Week 31--Echo

Oh, this was a toughie: how do you creatively illustrate a sound? AND keep it to a diminutive size? We think the artists handled this challenge bravely and admirably. For the visual "Echoes:"

First, Freebird created this in beads. She explains: "It was a picture I saw online that was made to convey 2 echos hitting one another.  I just loved the colors on it." 

Echo by
Freebird

It's a very bold graphic in bright colors, isn't it? We appreciate that Freebird has completed each and every challenge thus far. And she's our best cheerleader. A big woohoo for Freebird!

And a big welcome back to Sarah! She promised to return once she took care of some health issues and true to her word, here she is:

Echo by
Sarah

In her own words, "I tangled Opus, which reminds me of a musical score to a symphonic piece or just in its form as a tangle how it undulates and repeats." 

Also a bold representation with color and a single tangle, this just sings!

Our official response is part of a larger composition, six twinchies in all, based on the tangle "Echoism." This looks like a pair of Emperor penguins to us:

Echo by
Cheryl

Thanks for visiting and don't forget to visit the artist blogs to see what all they've been up to and offer kind words of encouragement. Let them know you saw them here! And perhaps? Try your own hand at TwobyTwo art!?

Until next time....

Quack!

If you've been on the Internet any time in the last ten years or so, you must have received an email that noted that "A duck's quack doesn't echo and no one knows why?"

Sound familiar?
We always suspected it was because of the way you'd have to breathe IN to create a "quack," and therefore no reverberation, but we're not scientists.
It's probably a good thing.

Well, come to find out that something passed along on the Internet is NOT TRUE. (How can that be?!!)
The trusty folks at The University of Salford, Manchester (UK) did a bunch of experiments and recorded a duck singing Christmas carols. Oh, and the echoes of duck quacks.

Here's a simpler explanation, because the other makes our head hurt.

And here's a great place to hear echoes:

If you're ever in the neighborhood for Easter Sunday, they hold an ecumenical service at sunrise. It's cold and it's crowded, but the sound! They play and sing hymns and spirituals from all over the planet and they have what must be the world's largest speaker system.
Put it on your bucket list, it's absolutely amazing! No matter your religious affiliation or inclination, it is worth getting up before you go to bed to be there.

(And if you check out that link to the 37 Amazing Photos of the Grand Canyon, I can tell you which ones are NOT at the canyon, or even in Arizona!)

Here are some guys that just plain make a lot of racket:

These are a LOT cuter:

Julian Wolkenstein has made an art project out of visual echoes--dividing a face into two even halves and then making portraits of each half. (There's even an app for that!) The premise of echoism is that a person with a more symmetrical face--where the two resulting portraits are most similar--are more appealing.

We remember having an art project in grammar school where we used magazine advertisements, cut the faces in half and drew the mirror image as our introduction to echoism.

For tangly people everywhere, there is, "Echoism," an official Zentangle tangle. Essentially, it's one continuous cursive "L."

Echoism by Holly
Copyright, ha! Designs

For further exploration of the pattern, see Margaret Bremner's post.  It echoes and then some! If THAT'S not enough inspiration, see the results of Adele Bruno's recent challenge.

Show us your echoes!

Send your twinchie images to: 1xeritas@gmail.com by 2 P.M. Arizona Time, Tuesday, May 17, 2016. Include any notes and blog links. We'll post them later the same day.

Week 30--Wood

Thank you for checking in on the results for this weeks' TwobyTwo, The word is wood, which can take on many meanings and therefore can be illustrated in so many ways.

In Arkansas, Freebird went with the definition that falls into "into the woods," as in "forest." She made this lovely depiction with her beads:

Wood by
Freebird

You can just hear the wind through the trees and the leaves gently falling!

This is our official response, a ZIA using the pattern, "Wud:"

Wood by
Cheryl

Be sure to check out the blogs and see how the artists were inspired this week--and let them know you saw them here! Perhaps, join in on the fun!
Until next time....

How Much Wood Could a Woodchuck Chuck?

If a Woodchuck could chuck Wood?!

Oh, we're off to a great start, aren't we? Did you know that "woodchuck" is just another name for Ground Hog? No, neither did we, or we may have chose this theme back in February.

Hitching a Ride

But really, this is more about the WOOD part.
There are hardwoods that we use to make furniture or build a good fire.

Green wood is a young, juicy sapling that will soon grow into a great tree, but is pretty useless for fire-building.

Mostly, wood used to be a tree.

Now it can be a wall.
It's quite fashionable right now for homes to sport reclaimed barnwood. So you have trees that used to be barns. What was once outstanding in it's field is now inside!

And of course, there's the fence, too!

 There's a Zentangle angle for tangly people everywhere! This is art by Rhonda:

Follow this link to directions for creating the tangle "Wud," with great examples by Margaret Bremner, the Enthusiastic Artist.

Then there's Tanglewood:

Tanglewood, Lenox, Massachusetts
By Stu Rosner

And all this time we thought you said, "wood duck."

Quack!

Show us your wood twinchies! Any artform is accepted, just keep it to 2 x 2 inches (or about 5 centimeters). 

Send your artwork by 2PM Arizona Time, Tuesday, May 3, 2016 to

1xeritas@gmail.com along with blog links or notes of inspiration. 

We'll post the results later the same day.

Week 29--Ranch

It was quiet here at the ranch. We can appreciate that, can't you? Gave us some time to think about WHAT to do with this week's word. "Ranch" conjures up all sorts of associations--yummy salads and dips rank prominently. Oh, yeah!

Freebird decided to illustrate a ranchero, a cowboy working a ranch:

Ranch(ero) by
Freebird

Our official response is a (teenie) rendering of our little ranch house, the emphasis on the style of the abode.

Ranch (House)
by Cheryl

Oh, home on the range, where the deer and the antelope roam!

Seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day!

Thanks for visiting. Be sure to check out the artists' blogs and let them know you found them here!

Until next time...

Home, Home on the Range

Last time it was all about the banana joke. This week we're singing about where the deer and the antelope roam. Not far from here are prairie grasslands where that really happens, just like that.
Right here in town, it's open range and we get surprised occasionally with cows chomping on the vegetation. It's why our little half-acre is fenced.

Montana Ranch
Angus Beef

Yes, it's the Wild, Wild West.

Ross Martin and Robert Conrad

Or the new(er) Wild, Wild West

Will Smith, Selma Hayek and Kevin Kline

Or you may be thinking The Duke

John Wayne
The Comancheros

Or the Outlaw Josey Wales

Clint Eastwood

You may want to pretend to be a cowboy for a week

Paws Up Ranch
Luxury Vacations

You can buy a ranch:

Modern Ranch Architecture

You can live in a ranch:

Ranch Style Home From
The Plan Collection

Or create your own brand as they did when the West was won (assuming you had your own cows or sheep):

Brands from
Kaufman, Texas

Or make your own:

Ranch Dressing Recipe
from The Huffington Post
YUM!

Not a discouraging word would be heard over that!
And true to the song, the skies are not cloudy all day today!

Cloudless Sky by
Monte Stevens

Show us your ranch twinchies! Send them along with any notes and/or blog links to:
1 xeritas @ gmail . com by 2 PM Arizona Time, Tuesday, April 19, 2016. We'll collect them all and post them later the same day.

Week 28--Orange

There has been just a little hilarity as we were playing with Knock-Knock jokes this week. We have to wonder: does the Banana joke even translate into any other language?
Aren't you glad we chose "orange" this week? Because we are!

First in, from Germany is Tina's contribution:

Orange by
Tina

She sent this note along with her art:

"This week's challenge was very interesting. I thought about it a long time to find something special for your "orange" theme but nothing wanted to come in my mind. So I just started to draw this evening and the result is a little still life of oranges and an abstract drawing of yellow, red and orange on the wall in the background. 
Hope you like it."

And we do!

Freebird sent this beadwork from Arkansas:

Orange by
Freebird

She has her inspiration and materials list on her blog, and naturally, the Knock-Knock joke!

After working on Citrus all week long, our official response is a bit of collage:

Orange by
Cheryl

Be sure to check out the artists' blogs and tell them you found them here! Kind comments and encouragement are always welcome! Thanks for visiting, perhaps consider participating?
Until next time....