Shelly Beauch and Brayd

Last week's Diva Challenge featured the tangle, Brayd, by Shelly Beauch (aka Michele Beauchamp CZT). I love Shelly's delicate and joyful way of tangling! Looking at her work instantly brings me to smile:)
  Even though I had the challenge completed last Wednesday, I'm just now getting to the posting part. Better late than not at all...

In my first tile, I had made a string of thick borders that converged in the middle. I filled each border with Brayd, and saw that the 'ends' of each  stroke could connect to the new ones I was making. I ended up with one big weave, which was fun, but the 'braydness' wasn't there anymore. I started the second one with a  more 'Shelly-like' spiral string, but I still couldn't stop myself (and why would I?) from extending the little double lines into spaces all around it.
    Thanks, Shelly, for some joyful tangle time!

Erin's Diva Challenge

Thank goodness for the Diva Challenges. It seems like lately that's the only thing that gets me to STOP EVERYTHING for just a bit and savor the joy of tangling. This week's guest challenge comes from Erin Olson, CZT. Erin and I met at the Zentangle Seminar (7) in Providence, and we had quite a few great conversations about Zentangle AND beading!
   Erin has developed some awesome Zendala templates that she offers on her site. She also has a weekly challenge, using her templates as your guide.
   When I come home from the beadstore, I want to plop onto the couch and watch some mindless drivel about various unreal housewives or better yet, an old black and white movie that lulls me to sleep. Yesterday, after a really long (but fun!) day, it was too early to do that, as I knew if I sat there, it would be hours before I moved. So before I sat down (in front of the tv, of course), I grabbed a drawing tablet and got ready to tangle. My printer wasn't working to print out Erin's template, so I decided to just freehand an organic version onto my paper. There is no way to be exact in this situation, so I let the template on the screen be symmetrical, while mine was off center, uneven and pretty much all over the place. Not a pretty string, but I could get past that.
    I started by opening up my tangle library to an arbitrary spot. (I also decided NOT to turn on the tv!) I landed on Squill, so I thought the center would take that on quite well. I then found the negative spaces around the inside "flower" of the template, and made those shapes (Paradox) instead of concentrating on the obvious shapes. Doing the negative (or opens spaces) shifts my brain into seeing a different way. This process helps me use the shapes as guides to other paths, rather than shapes to simply fill. Once I'm finished, I don't often remember how I got from one place to the next. I think it might be fun to make a video to watch later, as if someone else was creating it. I'm sure I would see lots of things I wasn't aware of the first time it was made.
   Thanks, Diva for always being there, and thanks, Erin for a really fun challenge. Thanks Rick and Maria for this magical artform.