Diva Challenge #40 - Pinwheels for Peace

The challenge this week is in honor of International Day of Peace on Sept. 21st and Pinwheels for Peace.  Please follow the links to read more.

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Zentangle Diva Challenge 39 Love Is All You Need

This zentangle may be the oddest one I have ever done.  It's not that I don't like it - it actually looks a lot better in person than the scanned image - albeit in it's own quirky and odd way.  The whole process of creating a piece for this challenge was just odd from the start.  When I read the challenge I had an instant picture of a completed piece - this one (mostly what I remember of it).  I definitely prefer the zentangle way of creating as you go so I am not sure where this image came from or why.  Initially I rejected and resisted putting it down on paper.  Unfortunately my attempts to create a challenge piece were getting me nowhere so I decided to create the image just to get it out of my system.  My hope was that I would then be free of it and move on to creating something for the challenge.  No luck there - did create a few pieces but none felt like they had anything to do with love.  In the end I decided to show a little love to this piece and post it anyway.  Still looking to find the message here - maybe it's that love is the universal language and we all might be better off if we spoke more of it?

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Diva Challenge #38 - Better Than a Pair of Ducks - aka Paradox

The challenge this week - a monotangle using Paradox - probably my favorite tangle.  Once you get the hang of it and remember to turn your tile - the possibilities are endless.

What's that quote about life happens while you're making other plans?  That's exactly what happened while working on this challenge.  I had yesterday all planned out - lots of time spent at the studio working on tangles and this challenge, get home to post it (before the last minute!) and then kick back and enjoy a little football.  Oops - not gonna happen - little did I know that when the power went out about an hour before I was going to head home that it would turn into a long but OK evening with no power for me and about 4 million other folks in our region!  Power back on during the night - all is well but they are warning that the system is fragile from a total blackout and power up so it's nice that the temps dropped about 15 degrees from the last few days.

Back to the challenge - first up I decided to break out the pyro pen and woodburn one.  It is burned on a 4" basswood tile. I rather like the way it turned out.  Used a template to draw the initial octagon and then freehand from there.

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This one I used a pentagon as the string and then let the experiment begin.  It's not a typical Paradox in that it does not spiral into the center in the traditional way of drawing it.  Instead I used the Paradox stroke - first by drawing 5 lines all the way around each leg of the shape. Then reversed course and drew 5 lines going in the opposite direction.  Next just repeated the 5 lines and the reversing it until reaching the center and completed it the standard way.  Does that make sense - easier to do than write it out!  Have not decided how I want to shade it so posting as is - for now.

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This last one - an old one -  not really for this challenge - just because I like it and wanted to include it here for future paradox reference.

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Love Paradox - did a few others but will need to scan and post later.

Diva Challenge 37 Kiss My Grids!

The challenge this week - use only grid based patterns.

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Where did August go - or maybe the correct question is where did I go in August.  It's been a wild month.  The highlight was teaching a wonderful  ZIA (zentangled inspired art) Workshop.  Lots more to post about that in a separate entry later.  The not as bright event - I had to relocate my studio.  When I moved in six months ago I did so knowing that I might have to move out now.  It's been a great 6 months being associated with the Shepherdess bead store in Old Town - we both wanted the arrangement to continue but the situation was out of our hands and control.  The scary part is that I was not having any luck finding a suitable new space.  As it got closer to the end of the month and no place to go I decided the best option was to rent a storage unit and just pack it all away until I found a suitable space.

Funny how life works - or maybe it's just another example of the Magic of Zentangle - but the Saturday morning I decided to go in search of the best deal of a storage unit I decided to check craigslist one more time.  There was one new posting that looked intriguing.  I called - the first good sign - they were not put off by the idea of an art studio since the current and the previous tenants were using it as studio space.  Made arrangements to see it that same afternoon. The landlord had made arrangements for the current tenant to have me come by and see it and then let him know if I was interested.  Enlisted a friend to come along in order to have another set of eyes so I didn't miss something in my desperation at wanting to find a place. Thanks Kristy!  We walked in and both knew I'd found a space that would work out very well.   Had a great time talking with the current tenant - she's only moving because she needs a bigger space for her growing business.  Here is part of the magic - she had only given her notice the day before (Friday), the landlord posted it early Saturday morning and I saw the ad within about 30 minutes of it being posted.  I signed the lease on Sunday!  Had a little over a week to to get things packed and arrange for the move.

Everything is in the new place still a bit chaotic getting it all unpacked and set up.  I wasn't sure that I could find a space at a rent I could afford where I could also teach classes. The good news -  it's large enough that I will be able to accommodate small classes of 6 or 7 students.   The other exciting part is that I can use the small second room to work on my wood projects.  Will be fun to finally get the saws and carvers unpacked.  Haven't been able to do that work since I closed the gourd studio over 2 years ago.

For those that have inquired about classes - I will be in touch and will be posting a new schedule soon.