Dingbatz Unleashed

"Unsuccessful people are busy being busy. Successful people are busy being productive."     Kevin Abdulrahman

 I'm back after a very long and busy month. In that time we packed, moved out of our house and into storage, traveled to Fl, back to NC for a couple of weeks, back to SC to move out of storage into our new home, unpacked and organized... and I'm exhausted! Needless to say there wasn't much time for tangling in all that, and I didn't always have access to my Zentangle supplies. But I'm finally back to a little bit of normalcy, which means finally some tangling time.

A while ago dingbatz were introduced in the world of Zentangle. I hope you've heard about/seen them, because I can't explain them well as I don't know that I fully understand them. Here is the first one that I attempted... a small frame-like thing divided into sections by a tangle pattern that extends outside the frame. For my first try it wasn't too bad, but I felt something didn't look right. Then I figured it out... my Mooka that creates the sections all goes under the frame, and I think some should go above and some below.  Oh well.

Next I tried one on a colored tile (which I sell in my Etsy shop, although the tiles won't be available for about 2 more weeks until everything gets settled in here). Here's the tile before tangling.

And here is my dingbatz. Unfortunately it wasn't until after I did this one that the over/under bit occurred to me.
 

Then I added some shading.

It's okay, but still not exciting me. So on to another one. This time I used Hollibaugh to divide it into sections, and remembered to make some of it go under the frame and some of it over. I added lots of auras which are always fun.

 Then I shaded, added a little more black, and an outside border.

I like this one better than the others, although I think the style kind of got further away from the "traditional" dingbatz that I've seen everyone creating. But that's okay, because I should have my own style, right?

So, back to the drawing board! Here I used some large Flux to create the sections. Definitely my own style again!

 

  
Added shading to some of it with graphite.

And added color to the rest of it with pastel pencils.

This one is definitely my favorite. Whether or not it embodies the original intent of dingbatz... I just don't know!

 

Waybop

"One sure-fire way to stay creative: force yourself to learn something new."      Harvey MacKay

The Diva's challenge this week is to use the new pattern from Zentangle headquarters, Waybop. When I first saw this tangle, I have to admit that I didn't much like it, so I didn 't bother to try it. After seeing so many people posting their Waybop creations on Facebook, I decided, for the Diva, I would give it a go. 

The first one I did on one of my colored tiles... here's the picture of the tile before rounding the corners. 

I started with Waybop, Henna Drum and some lines. Then, using a gray pen, I added Printemps inside the Waybop. I've recently started using the gray pen as a way to add more subtle designs. The finishing touches were shading with graphite and pastel pencil, and white gel pen for some extra interest.

Waybop wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, so I decided to go ahead and do one more, this time on gray-toned paper from Strathmore. Also included are Pais, Purk, and Hollibaugh.

And of course some shading and white highlights, which always make a drawing on gray paper better, whether or not you like it to begin with.
 

I like Waybop more than I expected to, but it's not yet high on my list of favorites. Maybe after more practice, maybe not!

 

Cruise Tangling

"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."    Andre Gide

I just returned home from a three week vacation. We cruised northern Europe and then stayed a few days in Bruges, Belgium at the end. I've been on cruise ships before, and I've traveled around Europe before, and both the ships and the cities I've visited have always been chock full of patterns to inspire any tangler. Well, this cruise ship and these European destinations were no different. First I will share photos of some of the patterns I encountered.

 I can't remember what this is, but it reminds me of a Knightsbridge tangleation:

  Some carpet doing the Diva Dance:

  Tile flooring:

Colorful design inspiration on a store window:

 This was the wall in one of the restaurants. I have a feeling this is already a named pattern, but I can't think of what it is. And if it's not, it should be!

 The pattern on a sofa in our hotel in Bruges:

A lampshade:

Tile design on the ground in a plaza in Bruges:

 

 

Munchin-like carpet:

Tippled glass lamp shade:

Hollibaugh etched glass in the pool area on the ship:

 Tipple all lined up. Can't remember where this was taken:

Carpet on the ship:

More Hollibaugh on the ship's carpet:

More Diva Dance on a metal sculpture of a cello:

How would you like some of this carpet in your home?

More carpet designs. This reminds me of a combination of N'zeppel and Printemps:

 Some zendala inspiration from a lace curtain:

From the number of photos I took (more than 2200), you wouldn't think there would be time for much else. However, I also did a bit of tangling while traveling, mostly on the days we were at sea without stopping at a port. I'll share just a little of what I did here, and will roll out some of my other pieces in additional blog posts over the next week or two. I had brought along a few pre-strung official Zentangle tiles, and I'll start with those. 

 Patterns used: Cubine, Dex, Florz, and Paradox

 Patterns used: Knightsbridge, Sand Swirl, Navaho, Brit, Munchin, Baton, and Betweed.

 

 Patterns used: Hollibaugh, Hibred, Ginili, and some lines

I'm not in love with any of these tiles, but they're okay and they did provide some good relaxation. And, after all, isn't that what Zentangle is really all about? I enjoy using the pre-strung tiles so that no thinking is involved. No debating about how to draw the string, which, although it seems like it should be such an easy thing, often gets me hung up. If you haven't tried the pre-strung tiles yet, or are in need of some more, you can find them in my Etsy shop here. 

I'll be back with another post soon to share some more of my cruise tangling. Hope you'll be back too!

 

Because I'm Happy...Clap Along if You Know What Happiness is to You

"The way to stay inspired and motivated is by doing what you like, doing what you love."   Raphael Saadiq

Happy August everyone! I don't know how the weather is by you, but it's broiling hot and humid here in Charleston, SC. No surprise there, but I'm ready for fall. So it was nice to take a vacation and get a break from the weather here. First stop was Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, for CanTangle, a 3 day retreat for CZTs. Temps there were in the 80s at their peak, but that felt comfortable compared to what I'm used to. Then for our drive down the Oregon coast the average high was 70 degrees (55 at Crater Lake!), and I loved every second of it. In my opinion, that is perfect weather for vacationing.

But let's go back to Canada and a very fun, educational, and inspiring 3 days of tangling. I got to meet and take classes from the famous Laura Harms, better known as the Diva of the weekly Diva challenges, Margaret Bremner, whose work I've admired for so long, and Lisa Heron, the wonderful and very energetic host of the event. I also took some great classes from people I had previously met - Cris Letourneau, author of Made in the Shade and co-author of Pattern Play, as well as Bette Abdu, Brenda Shaver, and Molly Hollibaugh. In addition, I met and re-met about 40 additional CZTs. So much talent and knowledge was shared. In case you're wondering about the title of my blog today, that's words from the song "Happy" by Pharrell Williams, which sort of became the theme song for the weekend.

Today I'm going to share just a little of what I created in Canada... a few of the small things. Once I complete (or should I say IF I ever complete) the larger projects, I will share them here also. First is a monotangle (one pattern) tile using the pattern Diva Dance (maybe you can figure out in whose class this was done?)

Next is a tile using Hollibaugh (maybe you can figure out whose class this was from also?) filled with N'zeppel. The tile was completed as a meditative activity, being guided only by the soothing voice of Molly (did you guess?), without any visuals.

This one is from Cris' class on pattern play, creating tangleations, or variations, of existing patterns. Auraknot with rounded points, and filled with some Tipple.

The last one is a tile I created one evening, in my hotel room, all alone. I had wanted to try out the new pattern Frost Flower since it's made from all straight lines and I love straight lines (or at least fairly straight lines). I added shading with a blue pastel pencil, and I love the way this turned out, even though I made a couple of "mistakes."

One more thing - there were TONS of door prizes given out. Among other things, I won a set of Zentangle coasters donated by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. I was going to put them out in a pile on the end table in my family room, but I had a better idea. The table has a glass top with a wood shelf underneath it. So here's what I did...

Now they're on display for everyone to see. Sorry about the quality of the photo... it's hard to take a picture of a glass table without reflections.

Now that I'm home from vacation I need to get back into the swing of things - I went a whole week without any tangling!

Wild and Wacky

"Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory."   George S Patton

This week I joined a new Facebook group called Wacky Zentangle Weekly Challenges. Not that I don't already have enough (too many) groups that I belong to. But I like the idea of having another challenge to do each week, or choose not to do as I see fit, especially since the Zendala Dare has been put on hold for a while. The challenge for this week is to make a Zentangle with ribbons, stripes and/or bands. Here's my take on the challenge.

Starting with a Hollibaugh string to form my bands, I filled each one with a different tangle. I added shading to the edges of each band in an effort to make them look rounded. I think it worked better on some of the bands than others. Once shaded, I felt like it needed something else but didn't want to add more tangles. Deciding to keep the "less is more" look, I added some color to the background using watercolor pencils. I was very happy with the finished look.

Then I decided to try another one. This time I thought I'd draw ribbons. Recently I purchased Helen Williams' (a little lime) e-book, Flips, folds, ribbon and strings, so I went through it reading her directions and watching her videos on how to draw ribbons. I will never be as good as Helen, but I'm not totally unhappy with what I did.

I think I need some more practice, but I had fun doing it.

Can't wait to see what the wacky challenge is for next week!