"It's a String Thing" #218 Tiles

It is Monday and I remain grateful that we gather here to accentuate the positives in life and spend a bit of time admiring the artwork of our fabulously talented contributors.  This week we concentrated on two tangles that invoked heavenly thoughts: Drawings and O.

Let's take a look ~

The first tile arrived from Joke Luessenkamp (Eibergen, The Netherlands) ~

Dear Adele and tangler friends,
Although I couldn't become friends with Drawings, O therefore was quite fun to play with.
Not to unhappy with the end result I decided to send this Zentangle.
Greetings from The Netherlands in deep Autumn colors,

Tangled Tidbits -

*oodles of awesome O

*aura and dark background along with shared brown detail lines unite the two tangles

From Verena (NRW, Germany) ~

It was very nice to tangle.
Happy greetings from Germany, NRW

Tangled Tidbits -
*sparkle, shading, highlights - all make O shine
*a lovely layering of mirrored Drawings


From Jennifer Wilken (Hudson River Valley Region, New York) ~

I really enjoyed getting to learn and play with “O”. Thanks for another great challenge!

Tangled Tidbits -
*beautiful O variations include dots and rounded corners
*Drawings' open lines allow background to show through


From Vonnie Schneider (St. Paul, Minnesota) ~

Blessings on the days where the worlds come close to offer wisdom from the ancestors.
This week marked the 5th anniversary of my Dad crossing over after a long battle with cancer. His mantra was to never give up, and that he did until he gave me the greatest gift in letting go.
This time of year always brings many visitors in dreams and thoughts...a smile here, the faint scent of a familiar perfume, spoonerisms when you least expect it! I chose to walk a different path than that which I grew up in. There isn’t a name for it, but I embrace it and am so grateful that the fork in the road brought me to where I am today.
Thank you for the opportunity to honor the family and friends on this tile. I decided that a tangleation of Drawings was the perfect way to showcase them.
Blessings again on this time of year.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*Drawings with loved ones' names, a beautiful remembrance
*one large, shaded O


From Joan Delony, CZT (Florida) ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*plump and rounded Drawings
*pieces of O dot the tile


From Lynn G (Florida) ~

Thank you for another fun challenge, I really love your O tangle.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*mirrored Drawings, softly shaded
*light and dark, large and small O


From Talia Maynard (London, United Kingdom) ~

Here's my tile for this week's challenge. For some reason I'm finding tangling quite difficult at the moment. Whenever I put my pen to the paper I hate the result. I either make lots of mistakes or I just don't find the finished design aesthetically pleasing. But I've been trying to muddle on through. With this tile I found Drawings really hard to get right. The top version looks a mess, but the other two parts I'm happier with. O is a delight to draw because it's so simple but effective. So this tile for me is a real mixed bag. I wanted to submit it though, even though the other tiles you get every week are so much more beautiful.

Tangled Tidbits -

Keep tangling and stay positive - your work is beautiful.

*smiling faces tip Drawings 

*O floats on deep background

From Margarete Gilge (Germany) and here on her blog ~

the patterns of this week's challenge were not so easy to combine with the string. I drew several attempts until I was satisfied with the result. On my blog you find a second tile under the link . I am always excited how differently a topic is handled by different people.Thank you for your commitment and the time you invest to put together all the submissions.
Best wishes from Germany

 Tangled Tidbits -
*great depth created in O with darkened line sections
*lovely Drawings variations


A very warm welcome to Miriam Gresnigt (The Netherlands) and also on Instagram ~

Thanks for giving the opportunity to be a part of this challenge.
I am a selftought tangler since I discovered Zentangle in November 2016. I had never drawn before, but I am addicted since the day I saw the video Auraknot.
I love challenges with a given string and patterns. This week two new patterns to me, but I like them both. It is true, your O is really zen!
I hope you like the result.

Tangled Tidbits -

*glorious O - wonderful overlapping

*Tipple and Flux compliment Drawings and O

Welcome to our IAST community and welcome to our tangled map, Miriam ~

From Annette (California) ~

Happy Halloween. Thanks for another great challenge and inspiration to create something, here is what I came up with

 Tangled Tidbits -
*tangle covered string lines
*soft blue O


From Shirley Wohlsen (Queensland, Australia) ~

Attached is my Tile for ‘It’s A String Thing #218”challenge.
Many Thanks, Adele, for a great challenge, I enjoyed the Tangles.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*flowing Drawing lines
*O really pops with inward shading and dense concentration of line


From VenaC (Whitby, Ontario, Canada) ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*elegantly embellished Drawings
*string lines flow over, under, and through O

From Lisette (Switzerland) ~

I’m sending my tile before and after coloring. I was totally unhappy with my first version - so dull and sad. Absolutely not the way I’m feeling… I tried to add color to drawings. Now it looks much more to what I liked to express (although I’m still a bit disappointed - don’t know why). This was really a challenge for me.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*beautiful shading and highlights make O shine
*layered tangles add even more depth


From Hilary (Chicago) ~

Here's my #218. I can't decide if I love or hate this! Sometimes I think I should have done Drawings differently, sometimes I'm pleased with it. I used paper with a background that I had watercolored awhile ago, pen, and colored pencils.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*full and flowing Drawings
*O shines in shades of blue


From Lin H, CZT (Florida) ~

Thanks for your latest challenge 218, Adele. I love your tangle pattern O and would have happily done a monotangle with it this week but ended up adding Drawings to my tile, too. Thanks for sharing your Halloween tangled houses—they are adorable!

Tangled Tidbits -
*a large, full O for each string section
*tranzending Drawings


From Ulrike (Germany) ~

...this was really a challenge for me. I never tangled Drawings. I tried again and again in different variations, but I am not really contented. It will be not better and so I send you this result. Your O is well, isn´t it? I like it and will use it every once in a while.

Tangled Tidbits -
*large and small O - shaded to the outside
*graceful Drawings


From Miriam G (Port Hueneme, California) ~

Here is my tile for IAST 218. I still have a little trouble with 'Drawings' and need a bit more practice with it, but I appreciated the challenge. And I always enjoy' O'!

Tangled Tidbits - 

*wispy lines of Drawings

*brown, black, shaded, overlapping and intertwining O

From Laurel Davis, CZT (New York) ~

Thanks for another fun challenge! I love your O tangle and will be using it again.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*O filled with gorgeous gems
*golden Drawings


From Aileen (Singapore) ~

Rainbows and raindrops in sunny Singapore

 Tangled Tidbits -
*colorful, layered O
*Drawing blossoms


From Priscilla DeConti, CZT (Kingston, New York) ~

Another busy week and this challenge kept me on my toes. I added another pattern and didn't quite stay with in the string
Hope you are well. I used a little color pencils for highlights for a little spice.
Have a great week!

Tangled Tidbits -
*a Drawings for each string section
*shading gives O dimension


From Cyndee Pelley (Oklahoma) and here on her blog ~

Hi Adele! It's all finally Autumn here in Oklahoma! Thank goodness! I did my entry this week on black. Yes I should have stayed with white. But i lost myself in whimsy, got out my Sakura stardust gel pens. These are special glitter pens. Instead of adding glitter to the ink like most glitter pens, Sakura uses a super fine ground glass. When you talked about halos I think I got distracted! Here is my tile 2 ways, one to see lines and one for glitter because at heart I'm still a little girl who wants to make things pretty!

 Tangled Tidbits -
Oh, what happy thoughts and happy tangles!
*double lined Drawings complete with sparkle
*multi-colored O

From Sharon Fite (California) ~

Fun but a bit of a challenge! My Drawings and O looked a little lonely, and the Floo (a current favorite) flew in. I'm interested in seeing what everyone came up with. Thanks, Adele!

Tangled Tidbits - 

*white chalk and a touch of shading add wonderful softness to the tangles

*three shades of O, three string lines of O

From Henrike Bratz, CZT and Ute Andresen (Germany) ~

my dear friend Ute Andresen spent the weekend with me. We’ve been doing a lot of tangling. Together we tangled our tiles for your #218 and enjoyed it al lot. Here come our two tiles.

Tangled Tidbits - 

How wonderful that you had time to tangle together!

*thin and thicker O string lines

*elegant lines of Drawings

Tangled Tidbits - 

*spectacular shading, sense of light and dark - especially where tangles overlap

*soft swirls of Drawings

From Susan Theron (Velddrif, South Africa) ~

Tangled Tidbits - 

Welcome back, Sharon!

*beautiful bursts of Drawings

*O, in various sizes and thickness, fill in the background

From Jonesy (St. Louis, Missouri) ~

Hi Miss Adele! While my submission is late, I had to try and get it in you because of its significance for me.
A few weeks ago, I lost my little sister to gun violence, and I didn't create any art for a while. I started back drawing recently, and decided to join this challenge. While I was drawing it today, I was listening to the news report about the mass killing in Texas, and I knew right away that I wanted to dedicate this one to the people who lost their lives. I'm calling it "Steal-Life".

 Tangled Tidbits -
I am so sorry for your loss, my heart and prayers go out to you and your family.
*angelic Drawings, weighted lines
*an O stack and many beautiful variations


From Felicity Strohfeldt (South Africa) and here on her blog ~

Tile 218 happened at speed, but both these tangles, Drawings by Maria Roberts and O by yourself are amazing patterns to use and I just loved how beautifully they work together. Magical.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*two intertwining, large center tangles - note the zigzag sparkle on O
*weighted, sparkled lines and wonderful shading of Drawings


And now...

the tile for honors this week...

was sent in by...

Sharon Penna, CZT from Massachusetts!  Sharon writes:

So, I drew the string, turned the tile 1/4 to the right ... and then the string was abandoned.
I gave a star shape variation to your O tangle (such a simple/elegant, little black dress of a tangle!) and deepened the shading at the centers between the points. Drawing just begs for an influx of Flux!
Cheers and thanks for a prompt that offered a total take-me-away moment.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*heavenly layered Drawings
*weighted lines, wonderful shading
*star shaped O
*string line visible and tangles flow where they may


Congratulations, Sharon!

Thank you to Maria Thomas for her Drawings and to all of you for sharing the tangled joy.

Stop by Tuesday afternoon for "It's a String Thing" #219!