Sunday, February 24, 2013

Challenge #107: exploring Quandary

The past week undoubtedly was one of the heaviest in my life. On Monday there was the funeral of my father-in-law. It was a worthy and subdued ceremony, but so sad....
On Tuesday we received a mourning card, telling us a very dear former neighbor passed away that same Monday. Years ago she helped me to feel at home in my new residence. Altough there was an age cap of almost 20 years, we got on very well together. We moved to a nearby residence about 8 years later, but the next 25 years we always stayed in touch. Therefore I knew she was terminally ill, although I didn't expect it would happen this soon. We buried her last Friday.
And if you are a blog follower of Laura Harms aka the Diva you know she lost her beloved grandmother that Friday. My thoughts and deepest sympathy for her and her family!!

Having all those emotions, drawing a zentangle to contribute to Weekly Challenge #107 had to bring the joy and relaxation it normally does. Well, it partially did, because Quandary is a hard one for me! In Dutch we have a - modern and popular - expression for that: it is not my thing! I totally agree with Linda Farmer who wrote:
"As much care and attention and deliberation as I give it, I still find it difficult to judge proportions well and I struggle getting the groups of rice shapes to come out to my satisfaction – aka perfect. Quandary challenges me the way Tripoli does."
Another - much older and very true- expression however is as follows: the stickler wins!!
And thus I found out that starting with one complete "flower", to indicate the direction of the other "petals", and then expanding with triangles works the best for me. It took about 45 minutes (concentration needs time....) to create this tile:

Tangles: Quandary, 'Nzeppel and Bales + Florz variation

When a specific tangle pattern is the subject of a Challenge I'd like to use the upper or lower case initial of that pattern for my string:

I wanted the "flowers" (bottom right) to be complete, and so it's obvious: a string is just a guideline!

Thanks to:
Rick and Maria from Zentangle® for Quandary, 'Nzeppel and Bales (and many more!)
CZT®'s Linda Farmer and Margaret Bremner for their String suggestions 
CZT® Laura Harms aka the Diva for this challenging Challenge
You!!.... for reading this "crooked English"!!!

Happy Tangling everyone!

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