Trying the Diva's Challenge--Zentangle (TM) and ZIA on the internet

I love to browse through images of Zentangle (TM) and Zentangle Inspired Art. Earlier in the year, for instance, I was besotted with the use of "gems" in ZIA. Mandalas (Zendalas?) are also an interesting kind of ZIA. I can run through a lot of time just looking at all the pretty pictures online.

One thing that keeps coming up when I browse people's blogs is "the Diva's challenge." This comes from the popular blog "I Am the Diva". The Diva's weekly challenge is (generally) to do a tile with only one or two specified tangles, though some challenges don't restrict the tangles used and instead involve some other requirement.

Now, being challenged to make something while abiding by restrictions on what can be used is a great creative challenge, so I kept thinking, "Hmm, I should try that." This week, I decided to do so.

Challenge #361 was to celebrate Earth Day (a week ago last Sunday) by tangling on some recycled material. The Diva used the back of a frozen pizza carton. I used the back of a cracker box.

Turns out I really like the way things look in black and white on a tan background. I hadn't tried it before. I don't know whether I'll do more challenges or not, but it was definitely worth doing this one.

Here is the first one, with the sunshine string.

The Diva explained that in her house, Earth Day is called "Amanda Day" because her son thought the Earth should have a name. Since "Amanda" means "beloved" (or "worthy of love", both of which seem appropriate for the Earth) I decided to write that in the center of my second try. (I have also been messing around again with calligraphy recently.)

Circles make things more interesting.

It's possible that some of this artistic enthusiasm stems from the problems my current writing project is giving me. I've had to toss most of the last couple of chapters. It's hard to tell myself that I'm making progress, even slow progress, when I've just given up many hours worth of work. Hopefully next week I will be able to look at it more positively.