Conall

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;)

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.

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!

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!!

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!

Weekly Challenge #277: Running ‚round in Circles‘

Nachdem ich einige Runden ausgesetzt habe nun erste Eintrag aus der neuen Heimat. Getangled habe ich aus in der Umzugs-, Renovier- und Aus-, Ein,- und Umbauzeit, aber die Zeit am Computer habe ich so knapp wie möglich gehalten. Nun sind wir hier gut angekommen, und es findet sich ein Rhythmus in dem alles wieder seinen Platz bekommt. Und so hab ich mit Elan an der der weekly challenge #277 teilgenommen und meine Runden gedreht. Die Aufgabe – einen String zeichnen der aus Kreisen besteht und dann tanglen.

Eine wirklich schöne Challenge, bei der wieder festgestellt hab, dass ich mehr so der Typ ovale „Kreise“ mit leichten Ausbuchtungen hier und da bin, und froh wenn sich der Kreis überhaupt schliesst. So richtig „hübsch und ordentlich“ rund liegt mir irgendwie nicht. Also bleibe ich meinem Stil des leicht ungleichmässigen eiförmigen Kreises treu. Und eigentlich mag ich das auch, irgendwie ist es spannend und schliesslich kommt man auch Umwegen dazu das Anfang und Ende sich wieder zu einem Ganzen schliessen  – und das ist ja die Hauptsache. Der Weg dahin läuft es halt nicht immer rund – und das wird schon so seinem Grund haben. Glücklicherweise ist es beim Tanglen auch völlig egal wie der Kreis letztendlich aussieht. Umso interessanter zu sehen wohin mich das Kreisen führt, wenn man es einfach passieren lässt.

Ich habe mit Aquarell experimentiert und mit der nass-in-nass-Technik sich überlappende Farbkreise enstehen lassen und diese als String benutzt. Dieser kreisförmige String ist natürlich wie gemacht für  eines meiner Lieblings-Tangles  – „man-o-man“. Ich mag diese Tangle unglaublich gerne, es scheint mir fast eines der weniger benutzen oder beliebten Tangles zu sein, da ich es recht selten sehe. Für mich hat es etwas Besonderes und Spezielles! Ebenso Vitruvius ist ein sehr spannendes Tangle, das meine round-and-round-it-goes- Fähigkeiten sehr gefordert hat.

Die fertige Kachel hat dann seinen Platz in meinen kleinen Tangle-Art-Journal gefunden.Irgendwann bin ich nachts aufgewacht und hatte endlich eine Idee, wie man den Kacheln einen schönen Platz geben kann. Bisher habe die Kacheln immer in einem kleinen Karton aufbewahrt. Und einem grösseren Karton habe ich selbstgebundenene leere Art-Journals verstaut, die immer darauf warteten auch mal Art-Journals zu werden. Na klar! … liebevoll getangelte einsame Kachel sucht leeres Art-Journal für eine intuitive, kreative und individuelle Liasion. Um dem Klammern vorzubeugen sind Fotoecken sehr willkommen. Perfekt! Und was ein Spass – jeder Kachel seine passenden Seite zu kreiren und sich auszutoben mit Collagen, Farben, Formen, Material und was immer einem gerade einfällt. Tangle und Art-Jounaling ein fantastische Liasion.

Es hat mir viel Spass bereitet meine Runden zu drehen – Danke Laura für die schöne Challenge.

Round and Round and Round it goes weiter!

Vielen Dank für Euren Besuch auf meiner Seite und einen runden Start in die neue Woche.

 

Weekly Challenge #277: Running ‚round in Circles (english)

Since I skipped some rounds – finally the first post from my new home. I still tangled during the time of moving here and renovating, decorating, expanding and so on, but I kept my time at the Computer as short as possible. But now we went down well, even though it is always something to to, but things are getting normal now. So I went enthusiastic in this weekly challenge #277  and round and round it goes. The challenge… Creating a string out of circles and tangle!! that’s it.

I very nice challenge, where I noticed again, that I am more the type of person drawing oval circles with some bulges here and there – and actually I am happy if the circle closes in the end. Really neat and round circles doesn’t seem to be my talent. Well, I stick with my style – the slightly unbalanced egg-shaped circle. I even like it, it is somehow fascinating and with some detours the beginning and the end will close in its entirety – that is the essence. The way until then is not alway even an consistent – but somehow it seems to be my way. Luckily doing Zentangle art nobodys cares about how the circle looks like. Even more interesting so see where the circling takes me if I let it flow.

I experimented with watercolor wet-in-wet-technique, so letting overlapping circles arise and used those for my string. The circle string is just made for one of my favorite tangles – „man-o-man“. I love this tangle, it seems not to be used very often, because I really see it pretts seldom on other tiles. But somehow for me it looks very special. Also vitruvius is an interesting Tangle, which really challenged my round-and-round-it-goes-skills.

Finally the tangles tile found its place in my little art-journal. Some night I woke up and finally  I had the idea how to keep all my tiles in a nice place. So far I kept my tiles in a small box, just like I kept my selfmade and empty art-journals in a bigger box, waiting to be real art-journals. So yeah, lonely tangled tile is looking for empty little art-journal for an intuitive, creative and individual liasion. To avoid clasping, photocorners are welcome.Perfect, and such fun to get an individual page to each tile by doing collages, working with colours, shapes, and different materials, whatever comes in my mind. I just love art-journaling and tangling.

So I had a great time going round in circles- so thank you Laura for that challenge.

Round and Round it goes forward.

Thank you for stopping by and a round start in your new week.

 

 

Weekly Challenge #260: „Monotangle: Shattuck“

Diese Woche heißt es in der Diva Challenge #260 ein Monotangle zu kreieren mit „Shattuck“, einem der offiziellen Zentangle® Mustern. Wie der Name Mono schon besagt, bedeutet es, nur dieses eine Muster zu benutzen – in all seinen erdenklichen Variationen, also durchaus eine Herausforderung. Ich mag Shattuck sehr gerne, es ist ein einfaches aber sehr ausdrucksstarkes Muster mit vielen Möglichkeiten.

Somit habe ich mein Gehirn gebeten als Ideengeber meine Hand zu inspirieren. Zum warm werden habe ich erst sehr nah am Muster gearbeitet und dieses insich variert. Zuerst wollte ich es dieses mal wirklich nicht kolorieren, ich habe es auch einen ganzen Abend ausgehalten, aber am nächsten Tag, da hat sich mir die Farbe quasi aufgedrängt. Was sollte ich da tun, auch Farben kann Zurückweiung schmerzen;)

Aber nochmal zurück zum Abend davor. Nachdem ich nun voll im Shattuck-Workflow war, wollte ich noch etwas probieren und so ist die zweite Kachel entstanden auf der Shattuck eine blumige Transformation angenommen hat. Das hat mich durchaus mehr Konzentration gekostet und wenn man genau hinschaut kann man hier und da etwas „Geschummel“ sehen:) Das diese Kachel ganz pur und im Sinne der Erfinder schwarz-weiss geblieben ist, ist nicht meinem Zeitmangel geschuldet – sondern ich habe es geschafft dem Drang nach Farbe zu widerstehen und mich ganz an der Purheit des Tangles zu erfreuen!

Und nun geht es in die Osterzeit!Ich verzichte Ostern auf das extra inszinierte Suchen, da ich mit meinem Chaoskopf eigentlich eh mehrmals täglich alles Mögliche suche, und daher das Spass am Suchen bei mir nicht allzu ausgeprägt ist 😉

Aber für alle die gern Suchen wünsche ich Suchenglück und wunderschöne Ostertage!

 

Weekly Challenge #260: „Monotangle: Shattuck“ (english)

 This week’s challenge is to create a monotangle using the tangle Shattuck, an official Zentangle® pattern. Like the term Mono already implies, is the challenge about only using that one tangle in all its variations, so absolutely challenging.

I really like Shattuck, for me it is an easy to draw but very expressive pattern with lots of possibilties of variation. So I asked my brain to be a creative director and inspire my hand. For warming up I stayed pretty close to the pattern und put just zum variations to it. Actually I really didn’t want to put color on it, I succeed a whole evening with not coloring. But the next day the color quasi forced me and I couldn’t stand it anymore:)

But back to the evening before. Since I now really was in a Shuttuck working flow, I wanted to try someting else and so the second tile Shattuck transformed into an flowery looking  pattern. That really costed me a lot more concentration and if you look a little bit closer you can see that I „cheated“ a little bit here and there. Finally that this tile, as definded by the founders, stayed black and white, is not owed to my lack of time – no – I really succeeded to resist the impulse of wanting to color everything. And I rejoice in the purity of my tile.

Now eastertime is coming. I am not going to participate on that Easter-searches, since I am searching, with my chaotic thinking head, every day several times something, so searching things is not so much fun for me 😉

But for all who like searching eggs on easter, good luck and lots of fun.

Happy Easter to all of you!

Weekly Challenge #256: „DuoTangle: Boo*Kee/Artoo“

Diese Woche hat die Diva uns eingeladen ein DuoTangle zu kreieren, in dem wir ausschließlich die beiden Tangle Boo*Kee und Artoo benutzen, zwei tangles die Laura nach ihren Söhnen benannt hat. Beide Tangles waren neu für mich und so habe ich sie zum ersten Mal benutzt. Ich finde sie passen fantastisch zusammen genau der richtige Mix aus Gegensatz und Harmony, was ich ja sehr mag. Da gestern seit Wochen die Sonne mal wieder schien und ich diese kurz beim gärtnern geniessen konnte, hatte ich das Bedürfnis dem Tile ein ein bisschen Farbe einzuhauchen – Frühlingsgefühle:)

This „weeks diva challenge # 256 „ , the diva asked us to create a DuoTangle using only the two tangles Boo*Kee and Artoo which are named after Lauras’s two boys. Both tangles where new to me. I think they fit perfectly together, its is just the right mix between contrast and harmony. Yesterday we had the first time after weeks a mostly sunny day and I was gardening a little bit and it felt like the spring is coming, so I used some light colors for my tangle to give a little bit of that springtime-feeling to it.

„Narwal“ for Square One: Purely Zentangle on Facebook

square_one

pattern: narval, dyon

Und dann habe ich noch die Facebook-Gruppe „Square One: Purely Zentangle“ auf Facebook für mich entdeckt. Hier geht es darum ganz Basic ein weisses Original -Tile 3.5″ x 3.5″ zu benutzen, einen schwarzen Micron und zum Schattieren einen Bleistift – nichts anderes. Grossartig! Diese Woche das Tangle „Narwal“, auch neu für mich und auch gleich zu meinen Favoriten gewandert!

While looking to the other entries from the diva challenge attendees I found the Facebookgroup Square One: Purely Zentangle. Here is is all about the basics using nothing more than a 3.5″ x 3.5″ paper tile, pen and pencil. Awesome! This weeks tangle is „Narwal“, also a new tangle for me which just got to my favorites.

Thank you for visiting my blog and thanks for all that nice an kind comments!

Ghosts of Tangles Past

Phew, this „weeks challenge # 255 „ was really challenging to me. The Diva invited us to recreate a tile from our past, so we can see how our style has changed, hopefully increased. I think that is a great challenge idea, mostly for those who are tangling quite a long time, but Laura encourage also the ones who are tangling just for a few month, because even than it is interesting to see some growth.

Well, I have to admit that I was a little scared to start. I took my first tile from the 9th of September 2015, which is not such a long time ago. I participated on the challenge #238 „UMT – Tri-bee by Beate Winkler, CZT“. I remembered that I was really excited doing my first tile and since it was the first one I really had no expectations, I just started without having anything in my mind. No that is not completely right, the thing I had in my mind was ,this is my first try tangling a tile, it is okay when something comes out that I am not pleased with. I don‘t have to be perfect I am just starting with something new. So I draw my string with half closed eyes, just like my hands leaded me. Then I started one stroke at a time, I made little „mistakes“ on shattuck, but it was okay for me. When finishing my tile I was so amazed and surprised how beautiful it came out. I really liked it.

the string

the string

Now I am sitting in front of an empty tile, in my mind the expectation to see a growth after recreating, also knowing that tangling is about not having any expectations in the result. Then I was thinking about how to recreate and I decided first to recreate the String – luckily I had taken a picture of it. I wrote the name of the tangles I had used in the spaces of the string copy and turned my original tangle upside down.

 

Okay, still sitting in front of that tile not daring to start. Then I had the idea not to recreate on a white tile but on a renaissance tile (which is a fake tile, meaning noch the original, because I could‘t get it here in germany, the fake-one is darker an the paper quality not that good). Since I haven’t only once or twice tangled on a renaissance tile and never really liked the outcome I thought, that will be a challenge without the direct comparison. I felt much better and started tangling.

Sometimes I cheated a little bit by turning the original tile and looking at it, but my husband saw that and while he stopped by he just took the tile and went away with it – well, than 😉 Since I don‘t have the microns for renaissance tiles I experienced a little with other fineliners and colors and polychromes. I had a lot of fun and I wasn’t caught anymore in my mind, thinking about recreating something greater than before.

I am satisfied with the result, but I am more pleased with my solution how to handle that challenge to feel comfortable but also challenged.

So in the end for me I see the growth more in how I handled the situation, that to see a growth in my tangling style. Which is very good for me, since I started tangling tiles 5 month ago. For me Zentangle® is more a method to relax and to let got my perfectionism and my high expectations towards myself, which always pressures me. Well I also love to have a beautiful result, but with Zentangle® I learned to enjoy and appreciate more the creating without judging than the final outcome.

Now I am curious see the tiles of the other participants.
Such a fantastic challenge! Thanks to Laura Harms.

And thanks to all to that leave so kind comments on my blog, I really appreciate it.

„Valentangle“

This „weeks challenge # 254 „ is about creating a tangle for Valentine.

Yesterday evening on Valentines Day I felt so „yin and yang“ , so I tangled on a round tile. I started with the Aura-Leah tangle in heart shape in the middle, used Phicops and Ovy for the dots. The black yin is covered with lilypads und in the white yang are growing some heart shaped pokeroots.

I have to admit, that since here in Germany Valentines Day turned out to be more a day for consumption than for caring I am a little bit annoyed. It seems like everybody expects at least flowers that day or even bigger presents. And a lot people even don‘t know anything about the real meaning of Valentines Day, they just know it from the commercials. Certainly I don’t know if it is the same in other Countrys.

But creating something like that Valentangle is something that comes from the heart, so thank you Laura for letting people know that there is much more than only consumption on this day!

Love to everyone and have a great new week.

New Tangle: Molygon

This week  Zentangle® HQ released the newest tangle Molygon.

So this „weeks challenge # 253 „ is having fun with Molygon. And it really is fun, there are so many possilities to play with. You can tangle Molygon endless and fill the shape with beautiful and simple, or complex and wild other patterns.

I tried to tangle on a „fake“ renaissance tile, because the original renaissance tiles from Zentangle® are not so easy to get in Germany. It really makes a difference, the paper isn’t that nice than the original. So I am not that pleased with the outcome, but it is okay I can do a lot more Molygon 🙂

So welcome Molygon!!

String Theory: Tangle within a tangle… it’s like inception… but with tangles

This „weeks challenge # 252 „  any tangle I like is my string. And then tangling inside! I knew pretty fast what tangle my string should be – I used Rain. Now the weird thing about it: when I started to tangle and looked at other tangles for inspiration I always admired those round and soft most floral like tiles, there where so well balanced and beautiful to me and I always thought yes that is the way I want to tangle and create my tiles. But the more I tangled and the more pattern I got to know, I really started to like the patterns that are geometric and edged. I love the contrast between the rounded patterns and the edged patterns. I still love those floral looking tiles but I guess my style tends more so those edged look with mostly some more white space.

It is great to see how things develop while tangling, and who knows what my tiles look like next year, the possibilities are nearly endless! Isn’t that fantastic?!

I used rain for my string, and the inside-tangles are Knightsbridge, Paradox, Strircles and Ornamato and I am very pleased with my tile.

Great idea! Thanks Laura for that challenge.

„Bringing it Back to the Old School“

I really love love love this „weeks challenge # 250 „. This is exactly the challenge I appreciate and need an  right now.
It is about creating a original Zentangle® on a white 3.5 “square tile, drawing a string and using about 4 or 5 tangles, the black Micron and a Pencil for shading. No eraser, unknown outcome and no predetermined solution. Just relaxing and enjoying the process.

The Diva writes: Sometimes, it stresses me out to think of all the things i should be *TRYING*. […] When i begin a tile for a challenge, now i think: „What size should i use? What colour? What pen? What shape?“ and i often find myself skipping over that ceremony of zentangle that helped me find my calm space.

YES, I know exactly what you mean. You took the words right out of my mouth.

Well, since I have lots and lots of work right now, I was really glad that this challenge was so relaxing. I was really thinking about skipping this weeks challenge. But when I finally knocked off work at 9:30 PM I decided to take part and create a tangle. It was a great idea, I was so relaxed and all tensions removed and I could go to sleep free minded!

So thank you Diva, this challenge came just in the right time:)

Oh and not to forget to mention, I am very pleased with that outcome.

And I really want to thank everybody for the lovely comments on my blog.
I would really like to thank more individually, but right now I am so glad when I have a little time not being on my computer.

Have a nice weekend!

 

„DuoTangle: Celebrate with Diva Dance and Auraknot“

A wonderful start in this new year for everyone!

The first diva challenge of the year  „weeks challenge # 249 “  is a 5-years-The Diva’s weekly Challenge-duotangle-celebration-challenge.

CONGRATULATIONS! And thank you so much!

 I love love love to use the tangles Auraknot and Diva Dance, because they are both one of my most favourite tangles. 

So thanks a lot to the Diva for the challenge AND for the Diva Dance!

 

zendala_dare_116

Pattern: Fengle, Dragonair. Snail, Coral-Seeds

In this weeks Zendala Dare Challenge #116  the template was pretty different from the last ones I did, it offert a lot more space. But since I wrote a long article about „space and emptiness“ this week, it fits very well in this week for me. The last Zendalas I tangled, where pretty detailed and also still a little topsy-turvy. So this time I tried to leave more space and using not too much different patterns. Well, I am really pleased with that outcome, I like that it is different to the other ones I did before. For this Zendala I used very nice hand-made paper in creme and for colouring I used Polychromos. I still have to get used to them and pracetise shading. But I like the polochromos on that beautiful paper. They fit very well together and I like experimenting with all those different materials. And most of all I really love tangling Zendalas!

This is Erin’s lovely template she chose this week, and I really love the Zendala she created and the way it turned out! You can see it here – and also all the other fantastic Zendalas that have been created this week!

Mandala105

template created by Erin Koetz Olson, CZT®

So looking forward to Tuesday!