New Pattern - Allusion

Hello Everyone, it's been a very long time since I've posted here - and certainly not because of lack of creations :)  I've been busy creating mandalas mainly and I am up to #56 for the 100 Mandala challenge.  I decided to start again as I lost count earlier, typical me ;-)

When I get my act together I shall post those here too.

In the meantime, let me introduce to you my latest pattern called 'Allusion'.  Allusion as Illusion has already been taken ;-)  

The pattern came about whilst drawing a ZIA for a swap.  I included mainly my own patterns, one of them being Penelope.
one of the variations of Penelope is the one on the very bottom, orange and black.

My inspiration for Allusion came about as I was drawing the mandala below.  I felt it warranted its own name and step out as it is quite different to Penelope.  It's the pattern that looks like steaks to me :)

Oh and I better show you the step outs.  I hope you like it and try it out, would love to see your interpretations of it.  (I apologise for the quality, I haven't replaced my scanner)

Well. its way past my bedtime and I have to get up early for work tomorrow.  

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

SMILE :)

Weekly Challenge #240: Birthday Leaves (or as in Australia, Spring Blossoms - Kurrajong)

The weekend is almost upon us and I have only just finished my tile for this week's challenge.

It's Spring in Australia, so no Autumn leave drawings from me.

I've used my tangle 'Kurrajong' which is another name for the Illawarra Flame Tree.  This tree is in flower now and is scattered throughout the escarpment.  It has bright red flowers. 

I've been busy taking mum to the Physiotherapist after her hip replacement surgery and am continuing on with my drawings for Inktober.

Have a lovely weekend and hope the weather is nice to you all.

Smiles :)

Weekly Challenge #238: "UMT - Tri-bee by Beate Winkler, CZT"

What a fabulous tangle Tri-bee is, I had a lot of fun with this and am definitely doing another.

I've not seen this one before and am so glad it was chosen by the Diva in this month's 'Use my Tangle (UMT)'.

I haven't had a chance to see what other artists have submitted as I've been way too busy in between helping my mother with household chores as she's recently had a hip replacement as well as contributing to 'Inktober' (one ink drawing per day).

Here is my entry, showing before and after shading.

Inktober entries Day 1 to 8

Weekly Challenge #235: "String Theory: Stripes"

Just a quick post this morning.
Showing black and white, with colour, and colour with shading.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Weekly Challenge #234: UMT - CanT by Chris Titus, CZT

It's already Wednesday and I've only had a chance to see what this week's challenge is this afternoon!  Time sure flies.  I haven't done any tangling for a few days and am feeling jittery.  So this afternoon I worked on a few tiles; the Square One focus on Inapod and had time to do a quick tile using CanT by Chris Titus, for the Diva Challenge.

CanT is a lovely simple tangle with lots of room for variations.  

Hopefully, I'll get a chance to see what others' have created.  If you have time here is the link Weekly Challenge #234 - UMT - CanT by Chris Titus CZT 

I hope you are having a lovely week.

Smiles :)

Square One: Focus Inapod

And here's a few things of late

Weekly Challenge #231: "The Undulating Tangles in C and S minor" - Guest Blogger Sharla Hicks.

I'm not too sure if I've captured the essence of this week's challenge.  All I could visualise is undulating hills and from that came the water.

I've been wanting to use 'Swell' by Sandy Bartholomew for a while now, and I think it fits in perfectly.  Of course with the water the sun came along and for it I used 'Thumbprintz' by Traci Frogley (a fave of mine - just love this pattern).

Colours just had to be added, it wouldn't be the same.  I used what little I have at hand as most of my coloured pens, pencils are.... well.... who knows, in boxes under my son's house I would say.  :)

I almost wasn't going to bother participating as I thought this challenge, too much of a challenge.

I'm so glad I did as I really love this tile, especially with the bright colours - it did cheer me up - thank you Sharla.

Have a lovely week everyone.

Smiles :)

 before colour

colour

 colour and shading

here's something I've been working on during the week

Weekly Challenge #228: GUEST BLOGGER Cari Sultanik, CZT

All things natural and organic is this week's theme by guest blogger Cari Sultanik CZT.

I'm not sure this tile fits with the theme exactly, but that's how it flowed lol :)

I added colour as I felt it needed it.

Ok, so what tangles did I use - I see Bunzo (a fave) some spirally thing, some scrolls, tipple, Gr_ate and I had another go at Narwal.

The colours are an inexpensive brand of watercolour pencils I bought for my granddaughter to play when she visits.  (I used them dry here)

I really like Prismacolours, but they are packed away somewhere and this is all I managed to find.

What else have I been up to?  I drew some step outs to a few new patterns, did lots of drawing and here is one I would like to show you.

I was given some pieces of true vellum.  I didn't want to ruin the larger pieces so I did a small tangle on an offcut.

It's pleasant to draw on, nice and smooth, however I did find the micron pen slipped a little due to the natural oils.

I would like to do something with the larger pieces and perhaps do some gilding and add gesso for colour - we shall see, I'll have to think some more on that idea :)

New Patterns - Ringalink and Crossex

You've probably worked it out - I just love drawing step outs to patterns.

It's obvious I gravitate to structured geometric patterns, although you will find several free form ones in my portfolio as well.

These latest two are no different.

The first one I've named 'Ringalink' as it reminds me of linked jewellery rings.

There are many ways you may embellish and/or shade; here I've shown a few examples.


The second one, Crossex, is a pattern I've been meaning to draw for several months and have now finally done so. 

I hope you like them and try them out.

Thanks for stopping by.

Smiles :)

 My inspiration

New Pattern - Illawarrior (2 ways)

Continuing on from the other week, I played some more with my tangle pattern 'Gr-ate'.  I've still not drawn the step outs to another one I have in mind however as I was fiddling around I came up with 'Illawarrior'.  

 my scribbles

 The name came about because the pattern reminded me of an arrowhead and somehow ended up being named 'Illawarrior' (which is also a name for our Rugby Union team from The Illawarra)

Below taken from Wikipedia

The word "illawarra" is derived from the Aboriginal Tharawal word "allowrie," also sometimes spelled as "elouera" or "eloura." According to A. W. Reed, the word is variously translated as "pleasant place near the sea" or "high place near the sea."^[1][2] The prefix of "illa" is also known to mean "white clay;" with the suffix "warra," sometimes spelled as "wurra," meaning "mountain" in the local indigenous language.^[2] George Bass and Matthew Flinders were the first Europeans to visit the area, with Flinders recording that it 'was called "Allowrie" by the natives'.^[1]
For the period around 1806, the region was called "Five Islands"; referring to the group of five islands off Red Point.^[1][3] In 1817 Governor Macquarie, referring to region, wrote: 'part of the coast known generally by the name of the Five Islands, but called by the natives "Illawarra".<sup>[1]


So there you have it, a little bit about the area I live and grew up in.
Some of you may have had the chance to see a sneak preview of the new pattern on Facebook when I posted this tile.</sup>

 

<sup>here are the step outs.

As is often the case, the pattern is able to be drawn in a number of ways, 2 of which I have shown here.
I don't think there is a pattern out there like this and if so, please let me know.

I hope you have a chance to try this and would love to see how others interpret the pattern.


Thanks for your time and have a lovely weekend - Its Friday here so won't be long :)</sup>

 

Weekly Challenge #227 GUEST BLOGGER Lee Darter, CZT Challenge: Circus Life

hmm this is an interesting challenge by guest blogger Lee Darter CZT.

I wasn't sure where to start other than to use the set Tangles 'Cack' and Tropicana and I knew I wanted to use Florz somewhere.

I didn't get a Circus feel with my first tile - looks kinda beachy to me, with surfboards and beach balls.  

My 2nd attempt was no better, it is what it is.

This challenge was quite difficult for me to get that Circus feel - maybe its reflective of how I've been feeling lately, a bit all over the place.

I'm going to check out how others have interpreted this theme and perhaps be inspired by their works.

Thank you for all the lovely comments last week, unfortunately I'm not always able to respond or even write comments on everyones works - so many entries and I don't often get a chance to see them all.

Have a great week! 

smiles :)

and here's a quick card I made last night

Weekly Challenge #226 GUEST BLOGGER Katie Crommett, CZT

This week, guest blogger Katie Crommett CZT has asked we keep it simple and minimal.  This is something of a hit and miss because its a rare thing with me as most of my work is hard handed and covers a lot of the area I am working with.  I must say that its easier for me when I work in the  standard tile size.

And this is my entry for the challenge.

Click here to see what others have done http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com.au/

I hope your week is travelling well.

smiles :)

 

New Patterns Gr_ate and Penelope

A week ago I was flicking through a House magazine (as I often do for inspiration) and I came across a lovely bright cushion with an unusual pattern.  It had what looked to me like figure 8's but laid in a horizontal way.  I played with it and just couldn't get it right, however, as often happens another pattern emerged (Gr_ate) and from that Penelope came about.

Gr_ate isn't all that great but I just love Penelope, its such a pretty pattern.  Now I do know that in the Zentangle® way patterns should not be representational, but in the process Butterflies appeared.  I have given  3 different variations and then I wondered how the pattern would look like in a grid and in the round.

Well, enough of me talking, here they are.

I hope you like them and try them for yourself - would love to see what you come up with.

Happy Tangling :)

Oh and since scanning I have shaded some of the 2nd page of Penelope which I will add to this post later. Oh and I couldn't help myself from adding a beak, an eye, wings and feet on the 8's hehe ;-)

here is the shaded version (a bit difficult to see)

and my Penelope Mandala

and shaded

Weekly Challenge #225 GUEST BLOGGER: Jen Crutchfield CZT - Use some colour

Guest Blogger, Jen Crutcfield CZT is challenging us to focus on colour.

I am a fan of colour, however, I do love the dramatic effect of just black on white. 

When I read this week's challenge I knew exactly what to post as I had only just finished making a card focussing on a few colours.  Here I used Faber Castell Sanguine and Cabolt Green.  I love these colours combined with the black on the white card. :)

I hope you like it too.

Smiles from me - Have a lovely week.

Drawing Freehand Circles - Video

Willow Bree posted on Facebook Group 'Zentangle Artists Trading Card Swap' asking 'Does anyone else sketch in pencil before drawing in ink?'  There was lots of comments, with some people saying yes, they did, no, they didn't and sometimes they did and sometimes they didn't.

I commented I usually don't unless I wanted to have a perfect circle or evenly spaced letters.  Then Pam Purk mentioned she would like me to share 'my secret' on how I drew 'perfect circles'.  Well, the answer is, I don't draw them perfectly (maybe something got lost in translation hehe).

Anyhow, it got me thinking - how do I share this 'secret'?  I thought about describing it but there was no way it was going to make sense, so I thought about a video.  I already had a 'You Tube' channel so surely it can't be too difficult? right?

So, I got excited, tried a couple of times, the first time placing the camera on the table in front of me, which didn't work - you couldn't see what I was doing.  The second time I noticed a wash basket was in view lol, so I scrapped that.  Thirdly, It was fine, only that I don't have a tripod available so I had to hold the camera with my left hand whilst trying to draw steady circles.

After 2 hours (yep, it took that long to upload a video less than 2 minutes in length) I wanted to view the end result and it was fine but then I saw you could edit the video, so I clicked on autoenhance, which was good as it made it more brighter, except for about 10 seconds of darkness around the 30 second mark.

Overall, I am very happy and pleased to share it on my blog.

If you do get a chance, I would love for you to view it and have your feedback.

I know it's only a short video and the topic probably boring for most, but hey, you got to start somewhere!

Enjoy :)

Weekly Challenge #221: "Beads of Courage"

Beads of Courage is an Arts in Medicine that supports kids with chronic or life threatening illnesses and their families.

Some of the things you can collect beads for are:
  Needle pokes, overnight stays in hospital, isolation, mobility 

challenges like bed rest or casting, hair changes, tube insertions or 

removals, therapies, doctors appointments, surgeries, xrays, 

ultrasounds, infusions, radiation, oxygen/respiratory support, 

procedures...

So this week's challenge is to use 'beads' in our tangles.

I wasn't sure if I would participate in this challenge, however, on Facebook I saw a post about using the pattern 'Narwal' in different ways and that is when I thought, hey I could make the beads in the shape of 'Narwal' and so here is my entry.

I hope you all have a lovely week - stay safe and smile :)

New Pattern 'Molly'

I was flicking through a fashion magazine whilst waiting for my daughter to get her hair done at the hairdresser's last night and came across a dress with lots of lacework that struck my eye.

It's similar to this and I have not seen any step-outs for a pattern like this.  Please let me know if you have seen it.

Don't ask me why but 'Molly' was calling - so I named it so :)

I haven't played with it all that much and hope to explore it some more when I have some time.

I do hope you like it and try it out yourself - I would love to see your interpretations.

Thank you for stopping by - Have a lovely day :)