something simple

What truths from the mouth of the Diva this week.  How easy it is to lose our way when there are so many paths to choose from.  How powerful it is to turn back and begin again from where we started.

Two and a half years ago I drew my first tile.  It looked like this -

Today, I sat down, with an Official tile , the recommended pen, a pencil and two and a half years of confidence and community and drew this.

I did it by the book, from the basic Zentangle principles.  No pre-planning, no thought as I drew, other than following the flow of the pen and my sense of what to lay where.  I drew with whatever tangles came to mind without needing to look up their step-outs or trying them out first.  I even left the smudges I made as I worked on the tile.

And for that it's wonderful.  And as I inevitably get drawn back down all those fascinating and fanciful by-ways I will remember to come back home once in a while.

deju vu

My first tangling day of the year - and for now I resist playing with the new pens I got for Christmas, or looking up more pens that I might want to buy, or starting on any of the tangling projects I've been pondering of late. 

I just dive in.  To a couple of old faithful challenges, to kick start that pen across the page.  And so to the latest Diva Challenge - a simple mix up of Auraknot and Diva Dance.  And this is what came out.

And I like it - but something niggled, it seemed familiar.  A quick search on this blog, and I found an identical Auraknot a year and a half ago, just with different fill and a border.  Oh well, at least I'm consistent!