It's a String Thing # 103

I am really really waiting for the challenges. This week we were to use the patterns Meer, mi2 and MrE :)

meer and Mr E I have never used and Mi2 I always found super beautiful but tricky :) 

 I hope you like my tile . We are on the way to Santa's village and I actually drew it in the car, hence the shaky lines. Still I like this one a lot. Mr E caused me more trouble than Mi2 :P somehow I always struggle with the fun patterns. 

Anyway...

Here a couple of impressions from the trip...

I see a pattern growing from this image. I just need some time and quiet ^^ 

Diva Challenge # 228

Today I am on the road to Norway at the moment. Today we should reach the Nordkapp but now we Are still in Sodankylä. I drew my challenge tile for the Diva Challenge # 228 last night. Guest blogger Cari Sultanik chose an amazing topic. I really loved the topic "Organic tile. A big thank you to the amazing guest blogger for choosing my favorite kind of topic :)

I used Auraknot, a pattern I never liked to draw but wanted to try it. I also challenged myself with a bit of Quandary. We will never become friends :D The tile is not perfect as I only have a micron and a pen to shade :) here it is :) 

As much as I love structured patterns, organic ones give me more freedom. I usually draw without a string. I sometimes feel that a string limits me. I like to see where the patterns leas me, not the string.

I hope you like it :)

Weekly Challenge #16: Tangle with U-N-I by Carolien and Diane

I feel in love with challenges as they usually make me use new tangles and others that I am not comfortable with or scared to use. So I discovered the challenges by Diane and Carolien. 

This week it was number 16 with the challenge to use tangles starting with the letters U-N-I. Uni means actually "dream" in Finnish, by the way. :) My tile is not dreamy at all but I am so happy with it. I always liked the tangle Intwine. The challenge for me was to make it in a circle. I always had trouble with that but I am happy with the result.

Does anyone know the feeling, that when you do a tangle, you make ten of the same strokes, but number eleven goes wrong. You start thinking what you have been doing and suddenly do it wrong. That often happens to me. So you might notice the mistake in my Intwine, but we all know that mistakes are allowed in Zentangle. :)

For N I used my all time favorite, N´zeppel. I always loved this tangle, you dan find it in most of my non- challenge tangles.

The last letter, U, meant Umble to me. I have always been curious about it and now I dared to do it. I made a couple of mistakes. Same pattern as above, but I think I covered it up.

Now time to show the tile :)

What do you think?

I changed the colors a bit for umble, but other than that I am for once really proud of what I made, especially considered that I did it at work :)

Anyway, have a great weekend!

The Diva Challenge #227

As the Diva takes her well earned vacations, guest blogger Lee Darter challenged us  this week with the topic "Circus" for the challenge number 227 . My first thoughts were "ok...?". Then I checked the patterns and actually they looked fabulous!

Tropicana I have done before and I love the easiness of this pattern. You can make it in a straight line, wavy, crossing over and under. It reminds me on old Italy, actually, I imagine Florence, Rome, fancy Roman buildings.

Cack, I was not so sure about this one. It looked to me like one of these patterns I can do nothing with. Circles. Not my things. But actually it turned out fun. Maybe this won't be a tangle I use in every tile, but maybe we will see these fun little balls again. :)

The third pattern was a choice between Fescu, Flord and Linq. Tough one. I like all of them, but as I am someone who can not stand empty space, I choose Flord as it is a great filler. I admit I am a bit scared of Linq.

Anyway, this is what I came up with

I am actually happy. Maybe this is missing a bit of depth and finesse, but I am getting there. I think I need to do some more shading around the Cacks. But i think I will leave it the way it is for the time being and pick it up one day again.

I hope you like it at least a bit.

Cheerio!

It's A String Thing 102

Here we are, my first post showing off some tiles! *whoop whoop* Not that anyone is reading this blog, yet, but ...

So a while ago I found out about Adele Bruno's page Tickled To Tangle and her weekly Tuesday It's a String Thing Challenge. I already did number 100 and 101. So the day before yesterday it was time for 102, my third entry. I felt first quite shy about posting my work as I still like to compare myself to others, well, "like" is the wrong word, I actually really dislike that habit of mine. My style is different from others and most of the time I like it. Other times I feel like a five year old, quite childish in my drawing. Though since I started with zentangle I have improved in every way. I allow myself to make mistakes, like a crocked line or a mistake in a pattern. Old me would have thrown the paper away and ripped it in the air.

So anyway, here are my tries for this weeks challenge. Yes, tries. I did one with colour and one in black and white. I had a vision of a blue-greenish string with my Inktense pens, but that somehow did not look at all what I have envisioned so I started adding more colour. I kind of like the way it turned out.

The patterns used where

Frost Flower
graancirkel and
SeZ.

In all honesty, neither are my favorite patterns. Frost Flower and I kind of became friends along the way. SeZ, in all it's simplicity really challenged me. I often find it that the most easy patterns are the most difficult ones for me.  But giving up that is not me. I still decided to got for a black and white version and this I actually really, really like. Not an all time favorite but one I like a lot.
According to my boyfriend the colourful one looks like a "Brain with Tomatoes and Cabbage", which I think is a compliment. So if I ever become famous, that one will be worth a million ;)

I hope you enjoy what you see.

Cheerios!

How it all began

My journey into Zentangle began roughly a year ago and what can I say, I am still into it, very much so, which is not always a guarantee with me. I might get interest in something very quickly and get bored with it. But it feels like I found my true calling. In the next days I'll try to work a bit on a proper blog entry. Why is Zentangle so important to me and show some of the results and my latest works.

I want to concentrate on:

- Daily/weekly challenges- 

Book reviews- 

focusing on becoming a CZT next year- 

post and learn about new tangles

The last years have not been the easiest in my thirty years of existence. Ups and downs on the job front, burn outs, frustration, a suicide in the family, accepting that depression is and will be a part of who I am and so on. Especially the stress at work back then took its toll on me.
I heard about zentangle online, but never really took a closer look at it. I always used to love to draw when I was younger but I often felt that my creativity and inspiration got lost somewhere along the road of becoming an adult.
At some point I just gave Zentangle a try. Mistakes are allowed? You don't need to be perfect? "Awesome", I told myself. That is just what you mean. I think I owe a lot to Rick and Maria, the founders of the Zentangle method. Did they save my life? Maybe not, but they gave me back a part of my sanity, thought me that it is ok to make mistakes and work with them. A tangle is not perfect? Screw it and work with it. I am loving it. Over the past year I tried out lots of books, paper, pens and tangles. I don't even want to know the amount I spend on materials, but that is ok. I finally have a hobby that makes me happy.
I find that ZIA, Zentangle Inspired Art, works the best for me. I like to work with the original tiles, but I always lust for something bigger. I like to work with a string, but I find that it sometimes limits me. Freestyle is more my thing. And that is ok. I also learned to love to use color. Sometimes I still prefer black and white, sometimes the renaissance tiles and sometimes it has to be colorful. VERY colorful. Just the black tile and the white gelly roller are not my best friends yet.
The newsletter from Zentangle announced today, that Finland got its first official CZT. It stung a bit, that is something I wanted to become, but hei, someone was faster than me and maybe I can even take a class if she lives nearby. I still plan on taking the seminar next year. I am not sure if I want to teach, but I want to learn. I am hoping that I can use zentangle with studying to become a practical nurse. I start school for that next month and yes, I am nervous, but I am also bursting with ideas, on how I can combine a job at a psychiatric ward or with the elderly with zentangle. I want to give back a bit of what I have gotten out of it.
Mostly, I just do it for myself. I calm down, I get focused, my brain shuts down and focuses on "anything is possible, one stroke at a time".
I feel like my surrounding always looks funny at me. Oh, she draws these weird kinds of patterns, why? Nobody really dares to give it a try. "No, I can not draw". Of course you can. I today "taught" my husband's uncle and cousin and even if it scared them a bit, they got the hang of it. I don't care if others get it or not, I know what it means to me, a whole lot!