My daughter and I got back last Thursday from a fantastic trip – cruising up the west coast of Africa and hostel-hopping in Italy. I packed light because I don’t like to struggle with suitcases on trains and while we are walking to and from hostels. But, I packed lighter than I meant to. I somehow left my bag of Zentangle supplies home!
So, this week’s Diva Challenge is the first time I’ve tangled since Artiscape in April. It was a bit of a challenge getting back into the Zen of tangling and not worrying about the outcome. The pen felt stiff in my hand and I think my “aura-ing” muscles are suffering from disuse.
It was also a challenge finding time to tangle and blog in between unpacking, cleaning, laundry, mail sorting, and taking care of all of the things that pile up while one is away. And then my iPhone ate my blog post!
The actual challenge is to use Margaret Bremner’s tangle dansk. It looks so cool when she does it. Alas, I am no Margret.
Here is my first attempt. I wanted to start with a gem on black because of some gorgeous pictures that Spanish CZT Maria Tovar posted on Facebook.
The 3 floating oddities were meant to be dansk but I quickly realized that I drew the tail from the round end instead of the pointy one and abandoned them. I thought I could use the “petals” as the seed of dansk, but that’s not quite “right” either.
For attempt 2, I started with a flux shape and added the seed with an inner aura. (Basically, I reversed Margaret’s step 2 & step 1.) It is so much easier for me to draw it that way. I don’t have to remember which side to draw the stem from at least 🙂
Hmm. Now, my dansk looks like fingerprints. That doesn’t feel quite right either. The tile looks like the ocean to me. I think I may have been wishing I was at the beach with my mom. Or, maybe it is because I have been thinking about hosting a Zentangle beach retreat.
Still not happy, I thought I would give it another chance. Third time’s a charm is what they say, right?
Hmm. Still not the look I was going for, but at this point, I need to leave this challenge and get back to the business of getting back into the swing of life at home. There is always next week…
Tangled Up In Art 
Welcome back! I like all three!
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Glad you had a good time but wondering if you ever stay home for long. The tiles all look great. I think that Dansk is deceptive in in its simplicity. Seems like it should be easy but can be quite a challenge.
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Nice that you had such a trip with your daughter. Lucky you. My favorite is the one with Aquafleur, but maybe because that is such a beautiful tangle. Dansk makes for a nice background to anything, but I agree it tends to look a lot like a fingerprint. I suppose there are a lot of us who hope to grow up to be Margaret, or Helen, or Lily, or ………
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Welcome back! What an amazing trip you had. These are all lovely! I think my favorite is the first one. I like the sun;-)
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