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Tuesday, September 30, 2014

"It's a String Thing" #60

It is Tuesday, your good news day!

This week we begin with Tangle Patterns String 061 by Diane Sexton ~

Copyrighted image used with permission from TanglePatterns.com
For the first time in sixty consecutive Tuesday's (unbelievable!) we are going to use tangles that begin with the letter X.

They include ~

Xav - my own tangle.  (located on the pink tabs at the top of this page)
X by Lila Popcheff
Xplode by Margaret McKerihan
Xeni by Jacqueline Janssen

Click on the pattern names for step outs, or you can find most of them on TanglePatterns.


Use as many or as few of these tangles as you wish.


Simply pencil the string line onto your tile and tangle away!

Here are the (Not so) Official Guidelines:
* Challenges are posted on Tuesdays.
*Use the string posted for the week and patterns that begin or contain the letter(s) indicated
* Submit a photo of your tile saved as jpg or scan your tile (300 dpi or higher) and save as a jpg
*Email your jpg file as an attachment to - brunoadelem@gmail.com
*Entries are to be submitted by Saturday evenings.
*Photos and 'Best of Show' are posted on Mondays.


Send in your photos - you will encourage and inspire fellow Zentangle® enthusiasts all over the world.

PLEASE NOTE: I will add a link to your blog or web site with your tile photo, upon request. The site specific URL must accompany your request.

I look forward to your emails.
HAVE FUN!





"It's a String Thing" #59 Tiles

This week's challenge brought home the fact that it is indeed a fabulous fall so far!

The string comprised of intersecting, long s-curves and only two tangles were used.  Three simple elements and a world of possibilities as this week's tanglers prove.  Let's take a look ~

The first tile arrived from Sarah Hluchy.  She wrote ~
...I decided that Oke was enough for this tile. Oke is one of those patterns that I would never have chosen to record in my zentangle reference sketchbooks. but I like it, I'm glad you made me do it!

A very simple and sincere Oke it is!


Kathryn White said ~
The design isn't anything note worthy, but the coloring was quite satisfying.
The slicci gold pen didn't roll on smoothly. Had to go over it several times.

It is very note worthy, beautifully detailed and the color is gorgeous.

Kirsten Bish wrote ~
Here is my tangle for the week "Lacy" . This one was really fun! I totally let my mind go, and about half way through, looked up and said to myself "Self, this is really pretty, keep going!"
And  I agree with herself - this is really pretty - a very beautiful look using white on black.

Cheryl Stocks chose a Zendala for her tile ~

She tangled Oke and Meringue into one cleverly added acorns.  Note how she thickened some lines to add weight to the tangles.  She also posted it here on her blog.


From Carmela ~
Very great idea to use Oke also as a string.
I like Merinque very much and could practice it in this tile , because i never used it before.
I choose to shadow the merinque and not the tipple in between.
Her fondness of Meringue shines through and choosing to shade that gave the tangle great movement.
She also posted it here on her blog.


Lori Byerly said ~
The string you picked pushed me toward a zendala-like tile (repeated patterns in a round). I have never done anything like that, so it was great fun. I'm going to have to get some round tiles and experiment.
My tile is also posted here.


This is a fabulous twist.  Lori tangled Meringue along the string line and then added bits of Oke - that is wonderful!


From Sara Belmont-Kleingeld ~

Wow - this is fun.  Sara aura-ed the spaces around Oke and cleverly added a tangleation of Meringue complete with sparkle.

Ilse Lukken wrote ~
I love Oke, it's such a beautiful pattern! Meringue was new to me too, I found this one a bit harder to do, but the combination with Oke is wonderful.
I put this tile on my blog as well.

Ilse's combination is wonderful - the shaded tipple and the thicker lines around Oke especially.  

Joya said ~
...here's my contrbution to your challenge. Meringue was really challenging to me, I like straight patterns much more, but I learned to deal with it so I have to thank you very much for this challenge :-)
There's a post on my blog, too. 
Joya tangled Meringue inside of Oke and added perfs along the string line.  Again, we see thicker lines and great shading - how lovely!



Kia Richardson said ~
Now this one was lots of fun to do. I love Oke. I had quite a time with Meringue and am not particularly happy with the way I have drawn it, but your learn as you go. I couldn't resist colouring it with those glorious fall colours.

She added acorns along with those glorious fall colors for a very pretty tile.


Christine Forrester said ~
I was so excited about this challenge. One of my favourite Tangles – OKE and learning Meringue – that looks so like falling leaves.
 I started within my comfort zone with the black and white one, and then inspired by other peoples’ posts, from previous challenges, I mashed the two tangles – I wanted to see what OKE looked like with Meringue in the spines and was sooooooooo amazed. Then thought that the shapes formed by Meringue reminded me of the helicopter seeds that come from the Maple Tree in my front garden so had to draw the last one. Again I had some help from the cat, she is really taken by my Tangling – or maybe it’s the movement of the pen/pencil, so some of the colouring is a bit outside the lines in the middle one, perhaps I should have called it Cat up a Tree.



She described her work so well, I can only add that is is beautiful!


Annemarie said ~
Thanks for a great challenge this week, I really enjoyed it. On my blog I wrote this about it:
...[the tangles] Both new to me and a big challenge to make them 'fit'. I took a tile in fall colors, that I had colored before with Lindy's Stamp Gang spray and tangle on it. I made the string pop up by using the thick side of a Dual Point Identi pen.
She tangled Meringue in three of the sections, and Meringue in two others.  Aura and shading and a bit of green are very nice touches.


From Janice L Johnson ~
I had a lot of fun doing this week's challenge. Oke has been one of my favorite tangles since I first saw it. Meringue, on the other hand, was more of a challenge for me. When I first read the challenge I thought we were supposed to use just the string and Meringue. I later re-read it and realized that we were to use Oke also.I did 4 tiles for this challenge and am submitting my two favorites. The others can be seen on my blog here 




Two very beautiful variations, each one featuring a different tangle along the string line.  The contrast is just wonderful to see.  Shading in the first, and line thickness on the second really make them stand out.

Lucy Banta wrote ~
Timing was perfect for this autumn themed challenge! It's been brisk and beautiful in NJ all week!
For the life of me, I couldn't get meringue to round and twist. Any tips? :-)
Here's the link to my tile.

Like Joya, Lucy tangled Meringue in Oke - so much fun.  Meringue looks just great here - maybe seeing everyone's will give Lucy confidence in hers.   Shading and Tipple are just amazing.



Cheryl Craver said, "I almost passed on this one because I’ve never really liked oke but I’ve been reading Cris Laterneau’s great book and decide to give it a “pattern play” try"

Cheryl is referring to the book Pattern Play.  It is a great resource and I am happy to see it also proved an inspiration for Cheryl to send in this splendid tile.  She tangled Oke and Meringue with a Florz backdrop.  She has some delightful details here and great shading.


Sharyn Penna said that she found the two tangles - both new to her - to be a "perfect combination." ~

This is just gorgeous - Oke on the string line with more tucked behind and a swirling, shaded Meringue dancing around.


Nagy Ferenc sent this pretty tile ~

She tangled a smaller Oke and folds and folds of marvelous Meringue.  She also posted it here on her blog.  


From Lily Moon ~

Lily tangled on black - grey and brown billows of Meringue with a white background, a bit of Oke and a dotted border.  That is delightful.  She also posted here on her blog.


Annie Taylor said ~
Seasons of mist and mellow fruitfulness...it's feeling autumnal here now, so this was a lovely appropriate String Thing and I felt a Renaissance tile was fitting too.
The string was Oke, I couldn't begin to think how to make it anything else and as this is the first time I've used it, I just did what it said in the instructions! And where else could meringue go but as a delicate white background? A tile that did itself and was a pleasure to do.

Her note is a poetic description of the joy of tangling - such a pleasure to read.  Her tile is all that she describes and such a reflection of the mood she captured in her words - beautiful!


Susan Theron wrote ~
Here in South Africa it it now supposed to be spring, but there is still a bit of winter chill and rain. We have an oak tree in the garden and it spring green, so it was a great tangle to try.
The spring must be lovely there.  Susan's tangles swarm and swirl and are shaded just so.



Ingrid Coventon said ~
I have submitted a very organic tile which I loved to do. Usually I stick very close to the challenge, but not this time. I am sorry, but I had to throw in some Fescu. For some reason, don't know which one, Merinque and I don't "click". Merinque appears in this tile as one of the last butterflies in this Indian Summer days as we are enjoying in The Netherlands.
What a beautiful tile and the idea of using Meringue to make a butterfly is so clever.


Jane Glotzer wrote ~
Happy Fall!...Here in Colorado we don't get as much of the really bright reds and oranges of the northeast but we do have a lot of beautiful golds and rusts. So, for this week's challenge, along with the chosen tangles and string, I took inspiration from the colors of autumn and started with a watercolor wash before I did any tangling...unfortunately, my photo does not do my colors justice--:) but I love how it looks in person!
...I decided to just go with one very large Oke to fill the entire area, and used a bit of Meringue inside the leaves. At first, I only had some small circles in the background coming up from the junction of the leaves, and I liked very much how that looked, but they were so "zenifying" that before I knew it, I had circled all over every empty place!!
Didn't really need too much shading with my colored background, so I added just a touch around the leaves...

The colors are true to fall,  Thicker lines as well as shading make her Oke float above all the Tipple of her background - very nice.


Kristen Kostelnik Killips said, ",,,I had tried Oke before, but was a little intimidated by it. It seemed to come together this week in the combination of your string and Meringue. Fun!"

It did all come together for one lovely tile.  Meringue  is so striking in white.


Deanna Spence said that she added "a little fall leaf color to her Renaissance tile ~


Deanna created pleasingly plump Oke 'leaves' with Meringue aura, white highlights, and delightful details - yum!

Sue Agnew wrote ~
I so admire Michele Beauchamp's artistic flair with her Zentangle-inspired art! It was really intimidating this week, using her tangle, which is so uniquely suited to her style. So I tried to not be totally obvious and "just copy."

This tile is quite a compliment to Michele's flair and Sue's work as well.  See how she created an Oke type tangle out of Meringue and even added sparkle to it.  That is fabulous.

Joan Delony said, "...a little Halloween fall fun! See it on my website ."


Like Ingrid, Joan created a Meringue butterfly.  She added a gorgeous fall orange and some Halloween guests :)



I liked that there were only two tangles this week and I knew one of them. This is my first attempt which included both tangles. The Oke with Meringue veins and the center veins in the upper corner are variations of the two.


Peggy Kohrmann said ~
This is my first Renaissance tile and the sepia Micron seemed to be the perfect media for the Oke tangle. Used my new Intense ink pencils for the sepia pencil to shade. A Little aura and the variation of veins on the sides finish it.
That captures the feel of fall.  Note how she used aura around the outside of Oke and outward from the center of it.  

The 'variation on the veins" is a great detail as is Peggy's wonderful shading on Meringue.



Cat Trask said, "I thought I would try my hand at adding a little colour, try out my new colour pencils.  Fall has such beautiful reds and oranges and yellow as the leaves turn."


Sections of Oke and dancing Meringue - that is a very pretty tile.

Audrie Weisenfelder wrote ~
I really enjoyed this week's String Thing. As I said on my blog Purple Butterfly, I'm not a big fan of Oke, but I do love Meringue; which, to my way of thinking, has a bit of an Aquafleur feel to it. And to my surprise, when I set Meringue on your string, Oke just fell right into place around/behind it. So here it is:
That is a terrific blend of the two tangles - great shading, too!


From Juul ~
Juul's curved lines around the sections of Oke. the variation of thickness of the lines, and her shading - not to mentions those delightful dark perfs - add up to one beautiful tile.

Sue Agnew said
...did this one late at night and photographed it on my kitchen table. I swear I used a black pencil for my shading - not purple. The gremlins in my computer changed it. But in the interests of full disclosure .......
It's on my blog 
Computer gremlins are mischievous - but the purple is pretty any way as are Sue's tangles.  She tangled smaller Oke sections in lovely layers alongside twists of Meringue.  That is very pretty.


And now, the tile for honors this week was sent in by 

Kelly Rickert.  
Congratulations Kelly!


                            
She wrote ~
Unlike Last week, this week's string and patterns just shouted out to me and I didn't even know what was happening as this tangle appeared on the tile in front of me!
Seriously, I felt like "The Tangle Whisperer" while working on this one :)
Also, In a lot of my work I never know when I've finished. But this one told me when to stop drawing! This was the most relaxing and fulfilling tangle experiences I have had!
What a fabulous description - puts the 'zen' in zentangle!

Kelly tangled twists of Oke and Meringue that are just captivating to follow - large ones and a cluster of smaller ones.

Congratulations, Kelly, I have a little something coming in the mail for you.

Thank you all for sending in your fabulous work and many thanks to Michele Beachamp, CZT and Kelley Kelly for their pretty patterns.

Stop back Tuesday afternoon for "It's a String Thing" #60!

















Sunday, September 28, 2014

In Excellent Company

Last month, I was invited to teach Zentangle® to the Citrus Ridge Decorative Artists.  It was a wonderful day - so much talent in one room!  It was happy mix of new and familiar faces.

My friend and fellow CZT, Sindy P, graciously agreed to accompany me and we had a fabulous time.

Here is a collage of some of our first finished tiles ~


And here is photo of our happy group ~


The above photograph was taken by our fellow CZT Kathryn Crane-Thielen who is the 2nd Vice President of the group.  Sindy and I have her to thank for our delicious lunch.

Many thanks to 1st Vice President Vicki Brison all the wonderful women of the CRDA for your warm welcome, gracious hospitality, and for sharing the joy of all things tangled with us.


Thursday, September 25, 2014

Uncorked - A New Tangle!

This is an exciting day.  After sitting on the initial idea for this tangle for months, I now have it ready to publish.

First the tangle and then the story ~


Uncorked is drawn in a continuous line, much like Mooka.  The wonderful thing about it though, is that once tangled, the pattern has closed spaces (unlike Mooka) that can be shaded and embellished.


Once the pattern is learned, it becomes very easy to get into a relaxed rhythm when drawing it.
It can be layered in Hollibaugh fashion, or tangled side by side.  It is versatile in that it can be confined to a rounded shaped with the initial line, or it can break free and roam.

The inspiration?  The idea first came from a fabric design - a stark black and white pattern with varying sized circles filled with curved lines.  Instead of taking a picture of it, I studied it and later tried drawing a version I could morph into a tangle.

Weeks later, while visiting our daughter Nancy (of Fancy Nancy fame!), we sat on her living room floor and covered pages and pages with ideas until this one was 'born'.   After pouring a glass of wine, and tangling some more, the idea of 'uncorking' the tangle from the initial circle came to mind.

The tangle just flew off the pen and filled the paper with possibilities after that - so much fun!

I've searched for other tangles that might be similar and did not find any.  If I missed something, please let me know.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Uncorked as much as I do!










Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

Fall inspired ZIA by Adele Bruno, CZT

...September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather,
And autumn’s best of cheer.

                                                                    ~Helen Hunt Jackson















Tuesday, September 23, 2014

"It's a String Thing" #59

It is Tuesday, your good news day, and this week we are celebrating the beginning of the fall season.

I poured over my book full of patterns to find one that reminded me of autumn and was delighted to find Michele Beauchamp's Oke.  

We begin with a string line of mine that was inspired by Oke ~
"It's a String Thing" #59 by Adele Bruno, CZT
In an effort to learn a newer pattern, we will also use Meringue by CZT Kelley Kelly.

Two wonderful patterns to explore this week.  To read all about them, click on TanglePatterns as well as on Michelle's blog and Kelley's blog.

Simply pencil the string line onto your tile and tangle away!

Here are the (Not so) Official Guidelines:
* Challenges are posted on Tuesdays.
*Use the string posted for the week and patterns that begin or contain the letter(s) indicated
* Submit a photo of your tile saved as jpg or scan your tile (300 dpi or higher) and save as a jpg
*Email your jpg file as an attachment to - brunoadelem@gmail.com
*Entries are to be submitted by Saturday evenings.
*Photos and 'Best of Show' are posted on Mondays.


Send in your photos - you will encourage and inspire fellow Zentangle® enthusiasts all over the world.

PLEASE NOTE: I will add a link to your blog or web site with your tile photo, upon request. The site specific URL must accompany your request.

I look forward to your emails.
HAVE FUN!

Monday, September 22, 2014

"It's a String Thing" #58 Tiles

This week's string was another graceful loopy one from Sue Agnew.   We used tangles that began with the letter 'G' as the were a bit neglected in the previous challenges.  Most every tangler who participated this week said that one or more of the patterns were new to them.  Let's take a look~

The first tile arrived from Hungary.  Lily Moon said,"...This week I [drew] one classic black and white tile."

With perfs and flourishes, Lily created a very pretty varitaion of Girlande.  Shading along the string line added great depth.


A very warm welcome to Sarah Hluchy.  She wrote,"...I liked gingham and gothic, but after using gingham, my tangle didn't want gothic. so in the spirit of "G", I used golven for part of it instead."

She is new to tangling and already listening to her tangles and following their lead.  That is wonderful.


Carmela said that she "made it simple" using only two patterns and a bit of color.

The touch of color makes Girlande appear plant like.  Note how she shaded Girdy along the curved long lines adding to the vertical depth.
She also posted it here on her blog.  



Cat Trask wrote, "...This twas my first time using any of these patterns. But how will I learn if I don't try, right?"
That is a great attitude to have for all things Zentangle®, isn't it?

She darkened in the string line.  Girdy looks especially fun in that loopy space.



Lori Byerly wrote ~
Here's my tile for #58. I took your advice and just let the patterns and string "take me where they want to roam." All in all a fun challenge. My tile is also posted here.

It is amazing to see what unfolds when a tangler can isolate one special element of a pattern and highlight it. That is just what Lori did here.  It is a brilliant piece.  She writes on her blog that it is "generally whimsical".  We can all agree!



Sara Belmont-Kleingeld said that she had "fun using Girlande for the first time."

She made it look like fun, too.  The sparkle on that tangle as well as Girdy make her tile shine.  Note how she shaded under the right edge of Gothic to give it a rounded look, as if it was curving up off the paper.

Welcome back to CZT Sue Jacobs who missed a few challenges while she was traveling ~

She said, "I'm happy to get back to it with this one. Girlande is a tangle I especially like so it was fun to use it here."  On her blog she also added, "Going back to the basic black and white is a wonderful, comforting way to tangle."
That is a wonderful, comforting thought and it can be felt when viewing her tile.  Girlande makes a lovely string line and Girdy is striking in its boldness.

CZT Charlotte Carpentier said that she has been busy back at school.  She wrote ~
But...on the bright side, I have lots of time listening to lectures in class to tangle while I listen. That's rather the story behind my tile this week. I drew the string and labeled the back of the tile before I went to school, and tangled away. Once I got to the last part, I looked down and realized I was on a Knightsbridge instead of Gingham...I started to say "oops" but then I said...VARIATION! I finished it off with my new Inktense pencils and Niji brush when I got home, and here it is!

She has an admirable determination to tangle and a sense of humor to brighten a day!  The first time I ever tangled Gingham I ended up with the same variation - that is fun.


Dorothy Allison sent this lovely ZIA ~

She said that she "let the Girlande tangle dictate the circular evolving" of this piece.  Note too, how she added sparkle to Gingham and wavy lines to Girdy.


A very warm welcome to Kathryn White who sent in two beautiful tiles ~


She also used wavy lines in Girdy (above) and straight lines as well (below).  She has some lovely shading in her tiles that finish off the tangles so nicely. 

From Christine Forrester ~



Three tiles and each one is so different.  She captured depth and movement in each one, especially with Girdy in the second tile.  Note how she used Girlande inside the string loops in the first and last tile and then along the string line itself in the middle tile.


K. Bish called her entry, "Up North".  She wrote, "The 'Gingham' reminds me of the plaid shirts I tend to see this time of year."


That is fun - and it looks like she had fun tangling it as well.  Note the wobbly looking Girdy - that is a nice variation of that pattern.


From Joyce Evans ~
Joyce left the edges of Gingham feathered with lines, Girdy without them, and Girlande gracefully moving with them - all beautiful, thoughtful touches.  

Annie Taylor returns with a lovely tile.  She wrote ~
So sorry to have missed a number of String Thing challenges in recent weeks - just been out and about and generally having a lovely summer. I've been checking each week to see the wonderful entries though and never fail to be impressed at the great challenge you set and the amazingly good responses you have!
This week's string was lovely although I don't feel I've done it justice! My Girders are definitely wobbly and I feel I just wasn't inspired by the other three tangles, lovely though they are. However, I have done a tile and feel happier for completing it and taking part.

I've posted this and a couple of other recent tangles on my blog.
I left Annie's entire note because of its important message.  First that she has been away from tangling, but still checked in and appreciated work from other tanglers.  Then, while not being completely satisfied with her tile, she sent it along anyway, happier for having completed it and satisfied for taking part.  Besides sending along inspirational words, Annie's tile is fabulous!


Sue Agnew, the creator of the string used this week (how exciting!) wrote ~
...it was just so much fun to draw a pretty floral garland with little black beads... as well as lots and lots of little lines -- so pleasing and calming.
She said she preferred to concentrate on just these familiar tangles - and the result is really lovely.  Gingham without the darkened squares and Girlande with sparkle...it truly is pleasing and calming.

Peggy Kohrmann said ~
Girlande was my first choice to learn since it seemed to grab my attention. The others are my architectural lovelies and I loved them. My first tile was the Girlande and then the background of Gothic. I like its airy feel but I didn't do the grid before so it looks off and uneven. So I tried another tile with the Gingham background and drew the grid before starting Girlande. Then I did the aura to put a bit of light between Girlande and the back. So the three step- back, string, then to the back made the most sense.
With excitement I began a third tile. I wanted to use several patterns on the background and the ribbon string let me do that. Girdy took part of the string and I really liked its flow with the other tangles. Making the grid for Gothic and Gingham helped to make the patterns work for me. I love the color. Fun, fun, fun this week.


 


One tile is more detailed and fabulous than the next.  I couldn't describe them better myself - and the best part of what Peggy wrote is that it was FUN.  



Ilse Lukken said, "I found it quite hard to make a nice composition of it, but I think it's OK like this. I'm looking forward to see the other entries! It's on my blog as well.

She did make a very "nice composition" of this. - lovely lines everywhere.  The bend in the white double lines of Girdy make that tangle look amazing.

Audrie Weisenfelder echoed similar sentiments to Annie's above when she wrote ~
Another week gone by, and another challenge I almost didn't do. Another case of my liking the string, but not liking the tangles so much. But I've become so addicted to all these challenges (I guess because I'm so addicted to Zentangle itself) that I have to at least try every one of them. I don't think I've done any of these tangles before, except for trying them out in my sketchbook. So I just jumped in and let the tangles tell me what to do. And this is it:
This is the link to my blog: Purple Butterfly
The tangles spoke well to her and lead the way to a beautiful tile.  Girdy and Gingham flow along the same curved lines and Gothic springs from Girlande.  That is fun!


Ingrid Coventon wrote ~
Oh such pleasure to play with these string and tangle patterns. I love Girdy and Girlande. They are not new to me, but they got lost among all the other new tangle patterns that pop up regularly. At first again I thought Girdy would be a tough one to draw, but that turned out not to be so again.
Igrid drew Girdy from three of the four corners and what perspective she achieved in the process.  Note how she finished two with Girlande and one as though the beams ended on top of the band.  That is delightful!

From soon-to-be CZT, Judy Wanner ~

She drew her tangles in a way that makes them appear stacked.  She layered and morphed one pattern into another with just a hint of shading - that is very creative.


Lucy Banta wrote ~
Loved the tangle patterns you selected for this week's challenge. Without intending to, my finished tile looks like bumble bees and a web (of sorts). Go figure!
Here's the finished tile on my blog.


Isn't it wonderful when you are surprised by what unfolds as you tangle?
Linda's string loops turned into gorgeous shapes - yes, much like bumble bees.  It is her shading of Girdy as well as the other tangles, the light and the very dark spaces that make this shine - pure tangle magic!


A very warm welcom to Kelly Rickert a very new tangler.  She wrote ~

I just stumbled across your blog! I am a grad student who avidly collects hobbies :)
I have seen zentangle art all over pinterest for a while, but I only just decided to learn how to do it. Needless to say, I have added another hobby to my hobby collection!

Kelly went on to express second thoughts about her creation.  Again, in Zentangle there are only positive outcomes and this one is very positive!  She tangled very pretty patterns, added shading, and has a new hobby to boot!


Donna Flynn wrote ~
Thanks for your recent reminder to let the tangles guide the process. This helped me get into a much-needed meditative state after an emotional day. Gingham formed it's own variation in one area. Girlande and Gingham go so nicely together. It's like remembering a summer picnic.
It does bring to mind a summer picnic.  Note how she ran the same lines of Girdy through the entire tile - a very nice touch.


Cathy Cusson said ~
I hope you are having a lovely day! The weather here (TN) is now beginning to hint of fall which makes me so happy! I love this time of year. I didn't make it to using girdy, but used the rest of them! I love gothic - it is fun. 

These three tangles really play well with each other.  See how she used Girlande on only one part of each string loop and then changed the direction of Gothic each time she tangled it.

Jane Glotzer wrote ~
...I decided to play around with the border area and I like how that came out (although I shaded down the left side of the "corner" after I took these pix which added a bit more dimension.) I'm not seeing spots in front of my eyes, but definitely lines--:) I ended up with a "duotangle" again...I absolutely love Girdy, too, but somehow, I decided to put in the Gingham first, and with the white spaces still there, it looked like it would become a "background"--similar to the piece I did for string thing #54 where my Paradox floated on top of a Bitten background. But in true Zentangle fashion, it didn't come out like I imagined because once I did put in the Girdy, it ended up looking like it was peeking through the Gingham in the foreground! The teardrops were still floating though and when I looked at the tangle choices originally, I imagined I'd be using some Gothic somewhere but in the end, I thought the piece needed some white space for eye relief, and so I just shaded in those last teardrop spaces and left them empty of tangles.

It is always such a treat to peak into the mind of a tangler - somehow it makes the admiration for the piece that much greater.  Well done!

Sharyn Penna wrote ...
 Sometimes I almost panic with straight line patterns. I'm gradually overcoming it, curving a grid line and shading help diffuse the jitters. Toward the end I mashed Girlande with Girdy to sooth the nerves. It became my favorite part of the tile. Thank you for helping me face my straight lines phobia! 

That is a wonderful morphing of patterns.  It may help too to be reminded that there really are no seriously straight lines in Zentangle - we do the best we can to get from point A to B and so on, always mindful to let the line lead the way :)

Kristen Kostelnik Killips
This was a really fun challenge and I did monotangles for all of the tangles on Bijou tiles before I started this. I intended to use them all, but got really into Girdy so this is where I ended up!
Kristen tangled Girdy from all four corners of her tile to meet the Girlande covered string line - that is wonderful!

Joan Delony wrote ~
I love drawing Girdy. The other patterns were new to me. I had a few "unintended" lines (shhh) in Gothic and decided I wanted more berries in the tile. :)
Along with wonderful tangles, Joan added a good measure of sparkle.  Girdy springing from opposite corners makes the other tangles appear as if they were on a ledge of sorts.  That is very pretty.  She also posted it here on her blog.   

Deanna Spence wrote ~
My tile of the week is attached. I ended up using only two of the four tangles, but I think that was enough and am happy with the results. Girlande looks like a tangle that I would enjoy though, so I am going to have to add that one to my "to do" list. :)
What a glorious take on Girdy  - springing from a hole, looping intersecting lines - that is just fabulous!


Brenda Urbanik said, "I loved doing it, Girdy is such a nice tangle to play with!"


And play she did - those wavy lines are wonderful and they have such a feeling of depth.  The light touch of Girlande is perfect.

Jenna Wheatmann wrote ~
Loved this weeks challenge especially the tangle Girdy. I managed to fit them all in. I used girdy as the inspiration curving the inside squares between the poles to make it flow, I used gingham to decorate the squares of girdy, flowing through girdy I have lots of strings which create the fan shapes of gothic. I was not sure how to get girlande in so used it as the anchor pin for the strings.
All I can say is, reading Jenna's description, she makes it seem so easy and yet what she accomplished here is just astounding.  One tangle into another, into another, beautifully detailed, sparkled, and shaded, oh my!



AND now, the tile set apart for honors this week was sent in by Germany's Joya!


She wrote that she enjoyed discovering some new patterns as she tangled this - and she posted it here on her blog.

The one element that kept bringing me back to Joya's tile is the way she tangled Girdy.  Notice that even though she has a vanishing point, her drawing does not begin there.  The absolute treat of it though is how she shaded - follow from right to left, or left to right  and observe the angles of her shadows - just fabulous.  She also created the sense that Girlande is in the foreground.

Congratulations, Joya.  I have a little something coming in the mail for you.


Many thanks to the many talented tanglers who sent in their terrific tiles this week.

Thank you to the creative minds behind the string and tangles used this week ~

Sue Agnew for TanglePatterns String 058

Gingham by Margaret Bremner, CZT

Girdy by Karl Stewart

Gothic by Mariet Lustenhouwer

Girlande by Simone Bischoff
Stop by Tuesday afternoon for "It's a String Thing" #59 !