Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Diva Challenge #311, Made by Joey #160, Travelling Tangles and The Bare Bones


String Theory: Circles and Squares

Many thanks to The Diva, Laura Harms for this fun challenge and her  new streaming venture. I managed to catch a couple of the streams over the weekend...sort of. My internet is veerrrrryyyy slooooowwww, so the videos spent more time buffering than playing. In spite of that, watching and listening to her even in broken up bits and pieces was an inspiration. Another upside was that I spent more time drawing than watching.

This is what I worked on while watching the stream

It's so enlightening to see how others work through a tile. It's also comforting to know that others go through the same struggles figuring out what to do next. It was a great coincidence that I managed to catch a stream she did Saturday night as she completed a couple of her Travelling Tangles at the same time I was working on one of mine.
I love this weeks String Theory challenge. Strings are the best. As much as I love venturing out into the world of free form organic creations, strings are mac 'n cheese to me and are the foundation of a dynamic composition. My string guru is Margaret Bremner. enuf said.
Last weeks "Frunky" challenge post included a batch of Travelling Tangle tiles I was getting ready to send out. I briefly touched on my process while using one of my TT starters to complete the Diva  tile. I mentioned how could understand the difficulties my swap partners may have finishing one of my tiles and one of the comments prompted me to do a Bare Bones post of my next Travelling Tangles piece.
But first, heeeere's Joey...

Finish My Tile Alphabet Series: "O"
featuring; "O2"
additionally: Opus and Oskie

This is a Bijou series I'm working on as headers for my pattern library binder. I tweaked Joey's original start by changing the font style of the O and incorporating O2 into the letter rather than the background. I really like the pattern O2 but I was confused by the step-out that Joey links to.

A Travelling Tile Bare Bones:

Raye Burnett sent me this lovely ATC. She uses the same tissue paper coloring technique that I do so I thought this would be a comfort zone piece to start with.
Step 1: Stare down and study. Determine what tools you're going to use. What did she start with? Do I have them? Do I want to keep going with it or start something new?
My arsenal of colored fine liners is pretty sparse. My favorite liner is a black Rapidograph refillable pen, so I generally decide where to introduce black if it's not already there. Raye's line looks like dark blue.

Step 2: String or no string? On a tile like this I keep rotating it and study the shapes emerging from the colors. I saw another band shape emerging and drew in a light string line.
Raye's graphic beginning and the break up of color at the top had me thinking to go graphic below and organic in the V shape.
I have a mantra "Contrast equals interest" a quote from one of my art teachers in grad school, so I chose to go bold in the blue.


 Step 3: I need reference to decide what patterns to use. Sometimes I can just wing it if the tile awakens something instinctual. I try to avoid going online to search for patterns because it's such a huge time waster, but I do it. I find Eni Oken's Shading Zentangle Facebook group my go to stop. Mostly I have my sketchbook. I chose "Rockpool" to contrast the bold lines of Raye's start.
Step 4: I use Margaret Bremner's Prestwood a lot. I wanted something wavy and dimensional to compliment Raye's start.
I was about here when I got the twing that the Diva was going live...

...so I missed photographing some steps.
Diva Dance came next. I filled in the rest of the blue areas with a Prismacolor pencil.
I was actually planning to do something organic and freeform in the V section like Fescu, Pokeleaf and Zinger, suddenly Frunky just came out of nowhere.
I shaded with warm grey Tombow brush pens and added highlight with a white Prismacolor pencil and a Signo Uniball white gel pen.



I'm calling this "Hey You're Just Too Frunky For Me" (Thank you George Michael)

So that's it for now!

Thank you so much for stopping by! I'd love to hear from you. Any questions or comments are welcome, encouraged and much appreciated.




25 comments:

  1. The Diva tile is very beautiful. And different on just white paper :-)

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    1. Thank you Anne! I really enjoyed this challenge;-)

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  2. I love the diva tile you did while the streaming was going on. It was fun to see and "hear" about how you complete the traveling tangles. I also ponder them for awhile before I start, and in the case of one last one from you, more that awhile :)!

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    1. Thanks Kate! I'm glad this was helpful. I complete my Travelling Tangles in the order that I receive them so I sometimes have to chase down inspiration when I'm feeling stuck. One of my tricks is to take a picture of it and either on my phone or computer screen, rotate it several times, study the negative space and I ALWAYS find my start. There's something about the detachment that helps me see it better. I've found, more often than not, the ones that vex me the most end up bringing me the most satisfaction in the end. Other times I just have to take a deep breath, lay down that first stroke, commit to it and move on;-)

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  3. Your DIva tile in black and white is beautiful but my favorite is the one you have made when the streaming was going on.
    Your paper tissue technique is always splendid!

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  4. I love both your DIVA tiles. Here goes the difference: while I prefer NOT to use a string unless a challenges 'demands' one, YOU on the other hand can choose tangles and produce a masterpiece while I go blank. Well done, Michele.

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    1. Thank you Susie! I have to admit that this particular Travelling Tangle tile was one of the easy ones. More often than not, I draw a lot of blanks too;-)

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  5. I agree with everyone else the tile you made while streaming was so neat! Putting the O2 in the O looked really cool too. A very successful week of working Tangles.

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    1. Thank you so much Trudi! I like that one too;-)

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  6. Oh, nice! I like the way you've included your process in here, for finishing Raye's tile. I also think the best diva challenge is the one you did while listening to the streaming...hee hee...Laura Harms IS inspirational

    good work!

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  7. Your entry for the Diva's challenge is awesome! So inspiring!❤

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  8. Awesome, al the tiles. No words for it. Beautiful! I Ame a big fan of your work!

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    1. You are so sweet Carmela! Thank you for the lovely words;-)

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  9. Beautiful work! My favorites are your amazing Diva's tiles!
    Happy Easter!

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  10. Strings are the bones of true Zentangle. I admire people who can use them well. They make me feel tense, not Zen, so I avoid them whenever I can. (I always use strings when I teach though.) Both of your challenge pieces are super, but my favorite is the one you did while Laura was streaming.

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  11. love your shading on that first tile/ Striping helps to add to your lovely contrast.

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  12. All your tiles are beautiful. I do love the one that you did while watching the stream!

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  13. All are wonderful! Especially I like your fabulous Diva challenge tiles! I feel the flow! Great choice of tangles!

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  14. Another stunning blogpost- I wonder how many time you are spending tangling!? They are all soooo beautiful- the DIVA tiles are "explosions" of tangles ;-)
    And thank you for your explanation how you complete a tile and the foto documentation- it is very inspiring! I have also often the moments when I can not decide what to draw next....

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  15. Oh boy, this post came out when I was in the midst of my eye surgery, so I'm just seeing this now. I love everything you have done, especially your Bijou alphabet tile. What a great idea! And of course, your execution of that idea is just wonderful! Thank you so much for showing the steps you did on the traveling tangle ATC. I have been mystified as to how you get your beautiful results, and this helps me get an idea of your process. I also love how you explain choosing the tangles, as I am working on that dilemma right now with Eni Oken's lessons. What a beautiful finish to a really interesting start on that ATC! Thanks for being such an inspiration!

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    1. Thank you Antonine! my current pattern re-organization project was inspired by something I saw on Eni's Shading Zentangle page. It's lovely getting lost in all of the inspiration that's out there isn't it? I hope you're well recovered from your eye surgery. It's so great to see you here and there in the Zentangle blogosphere 😉

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