Located in Philadelphia and now known as Independence Hall, both the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the U.S. Constitution in 1787 were debated there.
The Zentangle Diva, Canadian Laura Harms, appropriately posted this week’s challenge from the United States where she and her family are on a road trip. July 1st was Canada Day and today is the Fourth of July, the day the American colonies declared independence from Great Britain in 1776. Hopefully, Brexit will go more smoothly than Amerexit did. Although the United States has done pretty well (as countries go) over the years, that was after a fairly nasty war. We call it the Revolutionary War, but in historical context, it could best be described as a civil war or an insurgency.
Oh dear, my inner history nerd seems to have escaped. I came by my fascination with history almost by osmosis, walking in the footsteps of the Founding Fathers of the United States (Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, et al) through the streets of my home city, Philadelphia. We claim the most historic square mile in the United States, the site of Independence Historical National Park. (Not surprisingly, I’ve written more than several blog posts about Philadelphia. Check them out and then come visit us in Philly. We’ll leave a light on.)
Back to this week’s Zentangle challenge which is to let our country’s colors (colours) show.
“And the rockets’ (pinkish?) red glare….”
For my response to this week’s challenge, I used blue and red water color crayons to prepare white paper. (Trust me, the paper is bright white, not cream as it photographed.) My first thought was “American flag”, but that’s an awful lot of stars and stripes, so I used the tangle Fengle to approximate a star burst fireworks shell and surrounded it by Tripoli to represent the flung out sparks. Originally, I though it was done when I finished the drawing in black pen, but while watching a fireworks display on television this evening, I was inspired to add some color using sparkly gelly roll pens.
So, happy 240th birthday, United States of America. Wishing you many happy returns of the day.
{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
Awesome. I love reading you, even though I rarely comment. Just not enough hours in the day sometimes….and I love your tile.
Thanks. As a blogger, I sometimes feel like I’m writing in the wind. Well, actually, I probably mostly am, but it’s nice when someone admits to reading some of what I write.
Such a lovely tile, I love the movement in it. We don’t have a special day for celebrating our country here in The Netherlands. I think the only day near that idea is our celebrating of the birthday of our king; that’s a national celebrating day.
Interesting reading about the history. I had to laugh when you compared Brexit to Ameriexit, it’s not going awfully well over in Britain there could be civil war yet! 🙂 I love your fireworks tile, even before I read on in your blog I said to myself that could be a Catherine wheel firework. Very clever to make it so realistic.
Think this may be one of my favorite tangles. Love the color. And I can see how anyone might become a history buff walking through such hallowed streets and alleys in Philadelphia! Can’t help but believe that the energy there must be fabulous!
I love your 4th July tangle – the energy is just bursting out.
Brexit turmoil! How anyone thought voting to Leave would be any different. The politics going on here are just crazy so who knows how it will turn out.
This is really a very nice and original tile Suzanne, I love it and the addition of a little bit of gold was a splendid idea!
I love the circular flow to your tiles, Suzanne. The colors are really nice as well. I visited the Liberty Bell as a child and was quite disappointed. You wait on line forever and then see this broken bell that they won’t even let you touch. Not easy for a youngster not to touch something LOL! We spent our 4th trying to calm our huge and terrified dog. Rufus is just not a fan of fireworks.
IMHO, it’s a shame that we celebrate the birth of our country by making noises that sound like war. Every crack or boom causes a visceral terror response in not only most dogs and many cats, but also in many combat veterans. The fireworks are lovely, but can’t we make them noiseless (and ban firecrackers everywhere)? I hope Rufus has recovered. One of our dogs, fearless in every other context, is still seeking dark, quiet places.
You need to make another trip to Philly to see the Liberty Bell. It is now housed in a museum about the bell, so for most of the time you’re in line, you’re in the museum with exhibits to look at. We also have the National Constitution Center 2 blocks away which is very well done, IMHO. Instead of the usual movie at history museums, they do a multi-media performance in the round narrated by a live actor/actress. It’s very effective. Even the British friends I took there got choked up.
If they would restrict driveway fireworks, that would go a long way to solving the problem. Make fireworks a “in city park, hosted by the county” event, and it wouldn’t be in every corner.
That is what we have here in Portland. Outlawing the sale and use of most driveway fireworks has lessened, but certainly not eliminated, their use, and the booms and cracks from the many public displays make for very noisy and disturbing evenings on July 4 weekends.
Love it. Looks like a firework in motion.
Nobody does it better than the city of my birth! Boston and the Pops were always a good time, too. Your ZIA looks like a giant spiral galaxy complete with red stars and lots of sparkle. Thanks for sharing all the good stuff. Cheryl
I have not yet figured out what Zentangle is about, but for all the reasons other commenters have mentioned, I like your response to this week’s Zentangle challenge very much!
this is terrific. Very fireworky indeed.
I celebrated the 4th by going to a baseball game with my son and DIL. Nothing more American than that!
Unless you also ate apple pie while you were there. 😉
I absolutely love this composition! The movement is really remarkable;-)
We played in the pool and chose to eat healthy this year – didn’t miss a thing, not even hot dogs (smile). We’re on a quest to eat as whole and healthy as possible so we can live strong as we move forward each year in numbers!! LOVE that pinkish Zentangle – beautiful, beautiful!!
p.s. – LOVE your history lessons. I’ve learned more reading your blog posts than I did in school (smile). I love historical buildings and towns – LOVE them!
Thank you. I’m happy to know that I’m not the only history geek. 🙂
Oh, I just knew the Philly girl would come up with a winner for this Independence Day challenge. I love how you created fireworks with subtle colors and tangles that don’t really have any connection to them! It’s so hot here that we just celebrated by eating hot dogs and potato salad and baked beans in the air conditioned kitchen Now you have inspired me to work on this challenge!
Beautiful tile with wonderful color! Love ist!
Really lovely work. We can see our city’s fireworks display from our backyard and your tile is a really great representation of that.
The 4th of July was rained out around here, but we enjoyed a bbq (indoor eating) and backyard fireworks with friends in nearby Virginia.
I share your enthusiasm of history. I especially enjoy walking in the path of those who walked before us, those are some surreal moments in my book.
Beautifully done, can really see the firework inspiration.
I love your work! You are so talent ! Happy 240th birthday, United States of America!