27th of February and string 240-242

February 2017 is soon gone. Looking backwards, it has been a busy month and my studio is full of things going on. The calendar is very often my start of the day, before I go into anything else. It wasn´t planned but now I have had three days with Waybop, a tangle I didn´t even like from the start....

The last one today is different from the two before, as I only used 6 "seeds". It looks more like a decal or something you put on the wall. I liked it though. The patterns except Waybop, are parts of Arukas, Pardox, Caviar (Lori Howe), and Mashed (Lori Byerly). there is one thing with the calendar I am not comfortable with. As I blacken bigger areas, the black doesn´t come out black and even, if I try to make more layers of black it will all be messed up. Now I have tried that, I will be more careful not doing so much black areas.

Now to the strings I have done´. The first one, string 240 (Anette Plaga Lodde):

A monotangle with Tri-O (Hanny Nura). This one started with a little Oops and then it went out of control into a monotangle-orgy! It was so fun and I think Trio will be one of my favourites. 

The second one, string 241 (Barbara Finwall):

Barbara Finwall has made a lot of very interesting strings! I used it with Yaw-Dee (Peg Farmer), the focustangle in Square One, Huggins and Beadlines (Margaret Bremner). Yaw-Dee is so cool!

The third one string 242(Joyce Blodgett):

Yes! A black tile at last! Haven´t done that for some time now. It is odd that I did this since it was my first try on Ragged Ray´s pattern Flec. But I had to try that since I liked his example on the black tile in his blog a lot! It is a fun and easy pattern. I will sure try it more. Here I used it with FragmentY1 in a wavy reticula following the string and Some tipple.

25 - 26th of February

The Diva´s challenge 304 was all about Way Bop. Way Bop has been seen here and there but no steps to find. It was released in November at the CZT retreat Zen-again and now it is in public at Tanglepatterns.com. So I did want to try it!

I did try it in my sketchbook several times, but I didn´t like the way it went. I felt like I needed some help. So I took my pencil and penciled a circle and divided it like this:

As I did so it was much easier for me to place the "seeds" even. 

I was much more happy about the outcome after that and I found it easier to embellish and make auras. About the 25th: I first made my Way Bop and placed some Hollibaugh in the center of it. Then I went outside the Way Bop but it turned out into Neuron instaed. Susan Kelley Pundt came up with a new name on that: Hollibeuron! I think I like that name!

Today is the 26th. I started off with Ovy (Adam Roades), a Ribbon I like very much, but then Way Bop had to come once again. As there was a little oops it took another direction this time and as I made auras outside it they all of a sudden transformed into Nipa. I liked the way it turned out and that it in some way lived it´s own life out of my control! 

21st - 24th of February

6 Day´s with the same patterns. By repeating  the same patterns every day something else happens. They don´t look the same  and they don´t act the same way. It was fun to try that. And very relaxing too. The patterns are: Static, Florz, Mooka, Jetties (all Zt) and A-Dalfa (Bunny Wright).

15th - 20th of February

Busy time, no blogg-posts! But now, back to procedures! I have been doing my calendar-tangling all these days and I am proud of last week´s result with Valentine-tangling:

The whole spread with only heart-tangles!I don´t use hearts so much the rest of the year, but I had a lot of fun doing this! The patterns are from 

15th: Minline (Damy) and Heartrope (Bunny Wright).
16th: Caught (Christine Reyes) and Heartrope (Bunny Wright)
17th: Heartline (Helen Williams)
18th: Puffle (Sandy Hunter), Heartbox and Heart Divided (Helen Williams).

19th and 20th: Static, Florz, Mooka, Jetties and A-Dalfa (Bunny Wright).

14th of February. happy Valentine!

I am excited about what this page will look like tomorrow! Hearts everywhere! One thing: I have after quite a long time found out how to change the setting of my scanner! I am so happy about that. Maybe I will use it for my tiles too if this turns out the way I want!

LG (Adele Bruno) followed from yesterday as well as Beadline (Margaret Bremner). Heartswell (Helen Williams) is such a fun tangle to draw. You find the steps here.

13th of February

A new page in the calendar. This is Valentines week. I don´t use Hearttangles very often, so this week I will have an orgy in Hearts!

Started with two of my favourites: Heart Divided (Helen Williams) and LG (Adele Bruno) and a little Beadline (Margaret Bremner). Ofcourse the red color must take place now!

For my evening meditation I used string 239 (Rosemary Turpin).

I am the Diva´s challenge this week is to create a Valentine-card and give it to someone. I am not sure you could describe this as a Valentine-card, but I will give it to someone special (my life companion). The patterns are: Heart Divided once again, Heartstring (also Helen Williams), Web (Suzanne McNeill), Lenche (my own), Beadline (Margaret Bremner) and Printemps (Zt).

12th of February and one travelling tangle!

One more page finished!I love this calendar!

I went on with F Q2 and R A2, Florz (Zt), Crescentmoon (Zt) and Web (Suzanne McNeill). Then Zimba popped up again and also Beadlines (Margaret Bremner). From now on I write F for Fragment and R for Reticula and the letters and numbers coming with it refers to fragments and reticula in Zentangle Primer. I liked the way it all turned out.

Then I went on finishing one of Sue Zanker´s beautiful starters for me! Forgot the beforepic, but I took a groupie as soon as I opened my Happy Mail, so everything is to be seen!

Sue started this black tile with Relly-Telly-One (Karin Klang-Meier) and I answered with Tipple and 2 patterns of Helen Williams: Heartline and Heart Offset. Heart Offset is a new tangle to me  and I liked to play with it. Here you find the entire Happy Mail from my friend Sue in Australia:

11th of February

My Calendar for today:

Crescent moon. then I choose Reticula A2 with Fragment Q2. Then Florz (Zt) passing by and Web (Suzanne McNeill).

In SquareOne Flowery (Ina Sonnenmoser) is the Focustangle. I was just wondering what kind of hearts I would like to use for Valentines tangling. Here it is!

I prefer to see hearts instead of flowers in this tangle! Or heartpetals.... The other tangle is Waax (Esther Piszczek), a new found one for me. The string is 238 (Beth Snoderly). 

10th of February

My first try on Ria Matheussen´s pattern Zimba.

A play with geometry. The pattern has a lot of possible variations. I like that. I admire the way Ria has deconstructed a pattern that looks quite complicated into this pattern that is easy to learn and remember. If you visit the link above to the steps, you´ll know what I mean.

8th and 9th of February

Yesterday was a special day of remembrance to me. 16 years ago my mother passed away 8th of February 2001. If she still had been alive, she would have been 92 in the end of this month. She came to Sweden from Finland as a refugee during Worldwar 2nd, met my father and gave birth to 8 children of whom 6 are still alive and I am the oldest. She didn´t know Swedish at all as she arrived to this country. What I did yesterday was to tangle with her in my mind. Her name was Aino Westin and I picked tangles from A I N O W at Tanglepatterns.com after having made a starter in my calendar with tangles I first thought of with those letters.

8th of February started with All Boxed Up (Alice Hendon), Waves (Suzanne McNeill) and Amore (Adele Bruno).

Then I went on with string 236 (Mary Ellen Calhoun):

The patterns I got from the tanglepattern randomizer at tanglepatterns.com were: Aah (Zt), Ix (Zt),Neuron (Beth Snoderly), and Oof (Zt). Strange, I have used both Neuron and Oof recently!

I went on, now using string 237 (Nancy Smith) but picking patterns I knew well:

Starting with my own Natti, since that tangle has a direct connection to my mother (you can read about the background to this pattern here). Then Adalfa (Bunny Wright),Olb (Helen Williams), Waax (Esther Piszeck) and Indyrella followed. As I reflect on this tile,  see a lot of drama and there was a lot of that in my mothers life!

Last night I also read the essay Rick Roberts had written in the Zentangleblog. The first thing that appealed to me was this sentence: "When I tangle, I never know where my starting strokes will take me". That´s one of the magic things in tangling! The Oopses are blessings, they mean something and things goes in other directions! Tip: Read the essay!

Now it is 9th of February and I am finishing one more page in my calendar:

Hamadox is such a lovely tangle to go on with! Thank´s to Laura Harms and her challenge I found it!

Then Suzanne McNeills Waves went on from yesterday. There is an other tangle, but I am not sure were I got it from. It might be a t angleation of Dro´t/Wire/Drath, but I am not sure. And a few Dewdrops. Loved to do this.

7th of February and the Diva´s challenge 302

Another beautiful pattern to explore! Hamadox by Diana Scheur is a mix between Hamail and Paradox. This might become a new favourite, it flows so nice over the surface! Made my first try in my calendar:

As a background-pattern I used Fragment G7 from Zentangle Primer. the reticula is a squaregrid. As Hamadox is in the Diva´s challenge 302, I make this my first entry, but I don´t think it will be the only one! 

6th of February

The page ended up like this:

I had to just go on with Oof. I love that tangle, but I haven´t used it so much. It is a High Focus tangle. So one big Oops appeared. Didn´t know what to do with it at first, but then remembered what I learned in Beckah Krahula´s book long ago about Bronx Cherry! I haven´t used that one at all when Oopsis appear, but this time it was the right thing to do. It was fun, so I added two more! To make the page become a unit, I added one more Loop (Amelie Liao) and Diva Dance. I am happy about the outcome and grateful that Oops came my way!

I haven´t mentioned anything about travelling tangles lately. I love that concept, but right now I am working on my exhibition in the end of March, so I am not into that right now. But in the beginning of January I got two happy mails, very unexpected! The first came from Sue Zanker and about two weeks later one more from Sue Bailey. I do love surprises and both letters were so nice and lovely made for me that I sure will finish the tiles. I have done one of Sue Zanker´s and today one of Sue Bailey´s. 

The first from Sue Zanker was with Molygon (Zt):

My finish with Aquafleur (Zt), `Nzeppel (Zt) and Tipple (Zt):

The one I finished today from Sue Bailey is the one down to the left:

She had written on the back that the start was a Maori twist or crossover symbolising bonding and friendship!

I filled the twist with my own Dorsal and used Fassett (Lynn Mead) as a background. 

These two lovely ladies from Australia gave me happy mail without asking anything back. I didn´t feel any presure to do this it was just simple joy. Thank´s to you both I have some treasures hidden in my box to finish later on!

Tonight I wanted to give Neuron (Beth Snodderly) one more round. The pattern is simple to do, but it is not easy to use it as a tangle. i need to practice! Here with Lollywimple (Sandy Hunter), Schiefer (Simone Bischof) and Fescu (Zt)and string 235 (my own):

That´s all for today!Sleep well and tangle on!

4th and 5th of February

Yesterday was a day of rehearsing with my beloved vocal ensemble. I was so tired after that, I didn´t know what to do with the calendar. I needed help so I asked the tangle randomizer on tanglepattern.com choose the tangle to start with and there was Loop by Amelie Liao. Had not done this before and it reminds me of both Ellish and Arukas. Pretty one and then they just showed up, Diva Dance (Zt), Holes and Bubbles (both Suzanne McNeill). Today Sandy Kelly Jones made a challenge for us: combine Bales with Oof. Both Zt. So I took the easy way, which was quite relaxing. But the connection with yesterday is pretty week I think. Don´t know what is coming!

This night´s meditation. Square One´s focustangle is Neuron. 

I used string 234 (Rosemary Turpin). Neuron (Beth Snodderly) is special. I didn´t think of it as a tanglepattern. I know it from studys in art, I have done it myself long ago and made a painting out of it which I still like. Strange to use it as a tangle! But I made a try. Here with Strickles, Crescentmoon, Florz (all Zt), Beadline (Margaret Bremner) and Chain Link (Barbara Finwall). 

After working in my calendar a lot I do appreciate to go back to original tiles. I love the material, the way shading works on it, the slight resistance in the surface when the pen glides over it, yes, everything!!! 

3d of February

Today I went on with Fragment 1S, but now in a bent Reticula. 

I like the way it went and now Paradox with Diva Dance also came back underneath.

1st and 2nd of February

The Reticula and Fragment-chapter in Zentangle Primer is very inspiring. It isn´t unfamiliar for me to work in this way. I have had periods when I have used this technique in my paintings and then I have been totaly caught by this. Very simple elements can be used in many variations and out of one fragment can a lot of patterns be developed. Here I have used the same fragment, 1S in two versions.

I love this experience. It is like going into another world of thinking and creating. And to have this as a part of the zentanglemethod is thrilling!