Thanks for visiting my playground for words and images. I hope you find something of interest.



Monday, November 30, 2015

The Diva's Weekly Zentangle Challenge #245

Hollibaugh was one of the first tangles I attempted and I really enjoy the drawing behind technique. I thought I would get the Diva's challenge done quickly this week but here we are about to get the next challenge and I have just finished it. So here's my late entry for the challenge - 





Saturday, November 28, 2015

Tangle with H-W-N

H for Hekzee by Carole Ohl, W for Widgets by Kate Ahrens and N for Narwal by Samantha Taylor. This one is for week 34 of Diane and Carolien's weekly challenge. 

Thursday, November 19, 2015

A villanelle for my niece

I have been experimenting a little lately with writing villanelles. I have a copy of Stephen Fry's book The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within in which he outlines the requirements for a villanelle and gives some very helpful tips. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to know a bit more of the how-to of poetry. 

This one I wrote for my niece, Selena, who is 3 and loves playing with Lego. I haven't thought of a title yet - suggestions welcome! 

Here it is - 

'Play with me, play Lego', she said 
The bricks tipped on to the floor 
A crocodile snapped at Peter Pan's head 

'Snow White, please rescue me', he begged 
But Peter Pan, Snow White ignored 
'Play with me, play Lego', she said 

Tending to flowers in a garden bed 
Was Snow White, busy with teeny pitchfork
A crocodile snapped at Peter Pan's head 

Meanwhile with the treasure a thief had fled 
Took off in a boat through a storm 
'Play with me, play Lego', she said 

She gathered the green, rejected the red 
Coloured bricks all over the lounge-room floor 
A crocodile snapped at Peter Pan's head 

I suggested we play something else instead 
Then came a knock at the door 
'Play with me, play Lego', she said 
A crocodile snapped at Peter Pan's head 

Maybe it wasn't exactly his head!

Tangle with B-E-X

B, E and X for Diane and Carolien's challenge this week. I chose Bask-It by Anna Houston, Equerre by Genevieve Crabe and Xeni by Jacqueline Janssen. These are all new-to-me tangles. I particulaly enjoyed drawing and shading Bask-It. 


Tuesday, November 17, 2015

The Diva's Weekly Challenge #244

'Tripoli Triptastic' is the challenge this week over at www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com. Laura includes a couple of tips for drawing Tripoli which I found very useful. I haven't (yet) shaded the Tripoli on my tile but after another look at Laura's tile, I think I may give it a go. Or perhaps I will draw another one so I can shade it? 

Along with Tripoli I included some Reticulated by Livia Chua and a little Tipple. 


Saturday, November 14, 2015

Tangle with U-K-H

It's U, K and H for Diane and Carolien's challenge this week. I chose Uni by Beth Snoderly, Kisses by Adele Bruno and Harfe by Jennifer Hohensteinor. This one took me a couple of attempts to get it to a point that I like. 


Tuesday, November 10, 2015

The Diva's Weekly Challenge #243

'Just a tiny taste' is the theme for the Diva's challenge this week. The idea is to just do a little bit of tangling on a tile and to leave most of the tile intentionally blank. It is harder than it sounds at first and I found a desire to add a little more and had to make myself stop. I had a couple of attempts at the challenge this week - 






Monday, November 9, 2015

Tangle with S-F-T

It's S, F and T for this week's challenge from Diane and Carolien. I chose Shiraz by Linda Farmer, Fandance by Diane Knauff and Ta-Da by Margaret McKerihan. These 3 were fun. I'll be exploring Fandance and Ta-Da in particular some more. 


Thursday, November 5, 2015

Sand - A monotangle

It's a String Thing #117

I haven't participated in Adele Bruno's challenge, It's a String Thing for a while. I took a peak at the email giving instructions for this week and it looked like lots of fun and I couldn't resist giving it a go when I had some quiet time today. The task was to use the new tangle Sand by Adele Bruno and a string she devised. I like how doing a monotangle encourages you to stretch your thinking. Here's my tile - 


Wednesday, November 4, 2015

The Diva's Weekly Zentangle Challenge #242

It's a new official tangle, Gourdgeous, for the Diva's challenge this week. I don't think it will become one of my favourites but I did enjoy it more that I thought I would. I found it to be one that requires quite a lot of focus which was good.