Conall

CART 0
MENU
mobile logo
CART 0

1

Less options for more relaxation

There are so many beautiful tangles out there. So you can flip through hundreds of tangles before choosing one for your tile. Mostly I do it intuitive, not thinking to much about it. Just looking at a tangle and let my gut feeling decide. But what it also makes a lot more ZEN, just picking a letter and only use tangles with this letter. That is the prompt for todays tangle.

I chose the letter „S“, it is in both of my names and there are a lot of beautiful tangles starting with „S“.

Before tangling for Zenuari, I tangled my three tiles for the „travelling tangles project“, for this Swap we are asked only using tangles we never tangled before. That’s is were I tried Spoolies from Hanny Waldburger, CZT, it was so much fun, that I had to use it again. Actually I used also only new tangles on this tile. „Sea Wave“, „Sinchun“, „Spoolies“ and „Spwan“. All tangles I will definitely use again.

 

 

0

„Sundoo“ Bijou

sounds a little bit like a new cocktail ;). My dearest friend from Switzerland and her boyfreind have been on holidays at our house. We were tangling in the evenings. Her boyfriend tangled for the first time and he did a great job. One tangle he chose was „Sundoo“ from Jane MacKugler, CZT – which I never tangled before. But it looked so awesome to me, that I had to try this tangle for my Mini-tangle. I really love this tangle, it is fun. So I can recommend to everyone to just try out „Sundoo“.

 

1

Drama, Baby, Drama.

Dramatangles are those tangles that add some „drama“ – meaning contrast into the tile. The easy way to create this drama is using tangles that have a good contrast between black and white, just as „Umble“. Umble is an official zentangle pattern and I tried it once or twice and never liked it so much. Probably I had difficulties to draw those curvy lines – drama:) But today I wanted to challenge myself and so I chose this tangle for being my personal Dramatangle and I think it didn’t went out too bad;)

0

Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge, Newport RI

Todays prompt is an inspiration that comes from a landscape. That might be the lines from the landscape as a string, the colors of the landscape or to be inspired by the place itself. I love trees, so most of my landscape pictures have trees on it.

When I was in Rhode Island last year in April to achieve my certificate for teaching Zentangle (CZT) I stayed some more days longer to visit Newport. I stayed and a lovely Bed and Breakfast and went for the Cliffwalk at a quite rainy day and visited the Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge at a cold but nice an sunny day! It was gorgeous. I rented a bike to get there – which seemed to pretty weird for the people living in Newport, they asked my serveral times if I really mean a bike with foot pedals were I have to pedal myself! Yes I do:) Well, this refuge was about 6 km far from were I stayed, not a long distance for people who often ride the bike to get from A to B:) Okay I have to admit I had to ride a lot up and downhill, which I am not used from Nothern Germany! But it was a beautiful route along the beaches. I got some picnic with me and my artjournal and colors and stayed some hours and the Wildlife Refuge.

 

zenuari2017_3a

 

When I read the prompt I knew I had to create my tangle inspired by this picture.

0

… into the New Year

The prompt for the second day is created by Stella Peters-Hessels, CZT from Netherlands.

Inspired by the footprints on the beach, trails made by sneakers, shoes and bare feet Stella ask us to take a creative leap into the new year. This could be inspired by the lines of shoe soles and shapes which can be used for the string. Since I love being barefooted, I decided to tangle the sole of the foot. But what lines are there to use for the string?  In my mind came the foot reflexology chart. So I simplified the zones a little bit and voilá I got my string.

I was so absorbed tangeling my „creative leap“, I really couldn’t stopp. At 1.30 am I was so tired I couldn’t even put the shadows nicely on the tangles. But I am very pleased with my footprint and had a very inspiring and mindful time.

“We were made to enjoy music, to enjoy beautiful sunsets, to enjoy looking at the billows of the sea and to be thrilled with a rose that is bedecked with dew… Human beings are actually created for the transcendent, for the sublime, for the beautiful, for the truthful… and all of us are given the task of trying to make this world a little more hospitable to these beautiful things.” ― Desmond Tutu

 

 

0

Happy new year to everyone!

Every year on the first day of Zenuari , Anoeska Waardenburg, CZT from Netherlands, asked us let ourself be inspired by the New Year.

So I decided to involve the „2017“, saying „hello“ to a happy and colorful new year! In the end of last year I tried for the first time so create a background with colored bleeding tissue paper, which I had to purchase in USA, because I couldn’t find any here in Europe. I created a large watercolorsheet and cutted it into 3.5 inch pieces. I think it fits quite got for welcoming the new year it is colorful like fireworks.

So this year will be a colorful year!

0

Weekly Challenge #294: Reticula/Fragment Beginning

This week’s challenge #294 is to draw a reticulum. It is a great challenge for me, because even though I know how to use Reticula and Fragments, I never use it for my Zentangle Art. But Laura Harms challenged us this week to do so. So I did.

I prepared my tiles with an old page of a book that was published in 1955 – From the Earth to the Moon, a 1865 novel by Jule Vernes, some gesso and brusho pigments. Somehow it felt like it fits good to the Recticula. So what are Reticula? Reticulum ( pl. Reticula) is a fine network or netlike structure. A Reticulum is a comprising term for all the zentangle „grids“ not just the square grid like the checkerboard. The possibilities are endless.

In the Zentangle’s Primer Book the fragement notation are shown in rows by numbers and letters.

k4 First I played with the K4 fragment, which I mirrored each one next to the other by rotating my tile. It took me a lot of concentration.

But I was so excited by the outcome and had so much fun that I decided to try another one.

w6So I picked W6 and did the same mirroring.

 

Here it comes – the second Reticula-Tile.

diva_294_2

I am so happy I got started with Recticula and Frangements, so thank you Laura Harms for pushing this in your Diva Challenge, I am looking foreward for more…this is the beginning:)

And a little late my tile on the last weeks challenge #293 „Keeko, you know!“, which I didn’t skip, but I was offline on the weekend, so I could’t post. Offline not because of technical problems, but offline because of being outside all days and having the need to be media-free! But not tangle-free:)

diva_293

The tile I used was a leftover from this month Travelling Tangles Project „Ooops I spilled my drink“. So this is a big coffee stain paired with a red wine stain and Keeko!

Thank you for stopping by and a nice weekend to everyone.

0

… TO FALL IN LOVE!

Weekly Challenge #292: „UMT – EAXY by Nadine Roller, CZT

Only a short post today. First of all, we just have to pretend it is still sunday evening, otherwise it is not THIS weeks challenge anymore;) So this weeks challenge # 292 is a Use My Tangle Challenge  like the first Monday of every month.

This time we were ask to use a Tangle which is designed by Nadine Roller, also a CZT from Germany. You can find the step outs for EAXY here.

Actually it is really an easy tangle with only a few steps, but still it really needs a lot of concentration. I love it! It is so beautilful and geometric – a great contrast to organic tangles and patterns. So it is a great tangle to create some drama in your tile. I used an older tile, where I already had dropped some color on, but then didn’t tangle on it. I decided to use this blur of color like a string. So I started with EAXY in the middle and afterwards I framed it with some organic tangles like Flux, Printemps, Ornamato and Twenty-One.

There are always some tangles and pattern I also like use to in my mixed media artworks. Eaxy will definitively one of them. So tanks to Nadine Roller for deconstructing this beautiful pattern and Laura Harms for choosing it for the UMT Challenge!

Have a nice sunny week!

0

 Weekly Challenge #291: „Happy Halloween!“

Monday was Halloween! Okay, here in Germany it is getting more popular, but not nearly as it is in US. Since we live pretty alone in the countrysides, there were no kids at our door asking for „trick or treat“. Well, maybe also because we have instead of a bell at our gate three big dogs always happy about visitors, but showing this with barking and jumping – not everybody might understand that right:)

So this week’s challenge # 291 is to create a Halloween themed tile. I didn’t read the challenge exact enough to know what the challenge is all about. So I missed the part to tangle on a black tile. So I just went with the Halloween theme, but of course when I realized my faux pas I tangled another one on a black tile.

The first tile I did a spider (string:)). A spider with its prey „Purk“. I don’t know if I ever can tangle Purk again without thinking that there might something cocooned. I really like spiders, I love there webs – a stunning creation.

The spider as an „power animal“ in the Neoshamanism is a symbol for creativity and the weaver of fate, she is the totemic symbol of the Mother, strength and gentleness combined.

She teaches us balance between the past and the future, physical and spirit, male and female. She awakens creative sensibilities and reminds us that the past is always interwoven with the future.  Her body is shaped like an eight, symbolizing infinite possibilities of creation and she has eight legs, which represent the 4 winds of change and the 4 directions of the medicine wheel.

The spider weaves her beautifully engineered web with the extraordinary capability of creating. We weave our reality, the spider shows us the gift of creation, that we have the power to create what happens in our lives. Having the power to weave our own web, means we have the power to make a positive and happy life.

By giving the spider careful thought and consideration, we can see that we are connected to all life, and that there is no past and no future, only the infinite now. The spider awakes our intuitive creative senses and encourage us to design the fabric of our lives from our souls original intention.

Spider’s message is that you are an infinite being who will continue to weave patterns of life and living throughout time.

Isn’t this nice to think of, when you see a spider next time? However it is worth to have a closer look at her amazing web.

After I finished my Spider tile, I did another black Halloween tile, a bloody one! And even though I mostly avoid tangling on black tiles I had really fun doing it. Maybe I should get my black tile tangled more often.

So here come the gazing „Borbz“ eyes;)

Borbz

A nice week to everyone and thanks for stopping by, I always appreciate it so much!

0

Weekly Challenge #290 „Duotangle: ‚NZeppel vs Flux“

This weeks challenge #290 is a Duotangle using Flux and ‚Nzeppel. Even though it is not always easy to be limited in only two tangles, for me Flux and ‚Nzeppel work out together very well. Since I spend a lot of time in the garden right now, there where stones and plants in my mind while I tangled my Zendala tile, also a very well balanced composition in nature. So as almost every time I had the need to color my tangle. I used some watercolors and watercolor pencils and tried to be a little more detailed in shading, which is not so easy for me, I love to be more abstract and intuitive with colors rather than detailed. But it was very calming after a long and lovely gardening day!

So have a nice sunday and thanks for stopping by.

1

Weekly Challenge #289: „Leafy Goodness“

Now in Northern Germany autumn has arrived, it is getting colder and the trees are wearing their beautiful leaf dresses in all shades of red and yellow colors. It looks fantanstic, I love that time of the year.

So this week’s challenge #289 is a Leaf/Autumn theme. I started to collect some leafs from our trees in the garden. They were all so beautiful and unique in their shapes and colors , that I couldn’t decide wich one to use for my tile. I was so attached by the colors, more than the shapes, that I decided not to choose a leaf for tangling, but tangling a leaf, or two or more;) In the end of the evening I had a nice variety of tangled leafs. I arranged them in my big cooperbowl at the fireplace, where in the summertimes some of my roses are for decoration and now tangles leafs in autumn.

I wish everyone a nice autumn time with lots of sunshine and golden landscapes. Enjoy!!

1

Weekly Challenge #288: „Simply Gourdgeous“

time flies. We already moved 5 month ago in our new home, but it is so much to do – it almost feels like 5 weeks. My blog fell a little bit in sleep, I guess. But now it is time to wake up. So  In honour of thanksgiving this week’s challenge #288 is to tangle Gourdgeous – an official tangle by Maria Thomas.

Since autumn has arrived with all its beautiful and warm colors, I decided to color my tile before tangling. So I used some watercolors and I felt that I had to try some pigments on it to, unfortunately they turned out very dark so the nice bright watercolor background looks a little dark and dirty now. But I still tried to work with it – and since Gourdgeous is a contrasty tangle it could made its way in the foreground.

It is not one of my favorite tiles, but I had a nice and cosy evening tangling it. So I am pleased with my gourdgeous tile.

Thanks for stopping by and have a nice weekend!

0

Weekly Challenge #280

the olympics are the theme of this week’s challenge #280.

The 5 five interlocking rings symbolize the continents Africa, Asia, America, Europe, and Australia. The colors  blue, yellow, black an green of the rings together with the white of the background include the colors composing every competing nation’s flag at the time. So every nation could refind itself in this colors. For that reason I just played with those six colors, even though the white is a little off-white. I droped watercolors on my tile an then filled them with tangels, I used Bumps, Popsicles, Kozy, Bublz, Cockles‘n‘Mussels and Seeds. I have to admit for this challenge I had to get a little bit out of comfortzone. Those colors are not my favorits, but only playing with the rings would bring me much more out of my comfortzone, because I like much more the imperfect circles:)

So I am not so happy with my tile, but it is okay for me! And I appreciate challenges that ask me to leave my comfortzone, because that is the point were I can discover new things an possibilities.

A nice week to everyone!

 

3

Weekly Challenge #279: „Duotangle Meer vs Auraknot“

Ein Duotangle mit zwei offiziellen Tangles die ich sehr gerne nutze, daher habe ich gestern bei einem Glas Wein gleich losgelegt mit der Challenge #279 für diese Woche. Jetzt habe ich einen kleinen Auraknot-Meer-Baum, der ist aus einem „Fehler“ entstanden ist – da ist er wieder einer der Grundsätze – es gibt keine Fehler, nur Möglichkeiten. Ist doch schön wenn man das nicht nur weiss und sagt, sondern auch immer wieder mal erfährt.

Eine der Linien die nun die Mitte des Stammes bildet hatte ich schon gezeichnet, und dann dachte ich, ach ne wie doof, wo will ich eigentlich hin mit der Linie, ganz blöder Strich – als ich den zeichnete war der Strich oben. In diesem Moment hatte ich das Gefühl das Zendala gerät aus seiner Balance.

Aber ich habe Strich erstmal Strich sein lassen und weitergetangelt, am Ende habe ich das Muster Meer aus dem Zendala hinauslaufen lassen, weil ich einfach nicht wusste wohin mit dem Strich. Erschwerend kommt hinzu das bei der Duotangle Challenge auch nur die beiden Tangles benutzt werden, also keine Möglichkeit sich mit einem weiteren Tangle zu behelfen. Naja okay hab ich gedacht…es ist so wir es ist…und dann hab ich das kleine Werk genommen und gedreht und…tata… ein hübscher kleiner Baum. Vielleicht sollte auch ich mich öfter mal  auf dem Kopf drehen, um die Dinge aus einer anderen Perspektive zu betrachten – mal schauen was dann daraus so wird!

Allen eine schöne Woche und viel Spass beim Kopfstehen.

Weekly Challenge #279: „Duotangle Meer vs Auraknot“ (english)

A Duotangel with two tangles I really like to use, so I started yesterday evening this Challenge #279 right away. Now I got a little Auraknot-Meer-Tree, which actually is the result of making a „mistake“ – so here we are – there are NO Mistakes, only opportunities. Isn’t it great not only knowing ans saying that, but also experience it once in a while.

I allready hat drawn on of the strokes One, which now is the middle of the tree trunk, an I thought, oh no what a stupid stroke, where do I wanted to go with it. When I drew this Stroke, it was in the top of the Zendala. In this Moment I felt, that my Tangle gets out of balane.

Ignoring this stroke and I kept on tangling. In the end I just let Meer going out of the Zendala tile, because I just didn’t know what to do with this stroke. Well, it is as it is, I thought and took the Zendala and turned it upside down and…tata… a lovely little tree! Maybe I should turn myself more often upside down, to see how things will look like from that different perspektive!

Have a nice Week you all and have fun being upside-down:)

 

0

„UMT – Knightstar by Daniel Lamothe, CZT“

Ein kurzer Post am Montag. Meine Kachel zur Challenge #278  „Use My Tangle“, diesmal mit Daniel Lamothes tangle Knightstar. Die Schritt für Schritt Anleitung erinnert etwas an das kartesische Koordinatensystem im zweidimensionalen Raum. Kaum zu glauben aber wahr, so ein richtiger Freund von x und y-Achsen war ich nicht 😉 Und ich muss gestehen ich verspürte doch eine leichte bis mittelschwere Ungeduld beim Zeichnen der Linien – durchatmen – und entschleunigen. Schon besser! Dieses Tangle forderte von mir ein höheres Maß an Konzentration und völlige Fokussierung. Anfangs war ich nicht so glücklich mit der Kachel, aber auch hier hat es mir wieder gezeigt, weitermachen – nicht urteilen während des Prozesses, denn am Ende war ich dann doch ganz zufrieden mit meinem kleinen Werk. Danke an Daniel Lamothe für sein Tangle und Laura für die Challenge.

Einen schönen Wochenstart an Alle.

„UMT – Knightstar by Daniel Lamothe, CZT“  (english)

A short post this Monday. Here my tile for the Use My Tangle (UMT) Challenge #278, this month a tangle created by Daniel Lamothe called Knightstar. The single Steps remind me of the Cartesian coordinate system in Two-dimensional space. Well, hard to believe, but I wasn’t really a friend of x and y-coordiantes. So I have to admit I felt a little to medium-heavy Impatience drawing those lines – breath – and slow down. Okay, better now! This tangle really requires a high level of concentration und focus. In the beginning I wasn‘t so happy with my tile, but again it showed me how good it is not to judge during the process, because in the end I was pretty pleased with my small creation. So thank you Daniel Lamothe for your tangle and Laura for that challenge.

Have a nice week!