Biggify challenge

The newest challenge from 'the Diva' asks us to use our tangle patterns in a different way. Instead of drawing multiple intricate patterns as I normally love to do, we were asked to make our tangle patterns as big as possible on the same size paper as we normally use.

So these tiles are my normal 3 1/2 " squares of paper. The tangles in the top tile are hollibaugh, crescent moon, and eke. The lower tile uses pokeleaf and shattuck. I'm not sure these tiles are totally successful to my eye but they are a good exercise and I'm glad I tried it.

Student work - Sunday 11-27

On Sunday I was invited to teach at a home for a group of 8. The home was all decorated for Christmas with music in the background and wonderful goodies on the buffet. The group was already friends so they enjoyed seeing each other again. Once we got started with Zentangles though, they all got quiet! They produced beautiful tiles. They were all commenting as they looked these over, that they were amazed that even though they were all doing the same tangle patterns, they all look so different.

The group of 8 tiles were their first tiles and the group of 6 were their second tiles. (Two of the group had to leave early.)

Thank you Jeanne!

Cyber Monday - at Blicks

I usually don't promote specific stores but I'm going to make an exception today. The store that I prefer for art supplies is Blicks! And today they have a special sale going. 

Look at their pens. They carry the Sakura Micron Pigma pens in all sizes and colors. They are on sale through the web site right now too.

They have the sets of the Sakura Gelly Roll pens too. Look at the metallics, moonlight and glaze sets.

lots of other brands of pens, colored pencils, chalks, and more are here too.

Journals are there if you prefer to work in them.

And if you are planning to do a larger Zentangle inspired art piece as a special gift this Holiday season, look at the printmaking papers they sell in large sheets.

Now - a personal request. If you are interested in this sale, please follow the link on this page. Since I don't earn a salary for doing this blog, at least I'll get a small commission if you decide to make a purchase.

Blick Art Materials has TWO exciting Cyber Monday deals!

Customers can save today, November 28th, 2011: 

10% off orders of $100 or more,

15% off orders of $150 or more,

plus FREE SHIPPING on orders of $99 or more (some restrictions apply),

with promo code CCXA. Offer valid through 11/28/11, 11:59pm CST.

OR

25% off orders $119 or more

plus FREE SHIPPING on orders of $150 or more (some restrictions apply),

with promo code CCVY. Offer valid through 11/28/11, 11:59pm CST.

Tidbits and tingalings

Tangleations are fun! Sometimes I don't want to think about what pattern I want to use next so a good exercise is to use one pattern - in this case 'Bales' - and to come up with as many tangleations as possible. Shading, of course, can be different for each tangleation too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

∩ │◥███◣ ╱◥███◣
╱◥◣ ◥████◣▓∩▓│∩ ║
│╱◥█◣║∩∩∩ ║◥█▓ ▓█◣
││∩│ ▓ ║∩田│║▓ ▓ ▓∩ ║
•°*”˜˜”*°• From my house to your house •°*”˜˜”*°•
•°*”˜˜”*°•Happy Thanksgiving to family and friends•°*”˜˜”*°•

Red Thread Challenge

"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break." -Chinese proverb

The Diva's newest challenge asks us to use a red thread as the string in our tile. As always we are able to interpret it as we want. As I was thinking about thread. I thought about the various quilts we have in our home. Most of them were made by family members. They were either passed down or made specifically for us. I know they were made with love. So for me, the threads in those quilts represents the love and connections we have with our family. 

This tile was done on a traditional 3 1/2 inch tile - and yes - for the tangles I used a 005 Micron pen. The red pen for the thread is a 05 so that shows up a little better.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with their family and loved ones.

Tri -ovals

Last week the Diva posted her Tri-Shapes challenge. I had fun with creating that one so I kept playing with my shape stencils. This one uses three different oval shapes. I also kept on looking for more new tangle patterns - or at least use a few that I don't use very often.

I'm very thankful for my family. We celebrated the christening of our newest grand-baby and the rest of the family came in from out of town too. So this past weekend was, in a way, our own thanksgiving! Getting all three of the girls to smile or even look at the camera at the same time was simply impossible, but I think this picture has charms of its own.

Tri-Shapes challenge

The latest challenge from the 'Diva' asked us to use three shapes - a circle, square, and triangle, to create our string. I tried a number of ways to place the shapes on my tile and was not inspired at all. Then in the middle of the night I thought "Why do the shapes have to be 'on' the tile?" So first thing in the morning I tried it with the shapes all hanging off the edges. That was much better for me.

The second half of the challenge was to use patterns we had never used before. There are so many out there it wasn't hard to find a bunch of patterns that were new to me. Pictured here are;
Rokpool - Neil Burley
Gewgle - Sandy Steen Bartholomew
Bofi - Cindy Angiel
Golven - Mariet Dronten
Sez - Official zentangle pattern
Beeline - Official zentangle pattern
Whirlz - Lori Howe
Pweeko - Mrs Broady

Thanks Diva, for another fun challenge!

Circle of Friends presentation

Yesterday I gave a presentation to a group called 'the Circle of Friends'. They wanted a program that would only be one hour and would appeal to a wide variety of interests. We decided to do a simple ornament. I followed the basics that I normally do in a basics class but simplified and condensed things for the time allowed. There were 26 present. I couldn't corral them all for a picture of all of their ornaments so I'm happy to show you these. Some of the gals 'did their own thing' but since there are no rules in Zentangle, we enjoyed those too. They had a great time and surprised themselves with what they accomplished! Well done ladies!!!

Later that evening my son received an honor that I'm very proud of. He made it into the National Honor Society at his high school. He's a good kid!

Banbury class pictures 11-13

It always amazes me during classes, how everyone can hear the same instructions and come up with tiles that reflect their own individual style. And then when they come up with their own tangleations! WOW! Click on the pictures to make them bigger.

One totally new idea to me is in the first picture - upper left corner. She was doing 'Keeko' and then morphed it into 'Msst'. I love it!

Zentangle World Meditation Project

Since today is a date that seems to have special significance, all the CZT's from around the world have agreed to start a tile at 11:11 in whatever time zone they are in. At the same time we used the meditative properties of Zentangle to send our energy out into the world.

To anyone that is not a CZT but just loves to tangle.  - Please join in whenever you can today! If you don't have a blog but would like to see your work posted, feel free to email me a picture and I'll add it here.

The circle of life - in remembrance

Part of the diva's challenge was simply to remember. Remember laughter and tears, friends and family, fallen heroes or quiet bravery. I did the tile with the poppy that I posted yesterday for the veterans. This tile honors my family. Especially my mother who is now gone. Her love and guidance will always be remembered. I call it the circle of life because I know she is always with us and now is watching over her three great grandchildren who she never met in person.

The outermost tangle is the one I designed and named after my mother, 'Adeline'. The instructions for 'Adeline' can be found here. http://suejacobs.blogspot.com/2011/02/adeline-tangle.html
The three tangles in the middle represent my three granddaughters.
'Queen's Crown' by Suzanne McNeill is for our girl that loves Disney Princesses.
'Ogen' by Christina Vandervlist is for the sister that watches everything her older sister does.
'8 of Diamonds' is for our newest girl who is now 8 weeks old. (Also one of my patterns)

This was done with a pink Micron Pigma pen and shaded with three shades of colored pencils.

Lest We Forget

The latest challenge ties in with Veterans day. In Canada, where the 'Diva' is, they have Remembrance Day. The poppy is the symbol that is handed out on those days. The idea is to remember and honor those that have given their lives for us and those that we remember because they are our heroes.

To do this tile I found a coloring page for a poppy on the internet and used it for inspiration. The poppy is done with a red Micron Pigma pen and then colored with a red colored pencil. In the background I used a variation of the tangle pattern 'Nipa' and shaded it with pencil to resemble the folds of a flag waving in the breeze.

Daylight Savings Time

Yesterday I got an extra hour of sleep. Hallelujah! Then it was the challenge of going from clock to clock in the house and trying to remember how each clock works to properly set it back. As I saw all the different clock faces I thought, hmmm, there is a pattern here. So this is the tile that resulted.

Frost in the air

I'm a little late posting today. Doing grandma duty with my now 7 week old granddaughter is wonderful, but it's hard to get the rest of your day in order. There will be more pictures of her soon.

It seems we are waking up to frost on the ground most mornings now. So this quick little zendala seemed appropriate. Stay warm!

This tile was done with the Pigma pen first and then the color was added with watercolor pencils. I used the pencil dry and then wet it to spread the color out. After that was dry I repeated the steps. Finally I added another darker blue into the corners.

New classes scheduled

I've been busy setting up some new classes lately. The next group will be at Banbury Fair but then I've got some more coming up in a wide variety of places. Check the tab for Zentangle classes periodically to see what's coming. This bag is going to be one of the class projects at an Illinois Prairie Painters seminar next March. It will be an all day class so I'm looking forward to lots of fun! As soon as all the details are set I'll post more info so you can sign up if you are interested.

The Diva is Divine!

Hopefully everyone who reads this blog is aware of who 'The Diva' is. If not, you should. The Diva is actually Laura Harms, based in Canada. The Diva is a CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) who issues new challenges for all Zentangle fanatics. When a challenge is completed you post a link to your artwork on her blog and at the end of the week the Diva compile a slideshow of all the entries. There is no judging, no winners or losers. Just like Zentangle, all entries are appreciated.

Her challenges are so varied. One week they may be related to how to create your string. Another challenge might have us using certain tangle patterns. This week the challenge relates to the holiday, Halloween. They are a lot of fun and really are a good way to get a tile going if you don't feel inspired on your own. In fact, I recommend to all my students that they go back in her blog to see what the previous challenges were and try to complete a few of them at their own pace. 

One week I served as the guest challenger. You can go back and see my challenge here. http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/search/label/sue%20jacobs

This week her blog passed a milestone, 200,000 hits! I'm impressed. So she is having a contest with some pretty impressive prizes. To enter, go to her blog at http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/ and follow the prompts.

By the way, she does all this with two young boys, in between family life and their various health needs. Thanks Laura!