Zentangles – Diva Challenge Wks 188 – 190

I am finally getting caught up with the Challenges I’ve missed.

(Things seem to be perpetually up in the air and I cannot seem to be able to find a routine to stick to, before it gets up-ended and I have to re-wire my brain again. It does not help that I have been waking up at first light, sometimes way before first light, and having nightmares and panic attacks, these past few weeks. I have also been having a neck and head ache which is into its 8th day. And then(!), we are having our “annual” period of hazy air here in Singapore, and having to deal with that on top of everything is making me irritable and restless.)

Diva Challenge 188 – LGBT

Whilst I do have a number of good friends who have come out or are in various stages of coming out, I personally do not possess any specific feelings or opinions on the matter of anyone being LGBT.

I simply think everyone LGBT or not, has enough on their plates to cope with, facing their own issues without the need for anyone to add any extra drama or stigma, so my stance has always been one of acceptance and friendship.

For my challenge, I used an old book page, cut to the size of an official tile. After that, I didn’t know where to begin and just decided to start at random, so I did not have a string, and I went with tangles from the letters L, G, B, and T. Finally, I then stuck the old book page to an A6 postcard blank as a backing.

Call me boring but I am not really liking the use of this much colour 😛 I prefer tangling in grey-scale by far 😛

Diva Challenge 189 – UMT Yuma

Yuma is a tangle that I have a lot of difficulties with, especially the ‘stemmed’ version of Yuma 😛 I did both kinds for this A7 journal page, and I like the non-stemmed Yuma better 😛

I am still (quite obviously) stuck in my “Leaves” mode and decided to just flow with it 🙂 So here’s another leafy pile, on an A7, lightweight chipboard card. I love the texture of the chipboard, as well as how sturdy it is, without being too weighty.

This piece will probably be swapped at some point (I have simply accumulated too many leafy piles already, haha), but we’ll see how it goes.. tangles are often difficult to part with!

Diva Challenge 190 – Pink for Ardath

This week, we are asked to honour someone who has had a brush with breast cancer.

For this challenge, I decided to focus on my mother, who was once a breast cancer victim. In all, she fought cancer for about 7 years, which by then had spread to her other organs. When I was 16, she finally succumbed, losing her fight just days before she was to begin a more invasive treatment, that had already been scheduled.

It was a year like no other for my family. We had lost my mother and paternal grandmother within 3 months of each other, and I could never speak of either of them without crying, for such a long time. I am much older now, and grief has finally lost its sharp fangs, but this week’s challenge has reminded me how being 16 felt like. Not something I want to revisit in too much detail right now, with my throbbing neck and head.

This is a 3″x3″ strathmore cold press card, much smaller than a usual tile. My lack of mental focus today made me pick this over something larger like an official tile or A6 postcard blank (which happens to be my favourite – so practical to swap and give away). I do admit that it is a little small to be worthy of a tribute, but for now it is all I can manage (better something smaller, with some meaning, than bigger without finishing, haha…).

I also decided to make the string simple and what better than to use the iconic pink ribbon itself as a string. I then tangled up some tangles that I know my mother would love.

Signing off now, hoping next week will be haze-free, at least!