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.

The Diva's Weekly Zentangle Challenge #235

This week's challenge from the Diva aka Laura Marks is to draw stripes across your tile or paper to make the string.

I used my O4 Sakura Micron Pigma pen. I quite like the bold lines and it's the pen I keep returning to.

Shadow Shot Sunday - September 13, 2015

What a fabulous day for shadows today!

A while ago my landlord cleared a lot of the area outside my kitchen window. With all the space, the Jasmine plant has well and truly taken advantage of the chance to spread. It's leaves make for some great shadows.

There's a rusty old chair that the plant has latched on to,

taking the opportunity to grow in another direction.

I also spotted some great shadows near the back gate. These grow into huge trees, which are rather a nuisance but they do make for some great shadows. These plants will be gone soon. I need to get out and do some clearing. It's difficult to get motivated though, particularly with the coughs and sneezes which inevitably come at the start of Spring for me.

Tangle with S-P-C

When I saw the letters for Diane and Carolien's challenge this week, the jingle SPC Baked Beans and Spaghetti started going round and round in my head. I think maybe I was influenced by that when I chose the tangles to use. My finished tile does look slightly 'baked beans and spaghetti'ish. I chose Swarm for S, Pea-nuckle for P and Crescent Moon for C. I haven't used any of these tangles before. Pea-nuckle was particularly fun. I recommend looking it up on www.tanglepatterns.com and giving it a go!

I've been playing with colour quite a lot this week, using my Derwent Inktense pencils and enjoying them immensely but it was nice to revisit black and white and the focus on the lines.

Tangle with U-J-B

This week for Diane and Carolien's weekly challenge the letters are U, J and B. The challenge is to use tangles starting with these letters. It can be tangles only beginning with those letters or others can be added as well. I use Linda's list of original zentangle patterns (on www.tanglepatterns.com) first then if there are no patterns that I haven't already used starting with the focus letter then I look further afield.

This week I used the original tangle, Bunzo along with Undu by Daniel Lamothe and Jeewels by Livia Chua. It is the first week I've used colour in one of these challenges. I love my Derwent Inktense pencils and have just begun playing with them.

Tangle with P-I-J

P is for Paradox, I is for Ix and J is for Jambalee. Here is my entry this week in Diane and Carolien's Weekly Challenge.

Shadow Shot Sunday - August 30th, 2015

Doing the dishes this morning was a little more enjoyable with the great shadows from some dried flowers I haven't yet moved from the kitchen bench.

See other people's shadow shots at http://www.shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com.au/.

Brianna has joined the colouring craze

I have been quite busy lately so there hasn't been a lot of opportunity to use my new colouring pens and pencils. I have enjoyed some in little pockets of down time, usually while half watching something on television. It's fun to choose the colours and I love the brightness of the Stabilo pens so have mainly been using them.

I've been without them for a few days lately as 

 

Brianna has joined the colouring craze

 
We took a special trip to the shops to get her own book and she chose 'The Little Book of Calm Colouring' by David Sinden and Victoria Kay. I love the combinations of colours she has chosen. 

 First page coloured by Brianna (14)

The one she is working on now

One of mine - nearly done!
 

This evening I began a page in The Secret Garden book. Very happy with the thick paper in this book - the colour doesn't bleed through the paper