Tomorrow it’s a public holliday and also my name day. In the region where I was born, mothers are celebrated on the 15.th of August. In most families, children will give a little present to their mother: a flower, a chocolate… sitting together around the table, talking, eating and drinking… We keep this tradition alive and so tomorrow will be a happy day!
When I visited the elementary school, there were 6 girls with the name (Ma) ria in my class. That was so in every grade. In most families there was someone with the name Maria. My mother was also called Maria. In those days, I found it a very common name and I prefered a more exotic one. After a few decades, less girls became this name… Now, it is not important anymore., on the contrary, the name Ria is back again and newborn girls occasionally get names as Mieke, Mia, Maaike, Marieke, Mary and even Ria … and I like it now more than when I was young.
My mother passed away about 10 years ago. Now, when I get older, I see how I look more and more like her … This picture is one of the last ones of her, taken during a hot summer day. We were happy and I have nice memories of that day… Tomorrow, I’m sure I’m gonna think about her.
In English: a mother is a little light that always glows, inside your heart and inside your head.
As I wrote in a previous post, I am always there for new discoveries. I like handmade paper and I wanted to learn that. Actually it is not so difficult. You have just to crash old newspaper in little pieces and let it soak overnight in water. The next day, you trow the water away, set the mixer into it until you get a thick mash. On a special strainer on wet canvas, this mash is neatly spread and afterwards (carefully) turned upsite down. Let the paper dry ( you can press some dried flowers or other organic material in) and after a few hours you can see already the results. Also this technique, you can use in combination with Zentangleart. Even if you are an absolute beginner, you can directly create some nice pieces you can use on a personal card. I have just cut out a circle, fixed on a card and tangled some simple motives around. It’s a lovely, personal attention you can add to a gift or just send to someone you like.
In the Primer, the latest book by Rick and Mary, chapter 7 is fully devoted to “reticula and fragments“. This technique seems complicated at first sight, but nothing could be further from the truth. With the different “fragments“ you can make a lot of interesting drawings. You can place them in the same order but you can also turn the fragments in different directions. Very unexpected results can appear. I find this” new” way of tangling very pleasant and I enjoyed it very much. Therefore I have made a few examples.
On this first tile, I used the fragments D4 and M1 to create the border
On the second tile, I used U3 in the middle in different directions. It seems then a bit like a flower. X5 was drawn a few times in a bigger square. Then the rest of the smaller squares were filled with J4. I ‘ ve used on both tiles only ordinary color pencils.
On the third example, I began with the pattern Loops, then completed with the fragments X7, L2, U1 and Q2 and a little piece of Fassett to finish the tile. Finally I’ve used a red pen to give a little colored touch.
You know already, I am a big fan of travelingtiles. I really don’t know who started this adventure but I like it very much. I have chosen not to have a cell phone, I am not active on social networks (so no facebook, twitter or instagram). Maybe, I am running a bit behind, the “travelingtiles“ travel around the world for a while but that doesn’t matter... When I just received my CZT certificate , Karin Godyns, one of the Belgian CZT, asked me to share this experience with her. I enjoyed it very much and the result appeared already on my blog a time ago. A few weeks later, I ‘ve got the same question from Simone Menzel.from Dresden . We “see” each other weekly on the site of the DIva where Simone shows us her beautiful tiles.. She sent me the following tile and began with Hua and Ambler. I finished with Fassett, Hollibaugh, Shattuck and Tipple. I coudn’t resist to add some little purple accents but I like the result very much.
I ‘ve send her a white Zendalatile and began with a splash of green, blue and yellow watercolor with a little Bistre powder. I’ve only drawn Diva’s Dance and Jetties. Simone completed this tile with Pokeleaf, Random, Printemps, N’Zeppel Verve and Arukas . I was surpriced by this wonderfull result. I really love it!
Anja Schaffeld (website) is a kind and talented woman from Germany and she was my buddy during the 22nd CZT seminar in the U.S.A. We “met” before on the DIva’s site. That is why I asked her to “meet” again during this adventure. I started her tile also with watercolors and drew Pokeleaf (with aura) and Rain. .Anja finished this tile in a beautiful way: she put a second aura on both of the patterns, she chose the gorgeous Copada as a border and filled the tile with AHH. It made me very happy to see her final lovely result.
Anja sent me a Zendalatile too. I saw a very nice Akoya (with red tipple) and the lovely pattern Ixorus. Immediately I thought of making a border and I ‘ve used a lot of tangles: Fassett, Shattuck, Hollibaugh, Printemps, TIpple, Jetties, Pokeleaf (with aura), Kogin, Zander, Flux, Diva’s Dance, Static and N’Zeppel. To complete this tile, I have drawn a few Mooka’s, coming out of Ixorus, some tipples and Flux. With a little red color and subtile shadow I finished.
Then I asked Michele Wynne from San Francisco to share this experience. I admire her work on the DIva’s site and she creates always beautiful colors. I was very happy that her answer was positif. She sent me a very pretty colored tile which she has begun with Feather fall. I finished this tile with Abundies, Drupe, Tripoli, TIpple, Printemps and a little Mooka.
I ‘ve send Michele a Renaissance Zendalatile, which I begun after putting some watercolor with a little Zander and Henna Drum.. Michele completed this special tile with Gust, Mooka,Sprangle and Tipple.
It has become a real beauty, I especially love the way how she let the Gust come out of the Zander, wonderfull.
All these “travelling tiles” are different but all of them are surprising and very successful. I’m fond of them all and very proud to have shared this nice experience with other” Zentanglelovers”. I hope to be able to do this even more in the future. These drawings were made on Zendalatiles, but next time I choose maybe another kind of tile: a white, a black, a colored, maybe I will use just a black pen or colored pencils…. everthing is possible, everthing is allright!!!
In the meantime I have made travelingtiles for Sue from Australië, Misha fromTaiwan and Maddy from Belgium. I’m very curious how they will finish the drawings but I already know that it is going to be great. You can work with people from all over the world, that is really great and I can recommend it to everyone. It is sometimes a little bit, coming out of your “comfort zone“, but you’re going one step further and that gives a great satisfaction.
After the 15 th of August, normally the best of the summertime has past. The mornings and the evenings become already a little bit colder. Let’s hope we still can get a few nice days…. The wheather forecast looks good for the next days … Now there is the largest selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, even after such a faded summer. Flowers bloom still abundant. Especially the Willow gives a beautiful color to the landscape and the wild Honeysuckle spreads a fantastic smell during the evening. Sometimes I really can enjoy a glass of wine, sitting outside before the warm rays of the outdoor stove. A few days ago we got visit of 2 friends who knew we like wine. They gave a few small bottles with special tangled labels. Every tangler would love to receive such a nice bottle. It is a very good idea for a present.
Listen to these beautiful romantic music of Enya, and try to keep a bit that warm summer feeling . I love to sing very loud together with Enya (when nobody can hear me) You can do that also or just easy listening is also O.K.!!! Enjoy, untill next time and keep on tangling, yeah!!!
