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Saturday 22 October 2016

Tangle Challenges

The Diva's challenge for this week was to use a leaf as a string. I chose to use a tulip from my front garden.

Here's the reference image and my tile. And a photo of my dog Milo with his best friend Elsa. They were at the Dogs' Day Out at Floriade, which is a big flower festival we have here each year.









I did a tile for Made by Joey as well. The string was a series of circles and the tangles were Dicso, Drogon and Msst.


Finally, I did a tile for It's a String Thing. I found this challenge really hard as both tangles - Ponio and Winflo - seemed suited to borders. I like both tangles but not what I've done with them.


Other drawing


Not much drawing is happening at the moment. I seem to have lost my mojo with regard to Zentangle. Inspiration and the desire to draw have left me. I think once work pressure eases things will get better. 

At work we are in the final term of the year, so marking and reporting deadlines are looming. The kids are getting ratty and teachers are getting tired. And I'm changing schools at the end of the year so motivation for anything school-related is a bit low.


Any tips for getting back into drawing or how to silence that awful critic who sits on your shoulder and says everything you draw is rubbish?


Have a great week.

Miss L











7 comments:

Suse said...

Oh dear, hugs about the lost mojo. Stress definitely doesn't help. Sometimes taking a break is healthy - I'm slowing down at the moment due to back trouble. Sometimes when I want to draw but I'm not feeling inspired I pick 3 random tangles and draw from those. I often use a random letter generator like this one http://www.dave-reed.com/Nifty/randSeq.html and then pick tangles from Tangle Patterns. It's a good way to learn new tangles if nothing else.
As for the negative imp that sits on your shoulder, sometimes putting things away for a while then looking at them again days or weeks later helps me see them with fresh eyes.
I hope you can find some inspiration again soon. I love your tulip inspired tangle - very appropriate for a Canberran at this time of year.

Anne's tangle blog said...

First: I do like your tulip! Some time ago I had this felling of loosing interest too. Kept tangling however (not as much as I usually do) and it just came back after a while.
I think everyone has that from time to time. So .... try to wait and see what happens.

ria matheussen said...

I also like the tuliptile and I agree with Anne, sometimes tangling is the most pleasant thing in the world, but sometimes I just want to do something else because I have no inspiration. It's good to take a short break now and than, and all of sudden I want to draw again.
So, don't force anything, enjoying the beautiful spring, your lovely dogs and your family is also very important!

LezliB said...

I must add to the kudos you have received....your tile is beautifully done and I think that you have a beautiful with your other works as well. I know what you mean by losing your mojo. I seem to have hit a plateau myself and it seems that it is taking me longer to actually put pen to paper. What I usually do to regain some inspiration is to look at a YouTube video or two and use it to guide me until I can look at them and add my own touches. But sometimes a break works too to let things settle around you. At any rate, your work is absolutely beautiful, so don't let that critic tell you any different!

Anja said...

Beautiful work! I agree, sometimes it is difficult to tangle and relax. I felt the same this week. Enjoy your spring with the wonderful tulips and with your dogs! Happy Sunday!

jeanchaneyaz said...

Good advice from your friends. When I feel that way, I find a new notebook or new pens and try to switch gears and try adding tangles to something odd like crayon rubbings or traced weird shapes. Or, take one tangle and push it in as many different directions as you can. Change circles to squares and such. Anything that takes you away from the usual. Share and do with your students. They probably could use something fun and different to do too! Sending you hugs!

Nadine Roller said...

Very beautiful!!!