Duotangle Tango

Happy New Year! I really thought I'd be posting a lot more over the holidays...but that didn't quite happen. I stayed busy with family and since I was still dealing with a long-lasting cold/sinus infection, my energy level was lacking. It was a low-key Christmas for us...we finally got our tree decorated on Christmas Eve! And it was beautiful. I bought some new lights this year--little balls that had a softer glow than the lights we've used for years. Even my husband noticed the difference and appreciated it. On Christmas day we headed over to my in-laws for brunch and family time...once we got home, I spent a few hours cleaning up the late-night wrapping mess, then made some supper, which we ate in the living room while we watched an episode of Dr. Who. We didn't even open our the presents under our tree until after supper! But it was sooooo relaxing to do it on our schedule. I'm glad we didn't wake up and tear into things right away that morning.

I missed the first Diva Challenge of 2013. I simply didn't get a tile done. I was busy trying to get back into the swing of things since Winter Break had ended and we were all getting back to our regular schedule. It was a wonderful challenge, though. The Diva shared with us a new tangle that her husband had come up with (Phicops--love it!), and she even quoted me on her blog entry that week!!!! Wow. That had me floating for days--knowing that what I had written had meant so much to her. I am so grateful for all of her challenges--even when I don't get to them!

But I did get to this week's challenge (#102): A Duotangle Challenge to use Auraknot and Bunzo. And ONLY Auraknot and Bunzo. I like both of these tangles, though I have to admit I probably would not have chosen to create a composition using only these two. The cool thing is, I was afraid that everyone's challange entries would all end up looking somewhat the same. Silly me! I haven't visited more than a handful of the links yet, but each one is so different. Of course! This is Zentangle, after all; everything is freehand and open to endless variation. So here is my version. My Auraknot is flawed as I lost my way as I was creating it, but I decided not to worry about that and just keep going.

I scanned it before shading, as I often do...I didn't think it needed shading until I saw it on my computer screen, and it seemed to be lacking something. So I shaded it, and am posting both so you can compare them. I also rotated the shaded one 90 degrees clockwise. It was tricky to shade because of all the thin areas in the Auraknot...there are certainly times when I am tempted to take an eraser to my Zentangle work in order to remove unintentional graphite. The shading in the Auraknot looks a bit unbalanced to me, yet I don't feel the need to keep working on it. What do you think?

C-Gal (my daughter, for those who don't know) is working on a Bunzo/Auraknot ZIA right now, but it's not ready for me to post yet.

Onward! I can't wait to see what the next challenge is. Happy tangling!