Moving!

I've migrated over to WordPress, for reasons explained there. Go visit Stumbling Through Life for art and rambling! ^_^

New Tangle/Reticulum: Dreamcatcher

I'm really excited about this one! ^_^

It started with a Traveling Tangles Project with Sabrina Kirjavainen all the way over in Finland, on nail polish - the shape I finished with reminded me of a dreamcatcher.

Tangles used: Sabrina - Sanibelle, Me - Tipple, Locar, Shattuck, Zinger

So I decided to play with a pattern reminiscent of those in traditional dreamcatchers.

Here's my first effort, with a six-sided shape that I treated as a regular expanding-flower pattern and filled a la Suzanne McNeill's Bloom.

Tangles used: Dreamcatcher, Bloom

Second, I tried an 8-sided shape - this worked out best in my opinion and so in the stepout below it's what I start with. I also realized at this point it could work as a reticulum just as well as a filler or floral pattern, and decided to try filling it with Bales.

Tangles used: Dreamcatcher, Bales

Then, of course, I had to try fitting in my own Knightstar - it got really tiny and confusing near the center but I still like the end result. This one started with a four-sided shape.

Tangles used: Dreamcatcher, Knightstar

By this point, I was hooked - Dreamcatcher wormed its way into my second TTP with Sabrina...

Tangles used: Sabrina - Staura, Angeleafe, Tipple Me - Tipple, Shattuck, Springkle, Flux, Angeleaf, Dreamcatcher, Zinger

...Got into my watercolor pencils and turned all blue...

Tangles used: Dreamcatcher, Knighstar, Brax

...And jumped from a white tile to a black ATC! ^_^

Tangles used: Dreamcatcher, Yincut

Here's the stepout. Hopefully it all makes sense. It takes some practice to get it to look all nice and even (and, as you can probably tell, I certainly still need some ^_^) but it's pretty forgiving if used as a reticulum - the dense patterning, especially near the center, disguises wobbly or uneven lines ^_^

...Of course, if you're not a perfectionist like me, I guess that doesn't really matter. ^_^

Enjoy and be inspired! ^_^

Life is annoying.

Always getting in the way of things I want to do...except not really. I've still been drawing and posting on Mosaic (DanielLamotheCZT24 if you're on the app and want to appreciate me ^_^), but blogging has been...rather neglected amidst tangling, studying for my upcoming PSAT, and volunteering at the library. So here's the last two Diva Challenges for you! ^_^

I was soooooo excited when I saw Laura had chosen my Knightstar as the UMT for August - so excited I didn't get around to actually doing a piece for it until Sunday. Funny how things work, isn't it? Here's my Zendala.

Tangles used: Knightstar, Pop-Cloud, Bales, Arc Flower

It was awesome to look at all the challenge responses and see how everyone used Knightstar - I was a bit surprised at all the people talking about what a challenge it was until I sat down to do it one of my myriad sketchbooks and ended up with a horrible abomination...^_^ Of particular interest was Stephanie Jennifer's alternate stepout, which I ended up using on this tile. It lacks the cool factor of "I'm using straight lines to make curves" but gives an overall similar effect and is easier to keep even.

And here's my duotangle of Auraknot and Meer, done in another one of my sketchbooks - I think I have at least 20 sketchbooks/sketchpads in my possession at the moment, although I'm planning to give away a bunch of the ones I don't use. This was super fun and simple, especially the shading. ^_^

Tangles used: Auraknot, Meer (duh)

Enjoy and be inspired! ^_^

Planetanglin'

So, I have another really looooong plane flight coming up soon, to go from my grandparent's house in California to my home in Oklahoma. I'll post my inevitable tangling from that flight here when I get back and get settled in...but for now you get the piece I did in my Moleskine journal when I flew out to Cali in the first place ^_^

Tangles used: Marasu, Tipple, Static, Pokeleaf, Evoke, Tortuca, Mooka, Crescent Moon, Hollibaugh, Flux, 'Nzeppel, Beeline, Opus, Emingle, Diva Dance, Bunzo, Eye-Wa, Ing, Bales, Verdigogh, Printemps, Knightsbridge, Shattuck, Rain, Pokeroot

...Deep breath. ^_^

If you want to see more of my work, more regularly, you can find and appreciate me on Mosaic (DanielLamotheCZT24). Enjoy and be inspired! ^_^

When Everything Happens at Once (also some art)

I.
Am.
Exhausted.
Time certainly flies when you're having fun...the last three weeks were absolutely crazy and absolutely amazing. NY Botanical Gardens. The Met. CZT Seminar 24. A whirlwind of classes (yes, already!). Buying new art supplies. Trying new art supplies. 4th of July. Hearst Castle...and all of a sudden, home. Aaaaaaah.... ^_^
Oh yeah, the Diva Challenge is gonna be at the bottom of all this. So if you don't want to look through my photos and my gushing, scroll down ^_^

Beautiful roses from the New York Botanical Gardens

The Botanical Gardens were a bit of a disappointment because nothing was in bloom...except for the absolutely spectacular rose garden at the farthest end. Worth the ridiculously long trek there and back. My mom took about 20 photos of the roses alone...I think this is the prettiest one ^_^

At the entrance to the Met

The Met was pretty darn awesome. I'm not gonna show you the rest of my photos because they're all just random works of art and I don't remember the details of most of them and really, seeing photos of a bunch of old paintings and reading a teenager's commentary on them isn't particularly exciting. At least not for me. ^_^

I also won't dump too many photos from Seminar on there...since everyone reading this either has gone or really, really should and I don't want to spoil anything for them ^_^

Me with Rick and Maria

I have to say, Rick and Maria are some the sweetest, most interesting, and most passionate people I've ever met. You could feel how much they loved what they were doing, and how much they believed in it, in every single sentence they spoke and every single piece of amazing artwork they showed us. They struck up conversations at the drop of a hat during breaks (well, when they weren't rushing around preparing whatever wonderful thing we were doing next). They were enthusiastic and gregarious and incredibly genuine, and totally one of a kind.

As for everyone else...I'll just say that Zentangle attracts the nicest people, and that despite the fact that there were people from 11 different countries there everyone spoke the same "language." ^_^

Just to remind myself it actually happened ^_^

Oh, and the store. The store...I spent, like, at least $30 more than I planned to. Aaaaah. It was amazing. ^_^

And now just for laughs...

Me and my parents

And now for the Hearst Castle pics - I actually don't have too many pictures of my own since my grandfather took a whole CD-ful, and he hasn't downloaded the contents onto my computer yet. Once he does I'll dump the ones I like into a separate blog post and put the link here. For now, you just get a tiny taste of what it was like ^_^

Also, warning: extreme opulence incoming.

The front door...seriously.

Oh yeah, William Hearst (the guy who built it) called this his "Ranch at San Simeon." Ranch.

I don't know about you, but I've never seen a ranch with a swimming pool...let alone one this big, with gold everywhere.

So. Much. Gold. And so many antiquities...and also so many patterns that will be turned into tangles in the days to come ^_^

And so there's my I-have-ADHD-can't-you-tell overview of everything that happened in the last three weeks and also my excuse as to why I haven't posted anything in three weeks right after saying I could post more often ^_^ I have, however, been using the Mosaic app pretty regularly, so if you have that you can "appreciate" me and get all my posts in your feed - my username is DanielLamotheCZT24. And if you don't have it - get it ^_^

And now, for the Diva Challenge! I really admire Suzanne Fluhr - I haven't been keeping up with her blog (or anybody's, really) as much as I want to but she's an amazing writer and a talented artist and it's really cool to see her featured, with such a timely challenge. So here's my Give Peace a Chance tile, done on the new Renaissance Bijoux, with the tangles on the inside of the peace sign spelling peace as well.

Tangles: Flux, Peanuckle, Ennies, Arukas, Crescent Moon, Enyshou

 And some calligraphy, with this frighteningly relevant quote from Albert Eintsein.

I don't really have a soapbox for this subject, so...

Enjoy and be inspired! ^_^

EDIT: So, I just realized that instead of a peace sign, my tile actually has the Mercedes-Benz logo. Sigh. I guess I did kinda divide the bottom half between Arukas and Crescent Moon? ^_^

Courage

School's finally out! Yay! I can actually post stuff semi-regularly! ^_^
For this week's Diva Challenge, Beads of Courage, I decided to do a fairly simple Rixty-inspired string of beads. We're leaving for New York tomorrow (!!!) and also going to Rhode Island for my CZT seminar (!!!!!) so I still haven't had a whole lot of time to draw but without AP tests and finals and the ACT hanging over my head I can finally really start focusing on it.

Tangles used: Rixty

And, now, to a rare moment of somberness here.
I think Laura has a special skill for creating challenges that aren't just inspiring and fun, but also can really reach out to people and be genuinely meaningful under certain circumstances. This week was one of those circumstances for me.
Most of you have probably heard about the horrible shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday. If you haven't, I'll direct you to this NY Times article. Around two years ago, before I had this blog, I emailed Laura in early October about National Coming Out Day, asking if she would create an LGBT-themed challenge to help support the community. She did, and I've always been grateful to her for it. We've come a long way in the US since October 11, 2014, but events like these are sobering proof that hatred and prejudice still exist. The strength and courage of the LGBT community is incredibly moving for me, and I want to add my voice to the chorus of people supporting them. And I want to ask everyone who reads this if they are willing to as well.

Thank you.

-Daniel

New Tangle: Knightstar (Video!)

I finally managed to make another post! *applause and confetti* ^_^ So, this tangle Knightstar was so named because it kinda looks to me like Knightsbridge got pinched into a bunch of star shapes...I couldn't figure out how to create a nice simple step-by-step on paper, so I decided to try making a video of it. And then I decided to record some actual proper audio over it instead of my usual royalty-free music...

Here it is, in all its dubiously awkward glory ^_^ Please excuse the horrible audio quality. And the fact that I clearly don't know what I'm doing. And the weak attempts at humor. I am so sorry. But I'm too lazy to record it all again.

EDIT: Margaret Bremner (and perhaps some other people I wasn't aware of) mentioned that Knightstar bears an extreme resemblance to Knightspeek, by Donna Lacey, CZT - I do think mine is just different enough in execution and end look to perhaps deserve a separate name, as hers is a single star and mine is constructed from an underlying grid, in individual fragments. Thoughts on this? Either way, thanks to Margaret for bringing this to my attention ^_^

Enjoy and be inspired! ^_^

Diva Challenge #259: "Touch of Irish"

No, I'm not dead! I'm just living under a mound of schoolwork.

^_^

I have been posting a bit on my Instagram, though...so check me out there if you want (aquario5678) ^_^ Anywho. This challenge was fun - I decided to go the not-creative route and just tangle in green. Oh, and stick some shamrocks down at the bottom. And some dots with a Gelly Roll Moonlight. ^_^

Tangles used: Flukes, Betweed, Chartz, Keeko, Static, Mooka, Sh'rock 

I've also been trying to get a little more into realism, mostly with the help of how-to-draw videos. Here's a koi fish, which I'm actually quite proud of (thank you Mark Crilley ^_^).

Blub blub.

I also drew a sparrow with just a photo reference...but I won't show you that here and instead direct you over to my YouTube channel to see, because I'm a shameless self-plugger ^_^

Enjoy and be inspired! ^_^

Diva Challenge #251: "Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day"

I couldn't miss this one...

Tangles used: Pokeroot, Msst

Copics are fun ^_^

 Also, if you want to see more of my art, check me out on Instagram - it's more convenient than posts on Blogger so hopefully most of my general drawing will go up there. Enjoy and be inspired! ^_^