Schway and Membranart

Schway is an official zentangle. As it was introduced in 2013 I wasn´t a tangler yet. I guess I might not have been hooked if that should have been the first tangle I would have ran into. But you never know. I was reminded on this pattern, which I have tried before, as it came up in the prompt for November in Today´s Tangles. How to deal with it? I am able to make it from the step-outs, I know that. But to take the next step and make it mine? That is another question. 

I started doing it as I have learned to do. Going back to basics with dots in the corner, penciled line binding the dots together and then there came a string, randomly drawn. I had to struggle with myself not to judge, but appreciate what came from my pen. 

I wanted to accept and appreciate this but the fact is it wasn´t much zen. I had to put this aside giving it a chance. So I went for another round today.

First of all I choose to get two patterns together that I didn´t like too much.  Shway and Membranart. Membranart (Thomás Padrós) wasn´t a pattern I took to my heart at the first sight, even if I saw a lot of beautiful examples with this pattern being done in the Fb-groups. My first tile had to be a monotangle with Membranart only, just to get some hang of it:

Mmm. A little bit more exciting then my first round with it in the calendar.  Now I could do it without thinking too much about HOW to do it. Just let it be what it might be. I am not a perfectionist. I am not trying to be one. But the important thing with tangling to me is to get it flow, to be in the zone, to have fun and relaxation. This was almost fun. But I still wasn´t there. So what was going to happen putting these two patterns together?

Now I had to give up my thoughts of the result (which is a problem sometimes) since theese two patterns didn´t actually talk to me. I had to trust them talk to eachother instead.  And there it was!!! I don´t know where it happened, but all of a sudden I was just drawing, not worrying, and it was a wonderful moment! I did feel gratitude, I appreciated the process, I didn´t judge myself and I was happy doing this! Looking at the final result I am once again telling myself "This is magic". I love the zentangle-method because of this! 

I like to set all three tiles together just to get another view of them and be able to revaluate this process.

Looking at them not as separate tiles I do like them a lot. My frustration is gone and you never know, I might go for Schway again! Or Membranart!

Calendar 1st - 3rd of October

November. Grey and heavy. But still a time to tangle! I started off with the suggested fragment for the month, V4. I like the weavy structure of this fragment! Think I will use it more. The rest of the month I will use my calender doing #Giveatangle challenge in the FB-group Today´s tangles. One tangle a day is the theme. 2nd of November: Vitruvius. I made the striping too, since that was on 1st of November! On the 3rd Schway came up. I have read a lot of comments about Schway like "it is not my kind of cup". Well well, how to handle that. I have used it once. But Then it landed in my pile for not-my-kind-of-cup-tangle!!! I have learned something through my zentangle-journey: Not to give up. Just go for it again. And again. Try to make friends. Lets see if that will work for this tangle!

October 31st and the Diva´s weekly.

Autumntheme the last day in October. With Gourdgeous and Leaflet (Helen Williams). I made this with the Diva´s challenge in mind. I tried not to think of Pumpkins. But what to do when it is Halloween! So Gourdgeous had to be there this year too! 

Striping with a Twist

As Margaret Bremner made her "Striping with a twist" she brought the tanglepattern "Striping" (official pattern from the Zentangle headquarter) to a new level. Many of us wanted to try this and so did I. Now this is the focustangle in Square One. Striping with a Twist. As a tangler you want to add something personal when tangling. Striping is one of those patterns I find difficult to add a personal Twist. It doesn´t bother me though, I use the Striping now and then and love it. But to take over another tanglers personal twist is even harder I think, without just being a copycat! This time I made it on a Rennaisance-tile:

The other patterns used are Sez (Zt) and Pixiose (Margaret Bremner). I also tried to practice some Tranzending on this. Somehow it just happened. I didn´t care about the outcome, I just enjoyed the process (which I am not sure I did when I tried Striping with a twist last time)and to be in the "zone". All of a sudden I had a great time, and fun too! 

28th-30th of October

Last three days I think I went into a monotangling mood. There are so many beautiful patterns around, and new appears all the time. I just picked three of them I wanted to play with. Q-Belle (Mina Hsiao) was one of the inktober tangles. I haven´t tried it before but this pretty little one appealed to me at once. So fun to draw and it looks fun too! Showgirl (Vicki Bassett) is a pattern I have done before but I needed her flashing appearance yesterday! Rubenesque (Hannah Geddes) is a pattern I have kept for a long time now in my pile of tangles to try! A lovely pattern that looks intricate but is very easy to draw! Loved to do this!

25th-27th of October

Started with Mssst and an old tangle of mine I almost forgot about, Mec Mec. Then tried Tomás Padrós pattern Membranart and 2A by Mina Hsiao. Membranart looks fun and was fun to do. 2A is a pattern I liked very much to do. It works like a grid and has a lot of possibilities! 

My Opus 1.

I started my first Opus ever August 20th inspired by the Mosaic-challenge Joey initiated. Today I have finished it. I haven´t worked on it every day, but I have seen it every day except when I was away to Östhammar last week. Don´t know if it was a good idea, but I left the shading and the coloring to the end and that took me a lot of time. I wasn´t sure where this would go at all. But here is my finished result.

I have listed the patterns and the date I first used them on the back of the tile. As I count them there are 17 patterns!!! Is this really me??? I blackened a part I found disturbing in the end. That was satisfying, but I am happy I left the decision till the last day I laid my hand on this!
I took a pic before or almost before shading. Unfortunately it is unsharp. I was so eager to go on with the shading I didn´t take more than one shot.

And here is the start:

As you can see I started with African Artist (Tina Aqua Hunziker), which was the start of Joey´s Mosaic-challenge. I have turned my Opus-tile several times during the process but as I started the shading it just wanted to be the way I took the final pic of it!

It was an experience to do this. I thought I never would. I might do it again, but not too soon. As I have finished it today I don´t even know what I think about the result. But I know I have enjoyed the process very much and that is what counts to me here and now.