(Note: This post contains some Amazon affiliate links. If you make a purchase from this link, Boomeresque receives a small commission that does not affect your price.) I�m Baaaaack Actually, I was never physically away even though it looks...
(Note: This post contains some Amazon affiliate links. If you make a purchase from this link, Boomeresque receives a small commission that does not affect your price.)
I�m Baaaaack
Actually, I was never physically away even though it looks like I last posted a Hump Day Zentangle Challenge for Valentine�s Day. My body has remained at home, my brain�-not so much. Judging by my Facebook Newsfeed, I�m not the only person whose brain has been off somewhere else as it deals with the new abnormal imposed by the Covid 19 pandemic �Stay at Home� orders.
I�ve been under a double Stay at Home order as my problem with vertebral compression fractures has not resolved. Until mid-February, I felt my back pain was growing ever more tolerable, and I had resumed some of my duties such as walking the dog and cooking. However, one day I had such intractable back pain that we had to borrow a wheelchair and go to a hospital emergency room. My husband, a physician who used to work in emergency rooms, would rather have 4 simultaneous root canal procedures than go to a hospital emergency room, so I must have convinced him that I couldn�t handle the pain at home.
I had an xray, and the attending physician who saw me thought my thoracic compression fractures had extended. He sent me home with some narcotic pain medication that I reserve for very special pain occasions; that is, when the pain makes me somewhat really, really unpleasant to live with.
About the time my upper spine started feeling better, I felt something �snap� in my lower spine as I was getting dressed one day. Now, I rarely bother getting dressed. I can get around our apartment, using our wheelchair as a walker. While most people aren�t moving about their living space using a wheelchair as a walker, from what I read and see, I am not alone in thinking it�s not necessary to don street clothes because I�m staying at home. Those who have to participate in video conference calls for their jobs may brush their hair and put on a presentable shirt, but chances are they�re still wearing pajamas on their bottom half and may be cradling a small child or cat on their lap.
My world has become very small. I alternate between bed and the couch, occasionally making a foray to walk in the hall outside the door to our apartment.�I still watch too much cable news. Zentangle helps to keep me somewhat sane.
Hump Day Zentangle Challenge #31 � Paisley
(If Zentangle is a new concept/word for you, start with this: What is Zentangle and Is It Habit Forming?)
If you look at my last few blog posts, you�ll see I�ve been pretty much Covid 19 obsessed. So, for this week�s challenge, I thought it would be good for my mental health (and maybe yours) to forget about the pandemic for a time. I�ve decided that this week�s challenge is to use the paisley form in our tiles. Most people know what the paisley shape looks like, but I was having difficulty characterizing it. Given that this is not a paper for a school assignment, I turned to Wikipedia which has a fairly in depth exposition about the paisley form and its history:
Paisley�or�paisley pattern�is an ornamental�textile�design using the�boteh�(Persian:�????) or�buta, a teardrop-shaped motif with a curved upper end.
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Although the pine cone or�almond-like form is of Persian origin, and the textile designs cramming many of them into a rich pattern are originally Indian, the English name for the patterns derives from the town of�Paisley, in the west of�Scotland, a centre for textiles where paisley designs were produced.[3]
As often happens to me, I became fairly paisley obsessed, using the paisley shape as a string, but I bet some of you can find other ways to incorporate it into you composition.
My first tile uses the Zentangle method mostly and uses paisleys as a string. I did this on a blank Strathmore Watercolor postcard.
Then, I decided to cheer myself up with color. I used Castle Art colored pencils for the first time. I was looking for a colored pencil as an alternative to Prismacolor Premier colored pencils which put down rich color, but don�t last that long. Further, I�ve had trouble when sharpening them. I found the significantly less expensive Castle Art pencils to still have a soft core of color, but they are a little harder and, therefore, hardier.
I used the Castle Art colored pencils and Sakura metallic gelly roll pens for the background. This was done on a 6 x 6 inch Strathmore Bristol Vellum artist�s tile.
I then went a little crazy and did this, again on a 6 x 6 inch tile:
I admit to being pretty bad at remembering the names of tangles, but I know I used Sand Swirl, Cadent, Phirst, N�zeppel, Noom, Tipple, Slinky (which may also have another name), Knightsbridge, and a modified Printemps. Again, I used the Castle Art colored pencils and Sakura Metallic Gelly Roll pens for the background.
Share Your Work
I would love to see what you do with Paisley themed tiles. Please share your responses to this week�s challenge with us in the Hump Day Zentangle Challenge Facebook Group and/or on your Instagram, Twitter or Flickr feeds. Use the hashtag #hdchallenge31 on your social media posts. If you�re not a member of the FB group, ask to join and I�ll be happy to add you. The more the merrier. Please also feel free to leave the URL to your blog or website if you post the challenges there.
