Arukas day 26-30

I have been celebrating christmas with my sons, daughter in law and my wonderful grandchildren so I have not been able to post the last days of Arukas, but here they all comes:

I made this one as a congratulation to Today´s
tangles - Keeping it classic that reached 1000
members recently!

I felt a little sad to say goodbye to these 30 days of Arukas, but also I was happy to have done them. Arukas can go any way, and there are so many more possibilities! I guess I could go on for another 30 days!!! But I won´t. But I will use Arukas on tiles and not fear a string that looks like it won´t fit! Because now I know Arukas also can go with any string!

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!

More Rain and the Diva´s Challenge 366

I finished this calendarpage yesterday morning. Rain is such a fascinating tangle. I wanted to get it work with other tangles, since this is the challenging thing for me when it comes to Rain. Luckily for me I have Lynn Shelton Mead´s Tangle Deck where I can get some clues to go on with the pattern! I belive you can see this influence at least on the 7th if you have got the Tangle Decs yourselves! The other patterns I used are Tipple, Printemps and one I haven´t tried since I learned it, Kathy´s Dilemma. Some different auras too.

Yesterday was the election-day here in Sweden. As I was sitting in front of the TV nervously waiting  for the results I talked to Susan Kelley Pundt on messenger. She suggested I should tangle while waiting and so I did! It was a very good way to spend the time, I needed to relax! Thank´s Susan, here is my tile from last evening and this one will do for the Diva´s Challenge 365 as well!

A little more Rain, Striping, Tipple, Cubine, Crescent Moon and Bales.

Because of the result of the election I woke up this morning feeling bad. So many in our society has voted for a party with it´s roots in nazi- and rasist- ideology! This is scarying and when I was younger I had no idea that I would see this happening in my country during my lifetime! I feel ashamed too, that this is the reality today! I am so sorry and I am not alone feeling like this, no matter that my own party has grown too. So I sat down and made one more for the Diva, which made me feel a lot better. In both these tiles I used the basic Z-string. On the second I tangled Static, Echoism and Eke, patterns I know so well by heart and as I tangled them I felt like I tangled against hatred and evilness which was very satisfying. 

To those who might read this: I am not thinking that zentangle is a political thing. But tangling must open your mind. Tangling gives you a possible way to learn in your heart that diversity and variations are essential and possibilities to go further on, not something you should be avoiding or fear! I think this is why I love the zentangle method so much!

Rain in the Calendar and IAST259

Rain is a zentangle-original pattern, I learned early in my tangling journey from the book of Bekah Krahula. I did like it a lot at the start, but I havent used it so much. Like Fengle, though that pattern came in my way later on. So now I decided to spend some time in my calendar with them and I still like to play with them! Drawing Rain I have a lot of fun exploring Lynn Shelton Mead´s examples in her Tangle-Deck 1.

IAST 259.

We are supposed to use Diamante (Carol Therrien), Sling Slang (Lisette Hofer), 7 Keys (Teresa Clerc) and Hollibaugh. Hollibaugh was the only one I knew! To learn three new to me patterns, well that was a challenge right now! But then the real challenge was to get them together into the suggested string! Hollibaugh, where did you go?? Yes Hollibaugh is there as a reticula! This was fun and I am happy with the outcome! Thank´s Adele for a relaxing challenge!

22nd-24th of August and IAST257

There are round boxes! Hats often comes in round boxes. Chocolate might also. Sometimes the lid is translucent too! Often they also appear with beautiful ribbons. So the last three days I made the boxes round. The patterns which appears are: Printemps (Zt) Arcflower (JJ La Barbera), Zenribbon with fragment K3 and a fragment of my own, Lollywimple (Sandy Hunter) and Well well well (Zt). I wanted the surrounding to be black but I also knew that too much black on the calendarpage would bleed through so I just gave it one layer. First I didn´t like the striped effect but then I heard from some friends this added something to the page and now I kind of like it as it came out. I also go a very good tip from Sue Zanker how to prevent the bleeding and get it all really black: Go back on the blackened surface with a soft blac colorpencil and work it in! I will sure try that next time I do something like this!

IAST 257 is all about a recent published pattern, Twilight,  by Jody Genovese. Here is my first take on it (not my last I belive):

Twilight reminds me of a couple of other patterns, Footlight and Munchin f.ex. Only straight lines this time. Straight lines are interesting in another way than curved lines and sometimes I love to celebrate the straight ones! Not using rulers or anything else then my free hand ofcourse. It is a lot of zen in drawing a line slowly, breath and stay focused. The lines are not perfect and shouldn´t be. I like it this way! 

There are spectacular skies in the evenings here now! Last nights dogwalk gave me this:

A little bit like Twilight.....

4th - 18th of August and one more for My Tile Project

Yes. I have done my calendarpages though I haven´t posted. My calendar has been my company while I have been doing a lot of things: Visiting my new grandchild Frances for the first time, Seeing people I haven´t seen for a long time and at last made the trip to my Dad way up in the north. I have spent a lot of time driving my car.  The calendar was perfect to end my days with. Or start!

4th-6th: I used Cubine as my string for tangling in the Box. I got the idea from Laura Byerly´s plan for August. Icantoo (Hanny Nura), Beadlines (Margaret Bremner)EAXY (Nadine Roller), Florz , Mooka, Åaradpx. B´Tweed, Crescent Moon, Poke Root, Cubine (all Zt), Cruffles (Sandy Hunter) and Waves (Suzanne McNeill). On the 6th, the Summertangles-18 -prompt was Dingbatz so I Dingbatted Cubine and Tranzended it too! 

7th-9th: Dex is my string! Patterns: Purdy, Margaret Bremner, Prestwood (Margaret Bremner), C-view (Ria Matheussen, Natti (mine), Zenplosion Folds (Danni O´Brian), Fescu (Zt), Vache (Genvieve Crabe) and Cruffles (Sandy Hunter).

10th-12th: I turned Cubine upside-down, which made it more like a box in my eyes. Patterns: Paradox (Zt), Ipso (Jennifer Hohensteiner), Organic (Sayantika Ray), Clob (Jem Miller), Fescu (Zt), Snugs (Jem Miller), Hollibaught and Tipple, both Zt.

13th-15th: On the 13th the summertangles was about Bijou, so I used Bijou as my string for this page. Patterns: Diva Dance, Nipa, Tipple (all Zt), Whisket (Sandra Strait) and Rashell (Lin Chiu).

16th - 18th: I choose 3D-room (Mei Hua Teng) as the string. The patterns: Meer, Florz, CO2 Antonine Megger, Floatfest Carole Ohl, Biscus (Vicki Bassett),Knightsbridge, Printemps, Scute (Lily Moon), Icantoo (Hanny Nura), Undu (Daniel Lamothe), and Fan Club. I don´t know who made Fan Club up. But it is a fun pattern. On the 18th the Summertangles suggested to make a Frame and my new favourite Icantoo made this so nicely!

As I returned home safely, I was thinking a lot of my Dad. If he will be with us next year he will celebrate his 90th birthday. Taking care of him is not possible for me living so far away, I have to trust others doing this and I am so grateful to my younger brothers living closer because I know they do their best! To sort things out as  there is a lot going on in my head, I tangled a tile  with my Dad in focus. A tile for My Tile Project (Nancy Domnauer).

Oven: Olipze (Jody Genovese)
Westin: Waax (Esther Piszcek)
April: Knightsbridge (April)
Favourite: Papz (mine)
I had to use Papz ofcourse, since I made this pattern to honor my Dad. I hope he will like it!

Gottago, my calendar and recycling

There are patterns and patterns. So many pops up all the time. Sometimes there will be a pattern that speaks more to me then others. I found one like that when I saw a post from Laura Byerly. I had seen Gottago (Lianne Woods) before but now I saw the posibilities! I had one more watercolorbackground from Gerd Vading that was waiting for this!

I almost forgot to take a before-pic, but here it is taken i not too good light!

I loved this little piece of a watercolor! 

And here is my last finished calendarpage:

Following the Summertangles18: Fiore (Jana Rogers), Trix (Lucy Farray) and Zonked (Barbara Finwall).

Today I recycled one more watercolor-tile:

Quare (Beth Snodderly), Squared Cadent (Margaret Bremner), Fassett (Lynn Shelton Mead), Shira (Marguerite Samama), Echoism (Zt) and Eke (Zt).
We have extreme temperature outdoors, +30C in the shadows, so I am lucky to have the coolest place in my studio!

IAST 251 and calendar 10th-12th of July

IAST 251. It´s a String Thing!I love this challenge, since I really enjoy working with the string in focus. The string is supposed to be the guidance through the process. I had no possibility to do the last one, 250, but this one I did. The patterns suggested were Stikz (Laurel Sponseller), which is a tangleation of BB (Zt), and Munchin (Zt). Stikz was a new one to me so I wanted it to play the lead with the string. I belive Stikz can do a lot of things, but this is the way it went for me and I enjoyed the process.

My calendar for 10th-12th of July:

The theme for the rest of July I have decided to be the prompts for Summertangles 2018. I was a late starter with this, but never mind. I used Ponio (Damy), Fescu, Cubine and Opus. On the 11th it should have been Cubic, but in my head it said Cubine and I think I know why. Ever since I learned Cubine it just get me going and I never know where it will take me!  So I am sorry Cubic, but I´ll get back to you later on! I promise! On the 12th the prompt said Monotangle! I just picked a card randomly from Lynn Shelton Mead´s Tangle Deck and that was the Opus card! I don´t draw Opus often but I always like what happens when I do.

7th-9th of May , Loev and IAST 246

As I saw Lori Byerly´s calendarpage I realized that Veezley by Sandy Hunter was a patter I had missed. And it is a beautiful one! I had to try it! A second pattern was Loev, which is the focus tangle in Square One. Loev is fun to draw! I went on with it in my sketchbook and on a couple of tiles. 

My first one, Loev is kind of swallowing the air around! Or something like that. I had a big smile on my face doing this. The next one:

Now I tried it without embellishment and with. Together with Veezley and a little Mooka. It is quite funny I think! 

I haven´t been into IAST for some time now. This last one, 246, Adele Bruno wanted us to try Helen Williams tangle String Grid. this is a lovely one and it speaks to my lovely part I think (yes I have got one)! A lot is possible to do with this pattern, but I kept it simple, just to understand the way it is done.

Ofcourse there are a lot of possible things to do with the negative spaces here, but I like the airyness in the pattern itself. Still I wanted to add something except the blue color and as a coincidence, Margaret Bremner recently posted a new pattern, Purdy which has this airyness in common with String Grid!  I think they work fine together and some Beadlines (Margaret Bremner) also made this pattern get a little extra without reducing the lightness. I liked to do this and I guess I am not through with String Grid! Thank´s to Adele Bruno I did pay attention to it!

13th-15th of May and also a celebration-tile.

I think I like to use my calendar now and then for challenges. Now is the busy time of the year in the garden which means not so much time for tangling or anything else but being outdoors with my fingers in the soil. But look, I have helpers:

Iris the Pumi is a great gardener! 

In lack of time, the calendar is perfect! I like to follow the Diva´s challenge very much and opening my calendar I have the possibility! So here comes my entry for Challenge 363:

The challenge is all about auras and I like doing auras. The patterns for this challenge just happened to pop up: Trio (Hanny Nura), Crescent moon (Zt), Somnee (Laura Harms), Axlexa (Henrike Bratz), Meer (Zt) and Shnek (Hanny Nura).

In Today´s Tangles we have now 3000 members! Celebrating this we made prompts relating to the Zentangle method. Today I started off with the first prompt: 

1. Gratitude and Appreciation.  As you sit down to tangle with a clean tile, appreciate the opportunity to tangle, knowing that you are an artist, even if you never thought of yourself as one, because Zentangle came into your life. If you have the Zentangle Primer: Volume 1, appreciate the basic patterns we’re first taught. With this in mind, use the tangles CRESCENT MOON, SHATTUCK, SNAIL, W2 and/or CADENT in a monotangle or any combination of the five.

I used Cadent, which gave me the oportunity to try Margaret Bremners tangleation Cadent Squared. Also I went for Snail, a tangle I haven´t used since I learned it! Almost forgotten, but this easy tangle is so nice to draw! One of the most important thing following the Zentanglemethod is Appreciation. And Gratitude. To appreciate the moment. To be aware of this: There are no misstakes in Zentangle. When an OOps appear, this is a great opportunity to go in another direction. I love this!

More Oof

I don´t think I am finished with Oof yet. There are so many possible ways to go with this pattern. Today´s meditation:

Oof in the middle is the common Oof. Above I put fragment W7 into the rounding and also I made a simpler Oof. In the bottom I straightened out the roundings and got another tangleation, Oofsed Squares! To the left Oofs-A-Daisy, the lovely tangleation by Cris Letourneau!

And yes I had some fun!

13th-15th of April and a black tile

Oof is an official tanglepattern and I have been using it now and then. I like to play with it and it always looks different! Now I found Cris Letourneau´s tangleation Oofs-A-Daisy which is a great one too! I had to try it on a black tile:

It went this way with a lot of Tipple. Very relaxing moment with this tile!

I am the Diva´s weekly challenge 358

 March was going fast! Now it is already a new UMT (use-my-tangle)challenge at the Diva´s place. This month it came to Tomàs Padrós "Pick Pocket" This is a highfocus-tangle. I had to think a lot about what I was doing. First I made a little Bijou:

Then I tried it on tan surface. I found this heavyweight-paper in a book-shop and it is Acid-free. I liked the color, it is very close to original rennaissance-tiles. But with one big difference: The shading is much harder to do, which disturbs me.

Still I don´t draw Pick Pocket fluently but this is the result. Before I started I watched Laura drawing it here on YouTube!Dewd just poured out of Pic Pocket, which was fun! The string is based on my spilling of coffee. I did that on purpose.

I also used Staub Korn´s tangleation of Pick Pocket, which she named Picker Pocker!With Staubs permission here are the steps!

Oh by the way things happened yesterday which made me register for CZT32-seminar in october. It is hard to belive, but I am GOING! Never thought this would be possible! 

22nd-27th of March and something colorful!

Revisiting tangles!
22nd: 2n5 by Anita Roby Lavery. Like this playful pattern a lot! So simple and yet so cool to play with!
23rd-27th: Can´T by Chris Titus. First time I met Can´T was in a challenge, I think it was Adele Bruno´s It is a string thing! I was thrilled by the way this pattern seems so different depending on the shading. I didn´t try rounded corners then, but now I did an it was totally something else I saw coming out of the pen! So much fun! I belive Can´T is now going to stay with me!

I have been away a couple of days enjoying to sing Pergolesi´s Stabat Mater in the church of Rasbo. Ofcourse I brought my tangle-kit with me. I used one tile I cut out of a large marbeled sheet of heavy-weight paper that I have kept for years.

Since I have bee busy rehersing Pergolesi I haven´t had the time to try two resent published techniques published by Maria and Rick in the zentangle-app. The first one was to tangle Molygon in a string which looks like a creepy thing going around the tile! I love the little dangerous look of this shape! Then I went for the Cadent-tangleation whick I do appreciate a lot! Some Tipple and Fescu also came along. This is my Happy Eastern tile for all of you!

19th-21st of February

I wasn´t finished with SKYE (Margaret Bremner). I went on in my calendar trying to use the Wholly Hollibaugh-technique demonstrated by Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts in their latest KTT-video available in the Zentangle-app. On the 21st I was really confused where to go with it, but I am happy with the result somehow!I had fun too during the process. But now I am going to let Skye rest for a while since I know it will come back to me again!

28th-31st of January

Last days of January I have been exploring tangleations of Paradox. 

Carole Ohls tangleation Bumpadox seemed so cool and fun I had to try it. Then I went to Margaret Bremner´s blog, "The enthusiastic artist" and found her interpretations on Paradox which led me to the "Feathered Paradox". So I played around too...

For the last day of January I started with a little Caviar (Lori Howe) in the Center, then they all came as follows: Florz, Wud (Joni Feddersen), Crescent moon and Fescu. It looks like a button this one I think. 

Fragment Y4 and more

I try to make a daily tile every day, but sometimes it just ends with doing my calendar. But when I do it I appreciate to be able to have this special moment. When I do it on a Zentangle original tile it is like having a little party. A friend of mine send me a pack of original white tiles for christmas, which means I can do this more often. The difference between the originals and my own handcut tiles from the same quality paper, Fabriano Tiepolo, are mainly the uneven edges. Such a detail means a lot when I tangle and I cannot fix this detail on my own (I doubt I could get the same result with the help of my washing machine! :) ). As Rick sometimes says, commenting  videos from Zentangle.com, there are just small details that makes the whole difference.

I love working with geometrical patterns and today I couldn´t stop myself. Started with dots in the corners and penciled line conecting them, Fragment Y4 from the Zentangle Primer, Veez (Margaret Bremner), Riki-Tiki (Renee King) and finally Sez (Zt). Well Veez lived a life of it´s own and I am not sure it looks like Veez any more, which isn´t important. I had an intention to leave some empty space, but it didn´t work that way today. That is of no importance either, since the process was what it was all about.   

13th - 15th of January

Now I am trying out patterns from Lori Byerly I haven´t tried yet. The first one is gr8. I loved this one at first sight. I am sure I will use this pattern furtheron. Next one is Ruflz. Easy and fun to draw. The third one is 3 to go. I also liked thisone. It makes me smile doing it!

Featured Artist, non-dominant hand and a calendarpage

Today´s Tangles on FB starts off with a featured artist, Lori Byerly. I have been following her from my own start as a tangler and her patterns has inspired med a lot and opened my eyes to see possibilities without limits in tangling. I love that. 

My first tile with her patterns: Her latest, Ledrow on top and as a frame and then underneath; Mashed, which was one of the first patterns of her, that I learned and have used a lot.

Then I saw Lynn Shelton Mead´s tile with Irradial, drawn with her non-dominant hand and I just had to try that:

Drawing with my non-dominant hand is not a new thing for me, I have done that a lot in the past when I was doing sketching of stilleben or living model at the artschool.. To do it with Irradial was fun and I love the way the lines goes their own ways!

Then to my calendar:

I stayed with the Daily Challenge for three more days. A lot of patterns new to me! 

10th of January: Zurli (Elena Hadzijaneva), Aniane (Karin Godyns) and Ah Love You (Jane Eileen), which I have seen before but not tried.

11th of January: Soleil (Anne Marks), Farin (Marion Kreutzweg) and Plower (Helen Williams), which I have tried before once.

12th of January: Chain Gain (Aleesha Sattva), Scallops (Suzanne McNeill) and Ziggurat (Sandra Strait). Scallops I have seen before but not tried.

This will be the end of my Daily Challenge in my Calendar for now. But not forever! :) I learned some good things doing this and I hope I can keep them in mind: 

1. No Prejudice!

2. Focus on the process, not the result!

3. Embrace and appreciate every single pattern, no matter what you think of it at first sight!