Weekly Challenge #120: "Tangleation Nation; Bales"

I was very excited when I saw this week's challenge.  Bales is one of my favorite tangles.  It is simple, but there are so many things that you can do with it.  I enjoyed playing around with tangleations of it.  

This is my favorite.  For both this one and the next I used watercolor paper that I washed with Twinkling H2Os and spotted with bubble wrap.

I think this pattern would have more impact if it could be shaded, but I think it came out pretty good. 

I really had fun with this one.  There are so many things that can be done with bales.  I've only just scratched the surface.  

-Jennifer Gayle

The Diva's Weekly Challenge #118: "UMT v. XVI - Kuke"

This week's challenge was another in the monthly "Use My Tangle" series.  This week our Diva featured Katy Abbott's first tangle, Kuke.  I was in the need of a little inspiration, so I decided to use one of Linda Farmer's tangle strings (#51).  It turned out very simply, but I like it.

Happy Tangling!

-Jennifer Gayle

Weekly Diva Challenge #117–Schway

Welcome back to the Diva Challenge.  As part of my return to balance I decided to take up the Diva Challenge once again.  This week featured the new official Zentangle pattern schway.  It's a very simple pattern with a great tessellation feel.  I've had some challenges using schway with other patterns, but I did a large monotangle that looked quite nice.  To spice it up I added some color using watercolor pencils.  I think it turned out pretty good and the ombre paint job gives it an interesting stripe effect.

 Before

After

I got the idea for some creative angles from fellow Tanglers.

Have fun with schway.

-Jennifer Gayle

Doing the Diva Dance

This week's challenge marks the great milestone of the 100th Diva Challenge.  To celebrate Zentangle co-founders Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts created three new tangles–Waltz, Foxtrot and Rock-n-Roll–that make up the Diva Dance.  To celebrate I have created a tile using the Waltz and Foxtrot.

Happy 100th, Laura!

-Jennifer Gayle

Weekly Challenge #97: String Theory v. XX -"No Strings Attached"

This week's Diva challenge was a string challenge with a twist.  Instead of giving us a string to tangle with Laura challenged us to create a tangle using no strings at all.  Since I like to use more of the 'graphic' patterns this challenge actually turned out to be rather easy.  I almost feel like I cheated.  I am pleased with the outcomes though.

My first ZIA is in honor of my mother who passed away in 2004.  Her birthday was on Monday.  She loved to wear mittens and play with glitter so her nickname was Sparkle Mitten.

My next tangle is a little bit softer.  I used the new/old tangle Zinger since I missed last week's challenge.

Happy Tangling!

-Jennifer Gayle

Weekly Challenge #94: "UMT v. X: Socc"

This week is the first week of the month so it is time again for "Use My Tangle".  Every month our Diva, Laura, features a tangle submitted by one of us.  This month's came from Erin Olson, CZT.  Her tangle Socc is simple, in that it only requires one type of stroke, but it creates such a beautifully complex design that you would never know it.

I spent the better part of this week in the hospital for migraine headache.  They are nasty little buggers.  While I was in the hospital I was picturing what I wanted to draw for this week's challenge.  It looked so much better in my head.

I really liked how the circle came out, so I decided to try again.  This time I practiced my shading and created a group of orbs.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Socc is definitely a fun and easy tangle to use.  It will be taking a permanent place in my library!

-Jennifer Gayle

Weekly Challenge #93: New Official Tangle "Bunzo"

This past week Zentangle co-founder Maria introduced us to a new tangle, called Bunzo.  Our challenge this week was to create a design using Bungo.  I've been suffering from a terrible migraine for several weeks now, so I kept my designs rather simple.

Due to my migraine I wasn't able to get last week's stripes challenge posted in time.  I did get it finished to I thought I'd share it.  I had just purchased a set of metallic gel pens so I decided to go a little crazy.

I hope that everyone is safe after the wrath of Sandy.  Have a great week!

-Jennifer Gayle

Weekly Challenge #91: "Beads of Courage"

This week's challenge was in honor of Laura's son Artoo's second birthday.  Artoo suffers from a rare neurological disorder called Moebius Syndrome.  Recently Artoo has begun participating in a wonderful program called Beads of Courage.  Created as a way to help children cope with chronic illnesses, Beads of Courage allows children to tell their story of courage and strength through strands of colorful beads.  Artoo's strand, already over fourteen feet long and not nearly complete, was the inspiration for this week's Zentangle creation.

I, personally, am rather pleased at how my drawing came out this week.  I used real lampwork beads as my inspiration.  It was also a good exercise in shading.  I love the use of shading in Zentangle, I just often get lazy and leave it out.  This is a good inspiration to start using more shading.

-Jennifer Gayle

Weekly Challenge #90- "String Theory XIII"

This week's challenge had us going back to basics.  One of the foundations of a Zentangle is the string. It is a guide line drawn within a tile that helps inspire the placement of the tangles in the design.  This week we were challenged to use this string as the foundation of our Zentangle:

You can find this string and others, as well as an explanation

on the importance of strings as TanglePatterns.com.

I found this week's challenge particularly challenging.  Like many others I have developed a habit of not using strings when I design my Zentangles.  Forcing myself to work within the confines of the string really made me stop and think about the tangles I wanted to use and how they interacted with the surrounding tangles.  I am not particularly thrilled with the outcome, but I believe the challenge has inspired me to start playing with strings and to push myself to go out of my comfort zone.

-Jennifer Gayle

Zentangle Ganesha

This week I have been focusing my energies on creating Zentagled Ganeshas for a friend in the zentangle community.  Dilip Patel, the first CZT in India, has made it his goal to collect 100 zentangled images of the Hindu god Ganesha.  He has invited those of us in the Diva's circle to participate.

My first Ganesha comes from this week's Diva challenge.  We were to use the new tangle 'IX'.  Honestly it is my least favorite primarily because of my unsteady hand.

For the other three, I searched the internet for images of Ganesha.

I hope that I have honored the Lord Ganesha well.

-Jennifer Gayle

Weekly Challenge #87- "String Theory v. XII: Pinwheels For Peace v. II"

Today, September 21, is the International Day of Peace.  In celebration our weekly challenge was to create a 'Pinwheel for Peace'.  Our pinwheels would contribute to Pinwheels for Peace–originally started as an art instillation by two Florida high school teachers with only 500, 000 pinwheels in 2005.  On September 21, 2011 the number of pinwheels contributed to Pinwheels for Peace, including contributions from the Diva Challenge, had grown to 3.5 million.

I was first introduced to Taoism and the symbol of the Yin Yang my freshman year of high school during our unit on world religions.  Since then the Yin Yang has been an ever present symbol in my life (it is actually a permanent symbol at this point).  I have best heard it described as a balance of opposites.  When trying to decide what to draw for the International Day of Peace I thought back to this balance of opposites.  What is peace if nothing else but finding harmony among those with differences.  So, for my pinwheel I went back to my old friend because, like in so many situations, I believe he conveys exactly what I wanted to say.

-Jennifer Gayle

Weekly Challenge #86- "Break Free!"

This week's challenge was to 'color outside of the lines'.  We were to break free of our boundaries, which could be as simple as breaking the lines of our Tangle borders, or be as elaborate as our mind could take us.

While my Tangle seems simple enough, I had only two patterns and I stayed within my tile, for me this was a great break towards freedom.  While I love the pattern Jalousé (the linear one) for its whimsy, I probably would have never used it for that very quality- it's just not my style.  And Binial (the string of 'bubbles'), I loved it as soon as I saw it, but knew I would never find a way to use it.   That is, until I was encouraged to break free.  So, this is my take at freedom...

-Jennifer Gayle

Weekly Challenge #85: UMT v. VII Copada

This week brings around another new month, which means another 'Use My Tangle' challenge.  This month's tangle comes from Margaret Brenmer, CZT.  Her wonderful tangle Copada was inspired by the onion topped domes of the East.

Copada in its base form is a linear tangle.  I sat for several hours staring at a blank sketch book trying to come up with an inspiration for this week's challenge.  At one point I was digging through my bag of sketch books when I caught my thumb on my circle template.  I decided to see what Copada would look like in a circle.  I was really pleased with the sun-like effect that it achieved.  I combined with Verve to complete the effect.

-Jennifer Gayle

Diva Challenge #84- String Theory v. XI: Blind-Sighted

This week's challenge was all about giving up control and leaving our design to fate.  Our Diva, Laura, challenged us to close our eyes, put pencil to paper, and draw our strings blind.  (For those of you not familiar with Zentangle, the string is a light pencil drawing that is the foundation of the Zentangle drawing.)  

I had every intention of photographing my string before I started drawing, but I was so excited when I figured out what I was going to do that I was halfway done before I realized I forgot.  If you look closely though you can see some of my pencil lines.  

I decided to make this a Monotangle.  I've been playing with some new Tangles lately and Diamonds and Squares is one of them.  My string seemed perfectly suited to some experimentation.

I hope everyone is having a safe and happy Labor Day weekend!

-Jennifer Gayle

Diva Challenge #82- UMT v. VII "Brayd", Plus a little something for the Hubby

Like most husbands, mine has always taken care of me when I was sick.  He's fixed the chicken noodle soup and pulled out the extra blankets.  This year, however, he has gone above and beyond the usual husbandly duties.

After breaking my foot last July, then spraining it the week I get out of the boot, I developed a nerve disorder call Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS).  Because of the extreme pain it causes I have been on crutches since October 2011.  My dear husband has done just about everything for me.  He has been so wonderful throughout all of this.  I was thinking that he deserved a medal, but I decided to make him something even better.

My husband absolutely loves it.  He keeps it next to the bed and flips it to a different card each day.

This week's Diva Challenge was the first of the month so it was an 'use my tangle' (UMT) challenge.  The tangle this week, called Brayd, is designed by Shelley Beauch.  My first thoughts when I saw Brayd went towards a border.  I had hoped to put a monogram inside, but my handwriting skills aren't that advanced just yet.  I do think the medallion in the center fits quite nicely though.

-Jennifer Gayle

Diva's Challenge #81- Guest Post-Relay For Life

This week our Diva is dealing with some sick kiddies, so CZT Erin Olson was kind enough to step in and present us with a challenge.  In celebration of Erin's upcoming participation in her local Relay for Life she presented us with a Zendala challenge.  Zendalas are a combination of Zentangle and mandalas.  Their repetitive nature is meant to be meditative.

The challenge was certainly a change of pace, especially since I had never done one before.  I rather enjoyed working on the Zendala and had originally intended on doing two.  That was before the coffee table got in my way.  I've been on crutches since last October and coffee table has had it out for me for months now.  :-)  It finally got its shot Tuesday night.  I ended up rolling over it and landing on my right side.  I ended up finishing my Zendala with a sprained wrist.  Although this was my first, I look forward to many Zendalas in the future, once I get my revenge on the coffee table.

-Jennifer Gayle

The Diva's Challenge #80– Mi2

When I first encountered Mi2 I was a bit awed.  It is one of those Tangles that, in the right hands, can be done so that you could never figure out where one penstroke ends and another begins.  When I brought up the instructions on TanglePatterns.com however, I was very overwhelmed.  I tried several times to get the Tangle to come out right, but it just didn't want to work.  I was about to throw in the towel when I read Rick's blog post about simplifying Mi2.  That helped so much.  My drawings weren't ready for the cover of a magazine, but they were much improved.  And I'm glad they were, too, since this week's challenge was Mi2.  I was still having some problems with lining up the dots, so I decided to stick them in a circle and what do you do, it worked.

-Jennifer Gayle

The Diva's Challenge #78- Auraknot

"Are so!"  Seriously–Last week Rick and Maria debuted a wonderful new tangle named Auraknot.  It is a tangle that is beautiful in its simplicity, yet so versatile because of its simplicity.  As you can see from the website it has numerous variations.  Take a moment to visit the Diva's home page to see her variations, as well as everyone else's.

I am particularly happy with my response to the challenge this week.  I had spent several days practicing Auraknot before the challenge, so I felt a little ahead of the game this week.  The only problem I was having was that I couldn't draw a straight star to save my life.  They were all coming out 'wonkie'.  That's when I decided to embrace my inner 'wonkie' and just go for it.  I decided to use a variation of Mayflower by Ellen Wolters that I like to doodle in my sketch book.  It turns out that I can draw curvy lines a lot easier than straight ones.  Who would have known.

-Jennifer Gayle

The Diva's Challenge #76- Home, Plus a small gift for a friend

As usual our lovely Diva, Laura, presents us with a fun and thoughtful challenge that really makes us take time to sit back and reflect on how we are going to respond in the form of a Zentangle®.  This week she gave it a new twist.  Since the Canucks are celebrating Canada Day this weekend, and we 'Ole Yanks are celebrating the Fourth of July next Laura decided that this would be a good week for us to take a look back at home–be it nation, state, town, street or living room–and interpret it in Zentangle® Inspired Art (ZIA).

My first ZIA has more of a national feel.  There is a broad stripe and bright star (which unfortunately is so bright it can look greenish depending on how close you are to the monitor :-).  You are probably wondering what the heck the C is doing there.  When I was young and would go to summer camps we would sing our patriotic songs.  One of my favorites was "My Country 'Tis of Thee."  But it never made sense to me why we would sing, "Of Thee I 'C'.

When I was a child do you know what I thought the Fourth of July was for?  I thought it was to celebrate me!  That's right, I'm a firecracker baby, as they say.  My mother always made sure that I had the best birthdays possible.  This ZIA is a bit of an homage to her.  The wording on top is the beginning of the song that she wrote after I was born.  She sang it to me even after I graduated college.  Of course she always called me her Sweetie Pie.  And the heart it a drawing of my first tattoo, which she payed for on my eighteenth birthday.  It was a great day!

Finally– My friend Taiya's birthday was this past Sunday, June 24.  I have a small ZIA just for her.

-Jennifer Gayle

Eccentric Circles–Who Knew Circles Could Be Nutty Like Me

When I first saw the title of this week's challenge, "Weekly Challenge #74: 'String Theory v. X: Eccentric Circles," I thought it must surely be a typo.  I'd heard of concentric circles, but never of eccentric circles.  So I looked it up in the dictionary.  Geometrically speaking it means, "not having the same center; not concentric: used especially of two circles or spheres at least one of which contains the centers of both," as opposed to peculiar or odd when speaking of a person.


I am still struggling with strings and and since this was a string challenge I have eccentric circles all over my sketch book.  What I present to you is a close version of Striping.  I personally love it for the optical effect that it has.

If you'll also indulge me–I have been having problems with my migraines lately and have missed the opportunity to upload my Tangles from the past two challenges.  

Weekly Challenge #73: UMT v. V: Bridgen-

The small Tangle is the first one that I did.  I like it for its simplicity and it's kind of cute, but I keep having this nagging feeling it needs something.  The second, the Christmas ornaments, I'm sharing with you in their raw state.  I haven't done any shading yet because I haven't decided how I want to color them.

Weekly Challenge #72: "Tanglation Nation-Crescent Moon"-

This challenge proved to be a bit difficult for me, but it also proved the idea of going with your first instinct.  The pattern that I ended up with is actually the first one that I drew, but I set it aside to try to draw something more 'exciting'.  After several frustrating days I returned to my first pattern and found success.  

And don't forget, June is Migraine Awareness Month.  For information and support go to Migraine.com.