Shadow Shot Sunday - May 3rd, 2015

Just two leaves left on the tree in the front yard. 

This post is for Shadow Shot Sunday. See other people's photos of shadows at www.shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com. 

Treasure found lying around the house...

I often wish that my daughters were better at putting things away. My eldest daughter (18) often has a project on the go. The latest was to teach herself how to crochet, which she did amazingly well, making a cat toy which was really cute. Often she leaves the materials out rather than taking them to her room or packing them away. This annoys me but then every now and then I don't mind. Like the morning I was doing a bit of tidying and came across this picture of Max from Where the Wild Things Are on the couch. 

How gorgeous! She had asked me to pass her the figurine the evening before (see http://kyliesconversations.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/shadow-shot-sunday-october-5th-2014.html for photos of Max and some of his wild friends) and a tin of pencils. 

My six words for this week - 

Treasure found lying around the house

perhaps when you least expect it (another six!)

Over at Kate's blog you can see how others describe their week or part thereof in six words. 

Tangle with J-K-L

This week for Diane and Carolien's Weekly Zentangle challenge the task is to tangle with patterns beginning with J, K and L. Using patterns only beginning with those letters is okay as is adding other patterns if you want. I decided to use one pattern beginning with each letter. As soon as I saw Laced I knew that was the one I wanted and Knightsbridge is one I like quite a lot and have drawn before. Jetties was one I hadn't done before and decided to give it a go. Getting that round shape takes some practice!

I wasn't happy with my first attempt and decided to try again. I'm much happier with the second one but I'm a little scared to shade it and not sure whether I will. Interestingly though, the few people I've showed them to have preferred the first one. Which one do you prefer? 

If you would like to join in the fun go here. 

I am the Diva Weekly Zentangle Challenge #215

It's a fun challenge this week at Laura's blog. I've been joining in for 5 weeks now and this is my favourite so far. 

The task this week is to draw a labyrinth to use as the string and then tangle it. Laura has posted a couple of links about drawing labyrinths and I found them a great help. It took a bit of planning and I used an eraser a couple of times trying to get the labyrinth drawn on my tile.  Hint: don't start too high or you'll run out of room at the top. I ended up deciding to have the labyrinth at the bottom of my tile. 

Once the labyrinth was drawn (which was fun to work out) it was a lot of fun deciding on patterns and the actual tangling, especially when following the labyrinth, was very relaxing. 

Diva-dance with Rain

I went outside earlier today to get some photos for Shadow Shot Sunday. There were a few shadows around and I attempted to get a shot of some on some of the big leaves growing in my backyard. Unfortunately though the shadows can't be seen in the photos - they were quite faint. 

Diva-dance is the tangle for this week on the Square One: Purely Zentangle and I decided to give it a try using the leaves as inspiration for the string. It also seemed fitting to combine it with Rain due to the raindrops on the leaves. 

Here's a photo and my Diva-dance with Rain. 

Not quite sure whether I like this one. It has inspired many possibilities though!

The Diva's Weekly Zentangle Challenge #214

A circle to represent the earth, a tree as a string and a tangle named River. 

This one is for the "Amanda Day/Earth Day (Round 4)" challenge over at www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com. 

Tangle with G-H-I

I'm back again, participating in Diane and Carolien's Weekly Zentangle Challenge. This week the task is to tangle with patterns beginning with G, H and I. You can use only tangles beginning with those letters or add other tangles if you wish. This week I have stuck to one tangle beginning with each of the letters. The tangles I used are Golven, Hollibaugh and Indy-Rella. You can find out more about the various patterns at www.tanglepatterns.com. 

I had a few quite similar attempts at this one and I'll post the last one. This is the one done with my new Sakura pen. I was excited yesterday to find the art supplies shop nearby sells them. Unfortunately they didn't have the 01 in stock which I really wanted but I've got a 005 and an 02 for now. Yay! And so happy to have a nearby place to get them. I was going to go to a shop much further away but thought I'd pop into the nearby one just in case. So glad I did! I also got an impromptu demonstration of shading. Now to practise! 

I think I would prefer Tipple (or another circle pattern) instead of Indy-Rella but that wouldn't fit the challenge. I love how the ideas come for more tiles come when working on one. 

Shadow Shot Sunday - April 19th, 2015

I missed Shadow Shot Sunday last week as there wasn't much sun at all. That's not a problem this morning though. I need to pull these plants out before they get much bigger but in the meantime here's some great shadows - 

To see other people's shadow shots go to www.shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com. 

Why are they all about leaves?

Brianna was looking over my shoulder as I was posting on my other blog this morning when she asked,

"Why are they all about leaves?"

She was talking about the small pieces I write almost every day on my other blog, www.pausingforsmallstones.blogspot.com. Each piece is a small observation of something that day (or sometimes from the day before). I guess I have been noticing leaves quite a lot recently as it is Autumn here. 

Here are the last three of my short observations (or small stones) - 

2015 - April 18

leaves spinning

along the gutter

across the road

2015 - April 17

leaves

bright reds and yellows

shine among the puddles

2015 - April 16

collage of leaves

on the car's back window

rain as glue

This week particularly I have been noticing the vibrant reds and yellows and a couple of days I have enjoyed walking in the slight rain. On Thursday I was walking through town and it was raining slightly. The leaves were stunning on the pavement and tables, mixing with the rain. I really wanted to linger and take multiple photos but unfortunately was in a rush that day and my phone battery went flat anyway. I did manage to get one quick snap before the phone turned off. 

Leaves on a table top

I took a couple more shots today when leaving the shops. 

Leaf on wet brick path

"Why don't you take a photo of those ones in the drain?", Brianna challenged me.

If it wasn't raining so much this afternoon I may have gone for a walk to notice the leaves some more and get some photos. It was, however, a very wet afternoon. There was a Beachside Food and Wine Festival planned nearby which unfortunately had to be cancelled. What a shame - it sounded like a wonderful event and I'm sure there were many people looking forward to it as well as many people who had done a lot of planning and organising. 

So I don't have any photos of red leaves but did pop out to the backyard and got a photo of some of the leaves on the apricot tree at the moment. 

This is a Six Word Saturday post. To see how other people describe their week, or part thereof in six words go to www.showmyface.com. 

Tangle with D-E-F

I'm back for week 2 of Diane and Carolien's Weekly Zentangle Challenge. This week the task is to use tangles beginning with the letters D, E and F. I am finding this a great way to discover and practice tangles. I'm actually a couple of weeks ahead with the challenge as it is following the alphabet and will post the tiles I've done at the appropriate times. For now though here is my tile for week 2 - 

The tangles I used are Drupe, Eye-wa, Fescu, Florz and Flux. Find out more about tangles and how to draw them at www.tanglepatterns.com. 

If you would like to join the fun go here.