Moose's Latest Photo Shoot

The most recent photos of Moose are here…there are a few areas that we have gesso-ed over to “re-do”, i.e. on the front legs—Caroline is determined that her “punzel” be “just so.”

 

 

On Moose’s belly we have decoupaged the encyclopedia entry for “Moose” from a set of old encyclopedias (copyright 1925!) that I rescued when my parents were going to discard them. It was such a short entry with no photos or illustrations, it practically asked us to apply it right there.

 

That's it for now! The highest bidder will get to choose whether or not Moose gets a sealed with a glossy finish or a matte one!

 

Bid quick!!! Here's the link....the aution ends at noon!

 

 

Moose — Part Deuce and Paushalöv

C-Gal and I have been busy adding tangles to  Micro Moose. We are learning as we go--sometimes the curve of the sculpture throws us for a loop and our pen does not move across the surface as we intended. Gesso is our friend! It allows us to have fun and take risks, and if they don't work out well, or if lines need tweaking, we can re-do or tweak. This is not an aspect of my every-day Zentangle practice, but I don't mind adding that to my ZIA repertoire for use under circumstances that merit it--and this circumstance does, I feel.

Check out this video that we made! (But beware and be kind--we are not seasoned videographers. In fact, this is the very first video I have ever posted to YouTube.) I'm so glad C-Gal wanted to do this for Moose! I would not have had the confidence to something like this when I was her age, so I'm really proud of her. If you want to view it on YouTube, just click here.

Moose has even more tangles now! It's like he's softly woofing to us to add such patterns as punzel and coil...and we don't want to turn him down! But we won't post any more images until he is complete, which will be in just a few hours. (Final touches always occur at the last minute for me...I never manage to achieve closure until my time is up!)

The auction ends soon!!! We'd love for you to bid on our beloved Moose...click here to link to the auction! We will send him out Monday to the highest bidder...so if that's you, you can have him in time for Valentine's Day!

C-Gal also made a Valentine featuring dansk this week. I can't say who it's for until later, but it is for someone very special! It's a card that opens to the right and left, kind of like double doors with flaps...the flaps make the heart. The entire card is red, so I covered all but the front flaps with white card stock so you can see the heart better. The rest of the card front is simply solid red.

Can you see a new tangle? Caroline came up with it for this card, and we are still trying to come up with the right name for it.

Speaking of tangles...in the video Caroline mentioned the tangle that I named after our dog. I am happy to say that I finally have step-outs for paushalöv to share with you! I can't stop doing this tangle. Try it out and let me now what you think!

Meet Moose--My Muse

Isn't he handsome?!

I have a new dog in my life! Well, kind of. I don't want to mislead you. We have not adopted another living, breathing furry friend--but my muse, Moose, is available for adoption, if you have room in your home, heart, and life for a very special canine! In addition, I am working on a sculpture in honor of Moose...and it is available for purchase via a very special auction. (Click here to link to the auction!)

"Micro-Moose," mid-makeover

It's a collaborative artwork; I am not the only artist involved. Terri Malloy of Vernon, Vermont created nine papier mache sculptures of some very special greyhounds, including Moose. I had the opportunity to sign on as an artist to finish one of the sculptures for an online auction, and that's how Moose became my Muse. C-gal is helping me. It's not easy tangling a 3-D surface...in fact it's quite daunting. But I decided to take on the challenge, leave my comfort zone of traditional Zentangle tiles, and embrace the opportunity to participate in this grand, charitable event supporting the Fast Friends Greyhound Rescue and Adoption Center of Swanzey, New Hampshire. Fast Friends is a state-licensed animal shelter and non-profit organization, dedicated to educating the public about racing greyhounds and finding responsible, loving homes--forever families--for greyhounds.

Also in on the creative collaboration are Amy Reisinger and Betty Mullan, who made tiny beaded collars for each miniature greyhound.

More about Moose, the actual dog:
He's a big one. And a mighty one: he is winning his battle with cancer. He needs a forever home in which to relax and enjoy retirement and remission. While I am not in a position to provide this for him, it is my honor to tangle this sculpture that can help fund the his cause--his individual cause, and the cause of greyhound rescue/adoption through Fast Friends.

More about "Micro-Moose," the tangled papier mache sculpture:
I've been calling him "Micro Moose" to distinguish him from the living, breathing Moose. But don't get the wrong impression--"micro" makes him sound tiny. He's actually about 7 inches tall, 9 inches long, and 2 inches wide. He has a base coat of white gesso and some patches that mimic his actual markings, based on photos of actual Moose. The patches are tangled with zewm, bunzo, and diva dance. Other tangles that you see in the photo above include y-not (aka etcher),  Rick's paradox, gneiss, betweed, mooka, patena, and a Celtic knot completed in the style of auraknot. More have been added since this photo was taken, and still more will be added in the next day or so--it's a slow, careful process.

C-gal and I will be finishing up Micro-Moose this week and sending him to the highest bidder. I encourage you to visit the auction, check out all the dogs, and support Fast Friends by bidding! You could end up with a fabulous piece of art while supporting animal rescue!

Rick's paradox, shattuck, paushalöv, inapod, and dansk.

OH--I almost forgot! I was so busy with "Micro-Moose" last week that I never finished my Diva Challenge piece. Oh well! I'll finish it eventually. I didn't want to miss yet another weekly challenge, so when I checked out this week's challenge (# 105, Use My Tangle, v. XIII: Dansk), I realized that I already had a perfect "starter" tile. I had begun this tile weeks ago, just as a relaxing piece, and set it aside, unfinished, until I felt inspired to complete it. There was just one space left to fill, and it happened to be the largest area of my string. Today I realized that dansk would complete it nicely, so here it is. If I have time, I'll do another; dansk is really fun! But Moose comes first. I'll post more photos soon!

C-Gal's ZIA



Auraknot, pre-Bunzo

C-Gal doesn't usually take on the Diva's challenges, but she was inspired by this one, and has been enjoying the luxury of a long weekend (made extra-long by the snow day we had Friday--a rare event for us!). She tends to work on ZIAs more than tradition Zentangle tiles, so it was no surprise when she started working in color in her sketchbook. Starting with Auraknot, she "bunzo-ed" around the tips and created this glorious design that dances right off the top of her sketchbook page!


I especially love how her bunzo stripes bounce back and forth in a continuous path...something I didn't even realize 'til I had scanned the image and placed it in this post!

She hasn't decided if she is going to shade it yet...but if she does, I'll post it again.

 

I love my daughter's tangle designs! I have more of her art to share with you, so stay tuned!

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!

Diva Dance

Today Laura Harms of the enchanting I am the Diva CZT blog posted her 100th Challenge! This one is guest hosted by none other than Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts, founders of Zentangle...they came up with a new tangle with three variations in honor of the Diva and her challenges that have connected and inspired tanglers all over the world.

You can see the step-outs for drawing Diva Dance here in Laura's blog. Give it a whirl! It is fun and it develops quickly. As I was completing my tile, I couldn't help but think of Diva Dance as a visual representation of Laura's journey and message--that bumps in the road happen, and there will be dark times...but you just keep going, you work around what life throws at you. You have to! Just keep "aura-ing"--keep growing and giving, adjusting whenever you need to, and having fun when the opportunity arises. But always, always adapting to challenges and difficulties.

I love that this tangle looks like a topographical map. After all, we are all finding our way, and yes, sometimes we have to make up our own maps. Sometimes we also make up tangles...in addition to Diva Dance, my tile features two variations of my newest tangle, Paushalöv. Step-outs (and an explanation of the name) to follow later this week!

Happy Tangling, everyone! And Happy Holidays! What a busy week this will be...if you have time, I'd love for you to leave me a comment. I don't get many, so I cherish each and every one!

Loop Love



Featured in the loops: Festune, Paushalöv, Riveting,
and Gneiss. Around the loops is a series od Auras with
rounding, similar to Auraknot. Auraflow???

 Still to come: shading!

I have been out of the loop for several weeks--I've had what I think was a cold plus a sinus infection. Eeew. Throughout this, I've been pretty good at starting challenges on time, but not so good at getting them completed and posted. I hope to make up for that in this post--I have several tiles featuring loops...plus step outs to one of my original tangles that I mentioned here in my blog a looooong time ago (in this post). Riveting. It is a precursor to Ving (click on Ving for the blog post that features the stepouts to Ving I posted a while back), but is actually more complex. 

This is my looped string prior to tangling...

Only the first of the tiles in this post is intended for this week's Diva Challenge: the Looped Border String Challenge, brought to us by a guest host: the oh-so-talented Margaret Bremner, CZT, of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. (Can you believe this is Challenge #99!!!) Margaret is the artist/author of a wonderful Zentangle blog entitled Enthusiastic Artist as well as a soon-to-be-released book entitled The Art of Zentangle: 50 inspiring drawngs, doodles & ideas for the meditative artist. (Click on the link to pre-order it from Amazon!) The Looped Border String Challenge is based on a blog entry that Magaret posted earlier this year: click here to connect.



Steps to Riveting by Amy Broady, CZT

I filled the largest loop with Riveting, a tangle I came up with in 2010. Riveting is a grid-based tangle that utilizes the overlapping (or should I call it “underlapping”) quality of Hollibaugh. This is the tangle that I contributed to the large group tangle that we completed at CZT training (#4, October 2010).

I named it “Riveting” in reference to the rivet-like dots as well as the converging lines that are riveted to a converging spot in each division of the grid. Of course, I also like to think of my tangle as “riveting” in that it is so fascinating.

So, here are visual step-outs to Riveting...



I have a document in which I elaborated on the step-outs with text...but it will take me a while to get them posted. I've discovered that it is no easy task to publish a document (pdf or Word) within my Tanglefish blog, so I have to do a work-around which involves printing the document and scanning it, which is more than I can handle tonight. :-) Plus, I think the visuals really say it all...the text is just explanation of that which is illustrated.



Keenees, Kardz, DL Neumba, Rick's Paradox, and a
variation of Cadent.

Next, showcasing another loop, is my response to last week's Diva Challenge #98: The Keenees Challenge. Keenees is a fun tangle brought to us by Donna Hornsby, CZT, of Forth Worth, Texas. On either side of the Keenees, which is in the central loop, is DL Nelumba and Kardz, also by Donna Hornsby. Donna is an artist, graphic designer, technical writer, and a person of many talents; she runs a business (and writes a blog) enitled Pegasus Papers.

And finally, also sporting its share of loops in the form of the tangle known as Echoism, is my response to the Diva's 97th Challenge, "No Strings Attached" in which we started tangling without the benefit of a string to guide us. I started with Ibex, a tangle that challenges me. Once I had "ibexed" enough--and I was pretty pleased with it!--I drew an aura, and started tangling around it with Echoism. And regretted it almost instantly. I did NOT like what my rendition of Echoism did to my composition!!!



Ibex, Echoism, Keeko, Shattuck

So then I had to find the motivation to keep going. I called upon Keeko to move me forward, and then Shattuck, and then the magic of the pencil and tortillon. Shading the Echoism section was the most difficult...I had to find a way to make peace with that whole area that just looked wrong to me. I chose to add tiny black "beads" to the intersections...and to have some fun with shading. I stuck with it and saw it through. Finally.
Whew!
Having found a way to "finish" the Echoism section in a manner that satisfied me, I used the same idea in the Zentangle Ganesha I completed for Dilip (explained below; see Gift of Ganesha).

Remember, it's all about the process! The end product is just tangible evidence of the journey, of the time spent creating and contemplating penstrokes. (And pencil blends!)

That, my friends, is the whirlwind summary of (some of) what I've been up to. Also, if you have not yet seen my last post, Gift of Ganesha, I invite you to check it out. You will see my contribution to an international Zentangle collaboration that initiated with a CZT in India. Also in that post is Paisley Boa, a tangle I am pleased to share with my Tanglefish readers.

Let me know what you think of anything that I've posted, be it words or images. It's always nice to know that my blog posts are viewed & read by the people who find there way here! But please be kind about the layout. Please?! It's unfortunate and it drives me crazy. I have fits over things that I arrange and things that I can't arrange...and none of what I do looks the same when it is published, anyway!