This blog has moved!

Hi wonderful tanglers!

I have moved over to a new space. My apologies if you ended up here from me mis directing my ID on your page or if you were searching me out.

My new page can be easily found here   greystringoffate.weebly.com

HUGS to you ALL!

Amazing Sankegg

Amazing Sankegg - Hollibaugh, and a version of Sankegg, which ended up becoming a new tangle which I named after Maria Vennekens called Vennekegg.

Hi everyone, <waves> Lots of new things going on here!

1st - Its official I'm a CZT I just recently graduated with the 10th class this past September.
2nd - I have switched over to a NEW website.
3rd - I have a new signature on my tangled pieces. Its really cute and reminds me of Japanese style cartoons.

This lovely inspiration for this Zentangle® came from Diva Challenge #89. Love the Sankegg tangle and had been working on a similar one for a bit and then it just hit me how to do it, so my version is a little different and not as precise in size, but I like how I can easily shrink them down or enlarge them along the path of which I choose. Since my inspiration did not hit me until I saw the step outs from Maria Vennekens I shall name it with her in mind. Its called Vennekegg.

Steps for how I did my tangle Vennekegg can be found here.

Life is what you make it

Life is what you make it - Flux, Indy-Rella, Picked

So um... a bit of a SCARE happened to me today.

As I was walking home from an errand (only 2 blocks away from my house) this guy driving his truck said "hi, come here a second." I was in the parking lot of the store I just came out of, so I thought maybe the guy was lost and needed directions. I cautiously got a bit closer to his passenger side window to hear him better. I then noticed he wanted to give me a business card.

I immediately responded "I'm sorry, but I can not take that, have a good day."  Thinking to myself (I'm not reaching into no vehicle to take something from someone whom I've not had any other contact with, I don't know if he is going to try and pull me into his vehicle)

Well I don't know if he understood why I wanted to leave so abruptly, but he kept calling after me saying "what's your name?"

I said "sorry I've got to go."

He kept asking as I was hurriedly walking away "what's your name? - I just want to know your name?"

(Could he not tell I'm NOT interested?!?) anyway it kinda weirded me out and instead of taking a leisurely walk home in the wonderful 80 degree weather. I started running. I couldn't help myself, I become overwhelmed with this terrible feeling, that I just had to get home asap.

I got home safely and needed something to calm me down. So I went to the Diva Challenge #80. Whoa I say to myself as it presents a Zendala string. I started drawing and noticed that I couldn't make a smooth line worth a darn and realized I must still be all shaken up from my earlier incident.

I even started to draw these little flowers (which I lovingly called "picked" for now) if someone has see this somewhere else, let me know what they called it and I'll update the name.

A Rocky Start with Mi2

A Rocky Start with Mi2 - Mi2, Sedgling, Tipple

The past weekend I was adventuring in Ohio with a mini vacation from Thursday until Monday, which will account for the late start on this weeks Diva challenge #80. The challenge is to use the tangle Mi2, up to this point I had only practiced it once or twice on scrap paper and had not put it to good use, even though I really liked how it looked.

Olympic Union

Olympic Union - Linq, Knightsbridge, Oof, Footlites

Whew, this was my 6th attempt and my interpretation of the Diva Challenge #79. I was starting out with Oof to represent the Olympic emblem and the first time I drew it on a scrap piece of paper, I did fantastic. Maybe even more than fantastic, I did so well with proportion and distance for the lines I though oh wow this tangle is easy. Ha ha ha ha - I nearly gave up when I could not repeat the awesomeness that I had on the scrap piece of paper, but I stuck with it and finally got a set of "rings" that I think are worthy of being a tangle.

I am glad I stuck with it because I am so pleased with the outcome and really like this piece. *after the 6th time lets hope so*

Basket-weave Star

Basket-weave Star - Auraknot, Betweed

Another zentangle drawn for The Diva's Challenge #78. This challenge was to use the new tangle Auraknot. This tangle is fun, but also a bit tricky for me, since I'm not that great at drawing long straight lines. I really like how the middle looks like it is tunneling downward. Its another sunny hot day today. My tomato plants appear to be shocked by all this hot weather. I would think they would be thriving, but they seem a bit timid. Hopefully after the rain we are suppose to have this week they will liven up a bit. Come on tomatoes, I'm craving tomato pie. Yum.

Memories Live Forever

Memories Live Forever - Fiore di Pietro, Fescu

This is a Zentangle drawn for The Diva's Challenge #77. I am just starting to do the Diva Challenges. This is a new tangle by Rho Densmore, CZT called Fiore di Pietro. She designed this tangle in memory of her Brother-In-Law Peter, you can read more about this here. I thought I would show a gradual decrease in size of this tangle shrinking to one side, and I sorta did that, but I forgot that I would need to make the space inbetween the circles smaller too if I wanted more of that kind of effect (affect) *I can never seem to remember which word to use.* Thank you Diva and Rho, for a touching challenge.

Rho you have my permission to use my Zentangle, Memories Live Forever if your book.

Stained Glass is Pretty

Stained Glass is Pretty - Dutch Hourglass, Onamato, Click Clack, Archer, 'Nzeppel

Here's the result of The Diva Challenge #76 - Home. I love in the mecca of consignment & antique shops. I was thinking about all the stained glass and old frames that I typically see in these shops and wanted to try and show those patterns. I ended up really liking Click Clack after I started drawing it.

Oh the Webs We Weave

Oh the Webs We Weave - Pais, Web, Laced, Cockles n' Mussels

This is a second portrait I did for the people’s portrait project. This is my profile filled with some of my favorite tangles. I have always had a thing for spiderwebs, I created many art pieces with spiderweb themes or dealing with spiders in general. I was just drawn toward them in college while doing projects. I also have a love of mushroom items too, from knick knacks (hopefully not too cheesey of ones tho) to art pieces to hang up. However, I tried to refrain from drawing too many mushrooms in college or incorporating them into my artwork since I didn't want my teachers to make certain assumptions about me. I really do just love how cute and quirky mushrooms are, especially asian designs & designs from the 50s & 60s with adorable little mushrooms.

An Imaginary Language

An Imaginary Language - Baton, Tri-Po, (variation of Vache)

This was the first time I drew these patterns. I also was trying to figure out Tri-Po with no instructions. I only had a small thumbnail to deconstruct which isn't too hard, but I had trouble getting the lines to line up. Then I decided I would draw the outside triangle and then just fill it in like paradox, only stopping after 3 drawn lines. That seemed to work the best. Then the other tangle started out as Vachie that I decided to fill in with Baton instead of stripes. I feel like Baton gave it more depth.

In His Head

In His Head - Betweed, Paradox, Munchin, Printemps, Tipple, Florz

This ZIA was influenced by the proposal of our community art center. They had a calling for 2D portraits 5x7 in size. I thought this would be an interesting opportunity to get a silhouette of my sweetheart and fill it with tangles.

The Beauty of Clouds

The Beauty of Clouds - Sanibelle, Scrumble, Scallops, Ahh

The inspiration for the string on this came from my sweetheart whom was talking about how pretty the clouds were earlier that day. I thought humm how about a string that sorta looks like layers of clouds. This is one of my favorite Zentangles so far, hope you enjoy it too!

Birdy Bird

Birdy Bird - Purk, and an attempt from memory at Isochor & Blooming Butter.

I wasn't sure where this tile was going to lead me, but I evetually ended up with this. At the 1/2 way point I wasn't even going to finish it, but I know that I should embrace when a drawing does not go as planned. So I finished it, I had a couple of attempts here - it was an attempt at Isochor, which I was doing from memory (but upon comparison, it does not look like Isochor now) Well if you didn't know I was new at this you would by how far off my memory was in making these two tangles ha ha. I was also trying to do blooming butter, which as you can see also changed. The good part is that I don't mind how they changed and I had opportunity to grow from this piece.

Whats under that Bronx Cheer

Whats under that Bronx Cheer - Baton, Quiltz, Bronx Cheer, Msst, Antidots

I'm getting better at understanding shading, so I'm excited about that. I really enjoy this piece a lot. I'm just drawn to it - haha no pun intended. The Quiltz pattern is much more open in my example than the way I have seen other draw it and its probably because I used little + marks instead of big ones.

Today there is fennel being roasted in the oven and its smelling wonderful. Have a super day!

Oh Sailor

Oh Sailor - Featherfall, Arckles, Net, Cockles n' Mussels, Floatfest, Knightsbridge, Pais

So this was the first attempt at a full size Zentangle. Although, I must confess - this one is 4x4 inches so this would be considered ZIA (Zentangled Inspired Art) at the time, it was the best paper I had in a nice small square size. I'm going to wrap this up for now - I've got to go make a good cucumber salad so it has time to sit for an hour before supper. *YUM*