had to try one more with this framework. this is version 3

 Featured in the loops: Festune, Paushalöv, Riveting, and Gneiss. Around the loops is a series od Auras with rounding, similar to Auraknot. Auraflow??? Still to come: shading! I have been out of the loop for several weeks--I've had what I think was a cold plus a sinus infection. Eeew. Throughout this, I've been pretty good at starting challenges on time, but not so good at getting them completed and posted. I hope to make up for that in this post--I have several tiles featuring loops...plus step outs to one of my original tangles that I mentioned here in my blog a looooong time ago (in this post). Riveting. It is a precursor to Ving (click on Ving for the blog post that features the stepouts to Ving I posted a while back), but is actually more complex.  This is my looped string prior to tangling... Only the first of the tiles in this post is intended for this week's Diva Challenge: the Looped Border String Challenge, brought to us by a guest host: the oh-so-talented Margaret Bremner, CZT, of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. (Can you believe this is Challenge #99!!!) Margaret is the artist/author of a wonderful Zentangle blog entitled Enthusiastic Artist as well as a soon-to-be-released book entitled The Art of Zentangle: 50 inspiring drawngs, doodles & ideas for the meditative artist. (Click on the link to pre-order it from Amazon!) The Looped Border String Challenge is based on a blog entry that Magaret posted earlier this year: click here to connect.  Steps to Riveting by Amy Broady, CZT I filled the largest loop with Riveting, a tangle I came up with in 2010. Riveting is a grid-based tangle that utilizes the overlapping (or should I call it “underlapping”) quality of Hollibaugh. This is the tangle that I contributed to the large group tangle that we completed at CZT training (#4, October 2010). I named it “Riveting” in reference to the rivet-like dots as well as the converging lines that are riveted to a converging spot in each division of the grid. Of course, I also like to think of my tangle as “riveting” in that it is so fascinating. So, here are visual step-outs to Riveting...  I have a document in which I elaborated on the step-outs with text...but it will take me a while to get them posted. I've discovered that it is no easy task to publish a document (pdf or Word) within my Tanglefish blog, so I have to do a work-around which involves printing the document and scanning it, which is more than I can handle tonight. :-) Plus, I think the visuals really say it all...the text is just explanation of that which is illustrated.  Keenees, Kardz, DL Neumba, Rick's Paradox, and a variation of Cadent. Next, showcasing another loop, is my response to last week's Diva Challenge #98: The Keenees Challenge. Keenees is a fun tangle brought to us by Donna Hornsby, CZT, of Forth Worth, Texas. On either side of the Keenees, which is in the central loop, is DL Nelumba and Kardz, also by Donna Hornsby. Donna is an artist, graphic designer, technical writer, and a person of many talents; she runs a business (and writes a blog) enitled Pegasus Papers. And finally, also sporting its share of loops in the form of the tangle known as Echoism, is my response to the Diva's 97th Challenge, "No Strings Attached" in which we started tangling without the benefit of a string to guide us. I started with Ibex, a tangle that challenges me. Once I had "ibexed" enough--and I was pretty pleased with it!--I drew an aura, and started tangling around it with Echoism. And regretted it almost instantly. I did NOT like what my rendition of Echoism did to my composition!!!  Ibex, Echoism, Keeko, Shattuck So then I had to find the motivation to keep going. I called upon Keeko to move me forward, and then Shattuck, and then the magic of the pencil and tortillon. Shading the Echoism section was the most difficult...I had to find a way to make peace with that whole area that just looked wrong to me. I chose to add tiny black "beads" to the intersections...and to have some fun with shading. I stuck with it and saw it through. Finally. Whew! Having found a way to "finish" the Echoism section in a manner that satisfied me, I used the same idea in the Zentangle Ganesha I completed for Dilip (explained below; see Gift of Ganesha). Remember, it's all about the process! The end product is just tangible evidence of the journey, of the time spent creating and contemplating penstrokes. (And pencil blends!) That, my friends, is the whirlwind summary of (some of) what I've been up to. Also, if you have not yet seen my last post, Gift of Ganesha, I invite you to check it out. You will see my contribution to an international Zentangle collaboration that initiated with a CZT in India. Also in that post is Paisley Boa, a tangle I am pleased to share with my Tanglefish readers. Let me know what you think of anything that I've posted, be it words or images. It's always nice to know that my blog posts are viewed & read by the people who find there way here! But please be kind about the layout. Please?! It's unfortunate and it drives me crazy. I have fits over things that I arrange and things that I can't arrange...and none of what I do looks the same when it is published, anyway!

Explore OlgaArtCat86's 151 photos on Flickr!

This is my version of my Celtic Challenge 13. If you would like to try this challenge then go to creativedoodlingwithjudy.blogspot.com.au

Patrick Gallagher shares his method of drawing Celtic Knots How To Draw A Triquetra Knot How To Draw A Freestyle Celtic Knot- ...

a gallery curated by Kim Schuster

Inspiration- previous pattern Propel. www.flickr.com/photos/belatrix29/6382979045/in/photostream

Explore Delvin Design's 256 photos on Flickr!

Mich hatte in den letzten Tagen die Grippewelle erwischt – kein Wunder beim täglichen Umgang mit Kindern auf engstem Raum. So hatte ich zwar eine Menge Zeit, jedoch fehlte mir der innere Antr…

Neil Burley has posted instructions to Curly Braces Trio and Quad .

This is my version of my Celtic Challenge 15. If you would like to try this challenge then go to creativedoodlingwithjudy.blogspot.com.au

"The whole is more than the sum of its parts." Aristotle Last month my husband and I went on a cruise to Norway. We've been on several cruises in the past, so I knew that the ship would be a mecca of patterns, and I wasn't disappointed. Patterns on walls, floors, furniture, lights. In other words, everywhere you looked there were patterns, even on the water in the North Sea. Walking through the ship taking pictures of walls and floors and furniture....I can only imagine what the other passengers must have thought! It took a few weeks, but finally I got around to deconstructing some of those patterns to come up with the step-outs for new tangle patterns. But before I get to that, I wanted to share a few of the patterns I saw that I did not try to pick apart. This first one is a light hanging from the ceiling of one of the lounges. Does anyone else see Mooka in there? Here are two more - the one on the left was on a wall, and the one on the right was a floor which reminds me of Dex. This one is an etched glass door with a wall of different colored lights behind it. Zendala? The next one was a fabric covered wall (with metal strips dividing it into a grid, just like a tangle pattern). These two were taken in a store in the town of Bergen. When I took the following photo I wasn't really focusing on the water, but once I put it on my computer I was immediately drawn to the pattern that the water made in the wake of the boat going by. And I couldn't resist taking a picture of the roof on this building next to where our ship docked in Eidfjord. Last, but not least, is this photo of a tiled border going around the pool deck on the ship. This is the first one that I have deconstructed (at least a part of it). I have named the pattern "Cruze" in honor of where it came from. You start with "blocks" of 5 lines forming a diagonal. At first I tried very hard to get the lines to form a square block, but realized it really doesn't matter if they are squares or rectangles, or whether each one is the same size as the next one. Once you get the flow of the curved lines connecting those blocks, it really isn't hard. You go down one side (step 4) then turn and go back up the other side (step 5). On the last step you cap off the two ends. I enjoyed playing around with this pattern, but got really excited about it when I created the following variation. If you place the blocks of lines in a skewed manner like shown below, you get a really interesting variation that has a lot of movement. The top section is unshaded and the bottom one is shaded. On the following Zentangle I used the original pattern, but added a little bit of black fill, and really think it makes the pattern pop. I turned the picture 45 degrees to post it here because as I was looking at it I tilted my head and liked what I saw. It looks to me like a hanging basket of flowers. Then I used the Cruze variation to design the following piece. I just LOVE the way this one turned out. This is definitely one of my favorite Zentangles ever. Stay tuned for more new patterns coming soon. Maybe one will be called Norway.

Learn to draw tangles by Zen Linea - my tangles with step by step deconstructions. Draw Zentangle tangles, one line at a time.

Creative Doodling is easy-to-learn, relaxing and a fun way to create artwork using simple repeat patterns (doodles). A useful skill for many crafts.

Doubtful is your grace. My mind is changed. www.facebook.com/nzjo.studio

My first attempt at a Celtic knot (Zentangle style)

Wow. I am really thrilled with this one! Yes, there are step-outs! (Oh, alright! Skip to the step-outs! But come back up to see/read all the rest, okay?) I noticed this interlacing on the box of the game Isle of Skye. It's a classic Celtic interlacing pattern, which, if you follow a strand, you'll notice is composed of two strands, not one. (I enjoyed the game, by the way.) This is the pattern stripe from the game's box. Deconstructing this pattern encountered a lot of false starts. Once I had figured out how to draw it, I drew it a few times on a tile. I wanted to be sure I knew what I was doing before I pretended to explain it to others. Tangles: Black Pearlz, Pearlz, Skye, Tipple Blue Skye! Honestly, I wasn't thinking that when I did this. I just had a tile with a blue wash sitting waiting. Tangles: Bunzo, Crescent Moon, Pearlz, Phuds, Skye The step-outs! (Updated step-outs posted 2016 September 2) Don't forget to shade it, although it looks quite alright without. Have fun! Tangles: Cruze, Elven, single Pearlz, Skye, Zonked Tangles: Skye, Tipple, and wavy lines UPDATE: 2016 May 19 Well, my goodness! People are having lots of fun with this tangle, to the extent that some are posting alternate step-outs and video demos. Here are three videos offering basics and further explorations such as ending a row of Skye, and doing Skye in a circle. The first is from Bunte Gallerie on YouTube: The next is one is from Kathrin Bendel, also on YouTube. Kathrin is a CZT in Germany and made this (her first!) video as an additional instruction to some who were having challenges drawing Skye. And one from Ellen Wolters, who has done video demos of a great many tangle patterns.

Celtic Challenge 27 Hi all, hope you had a great fortnight. There were some interesting entries in the last challenge. Cora Lee commented on the last post that she did not have a printer and how could she draw it. At present I do not have time to issue drawing instructions with each challenge. My suggestion to Cora Lee and others in the same position is to copy my outline and email it to a friend who has a printer, so they can print it for you. In Australia some copy business will print items you email to them for you also. If anyone else has any ideas, could they please put it in the comments for others to see. Below is your challenge for this week. I am asking those who have never done it before to come up with one of their own patterns to decorate part of the design. If you could name your pattern and draw up the steps that would be great also. Good luck. Below is my finished version. My patterns I used to decorate this design are: Coral Flaming Zig Zag Half Flower - Variation Wavy Lines - Variation Full Flower - Variation Hope you enjoy this pattern. HAPPY DOODLING

Portrait of John from the Book of Kells, 8th century Ink on calf skin, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland What do banyan trees, biomorphic design,graph theory,knot theory,medieval manuscript illumination,Celtic knot work, The Book of Kells, art history and the disciplines of visual art, social studies and mathematics have in common? OVERLAPPING To learn more about the design principle of overlapping click here and scroll down. Click here and scroll down for a definition of overlapping and examples of how overlapping can be used in art. Create an abstract design made of overlapping biomorphic lines. Use these photographs of banyan trees to inspire you. All of these photographs have an asymmetrical composition. To learn more about asymmetrical balance, click here. For directions on how to create an original, symmetrically balanced, knotwork design, print out the worksheets below. Use this printable colorwheel worksheet to help you mix the contrasting warm and cool colors For more information on color theory click here. MATH MEETS ART What do overlapping line designs have to do with mathematics? Watch this video to find out: Celtic knot work is a form of art that uses the 'over and under' weaving pattern. Here is an example of a Celtic knot work design. Print it out and follow the directions to create your own design. The most famous masterpieces of Medieval Celtic knot work can be found in the Book of Kells. To learn more about the Book of Kells, click here. If you are lucky enough to ever visit Dublin Ireland, take the opportunity to visit the actual Book of Kells at Trinity College. The Book of Kells is a Medieval illuminated manuscriprt. To learn more about illuminated manuscripts and to see examples of illuminated manuscripts, click here. Click here to visit a website that has a few images from the Book of Kells. Most images from the book are not in the public domain because Trinity College is very protective of this valuable book. If you visit Dublin to view the book, you will not be permitted to take photographs. However you can view many other beautiful examples of illuminated manuscripts by clicking here to visit Columbia University's online Digital Scriptorium. Below you will find the few photographs from the Book of Kells that are available in the public domain. That means you may legally download and re-post them. These manuscript illuminations are famous in part for their interlacing knot work designs. The Book of Kells is a famous 8th century Insular Gospel Book, now in the Trinity College Library in Dublin If you would like to view or download more pages from the Book of Kells click here to visit the 'Book of Kells' page on Wikimedia Commons. Designs, like the one above, that incorporate abstract animal shapes are known as zoomorphic designs  The three pages above have symmetrically balanced Celtic knot work borders  Illuminated Manuscript A page from the Book of Kells with interlacing knot work and zoomorphic designs What happens when an artist is inspired by intertwining trees and the knot work in medieval illuminated manuscripts? The helpful art teacher does not ask students to do any projects she would not do herself. Here are some pieces from my own portfolio: Contemporary sculptor Todd Runfeldt carves intricate knotwork designs inspired by the art of the Middle Ages. These beautiful ornaments and pendants were hand carved from stone, bone and antler. Posted with permission. Please contact the artist by clicking here before downloading or copying. To see more European art from the Middle Ages, visit the Cloisters in New York City by clicking here. To browse or search the Cloisters collection of Medieval art, click here. The Cloisters is part of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum's website has a very useful art history timeline that lets students and scholars compare art from different countries and periods in history. To see what art looked like in Europe in the middle ages, and to read what was happening between 500 and 1000 AD, click here (for Great Britain), here (for Central Europe), here (for Italy) and here (for France). Open all four links in different windows and compare the artwork from different countries. How do you think historical events influenced medieval artwork? How was the art in different countries the same? How was it different? What do those differences tell us about what life may have been like for people who lived throughout Europe during the Middle Ages? Printable Worksheets by the helpful art teacher Print out the worksheets below and use them as a reference for drawing and craft projects:

Maria and I received this email from James in Korea with a new tangle he deconstructed. We are thrilled to share James' new tangle — and his story behind it — here with you all. Dear Rick and Maria, This is new tangle that I created. I want to share my appreciation with you about the journey from the rise of inspiration to completing the tangle. New tangle prototype by James Lim CZT This tangle is inspired by the pattern of windows and doors called Salchang (the lattice window of traditional Korean houses). Traditional Korean house : Korea cultural heritage administration homepage Salchang is a traditional Korean window and door made of thin woven wood with traditional Korean paper pasted on it. The wooden lattice is mainly made from the pine tree, and various patterns come out depending on how they are laid out. I always thought that the pattern of traditional Korean windows and doors was great, and from a few years ago, I wanted to make a tangle with this pattern of the Salchang. I repeated my research whenever I had time. But when I drew it, I realized that I was just portraying the actual Salchang patterns. It wasn't easy to deconstruct it into a tangle. However, I always kept the pattern of the Salchang in my heart. But a few days ago, the words of you and Maria suddenly came to my mind, shaking my head.

Creative Doodling is easy-to-learn, relaxing and a fun way to create artwork using simple repeat patterns (doodles). A useful skill for many crafts.

LuAnn Kessi

Maria writes: Some of you have mentioned your difficulty in creating strings. Whenever I am confronted with that, I resort to something real simple . . . stripes! . . . lines, ribbons, pipes, moldings, borders. In one of my past lives, I was part owner of a frame shop. I did not do the actual "cut the frame" part, but I often did the custom mat jobs . . . with either "French lines," marbled paper borders or calligraphy. Now, this has morphed into creating patterned borders around art or photos in a Zentangle way whether with pen and ink or with brush and color. There is a basic simplicity of tangling within the string of a stripe and then shading on the outer edges to tie it all together. This is also a fun exercise/challenge to do with tangles that you wouldn't immediately think of as "border" tangles. Simple. Rather impressive. Very cool! P.S. I am especially attracted to the unevenness of these stripes and borders because it's obviously hand-made . . . not machine made. So, no worries if your strings aren't perfectly straight or parallel! Click images for larger views.

Creative Doodling is easy-to-learn, relaxing and a fun way to create artwork using simple repeat patterns (doodles). A useful skill for many crafts.

Celtic Challenge 14 I have decided to challenge you to a Celtic Stack this week. A stack is a group of shapes stacked on top of each other. A Celtic stack is a group of shapes woven together. You can choose to copy my stack outline, or make one of your own. I decided to turn my stack sideways to make a little scene. You will probably see the glaring mistake I made while weaving my stack, but I left it there anyway. The doodle patterns I have used are: The Green Frame - "Multi" on the inside "Looped Edge" on the outside The Pink Frame - "Hearts and Contours" on the inside "Outward Scallop" on the outside The Turquoise Frame - "Heartly" on the inside "Zig-Zag" on the outside The Lavander Frame - "Rollin in" on the inside " Inward Scallop" on the outside The Yellow Frame - "Little Hearts Border" on the inside "Under & Over" on the outside I also added grass and flowers to the bottom, 3 flying birds to the top right and spiders and spider webs, to two frames. I will post the distructions for the new patterns that appear hear tomorrow, for those who would like to try them. HAPPY DOODLING

Celtic Challenge 25 The challenge I have for you this fortnight is to create an authentic Celtic design. It is called a Celtic Triskele and one of the earliest examples of this is in the late 6th century on the Meigle Stone from Scotland. It is a very simple shape but very beautiful and appears in many variations in celtic work. Celtic Challenge 25 A Copy the outline below and decorate it. Celtic Challenge 25 B Follow my distructions below to draw your own Triskele and then decorate it. Draw the whole diagram in pencil first. Draw three dots that represent the 3 points of the Triskele. They need to be equal distance apart as in the points of an equaliteral triangle. Draw a curved line from one point to the next arching the curve at least half the distance from the bottom to the top dot. Repeat this step twice more. Draw a continuous parallel line on the outside of the line already drawn. Mark out where you want the over and unders to be on the cross over sections. Now that you have finished the drawing. Redraw over the pencil lines in pen and rub out any pencil left showing. You are now ready to decorate your Celtic Triskele. This is how I decorated mine. My patterns I used are: Sizemick Spiral Bumps - a new pattern Spiral Bumps Distructions HAPPY DOODLING

Celtic Challenge 19 Hi everyone, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and will have a happy and prosperous New Year to come. I have had a good rest, and have some very exciting challenges for you this year. I will be giving you two options for each challenge this year. You can do one or both of these challenges. I will only be posting my Challenges once a fortnight as I am my husbands carer and he is requiring more help now, so I have less time. Challenge A, will be to copy and decorate the Celtic Knot Outline I have provided. Challenge B, will be to use my distructions to draw your own Celtic Knot Outline and decorate it. Celtic Challenge 19A Copy this outline and decorate it with patterns. You can colour and shade it also if you wish. Celtic Challenge 19B Use the distructions below to draw you own Celtic Outline. You can go with the heart and teardrop shapes that I have used or come up with alternatives. Then decorate the design you have drawn however you wish. I am discovering there are many different easy ways to draw Celtic Knots. This is another option. This Celtic Four Leaf Glover was drawn, starting with a cross. You need to draw the whole thing in pencil first, as there will be some lines that will need to be erased at the end. Mark about a third of the way out from the centre on each arm of the cross, as you can see below. Draw a heart shape with an extension from the point of the heart toward the point of the next heart. Do not go all the way as you need the gap for the Celtic Weave. The point of the heart starts on the mark a third of the way from the centre and the dip in the top of the heart is on the end of the line. Draw each side of the line the same to get a perfect heart. Draw a second line parallel to the first to form one half of the heart. Close the gap that has been left between each heart. Draw the other half of the heart. This is a nice design on its own. and if you want to use this to do your challenge this week then go ahead. I have decided to add more detail and another weave to this pattern. Draw a teardrop shape in the centre of each heart, with an extension like the heart, toward the bottom point of the next teardrop, stopping when you get to the inside edge of the heart. Draw another parallel line around this tear drop to complete it. Draw the rest of the parallel lines that link each teardrop shape. As you can see there are some pencil lines that need to be erased, so that the weave looks complete and the quide lines are gone. Your Celtic Four Leaf Clover is now ready to be drawn in ink and decorated with doodles, shaded and coloured if you wish. You could do this same design using other shapes at the end of the cross, for example triangles, teardrops, diamonds, stars etc. You are only limited by your imagination. The centre shape could also have limitless options, so that you can do many different designs using these distructions. Here is my finished design. Decorating these Celtic Designs is limited by the type of patterns that fit into these small continuous spaces. I have a page I add to constantly with new Border and Edge Doodle Patterns. Feel free to use them any time. I have used my doodle border pattern Teardrops to decorate around this design. The centre pattern is a new one called Going Down. The distructions are below. Shading adds a lot to a design. It takes it from the flat look to the 2 dimensional realm. I will be adding a page this week with simple shading distructions for those who want to learn. HAPPY DOODLING