Hump Day 06 and a peep into my Journal

Recently I was invited to "Hump Day Challenge" on Fb. This is a weekly challenge from CZT Suzanne Fluhr and I thought it would be fun since "I am the Diva" is taking a break. But I have been so busy last weeks so I haven´t participated until today and this challenge was right up in my alley and I loved it. You find the challenge in her blog here. And if you, like me, don´t know what Hump Day is she gives an explanation in her blog.

Here is my entrance on rennaisance tile:

The prompt was to use a tangle as a string. I choose Hollibaugh

I am not sure that Hollibaugh is the string though I tried to think of it as a string.The "over and under" technique is so much this tangle and I love that. I used Diva Dance Rock n´Roll, Shattuck, Tortuca and fragment T7, which is one of my favourite fragments from the Primer. Everyone talk about the heath right now and I am happy to say that my studio is the coolest place in this house! So I had to have some soothing, cooling dewdrops on this tile as well.

My journal has become an important space to go to thank´s to the prompts published in Our Tangled Life. Though it was a little difficult for me to keep it up in June/first half of July, I have done them.

The 13th prompt came from Priscilla DeConti and she wanted us to tangle an animal. Since The Zentanglemethod to me is non-representative which means freedom and this is very important, I didn´t know how to approach this prompt at first. Then I looked into my other artjournal and found something I did during a workshop led by Carla Sonnheim earlier this year. To see an animal in cracked pavement! So I brought that workshop into tangling and this was the result. I used Arukas, Tagh, Crescentmoon and my newest tangle AAW. I had fun and I enjoyed it! 

Patterns: Doo Dah, Tripoli, Scena, Crescentmoon, Scallopillar (Karin Tarter)
AAW (mine)

This page I finished yesterday and this turned out in a special way. The prompt said Let´s map it! First I was in trouble not knowing how to do this. Maps are special to me, almost magical. I always keep maps I have used on journeys and hikings. When I was younger I was an eager hiker in the Swedish mountains. The nature, the wilderness, the lonliness, all of that was essential to me. Yes I kept the maps in a nice and tidy pile. Among the maps was one over the Abisko-Kebnekaise area and this map was so much used it had fallen into parts. I took one of those parts which happened to fit perfectly in my journal, so I glued it there and started tangling. Someone hade spilled some coffee on the map, it might have been me... As I tangled on I was sent back in time and I could see the stony paths for my inner eye, the amazing views from high points, the marshlands, the clear water, the wild animals, birds, flowers... And I could feel the gratitude that I once have been able to be a part of this wonderful landscape that forever will stay in my heart!

Through this prompt from Malia Benson I got some new ideas to work on in my collages/paintings too! 

Dingsplatz and IAST285

I have been having fun with Dingsplatz for a couple of days along with the Way Bop-thing. This is an easy technique to limit the work-space. Rick and Maria demonstrates how to do this in a video you find here. It is addictive and it is very relaxing. So when Adele Bruno asked for Dingsplatz in her challenge no. 285 it was right up in my alley!

This one I made on a rennaissance-tile a week ago and in the center I used Fragment D23. Then a lot of orbs, Crescentmmon and some Fescu.

This one is from my Cappucino-journal (which I like very much, the paper is of a kind that makes it possible to work on both sides of a page). In the center I used Spoken and Striping. Then Crescentmoon again and orbs and auras.

My latest Dingsplatz for IAST 285. In the center Fragment E25, Then Shattuck and Betweed and Orbs.

I love to do them. They just land on the paper/tile or whatever I draw on!

Practicing Way Bop.

I think everyone knows that it takes practicing to learn a tangle. Most tangles are easy to learn and easy to draw. But there are tangles that need some more practicing than other tangles to learn them and know them by heart. Those tangles are often called high focus tangles. Of course there are differences between tanglers - what seems easy for one tangler might be hard for another. Sometimes I am not motivated to practice as much as I should to make a tangle beeing mine, and I abandon that tangle and maybe I don´t pick it up at all. But those tangles very often  come my way anyhow and I can´t avoid them much longer. This is interesting, they just show up and tell me to do them over again!  This happened in the last prompt in Todays Tangles - Keeping it Classic. Way Bop: A new possibility for me to learn! 

Step-outs are good. But I don´t like to have the step-out in front of me while tangling. I need to know the tangle by heart to be able to get the full benefit of tangling. 

On the first one I had to look at the step-out. It was a little struggle until Printemps, Striping and Flux could take care of the process and make it pleasant again.

After this I asked little Bijou to help. I made Waybop more than three times, acutally I tangled on the back of the Bijous too. The three last Bijous I didn´t need the step-outs any more! Happy moment!

The second tile was a joy to make! Not me struggling any more. Here with Jonqual, Zinger, Flux and Printemps. This was a way to make friends with a beautiful tangle and I guess Way Bop has come to stay with me this time! 

Abandoned tiles in Diva´s challenge.

Art is never unfinished, only abandoned! - Leonardo da Vinci

This quote is what Laura Harms starts her challenge 386. I totally agree. It has been a lot about abandoned art/tiles for a while. In my last blogpost I went through this with my journal. So I couldn´t resist this challenge as it walks hand in hand with the Oopses!!

I first found this one:

I belive I started this one in another challenge for the Diva, but put it away, I thought it looked clumsy and didn´t like the way the colors worked.

An here is the result! After I had worked on it a while I actually put it away and almost gave it up. But then I brought it back and went on telling myself I had to look for what this tile wanted and start playing, not judging! Now I am happy I did. The patterns: C-View (Ria Matheussen), Ipso (Jennifer Hohensteiner), Quabog, Maze, Mini-Tipple, Printemps and a little piece of Shattuck.

For the next one I almost forgot to take the before-pic. I just started with Mooka and then I remembered. So the first pick only would have had Printemps on it!

This one wasn´t abandoned in the way my first one was. I started to do Printemps when I was interrupted for some reason and had to do something else. Then I forgot all about it. Now was the time to finish it!

The patterns added: Crescentmoon, Mooka and Fescu. I didn´t go on with the micron I started it all with, I choose to work with  my fountain-pen that sort of has been abandoned for a while and I loved to take it up again!

Two swaps and The Diva´s challenge 382

Every swap (traveling tangles) is a happy moment. And every swap is so different. I have been lucky having two swaps recently. The first one came all the way from China! May May Chui sent me these beautiful starters:

Blue Toodles with some Tipple on a zendala!Whow!

And then a green amazing gem with Flux, Diva Dance, Static and Printemps....

I finished these and was happy to find the right blue among my colorpencils! Here are my finished tiles:

I don´t use much color in my own tangling so this was like having a party!  I added Dorsal (mine), Fassett (Lynn Shelton Mead and Mooka.

Then the green gem... How to match this very expressiv and beautiful gem? I had fun doing this, adding Cubine, Printemps, Bales variation and Crescentmoon variation.

Then the next swap with Daria Heidendael from the Netherlands. We first met at the Designmuseum in Providence before the seminar started! Here are her starters:

I do  love black tiles! And here with beautiful Tripoli!

Next one is one more gem! And now drawn in greyscale! I almost forgot to take the beforepic, you can see the little line I started with on the right side of the gem! But then I stopped and took this pic!

Here are my finishes:

I went on with Diva Dance , Quandary and Indyrella. Yes I tried my goldpen on this one too!

This one was so delicate to start with. I was anxious to ruin the whole thing. But then I started to think about Rick and Maria. I heard their voices in my head about "no worries, just one stroke at the time" and "no mistakes"! We learned the Crescentmoon variation at the seminar and also how to use Florz in a different way, so I just went on with this and the whole tile came alive.  This was a moment of magic!

Diva Challenge no 382. Laura asked for stripes as string. That is fun to do and a chance to use bordertangles... 

My string

Zenith in the middle with Meer, Shattuck, Marasu and Fanclub in the corners. I liked to do this and they are all tangles I know so well, I don´t have to think what to do next. Thank you Laura, even if I don´t do every challenge, I do enjoy every one I do!

I am the Diva´s Challenge 380

Laura Harms has run her blog 8 years now! Amazing! She is celebrating this with a challenge based on circles. As I am quite busy right now I had to go for a quickie, since I wanted to celebrate this! And Zenbuttons are so fun to do, invented by Marguerite Samama! Here is my Zenbutton on a cardstock selfcut tile:

Congratulations Laura! Hope you will go on for another 8 years! By the way, I used  Sakura micron: pink and burgundy.

Arukas Day 20-25

I don´t belive it! Only 5 days left!!!! 

Calendar 19th-21st of october and one more for the Diva´s challenge 372

This post might be my last for a while, since I am not sure I will have the time  to post before I start my long trip to US and the CZT seminar 32 in Providence! The inktober patterns keep following me though! Here comes Abeko (Lynn Shelton Mead), W2 (Zt) and Hamadox (Diana Schreur). Drawing with the fountainpen looks so different from the Pigma-pens. I think the main reason for this is that in zentangle I slow down my strokes a lot. Doing so with the fountainpen is a little bit risky, since the ink i very flowing. Normally as I draw with the fountainpen I draw very fast strokes but working with zentanglemethod this won´t be the case!!! Somehow I like the result and it is very relaxing.

On the 20th the inktobertangle is W2.  I like weavingpatterns and W2 is no exception. I decided to let W2 have a meeting with Dewd for the Diva´s challenge and this is what happened when I choose to work with a random string and dots in the corners:

I thought I was finished with Dewd but obviousely I am not. It is just going on. It might follow me all the way to Providence.... Now I will concentrate on doing packing-lists and get everything together before Thursday morning when I leave for Stockholm Arlanda!

Taking ink seriousely in calendar 13th-18th of october and DC 372

I used to do a lot of drawing with my fountainpens earlier, but I haven´t done this so much when I tangle.  But for inktober last 6 days I have taken the ink seriousely. I hade some deep burgundy in one of my pen and that made my first page. But now I have no more of that ink left! Maybe this will be the last page ever with this ink from Mont Blanc!!! I hope not.  The patterns: Dewd (Zt), Ando (Kim Winebrenner) and Inapod (Carole Ohl) 

For the next page I went on drawing with my Lamypen filled with black ink (I have a lot of that) and changed to blue in my Mont Blanc and it got just a little touch of the previous burgundy ink! I love that effect! The inktober tangles: Joki (Kim Aarts), Narwal (Sam Taylor) and Luv-a (Sharon Carforio).  With some help of Aquafleur and a tiny Squid.

The Diva challenge 372 is all about Dewd. This pattern is so fun and relaxing to draw, I feel like I could go on with it for ever!

I decided to try something different. I used a fountainpen which is made with a caligraphy-nib (inspired by Lauras dip-pen): 

I don´t use this pen very much but I like the way it works. The result is a little bit rough but I still like it. Then I went on making Dewd on a black ATC-tile:

Couldn´t resist having some Tipple in the middle. This one is very different from the first tile depending on the surface and on which tools I used; gellypen and white charcoalpencil. Since this wasn´t enough I tried it in my journal with tan surface:

Also quite different approach! I only used gellypen, white charcoalpencil and graphite. Yes Inapod is there too. I think I am a little bit addicted to Dewd by now. Definitely a tangle to go to when stuck!

Inktober 7 and DC371

Since I follow the inktober prompts made by Stephanie Jennifer in my calendar I have not made them on tiles so much. But I got the chance to do Onion Drops as monotangles following the Diva´s Challenge! there are a lot of fun challenges to be found on the web and I have decided to limit myself following only two of them. Sometimes I do one or two other challenges too, but I don´t want to  have that haunting feeling of catching upp challenges. I am the diva´s challenge and IAST are high priority when it comes to challenges though. Laura had made a video where she demonstrates onion drops (a little different from what I have learned it) drawing it with a dip-pen. So I wanted to do my first one with a favourite fountainpen (Mont Blanc) of mine on a litte Bijou-tile:

The color of my ink is very deep burgundy and I love this color! Then I made one more on a regular tile with my micron:

Onion Drops (Shasta Garcia) is a very relaxing pattern, it just goes on and on and every space can be filled or surrounded with it. I think this pattern already has jumped into my box of go-to tangles! 
Here you find the step-outs.

Sometimes I need some blue - IAST 263

Last night when I sat down tangling I decided to try IAST 263. At the start I wasn´t too happy about the choice of string for this challenge. The patterns are great: Kettling (Ria Matheussen), Sails (Helen Williams) and Ahh (Zt). It happens that the string doesn´t talk to me and this was such an occaison. I hesitated, but I wanted to try Ria´s new pattern and Sails I haven´t done for a while, though it is a favourite of mine! I have learned a few things through the zentanglejourney of mine and one thing is: Don´t worry, just relax and go with it!  So here is my first result:

As I wasn´t too happy about it, I went to bed and slept on it. This morning I watched it carefully and decided it needed something more. My watercolorpencils! And my favourite blue, Preussian Blue!

So this is the final one for this challenge! I am glad I went on with it. This was a good exercise for me to train my patience and my confidence in the process. There will always be a way and an outcome that I might not have been expecting! This is one thing I love about the Zentangle method!

28th-30th of September and IAST 262

I have been visiting my grandchildren this weekend. A lot of fun was going on. Not much tangling though! But here is my calendarpage with three takes on string 32. Patterns: Mooka, Tipple, Beelight, Static, Striping, ´NZeppel and Hibred. All of them official zentangles. I wanted to do IAST 262 badly, but I think I might be too late. I made it in my new sketchbook on tan paper. 

Gourdgeous and Woooo (Joan Stark). Gourdgeous is not my best friend, but I like the drama it causes! Now I make the post to Adele Bruno and if I am lucky it will come to here in time!

I found this sketchbook Saturday, as I was in Stockholm with my grandchild, 4 years old. The book is from Hahnemühle and the paper is called Cappucino. It is wonderful paper, doesn´t bleed through at all! Gourdgeous was a test!

Diva´s challenge 369

Only doing this with orbs, circles! This challenge is all about orbs. What is more like orbs than Tipple! Here is my entry:

And what is more orb-like than doing a zenbutton!?! I enjoyed this challenge and I love to do orbs in all kind of ways. Also some Printemps wanted to play. Thank you Laura for one more special challenge! Now I am ready for bed and tomorrow morning I am going to visit my granddaughters!

IAST 261

There are strings and strings. This week´s challenge from Adele Bruno offered a string I do like a lot! A string with straight lines as well as a beautiful curve. So here is my entry:

I used the cardstock I got from my printing friend and I like the surface more each time I use it. The patterns are 3 Loops 6 (Mina Hsiao) and Hexonu (Cherryl Moote). I have tried 3 Loops 6 once before, but as I almost forgot about it I am so happy that Adele reminded me about this pattern!

19th-21st of September and one more for the Diva

Now is the time when nights get colder and the garden is changing a lot. I am busy digging up and taking in herbs and some of the plants to be sure they will make it through the cold part of the year. I can see it in my calendar! The string is no. 22 for the last three days. Yesterday I also tried to monotangle Crescent Moon, inspired from what I saw Sandy Kelley Jones do in Fb group Today´s tangles. the other tangles on the page are Mooka, Afterglo (Carole Ohl), Membran Art (Tomàs Padrós), Tipple and Papyrus (Suzanne McNeill). I found the first tile I made with this string! Here it is:

Peanucle (Molly Hollibaugh) and Ipso (Jennifer Hohensteiner) made in november -15.

I liked the straight-line challenge from the Diva this week. I wanted to try it with a curvy string and picked  no. 138 from Tanglepatterns.

I tried this with Lily Moon´s B´tweed-tangleation and Hexonu (Cherryl Moote).B´tweed went a little wild, it doesn´t look the way I thought it would but I kind of like the crazyness in this one! And most important, it was fun and relaxing to do!

Only straight lines in Diva´s challenge no 368

Only straight lines. Yes. I find this challenge so relaxing. It is like keeping things together in a way. Thank you Laura Harms for doing this. I have always liked geometry and straight lines. Not that my lines are so straight, they are wobling and swaying a lot. But that´s not the point. The process is the main thing and doing straight lines or trying to do them is just possible when I slow down. So here is my first tile on this theme:

I also choose a string from Tanglepatterns with straight lines, string 032. A nice one! Choosing the patterns was also a challenge, there are a lot of wonderful straight-line patterns! Here I made it with Balloya (Anya Lothrop), Arukas, Cubine and Paradox (all Zt). Paradox is a paradox, the lines are straight but they look like they are not! I like that effect! I guess I must do some more with straight lines! This was so fun.