Tangled Thursday: Negative Space

It's been a while since the Tangled Thursday gang had a challenge, so I'm glad we are back on track.  I've been so busy on other projects that the Zentangle supplies have been abandoned.  I was excited to get them back out, but I have to admit, I was a little rusty.

The challenge for this week was "negative space" - fill the area around an object rather than filling in the object. To get back in the swing, I decided to revisit an idea used for my very first Tangled Thursday submission - a daisy on a background of blocks - this time featuring a little Christmas joy.

Visit our hostess, Heather, at Books & Quilts to see all the "negative" drawings.  And leave a link to your own art work, if you choose.

Cleaning House

I'm sure every blogger has her own way of keeping track of ideas for blog posts.  For me, the easiest way is to start a draft and put in a few words, a quote, or a link to whatever inspired the idea.  If I'm not near the computer, I store them as a note in my phone.  It's a decent system - - except when I wait to long and then can't remember what my notes mean.  So occasionally a little housekeeping (blogkeeping?)  is called for.  Here are some ideas that will never make it to the blog page.



1.  I really can't imagine where my head was when I wrote this.  Seriously, this is all that was on the draft:

English - very annoyed, angry
urban dictionary - pissed (british) - drunk

Obviously, I was pondering the difference in the meaning of words between American English and British English.  But why that word?  Was I annoyed and/or angry?  Don't think I was drunk.  So ... I hope that tidbit of information is helpful to you in some way.

2.  I had a draft titled "The Best Day in Parenting".  This one I at least have a vague idea why I wrote it.  It was the day that our daughter, Amanda, admitted that she had no clue why she did most of the stuff she did during jr. high and high school.  I remember thinking all the sleepless nights and headaches and screaming matching had finally paid off - I was right all along.  Vindication!  Not sure how I was going to get an entire post from that.  

3.  "I Hate That Word"  This draft has been hovering around for several years.  The idea started when I read the work "bulwark" in a book.  Not a word you run into often and it struck me as an ugly word.  It's clunky on the tongue and grating to the ear.   So, I decided to start a list of words I hate and words I love, adding on as I ran across them, until the list was long enough for a post.  After all this time the lists were : 

Hate:  bulwark and jaguar
Love:  lovely and feckless (especially when spoken with a Scottish or British accent)

Then there was the enigmatic line:  "quote from 'Secret Lives of Dresses'".  I remember the book - loved it.  But I didn't write down the quote and I have no idea what it was and I'm not even sure where I got the book - probably the public library - so that I can go back and look it up.  So if you happen to be reading that wonderful book and you run across a great quote about words, please let me know.

4.  " Frustration:  The feeling of being upset or annoyed, especially because of inability to change or achieve something.

That would be me.  Recently, life feels like a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut-butter.  I'm driving a sports car and everyone around me is driving an Edsel."

Beyond that sparkling bit of writing, I have no idea what I wanted to accomplish by telling you about my frustrations.  So, consider yourself informed that I'm frustrated with the speed at which life is moving lately - too fast in some areas and frustratingly slow in others."  My "Life Under Construction" project is one of the s-l-o-o-o-o-w areas - but I'm not giving up.  I'll keep you posted.

Well, I feel much better for having cleaned out that blogging closet.  Left on the shelf are some serious thoughts on books, feminism, handwriting, faith, what makes a family, spaces that foster creativity, and The Saturday Evening Post.  So you have that to look forward to in the new year.