Hump Day Zentangle® Challenge #8 – Tangle Choice Day Edition

Today is the first Wednesday in August. August!?! Seriously? July, we hardly knew ya’ and here we are 7 days into August.

They say the passage of time seems to speed up as we age because each passing day (and hour) is a smaller percentage of our lives. As someone who is no longer asked to show an I.D. to prove I’m old enough for a senior discount, I don’t know if that explains the speeded up time phenomenon, but I can confirm that the days, months and years, feel like they are whizzing by at Mach speed.

This week I was thinking that Facebook needs a new “SANGRY” emoji, a cross between sad and angry.

I, and many Americans, are still reeling from the two mass shootings we experienced in the United States over the weekend: 22 people gunned down in an El Paso, Texas Walmart; and 9 killed in Dayton, Ohio, in addition to many others who have so far survived their wounds. People in both cities are pleading with politicians to “Do Something!” about the gun laws in the United States that permit people to buy semi-automatic assault rifles (used in both massacres) and extended magazines with extra bullets.

Having lived in four countries and visited 40-some others, I know people elsewhere in the world have trouble understanding our peculiar relationship with firearms. It’s a complex and polarizing issue in the United States which I won’t delve into here. If anyone is interested in knowing my take on the subject, I can probably be persuaded to privately share my views with you.

In any case, once again, the Zentangle method has been somewhat of a refuge. I don’t see it as the ostrich approach to disturbing news. I know it’s futile to try to hide from reality, but picking up my pen, pencil and tortillion, helps somewhat to quell my anxiety about our future. I hope this week’s Hump Day Zentangle Challenge will prove similarly salubrious for you.

This Week’s Hump Day Zentangle Challenge is Tangler’s Choice

My Zentangle peeps know that the first Wednesday of every month is Tangle Choice Day. This week, you get to pick your own tangle(s) to feature. Depending on how you are feeling, you can pick one of your favorite “go to” tangles (comfort food) or pick one that’s more challenging, one you’ve been wanting to master. If you have time, you can do one monotangle tile (i.e. a tile featuring only one tangle), and perhaps another featuring tangleations (variations) or combining the tangle you chose with others.

I Chose the Windmill Tangle Deconstructed by

Japanese CZT, Hiroko Matsuo

Some of you may have already worked with Windmill as it was featured recently by Linda Farmer on TanglesPatterns.Com. Like many so-called Zentangle people, Hiroko saw a floor pattern that intrigued her and she worked out the steps to recreate it:

This is a photo of the tile floor that inspired CZT Hiroko Matsuo to deconstruct Windmill.

You can find the step outs for Windmill here on TanglePatterns.Com.

I admit I had a bit of trouble mastering the Windmill tangle. It demands some concentration and focus, but I’m glad I persevered. Once I got the hang of it, I enjoyed its versatility. If you decide to choose Windmill as your tangle this week, pay close attention to Hiroko’s instructions for turning your tile as you work. I’d suggest maybe giving this one a go first with pencil (and an eraser) on a piece of scrap paper.

Once I felt more in control of the mechanics, I found it hard to stop trying different Windmill tangleations:

This was my first Windmill iteration.

But, I kept going:

Then, this happened:

Followed by this:

And, then I decided to get my Premier Prisma Colored Pencils in on the Windmill action:

In addition to the colored pencils, the gray looking area featuring Printemps is actually a Sakura silver colored Gelly Roll pen.

I’m looking forward to seeing which tangles you all choose.

Please Share Your Hump Day Zentangle® Challenge Creations!

Please share your responses to this week’s challenge with us in the Hump Day Challenge Facebook Group and/or on your Instagram, Twitter  or Flickr feeds. Use the hashtag #hdchallenge8.

Note: The Hump Day Zentangle Challenge Facebook group is a “closed” group to discourage axe murderers. So, assuming you’re not an axe murderer, please just search for the name of the group in Facebook and submit a request to join. There are no pre-requisites to join the group — other than relatively good manners and the afore-mentioned not being an axe murderer. I can’t invite you to join unless we’re already FB friends, but if you request to join, I can add you to the group. Other group members can also admit you to the group.

There are other ways to share your work: We also have a Pinterest group board to share our Hump Day Challenge responses. Email me at suzanne@boomeresque.com if you’d like me to add you as a contributor to the Pinterest board or you can mention that in a comment with your Pinterest name below.

If you have your own blog and are posting your challenge responses there, leave the URL to your blog in a comment below so people can paste it into their browser and find your post. (PS: The first 2 times you comment, I will have to moderate the comment. After your first two comments on Boomeresque, your comments will appear without moderation.)

BTW, feel free to share your work for this or any challenge at any time—even next week, next month, next year, ad infinitum.

A note about Zentangle supplies: I am an Amazon affiliate which means I may earn a few cents if you do your Amazon shopping via links on this website. A few people have asked me for links to Zentangle supplies. At the end of this post there are links to supplies you may be interested in, including books, pens and colored pencils.

Tangle on!

Do you find you turn to the Zentangle method for an oasis of calm when the news of the day is beyond awful? Is time flying for you too?

Tagged as: hump day zentangle challenge, Zentangle