The Zentangle Diva and her family are back from their 3 week road trip from Saskatoon, Canada to southern California and back. Somehow she found the energy to post a challenge. She posted a day late because she had to celebrate Saskatchewan Day. (Who knew Saskatchewan had a day?) For those who might be rusty on their Canadian geography (i.e. moi), Saskatchewan is a Canadian province north of the United States states of North Dakota and Montana which I admit weren’t exactly where I thought they were. Somehow, I’ve been to Alaska and Hawaii, but have missed these two of the “lower 48”.
Since this was her first challenge of August, it was “Use My Tangle” day. Laura chose to share a wonderful tangle, Knightstar, deconstructed by Daniel Lamothe. I’d have to check with the Zentangle Mother Ship, but I’d venture to say that given that Daniel is still in high school, he is one of the youngest Certified Zentangle Teachers on the planet — maybe even THE youngest.
Daniel’s Knightstar was inspired by a boring geometry class. It-has-been-a-really-long-time since I was bored in studied geometry in high school and I recall it being a bit of a struggle, perhaps an early indication that I should aim for law school rather than med school.
Verdict (since I did indeed end up in law school): I really like Knightstar, but it demands some concentration. I made the mistake of first trying it while watching/listening to cable TV news about the United States election—definitely, the antithesis of Zen. I’m blaming my mistakes on Donald Trump!
I don’t usually share process, but Knightstar is such a cool tangle.
So, I started out with this (yes, I know there are mistakes, even though there are no mistakes in Zentangle).
Then, I tried adding this which makes the mistakes even more obvious:
Then, even though I’m still supposed to be not overdoing it with my tangling hand, these two tiles emerged:
Does anyone know if the tangle that just happened (other than the Knightstar) has already been “published” somewhere?
So, the Tipple may or may not be covering up a mistake which, of course, isn’t really a mistake because there are no Zentangle mistakes — even if Tipple is hypothetically covering it up.
So, why does this post title mention Scotland? It’s because I finally got around to finishing my first post about our April trip to Scotland. It’s about Edinburgh. In case you’re too tired, cranky, disinterested, annoyed busy to read it, here are a few Edinburgh photos:
Edinburgh Castle photographed from the rooftop terrace of the new wing of the Scottish National Museum.
One thing about the gray in Scotland is that it really makes the green and flowers pop. This photo is from the Kirkyard of Greyfriars Kirk (Church).
I took this photo of the gate to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh just for my Zentangle peeps. I am sometimes intimidated by a 3.5″ x 3.5″ tile, but artisans produced this “tile” — in iron. The Palace of Holyroodhouse is the home of the British royal family when they are in Edinburgh — which might not be all that often if Scotland votes to leave the United Kingdom and join the European Union independently. Maybe they won’t care so much because it might be haunted. Mary Queen of Scot’s “friend” and “secretary”, David Rizzio, was stabbed 56 times there on 9 March 1566, in the Queen’s presence.
If you’re still awake reading, you can visit Edinburgh with us here.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
You really master this tangle Suzanne!!! Great work. Thanks for sharing those photo’s.
Hi Suzanne, you are on a roll with these. I haven’t tried them yet, can’t find a comfortable position to draw, but I will, I will.
I hope you will soon find your comfortable position and that you are on the mend. I think you’ll enjoy Knightstar.
Wow wow wow!!! Every response to the challenge I’ve seen has blown me away, but I especially love your second tile – it has a wonderful balance and the tangle surrounding Knighstar looks like a funkified, sparkly Diva Dance – love! ^_^
Thanks, Daniel. I watched the other method of drawing this one that someone linked to on your blog and now I can do Knightstar pretty much til the cows come home. (That expression might have pre-dated your time. 😉
Me too, love the second tile. I made a lot of exercices to master Knightstar, but indeed it is a nice tangle.
Love your pics from Scotland. As I wrote before I visited the Highlands and Skye last year in june and I was surprised by so much natural beautie!!!
I love all those tiles! Seeing everyone’s lovely work makes me want to go back and give it another go.
I like them all Suzanne.
Great work with Knightstar! I love the composition of the 2nd piece as well. The contrast really makes it pop. I wish I’d been more persistent in my practice because it’s such a dynamic pattern. Now I’m feeling motivated to go back to the drawing board on this one. Thanks for sharing your Edinburgh pics. I love that scrolly gate;-)
Great tiles! I like the black “knightsbridge” fill in them. The black really makes them stand out. But I think I like the 3rd one the best – simple yet dramatic. I’ve never been to Scotland, but it is someplace I would like to see. I love seeing your pictures. And I particularly like that gate. I can see someone deconstructing a great tangle out of that one. 😉
I am impressed with your sticktoitveness with our new friend Knightstar. We get bogged down because it reminds us of our geometry class. When I used to teach this kind of thing, I never mentioned geometry until everyone was cheerfully designing all kinds of wonderful things. Isn’t it amazing what school does to us? Anyway, nice work, and no never been and don’t really feel the urge to go to Scotland. Nice to look at the pictures though.
Oh yes! Like your way to go with Knightstar! I learned something Reading this! Thank’s!
Really cool tiles! Unlike many others, I actually liked geometry (probably why I became a chemist and *not* a lawyer!) and so will probably have lots of fun with this one. However for this challenge I chose to stitch my response because the tangle is exactly like a needlepoint stitch called Crescent Stitch.
Scotland looks beautiful and while it is on the list it probably isn’t far enough up to happen any time soon. So thank you for letting us live vicariously through you blog. Love the pics!
You really went to work with the geometry. Beautiful! The closest I’ve been to Scotland would be growing thousands of daffodils under dreary New England skies, like your photo there. I hold that memory close to my heart. Cheryl
you sure did play with this pattern! filling in the little star motifs with knightsbridge really does make it amazing. I think my favorite is the second to last one. It is a good “contrast” tile…with all the roundness of the black perls and auras, against the linear and checkerboarded knightstar running thru the middle. Well done!
Thanks for sharing! I happen to really like the flaws (at least in someone else’s tiles, it’s hard to see the beauty in your own flaws. but I’m getting better) Hey, I bet if you practiced Knightstar with your other hand, you’d be and expert by the time you healed!! (and you might heal faster 😉
I really like the “new” tangle! Have you thought of a name for it yet? :).
Do you think it qualifies as a new tangle?
Beautiful tiles!
Thanks a lot for sharing the wonderful photos from Scotland!
Gorgeous tiles! My favorit is the Knightstar-Tile with the “new” tangle.
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