Diva Challenge and Zentangle Expo


This week's Diva Challenge was to tangle while in motion; in a car, on a bus, plane, swing, etc.  Since I am the primary driver at our house, don't own a horse (how cool would a horseback one have been), and I don't have any flights to exotic destinations planned, I fired up my old rocking chair and set off. 
This is a pan pastel stenciled background that I did at Zentangle Expo a couple of weekends ago. I kind of wish I hadn't wasted it on a tile I knew was going to turn out wonky, but if you squint, tilt your head sideways and view it at a distance of precisely 12.6 meters, it looks alright...sort of. It was a fun challenge to do even though I got a little motion sick!



You can see the background below among some others we tried at Zentangle Expo. The ones that looked like I blew ink around with a straw were made by... blowing ink around with a straw. The two colored ones are made with pan pastels and stencils and the black and white is a Japanese method called Notan. (click on the word for a description).


I really loved the Notan. Here is that same tile tangled. 


I also took Chris Letourneau's class on Tangled Gardens. It was really interesting to plan out your tile with a gardener's mindset with regards to height, features and accents. Chris has us make little books to keep our tangle ideas in . 
I took Connie Soba's 'Go With The Flow' class about choosing tangle patterns with common elements that make them flow one into the other. This was the tile from that class. I really need to work more on this concept. I like the feeling of this tile. 

When I got home, I made some of my own pastel backgrounds. I love the colors, but you have to be really careful and use a piece of tissue paper under your hand when you tangle them because the pastel is chalky/crayon-y and rubs off easily. You have to spray them with workable fixative before you tangle and regular fixative afterward. 


So, since Expo, I  have been a tangling fool!  This is a blended, pan pastel background I did on a while tile and tangled it with dragonflies in black, white, purple and silver. 


And this is tangled on a hand colored tile that Tess Imbogersteg did. I'm pretty sure it's ink. It was in my packet of goodies from her class. Since it was her tile, I used her 'Breakers' tangle in the lower left corner. 



Expo was an amazing experience for the third year in a row. Kudos to Katie Butler and her crew! It just gets better every year! Lots of new experiences, techniques and friends!




Comments

What an amazing amount of art, fabulous. Your Diva tile is great and i too thought of a rocking chair for the movement part of the challenge.
LezliB said…
Wow! What a busy lady you have been! And they are all beautiful. I love all the backgrounds that you have done and your challenge tile is spectacular! Thanks for sharing your wonderful artwork.
You have been quite busy and ... with great results. I love your tile for this week's challenge.
Pat Mathes said…
Melinda, great tile! Expo was fun. I wasn't able to go to Connie's class, but really like your morphing/flowing tile.
ria matheussen said…
Nice and original work, especially your Notatile is beautiful!!!
Suzanne Fluhr said…
I'm going to Google Zentangle Expo as soon as I finish this comment. It looks like you learned some interesting and fun tile preparation techniques and I would have chosen the same classes. You've also been very productive with some very nice art to show for it. Good one.
Anonymous said…
My envy knows no bounds - what a wonderful experience to go to a Zentangle Expo. I may sulk later. And you have produced so much lovely work too. I was going to just mention a favourite but could make a decision, although the cherries really are pretty. All in all, excellent post.
michele said…
Oh my! all of your work here is gorgeous. I especially love the Organics;-)

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