Tangle with J-S-W

'No mistakes, only opportunities!' - zentangle saying. You can probably tell where this tile did not turn out quite as I originally anticipated. I'm still fairly happy with it though and particularly with the Jalousie shading. As well as Jalousie by Stephanie Kukla I used the tangles Screen by Margaret Bremner and Warts and Wobbles by Cindy Straight. Here's my tile for Diane and Carolien's zentangle challenge this week.

The Diva's Weekly Zentangle Challenge #249

This week is the fifth anniversary of the Diva's challenge. Wow! I wish I'd known about it for longer but glad to be here now. I've been joining in for about nine months I think. The challenge this week is a Duotangle using Diva-dance and Aura-knot. I've never tried Aura-knot before and now that I have I'm really not sure why not. What a lot of fun it is.

As I posted this I realised I deviated a little from the usual Aura-knot on the larger one. I knew something didn't look quite right! Oh well, I'm going to leave it here -  'no mistakes, only opportunities' as the zentangle saying goes.

Tangle with A-F-M

This is my second attempt at Diane and Carolien's challenge for this week. I wasn't really happy with the first one. Perhaps I'll change my mind when I add some shading. I did the second tile today. Tangles I used are Arukas (an original tangle), Fireworks by Heidi Cook and Minline by Mei Hua Tang (Damy). I particularly enjoyed learning and drawing Minline with it's continuous stroke.

Nourish - my word for 2016

It's that time of year when many reflect on the year just gone and think about wishes and hopes for the year ahead. Some party hard, others see the new year in more quietly, some talk about New Year's Resolutions and some think about a word or a theme for the coming year. There are so many ways people notice (or not notice) and celebrate (or not) the ending of one year and the beginning of another.

I've done a little bit of thinking about the coming year. A few years ago I discovered Susannah Conway's workbook for reflecting on the year gone and thinking about hopes for the year ahead. I highly recommend it and it's available free at this link. She also has a little email offering where she sends emails for five days to help you choose a guiding word for the coming year. I signed up but haven't read the emails (though I have no doubt they are amazing). Partly the reason for that is that my word for 2016 came to me fairly quickly. It is NOURISH. It builds on some of what I began in 2015 in terms of making some small changes to look after myself better. I feel sure it will be a great guide for me during the year ahead and it feels just right.

The year began on a nourishing note for me. On New Year's Eve Brianna and I played a couple of board games, watched some television and I worked on some artwork containing my word. It was a lovely relaxing evening.

Joyful January - I'm in!

Next year (it feels weird writing that and it's less than 2 days away) I will be joining in with Joyful January where people from all over the world will be noticing and sharing things that bring them joy.

The idea comes from Satya Robyn and Kaspalita Thompson who began the River of Stones a few years ago which involved writing to capture a fully-engaged moment. I thoroughly enjoyed participating in that and wrote a small stone every day during January, 2012 (and in fact continued for the rest of the year). I still write them occasionally and you can see them at my other blog www.pausingforsmallstones.blogspot.com.

Satya and Kaspalita write -

"You might want to share an old photo of your dog, a quote you’ve found or a story you’ve heard. You might want to write a few sentences about something that you appreciated during the day. It doesn’t matter what – just anything that makes you smile or brings a little burst of joy."

You can find out more information at http://www.writingourwayhome.com/31-days/31-days-of-joy/. There's also the option of expanding the experience and receiving an email each day as well as other goodies.

To join in with Joyful January you post an image, a few words, share a quote or something that brings you joy and share on facebook, twitter, instagram etc with the hashtag #joyfuljan. I'm sure it will be great fun and inspiration looking through the images and words shared.

I'm planning to share an image or some words each day in January (I'm not quite decided on where yet) and some longer posts going in to more detail here. I'm looking forward to noticing and sharing what brings me joy in January.

Tangle with L-P-N

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! I'm back from a fun and yummy lunch with family and looking forward to a quiet evening ahead. A well-balanced day in my opinion!

This week's letters for Diane and Carolien's zentangle challenge are L, P and N. I did this tile yesterday on Christmas Eve and is a little influenced by the season. I chose Pixiose by Margaret Bremner for P, Lantern by Donna Blair for L and N-meshed by Linda Rainsford for N.

Tangle with T-O-Q

Something a little different for me this week for Diane and Carolien's Weekly Zentangle Challenge.  I chose 3 ribbon-like tangles. The first two I did were Organza by Ruth Howell and Qian-long by Diane Tai and at that point I was very happy with the tile. I then decided on the third tangle, Twistee by Livia Chua. For a while I was worried that I had overdone it and it felt too busy but some shading saved the day (and tile). All three of these tangles were a delight to draw. 

A feast for the birds (and Shadow Shot Sunday - December 13, 2015)

I wrote about my bumper crop of apricots last year. You can read about it here. It's a very different story this year. There are not as much fruit on the tree and the birds have certainly found what is there. I have managed to pick some and give some away again and if I'm quick I will get some more as they ripen but nothing like last year's crop. 

The Diva's Weekly Zentangle Challenge #247

Wow, it's December already! As it was the first Monday of the month this week that means a Use My Tangle (UMT) challenge over at www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com. This week it is the tangle, African Artist by Tina-Akua Hunziker, CZT. 

Tangle with X-P-I

The letters this week for Diane and Carolien's Weekly Challenge are X, P and I. I chose Lila Popcheff's tangle X for X, Karry Henn's tangle Palrevo for P and Jennifer Hohensteiner's tangle Ipso for I. For a change I added a little colour this week.