Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Tangleations of "Well" and a Swell Start to Zentangle Club


This shield-shaped sketch is my
first attempt at well.
Here is my submission to Laura Harm's Weekly Challenge #135: Well. I know that this one is tardy, but better late than never. I have yet to look at the challenge for this week because I wanted to focus on well and not be distracted by this week's exercise. Indeed, well requires lots of concentration. I had difficulty making sure each box had each line and orientating them correctly, so this is not my favorite tangle. I prefer tangles that are more intuitive–ones that feel more familiar. I guess that means that I should do well even more for practice/experience.

3 Tangleations: Aren't blobs fun? I like the one on the left best.
I have some exiting news: Zentangle Club has officially had two meetings! (I apologize for not posting about them sooner; I have been too busy with homework.) We are meeting for half an hour in the middle of the school day every two weeks, alternating between Monday and Thursday. To begin, I am teaching two tangles at each meeting to establish a foundation. Later on, I want people to share what they have independently found or created. I taught crescent moon and hollibaugh at the first meeting Thursday, September 5th. Monday, the 16th, I taught quipple and cubine. There has been a great turnout–about a dozen people have shown up at each meeting. We really fill up the room. (Some can't make both because of labs and conflicts with other clubs.) For now, people are using the Zentangle Apprentice tiles and Pigma 05 pens, but I am ordering class kits so that they can use the more refined materials soon. To demonstrate, I use a large square of poster board on my mom's twirly board propped up on an easel, which sits on a table. This way, I can turn my demo to get a more convenient angle. I use the woodless pencil and the Permopaque marker. I am ecstatic with how well things have gone-- the tiles look fabulous and people are having focused, relaxed fun.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Tangled Tags and Bands of Beamz



I am so happy that yesterday was Labor Day, augmenting the weekend by twenty-four hours and giving my family enough time to make a visit to Virginia. My grandparents were celebrating their fiftieth anniversary, and they took us to a dinner theater production of Les Misérables at the Riverside Center. It was fabulous! The stage rotated just as in the original Broadway show. I will admit that that long performances can make me antsy, but this production was exciting and impeccably done. I am now obsessed with the bacchanalian song “Master of the House”, though my favorite character has to be Javert. He may have been cruel, but he was only trying to do his job.



Here is my submission to this week’s challenge: Beamz by Traci F. Beamz is tricky, but I love how many different ways it can be interpreted. To me, it is a geometric version of echoism with funkier options. On my tag, the first side is dense while the other is more delicate. I usually prefer doing echoism in the fuller/denser way, but I find the other is fits better within the awkward confines of knightsbridge. I accidentally omitted the diagonal lines that Traci illustrates in her instructions, but I don't think I could have added them because I worked so small. I want to give this tangle another go sometime and try it the original way.

You may notice that rather than using a tile, I used a tag. From now until September 15, 2013, the ZT for Kidz website is hosting a contest called TagYou’re I T T T! (Invited To Tangle a Tag). I am ineligible to win because my mom is the host, but I have enjoyed tangling several tags. This is my most recent, but you can see the others at ZTforKidz.com. Please check it out and encourage any kids (or adults that are children-at-heart) to enter. We look forward to seeing and sharing everyone’s work.