Tangle with U-N-D

For Diane and Carolien's challenge this week I chose the tangles Unme by Debra Castaldi, Nuwave by Beth Snoderly and DLSunray by Donna Hornsby. For this challenge I have also begun choosing a string from www.tanglepatterns.com. This week I chose string 122 from Adele Bruno.

Doing this one was a great example of the usefulness of persistence. There were many points I almost gave up on this one but it hasn't turned out too badly in the end.

Enjoyable, challenging end to the week

I hoped for some teaching this week. After having the flu at the end of last term and two weeks of school holidays I was particularly happy (and a little nervous) to get two days of teaching at the end of the week. What a lot of variety there can be in my day. From reading picture books (this week it was one of my favourites, The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt), to singing and dancing, a game of kickball (with bases like softball but batters kick the ball), maths, art and more. I taught a year one class on Thursday and a year three and four class on Friday. On Thursday the year ones did some crayon art. I hadn't planned it exactly but it was a good tie in with the crayon book. What a great job they did!

 

 

This activity was suggested by the regular class teacher. It's one I'll definitely be keeping in mind for future relief days. It's really good for talking about working together, as a team and how everyone's contribution is important. Afterwards I was thinking too that it would go well with reading The Dot by Peter Reynolds. We got some maths in too, talking about quarters.

 

This is a Six Word Saturday post. See how other people describe their week or part of at www.showmyface.com. 

Tangle with L-Z-P

This week for Diane and Carolien's challenge the letters are L, Z and P. I chose Logjam by Wayne Harlow, Zonked by Barbara Finwall and Pais by Mikee Huber. I started out trying to draw a straight grid for Zonked but it was a little wonky so I decided to start again and make the lines deliberately curved. It looks quite effective I think. And I'll give it another go with a square grid sometime. It's one that takes a lot of concentration.

I'm posting the pre and post shaded versions again. I particularly like how Logjam turned out when shaded.

 

Tangle with R-K-I

I have changed my approach to Diane and Carolien's Weekly Challenge a little. I was using original zentangle patterns first where possible. Now I have decided to use any patterns  I find on www.tanglepatterns.com for the letters. I aim to choose them fairly quickly and to use one pattern for each letter.

What a difference some shading and a 'mistake' can make! I chose the patterns Reticulated by Livia Chua, Kitchener by Mary Sargeant and Inchworm by Lori Byerly. Three really fun patterns! I'm going to put my before and after shading photos here to show the difference. You'll notice there is also more black on the shaded example. It's said that there are no mistakes in zentangle. Doesn't it go something like no mistakes, only opportunities? That is the case here. I started colouring one of the squares as I had messed up the pattern I planned and added some strokes where I hadn't planned them. I decided to colour the alternate rows of diamonds and the border of the other rows. I quite like how it turned out. It makes Kitchener stand out whereas I felt it was getting a bit lost.

The Diva's Weekly Zentangle Challenge #238

It's a Use My Tangle challenge this week at http://www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com.au/. The tangle is Tri-bee by Beate Winkler, CZT from Germany.

I had a try at Tri-bee and wasn't that happy with what I'd done so relaxed and started playing and before I knew it I had something that I do quite like and quite different from a lot of what I do.

Tangle with F-I-N

This week for Diane and Carolien's challenge the letters are F, I and N. For the first time I have missed a week of this challenge.I may or may not go back to it. I have so many creative endeavours going on at the moment!

I chose the tangles Fiore (by Jana Rogers), Inapod (by Carole Ohl) and Navaho (by Caren Mlot). I thought I would do something a little different this week and as two of the patterns are grid based I decided to tangle on some paper which has a light dot grid base marked.

I was going to cut out a square to use but ended up tangling over the whole piece. I enjoyed all 3 of these tangles. Inapod is such a lot of fun to draw! It's tricky to get the lines straight in Navaho and mine certainly aren't but I think it looks alright when you've done quite a few. It was similar for Fiore. Some of my early ones were a bit wobbly but together they look fine.
Here they are, pre and post shading.

Shadow Shot Sunday - September 27, 2015

I spotted some great shadows this morning while doing the dishes. My kitchen window looks out on to a small garden area. It doesn't take much to distract me from the dishes. I was soon out there taking photos.

These are from some very large leaves

This one reminds me of a lizard (upside down).

 

Some wispy, weedy shadows

A rose plant growing in a crack in the cement.

Great shadows today - you can see the edges of the leaves!

 

You can see other people's shadow shots at www.shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com 

The Diva's Weekly Challenge #236

The challenge from the Diva this week is to tangle on something unexpected. This one sent me on a bit of an adventure. I thought for a while about what to tangle on. I remembered some paint swatches I had from some poetry writing fun I did a while ago and set about finding them. After a bit of a search I found them along with memories of some tiny poems I had written. I decided to try tangling on a couple of the swatches with three colours. They didn't turn out as well as I imagined but it was fun doing them. Sometimes things don't turn out as you expect (and sometimes they turn out better). That's the thing with creative play! One of the things that was difficult was the ink took longer to dry than on other papers so was prone to smudging. As this blog is about play rather than perfection I'll post them here anyway.

Poetry and a couple of bugs

Last Sunday I went down to Goolwa to the Signal Point Gallery for the launch of the Friendly Street Poets reader for 2014.

There was only a small crowd, particularly in comparison with last year's event, but it was a pleasant afternoon of poetry in a great setting.

Friendly Street Poets is Australia’s longest running open-mic poetry reading community. Each year editors choose poems from the open-mic readings to form an anthology. I've seen quite a few of them and they are full of good quality poems (the latest included).

As well as enjoying the poetry there was a great art exhibition on (as there usually is). I took a couple of photos of some rather large bugs.

The Praying Mantis

 

The Wasp

These amazing sculptures are by Benjamin Young who has used his skills as an Artistic Blacksmith in his recovery from a serious brain injury (suffered in previous employment).


There's a little bit of a double meaning with my six words for Six Word Saturday this week.

Poetry and a couple of bugs.



Brianna and I have both been quite sick this week with some sort of bug. It's been a few days of lots of rest.

This coming week will have poetry in it for me as well. My poetry group is hosting a Friendly Street meeting on Thursday evening. I'm looking forward to it and the opportunity to share some of my words and listen to others.

 

Tangle with C-D-#

For Diane and Carolien's Weekly Challenge the task this week is to tangle with patterns beginning with C, D and a number. I chose Chime by Beth Snoderly, Diamond panes by Margaret Bremner and 4corners by Barbara Finwall. Some of my lines are a bit wonky, matching how I feel having been sick for a few days. It was a challenge to keep going with this one and I nearly gave it away but in the end I'm reasonably happy with how it turned out.