I Am the Diva Weekly Challenge #308 - Mac n Cheese

Oh what fun to come back to some favorite tangle patterns.  I've got about a dozen, so deciding which one or ones to use took a minute.  But, of course, basics for me lots of times includes Diva Dance in one form or another or perhaps a form of my own.  And Paradox always looks so complicated and is so simple.  In this case I was stuck once again with a rock to draw on since they haven't yet invented paper here in Lake Havasu.  You may also notice I might have strayed a bit from Diva Dance and Paradox to include a few of my inner auras just for fun.

Some of you, my friends out in Zentangle and Diva Challenge land, have asked me to show a picture of my whole rock garden.  Well, it sort of grows and shrinks, because people walk by out front of the RV and look, and of course, I go out to chat about it, and sometimes people take a shine to one of the rocks and I give it to them.  Plus I take them to different people as gifts as the occasions come up, so it is always in flux.  Had a rare rain today with lots of cloud cover, so it was a good time to photograph the rock garden in situ (I've waited years to use that term in a sentence).  They have quite a bit of glare because I finish them with Krylon Fusion for Plastic - Gloss with UV inhibitors.  I have had to refurbish a few of the rocks in the last few days because they had faded badly - too little varnish or perhaps the limits of the medium.  BTW I used the new On1 RAW program to post-process the images non-destructively and I love it, in case any of you are photogs too. 

I Am the Diva Weekly Challenge #307 - Zingo

Here I am once again faced with a rock to draw on.  I learned a lesson with this one;  I covered the rock with silver Sharpie for an undercoat which made it really slick, resulting in a total loss of pen control when drawing the pattern.  Reminds me of something Paul Simon said about "Slip Sliding Away".  It was fun though.  I have learned not to be too concerned with the outcome, rather just keep drawing and coloring and shading and having fun and the end result will often times surprise you in a pleasing way.  There's a gray pen in the Sharpie set I have that I used for shading around the spirals.  It actually worked without totally obscuring the lines underneath.  Hafta give it some more mileage.  Sorry about the wordiness - Enjoy the rock.

I am the Diva - Weekly Challenge #306: UMT Amphora by ZenLilyMoon

OK gang, here's the deal, I generally do not like grid based tangle patterns because they too structured and require you to follow multiple steps (In Order) and I always seem to stray from the directed path.  (I should say thanks to Laura and ZenLilyMoon here for giving us a beautiful pattern to play with.)  But.....  if I want to play the challenge, then I must accept the challenge and not opt out just because this isn't my strong or happy suit.  So, I'm safe because you cannot see my first attempt on the other side of the rock (hehe).  Once again, Sharpies and Gelly Roll pens on a 6" rock.

What turned out to be fun and enlightening this time was that I drew all the white lines with a big tipped oil pen first (wanted a color that would show up on the dark rock) and later decided they would pop better if they were outlined in black and it worked.  So, I guess you could say I learned something (perhaps).

Someone asked about protection:  I spray my rocks with Krylon Fusion for Plastic with UV inhibitors, available at most hardware stores.  The rocks have held up good outside in the sun and rain this Winter here in Lake Havasu.  If they last a long time, great, if they last a short time, great.  I consider them ephemeral (Yay Andy Goldsworthy) and will give them back to nature if they don't get claimed by some humans along the way.

 ENJOY 

I Am the Diva Weekly Challenge #305: "DuoTangle Marasu vs Molygon"

Well folks, here is my contribution to Marasu Vs Molygon - I think Molygon won;  at any rate, it was fun.  Sharpies and Gelly Roll pens on a rock.  A careful observer will notice two Marasu growths in which are embedded any number of wonky ole Molygons.  It's like one of those things I really wished for and then got to thinking toward the end there, holy criminy, what ever was I thinking? - hehe.

Well, now that I look at it and think about it, I reckon my Marasus are eating or birthing my Molygons, depending on which end you view them from.