Happy New Year!...and it begins with Diva Challenge #249

Diva Challenge #249

Duotangle: Auraknot & Diva Dance

Happy New Year tangle friends! I'm really looking forward into getting back into my challenge routine after a hectic holiday month. I did this duo-tangle this morning over coffee and the Cooking Channel on a rainy day-off.
I'm also working on a swap which will include these ATC's:

I'm making 9 ATC's for this swap and tried a new approach. I started with a  9 x12 water colored page and did all of the line work in the large format using a couple of different sized jar lids:

Then I cut it down to 10 ATC's:

I've been participating in these swaps now since the Summer and this is the first time I've tried this approach after seeing it done by others so beautifully. It makes the composition of each ATC so much more interesting and it's exciting because you have no idea how each one is going to look. I'm detailing after cutting.
Backing up a bit to the "Gift of Zentangle"...here's a 5x7 piece I made for my niece and her husband for Christmas. I was inspired by Antonine's gorgeous ZIA and her lovely pattern "Oybay". Thanks for the inspiration Antonine...they were delighted with it!

Speaking of the "Gift of Zentangle", my last post announced the 5 randomly chosen recipients of my 5 ATC's. I need snail mail addresses from 3 of you. Check out the post for my email address.

As ever, thanks so much for visiting my blog. Your thoughtful and generous comments always make my day!

Diva Challenge #230 and More...

Diva Challenge #230

Zendala 

by guest blogger Erin Olson

Yesterday I was noodling around on Pinterest when I came across a video from the Diva's 100th challenge post of Laura drawing "Diva Dance". I watched it over and over because I loved the music and it all finally clicked. I rarely used Diva Dance even though I love how I've seen it done by Maria Thomas and Helen Williams and other more capable pens. I just couldn't get the rhythm of it so I never bothered.
I had also just picked up 2 new watercolor tablets at a 2 for 1 sale at Aaron Brothers. Ready with a fresh stack of watercolor ATC's and the video playing in my head, I started practicing "Diva Dance" and ended up with several versions of this:

 

After reading the challenge this morning and getting the template down, I stared at it for quite a while pondering all manner of patterns that might work. Zendala's aren't really in my toolbox yet and though I wanted to go for something more...uhmnnn....zendala (ish), Diva Dance was still dancing around in my head.

That's New to Me #32

"A" pattern(s)~Abundies

artist focus: Karry Heun's "Landgirlz" & "Stitch"

These are all new patterns for me. I'm finding the ATC sizes to be perfect for many of the challenges. Less space to fill. This is one of the new watercolor backgrounds I made yesterday. I used a Prismacolor pencil for the shading.

Made by Joey #73

"Jemz" monotangle

Watercolor ATC

Prismacolor pencil shading

I picked this watercolor ATC because it had colors that were gemtone, though it's not represented very well by my idiotphone camera. I'm not a fan of grid based patterns in a monotangle. I am a big fan of  Margaret Bremner's "Flying Birds" string though.  

Thanks so much for stopping by. Your comments make my day.