Timeless Mooka

C-Gal did some wonderful work in her 2012 Tangle-a-Day Calendar...but she did not even come close to finishing it, so she did not want for me to order a 2013 calendar for her. Such a practical daughter I have!

(I have to admit, I did not come close to completing my 2012 calendar, either...but that did not stop me from ordering the 2013 version!)

So C-Gal worked on this week's dates in last year's calendar, which explains why March 25th is featured as a Sunday.

I have to say, I am most impressed with what she's done with mooka here!

She used my Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils (my favorite water-soluable color!) and my Creative Mark Micro-Mini Brushes--a fabulous brush set for Zentangle artists. (I treated myself to a set when it was on sale for $19.95...and have been sooooo happy to have this group of brushes in my art supply inventory.)

Leave C-Gal a comment below...I know she'd love some feedback!

Mooka Monday

Woke up this morning to find the Diva's newest challenge to be perfect for today's entry in my Tangle-a-Day calendar! And perfect for tangling some more of the coffee-stained rim tags I found on etsy. Click here for the website of the company that makes them...my order came really fast, and I love the tags!)

Mooka is one of my favorites. I never know how it's going to turn out, though. It takes on a life of its own, and it's always (well, usually) fun to see how it turns out.
I am sure I will be mooka-ing more as the week goes by...and since I am on vacation, I should have no trouble finding time to share! 

Speaking of coffee...I want to bring up a little something called the Friendship Cup. You can read more about here...and here and here. Cathy, a blogging, tangling teacher here in TN, sent me the Cup in February, when I was all caught up in Moose and traveling and getting ready to presenting at a national convention...and I had to put it on hold. This Friendship Cup is soooo cool and is something that deserves mindful attention, and at the time that it arrived, my attention was spread in other directions. But now is the time I am able to focus on it, so here is my first mention of it. And your first chance to sign up for me to send it to you!

So...would YOU like it next? Post a comment down below if you wish to be entered in a random drawing to be the next to get the Friendship Cup! Here on vacation I will be gathering some goodies to send with it....

Sadly, I do not have any photos of it here with me right now, so I will be have to post those after we return home. Until then, you can let your imagination run wild as to what it looks like now and what goodies it came to me with, and what goodies I might send away with it...and, you can sign up for a chance to be the next recipient! Fun times!

Tri-Neon Noir

For the Diva's Challenge #110/"Get rid of the box," C-gal (my 14-year-old) decided to
a) tangle an ATC for the first time. (This was not her first ATC, but her first tangled ATC. She participated in her first ATC swap at the sweet young age of 4 or 5...but that's another story for another blog entry.)
b) use only tangles that featured triangles
c) layer color onto a white-on-black design.

She had fun "tri"ing those three things. Unfortunately, I do not have access to my scanner, so a photo taken with my iPad mini has to suffice. I don't like how it's not properly squared up, but it's the best of the different photos I took.

How fun it's been to sit together at a table for a few hours today and tangle and talk. It wasn't so fun when I spilled my Zen tea all over the table filled with art supplies...but that's all cleaned up now and we've moved on!

She's almost done with a second entry for this challenge...I might be adding it to this post in just a little while, so check back!

groovy, jilli, planateen, pea-nuckle, basket weave, sugarcane, unyun, snood,
escalator,  tagh, angelfish, verve, paushalöv,  zinger, bugles, and one other...
I am still trying to figure out the name of the one on the lower right. Caroline
modified it, but I am not sure which tangle it started as.

...And here it is: C-Gal's 2nd entry for the "Get rid of the box" challenge. Caroline used only tangles she had never used before, and had fun researching unfamiliar ones on TanglePatterns.com.

Pause, please!

Whew! Winter ended and spring began in a blur. I have been home, out-of-state, back in town, husband out-of-state; once he was back, I flew out-of-state, back home, and now am out-of-state again. All since my last post. The school year is flying by: we are in the final nine-weeks grading period already!

But I am trying not to think about work/school this week.  I'd like to slow down. Right here, right now would be just fine. Where's the "pause" button?

It is Spring Break; I am on vacation with my family. Ahhhhhhh! We are on a coastal island, but temps are predicted to be in the 50s this week. Not exactly beach weather. So I will shop! I will read! I will dine! I will blog! And most importantly...I will tangle!!!!! I brought an ample bin of art supplies which I look forward to using. And I could not be happier! This kind of opportunity does not come along very often.

crescent moon, hollibaugh, static, bales, sez, munchin,
ennies, betweed, and patena

The first thing I wanted to do today, after our delicious brunch at a pancake emporium, was to start up my Tangle-a-Day calendar habit. My poor calendar is practically blank. So I did that first, having fun with Terri Brown's fun new tangle snugz. Then I did a quick coffee-stained rim tag (small), using auraknot, at Caroline's suggestion. Then it was time to pull out the latest Diva challenge, which I had begun on a Zendala tile. Her challenge #110 was entitled "Get rid of the box" and we were supposed to do something that was a bit of a stretch for us. I chose to do a pre-strung Zendala tile, as I had never done one before. As much as I love the Zendalas I see others doing, I have dragged my feet in trying them myself.  So here's how that turned out.

(My only other Zendala piece was on a blank Zendala tile almost a year ago, for the Earth/Amanda Day challenge. Click here to see that Zendala and blog entry; I was rather proud of the title I came up with for that one!)

So now I go quickly to post this link to the Challenge; maybe it will find its way into the slideshow, even though it is a day late. Then I will post C-gal's. She chose to tangle an ATC. One of the reasons I am so excited about Spring Break is not only do I have time to tangle; C-gal has time to tangle with me. YAY! What a rare treat these days!

I hope your week is as enjoyable as I plan for mine to be. Comments are always appreciated, if you choose to leave one!

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!