Aquafleur

So the folks at Zentangle - Rick & Maria announced a new official tangle called aquafleur. I must say that it took me some time to get this one the way I liked it. I was being too stiff and formal when I first tried. I have relaxed and started to just let it flow and I like the results much better.

 Here are some of my first trials in my journal.

And then I got the hang of it. I like how this one looks.

And then I moved on to an ATC using the pattern and some watercolors. I was also doing this to experiment with some new pens I found. I really like the new pens! My micron pen on the left (it was beginning to run out of ink) and the new illustration pens from Michaels (Artist Loft brand) on the right.

I'm sure I will be experimenting and using this pattern again.

Dare #151 Moebius Syndrome

This was a challenge that really spoke to me. Sometimes I get discouraged with all that I need to do and don't get done and on and on.....Then Laura at  I am the Diva brings us a challenge based on the syndrome her son has and I am humbled at all she accomplishes in her week. I have NOTHING to complain about!

Here is my Moebius Tangle.

Zendala Dare #87

I enjoyed this Zendala very much. I actually started with the dark "zig-gag" and then did the purk in the middle. tried to balance the darkness of the center with something lighter in the middle back to darker again near the edges. It was fun to do this challenge. I am now working on one of Ben Kwok's animal templates as we got a bonus one this week so now I have two of them to do!

Dare #150 One Little Word

This week the Diva has us focusing on one little word. At first I was going to cheat and use the same word "possibility" that the church is using... that just didn't sit well with me.  Then I seriously gave thought to a word of my own for the year. I kept coming up with the word "Joy" but for some reason I hesitated to put it into a drawing. And then as I was contemplating what excursions I would like to try on our next cruise (Jamaica here we come! April will be here before I know it) and found myself giving actual real consideration to a few that would stretch my comfort level. We are going to swim with the dolphins which I am uber excited about. And then my hubby wants to go para-sailing. He has done it before and I have always declined, but there is one that lets you go tandem and I am actually thinking about going! ME!!! Terrified of heights - won't go up a ladder ME!

So my word for this year is "Challenge". I have enjoyed doing the weekly challenges from various groups. They stretch my creative mind and now I need to stretch the rest of me. Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into? This one will need  prayer. Lots of prayer!

I also challenged myself on this to use all grid tangles (I prefer the more flowy ones) and I used ones I had never done before. Some I like and some I don't, but that's OK. One of the great things about challenges is that you do something new and you find out what you like and what you don't.

Dare #86 Grateful

Last year I took lots of photos and tried my best to follow the calendar put out by Ann Voskamp in her 1000 Gifts challenge. 3 things everyday that you were grateful for and you ended up with 1,000 of them . Well I did good for a long time and ended up with almost 700 before I somehow lost my mojo. I am still taking pictures of things and I am seeing things around me every day to be grateful for but I am no longer trying to find the prompts she has for each day. I think what happened is that I got stuck on one that I couldn't take a picture of - so instead of skipping it, I just stopped. Perhaps I should take it up again and see if I can't get to that 1,000.

Anyway, this week's Bright Owl challenge is to use the template #86 and make it a frame for your gratitude. I am thankful for my church family and last year we focused on the word 'communicate'. The focus this year at church is the word  'POSSIBILITY'. I looked up the word in the thesaurus and found a bunch that I wanted to focus on and included them in my drawing.

Diva Challenge #149 - Twenty Fourteen

As we start the New year  I think back to last year at this time. I was not drawing. I was doing cross stitch and sewing. I found Zentangle in the spring and have been doing a whole lot of drawing since then! 2014 is going the be the year of the Doodle - Not strictly Zentangle but exploring new ways to use tangle patterns in all my crafts. We will see how that goes.