Zentangle challenge 175: using a beverage to create a tangle.

Okay, playing with inserting pics and other things into a blog post. I may start using this blog to post at the diva's page for my participation in the challenges. 

This week's diva challenge was to tangle using our favorite beverages as inspiration.

Well, I drink water, so I posted a zendala that I made with water as the theme. It's splashy, and has loads of concentric circles. And so weird looking, but I like it. It actually was initially inspired by a visit to the pool with my grandkids. It's only my second zendala that I've ever made, and it gives me a giggle.

And since I also drink green tea, I decided to create a green tea string. I just made my tea, then dribbled the tea bag over a blank card (I don't currently have any tiles...soon to be remedied)...Initially all the droplets were the same light color, but I left it to dry naturally, not blotting off the excess and was thrilled at the variety of colors I ended up with.

The darker the stain, the longer it took to evaporate. I'm fascinated with how dark it turned, and no longer wonder at 1) the stains in my mug or 2) whether I should use a whitening toothpaste.

(I should)







And here is the piece I made from the green tea stain:
(along the top edge you can see some dots. That is sheet music, since I used my piano to prop up the ZIA for photographing.)

Isn't that bizarre?
I struggled with it, because it wasn't looking pretty, but as I continued, and set it down to look at it from a distance, I got to thinking it was pleasing in a funky, quirky way. My favorite parts are in the tropicana arches, where I aura'ed with a gold gel pen. I think it makes it look kind of three dimensional, just a bit.

The tea was fun enough, but I wanted a brighter color, and remembered that I had fresh cherries in the fridge. I squeezed one over a new card, and found it liked to run over the page, so I tilted it to get some stringier shapes. (note the fingerprints on the upper and left edges) The cherry juice was a rich pleasing purple when it dried, which would have been pleasant enough, but I also had lime juice, which I splashed over the cherry juice, and WOW! wherever the lime juice touched the cherry juice, it morphed into a stunning magenta.

Just looking at it, I knew this would be a fun string to play with.

Again, however, I found myself nervous about starting. I felt almost like there were some rules or something, and I hesitated and studied it for a day or two. How to start? I didn't want to wreck it. (no wrong in Zentangle™ right?...sigh...)

Then I decided to simply let the string itself be the star of the piece. As with the tea string, I started outlining and filling. Lots of aura, plenty of queen's crown, diva dance. Spirals, dangles, arches, loops, stripes.  I think it looks like some fantasy underground world. Freaky and funny.

 

Like a playground with funny looking flora and fauna. 

And that concludes my first blog post with inserted links and pictures.