First Attempts

    This week, the Divas challenge is to make either a zentangle or a ZIA with White on Black, rather than Black on White.   I decided to use black paper and a white Gel Pen.  

      I was surprised at what happened.  I was expecting the 'negative image' that you might expect.  Besides that, something else happened as well.  But I am getting ahead of myself.
      This was my first attempt.  It just grew, with no effort on my part.  But with almost (I said 'almost') no discernible Zentangle pattern.

      While I liked it very much,   I was very much aware that it did not have a whole lots of tangly stuff in it.  So I decided to try again, this time with particular attention paid to trying to use Zentangles.  And this is what I came up with.

     

       Interesting.  But not what I had in mind.  So I tried it again, this time with no preconceived ideas. 

      Surprise!  I really liked what happened.  Well, this was more like it!  This is what I had in mind.  Feeling pretty good, I started a fourth design.

  

      Now, I enjoyed this all very much.  I started realizing that my work was beginning to look like my style -- which I never felt my Zentangles did before.  I used to do tons of designs, whole pages of them.  In fact I made a coloring book out of them.  It was great fun.   But I was getting tired of the 'same old designs', so I went looking on the Internet for new ideas for designs.  Lo and Behold!  I found Zentangles.  Zentangles had all these wonderful designs and a special way of doing them, and even a recommended size.  I loved it.  But after a while I became unhappy with some of my work because I saw no focal point, no design factor.  It looked unfinished, unfocused to me.  I became self-conscience and the Zentangles started looking like all the others.  It did not look individual.  It did not look like me.

      So whatever was happening, reflected me.  It was definitely my work.

      I did two more, which I will post tomorrow, for the Challenge.  And I think they really look like my work.  Meantime, enjoy these efforts.