String Challenge #113~3 ways

String 113

Patterns: Pots 'n Pans, 5n2 & Hollibaugh

scanned version

This was one of those challenges that seemed to know what it wanted to be from the get-go, for better or worse, as opposed to the "Make it Work" quandary I usually find myself in as Saturday evening approaches. 99.9% of the time, those tiles end up being far more interesting and successful.

I'm not really crazy about this one, but this month I'm trying to fit my challenges into my InkTober theme of following my instincts and not over-thinking.

 I immediately saw an "M" in the string and made that a focal point. I've used Pots 'n Pans before and enjoy it's whimsy and this was a great opportunity to work on shading.

I'm still auditioning the library scanner and I can't say I'm digging it all that much.

The photo with a little Photobucket sharpening.

for Inktober Day 7

the beginning

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Diva Challenge #228, That's New to Me #30 & Made by Joey #71

That's New to Me week 30

explore a new "L" pattern ~"Lampions" by Mariet Lustenhouwer

& the works of JJ LaBarbera~"Leafy"

 I enjoy several of JJ LaBarbera's patterns. I've used "Vercut", "Verve", "Ticking" and "Allium" before, but I found a new one and it also starts with an "L". I love "Leafy". I also discovered "Lampions" which is similar to one of my fave's "Zinger". I may have drawn it closer to "Zinger" now that I look at it again. Mariet's shapes are a tad fatter and more lantern shaped. Oh well...
This ATC could also cover this weeks Diva Challenge brought to us this week by Cari Sultanik who challenged us to go organic. I could do this all day, every day.

Diva Challenge #228~ Organic

I'm still sort of obsessing with Mak-ra-mee and I had a couple of these blue-green watercolor ATC's laying about, thus I ended up with something quite aquatic.

Made by Joey #71

"Hollibaugh" monotangle

I decided to keep this one simple. Unfortunately, my cheapo cell phone cam did not pick up the nuances of the watercolor background that prompted me to pick up this particular ATC and not cover it up with a lot of stuff.

These two tiles are works-in-progress that I'm noodling around with for the Facebook Group Zentangle Artist Trading Card Swap. The challenge is to use one color and three patterns only per tile. The colors can be different for each tile and the patterns can be different, but each single tile has to be monochromatic. This is NOT my forte. I like to draw with black ink. My toolbox only includes a couple of random blue and sepia Microns, oh, and one kind of rust color and I only ever use those to create fillers. This is going to be a major challenge.

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Square One Challenge~Quandary

The challenge this week from Square One: Purely Zentangle is to explore the pattern "Quandary", the rice/petal shapes arranged in triangles which then sort of form into a flower motif.
This piece really was a quandary.
This was the first attempt:

I already had the "Hollibaugh" string drawn out with one segment filled with "Tripoli", so it seemed like this tile was destined for "Quandary". I liked the way the spiral looked in the corner and wanted to explore it in a larger area and started a second tile.
At some point I got distracted inspired by a piece I saw on Lily's Tangles and wanted to try "Hazen". After a Google-thon, searching for non-existent step-out instructions, I just tried it on my own. That was the real quandary. My "Hazen" was a bit of a train-wreck, but I'd spent a lot of time on it. It was a very relaxing tile to work on even though it didn't really come out the way I was hoping.  I was trying to work in some contrast and ended up losing Quandary a little. No worries though, such is the journey of Zentangle.