment and won, which is unheard of for me. I don't usually win things. Now I need to find a very special way to frame this beautiful piece of artwork which you can see here on Maria and Rick's blog. The post is about using tea to add colour and shading to your tile.  The next post tittled Tangle Heart was about using a relief technique when you tangle. I was behind on the Diva's Challenge in which Laura asked us to use Quandry in a tile. I do struggle with that pattern. I have been trying it off and on since CZT™10 without the success that I would like. I still need to practice it some more. I bundled up all my thoughts on those two posts and Laura's challenge and came up with the tile above. I was visiting with my Mother and we shared tea each afternoon last week. I used the bottom of my cup and found a brush in my fathers old studio downstairs to add the tea.  It reminds me of an architectural detail, which was the inspiration for Maria's post.  I know.... you just want to see the tile that I received in the mail, so here it is. 

I have sent Maria a thank you message and asked for her permission to use it here. She said "Of Course. The spirit of generosity in the Community of Zentangle continues to inspire, amaze and comfort me. 

Year of the Snake

Tangles used =  Fungees,  Lanie, Mi2, Warped Eggs

The Diva set a challenge in February to be inspired by the Chinese Year of The Snake. February 10th was the Chinese New Year. You will find the challenge here. I am completely and utterly late with this but went ahead and did it anyway. I am glad that I did because I sure had fun with this ZIA. I actually spent some time drawing this which I have not done in years. I drew the numbers first and then wrapped the 0 with the snake. I took it from there and then went looking for line drawings of snakes in the net. I found this guy, who is really a dragon. I'm okay with that as I really, really don't like snakes. I tried to choose tangles with the same value. The 3 doesn't work, warped eggs is a little light.