Thursday, November 15, 2012

Keep Moving Forward

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
-Walt Disney
I was delighted when I saw the I Am the Diva blog post this week with a challenge from guest poster Courtney Frantz! Courtney (A fellow Texan!) challenged us to create a Zentangle to pay tribute to Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, or Walt Disney. This is very appropriate, for I am not only a big Disney fan (my family has a bathroom that is entirely Disney themed! I brush my teeth every morning under the constant supervision of many Mickeys...), but I'm also gearing up to participate in the Disney College Program (which I wrote about near the end of this post). I'm getting very excited as the day draws nearer!

Ever the oddball, I wanted to do something different and unique with my tile. First off, I pulled up a Disneyland map and a Magic Kingdom map to look for string inspiration. The parade routes really caught my attention, red dotted lines twisting and turning across their respective parks. I wound up tracing those parade routes onto my tile for a string, incorporating the Disney parks that inspire me so much into the Zentangle.

Next I started tangling, but I didn't use just any tangles. I chose patterns that would correspond to the name "Walt" - W2, Auraknot, Laced, and Tipple. I had to use a few more to fill in, but you get the idea. I didn't think about it at the time, but Tipple is perfect for this tile because you can often find hidden Mickeys in it. See if you can spot one (or a bunch!):

Of course, as an added tribute to Disney, I had to play some Disney music while I was tangling. My all-time favorite Disney song is "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins. Love it!

Posing my tile with our Mickey photo frame wasn't actually my idea - I have to thank my wonderfully creative mom for coming up with this one!.

As Walt said, "...keep moving forward..."!


15 comments:

  1. Oh, so wonderful with so much depth and beautiful shading - I love it!

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  2. I love to read how you did the challenge. Great idea to do it this way. And the way you did take the picture of your work is just so funny and such a great tribute to mickey. Well done.

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  3. Isn't this just perfect! Your tile is beautifully done (we have come to expect that from you) with outstanding shading. And can you believe how perfect your Mickey frame is???? Well done.

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  4. Thanks to your ingenuity and your mom's finesse.....a masterpiece!

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  5. Love your tile and the Walt quote! Your journey for your string was an awesome inspiration. Your love of graphic design definitely shows. Courtney Frantz

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  6. This is a really great tile! I love the Cresent Moon here and yes, there are Mickey's to be seen in Tipple.

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  7. Great job, and greater thoughts behind the great job!

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  8. ah, this is wonderful fun, zach! looks like your parade is circling up around the statue of walt and mickey. maybe/maybe not, but that's what it reminds me of :). i like the patterns you used to honor Walt and your mom's idea for the display was right on target! what a magical work you created!

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  9. It would be hard to come up with words more descriptive than those above, Zach. Wow. You have such a wonderful graphic look to your tiles that I keep copies of almost all of them to help encourage me and give me inspiration! I want to be just like you when I grow up!!!!! Remember...I am the one who lives in Disney Country down here in Orlando area...so Mickey is all over our house too! i have a Mickey Mouse cover for my iPad!!! And there is a Mickey Clock in my bathroom too! Something about bathrooms! I love how you sometimes work right to the edge and forget borders which gives great drama!

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  10. Your tiles are so much fun to study. So much going on! Have a great Christmas!

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  11. Am missing your Zentangle blog posts. Guessing you might be in finals?
    And getting ready for the move to Disney!!!
    Hope you'll post again soon.

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    1. Finals were eating up my time, but I'm back now and ready to tangle! I have my 100th Diva Challenge tile ready to blog this week, and then I'll be working on Zentangle in Motion part 2! Look for a post about my design work tomorrow, and then back to Zentangle on Friday!

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  12. Love the tangle and the carved Mickey. Is that your work also? Man of many talents! Keep posting. Love your creativity.

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    1. No, the Mickey is actually a figurine we got at a shop in Disney World! Thank you, I will!

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  13. kali and i went to see the broadway show Mary Poppins a couple weeks ago and Feed the Birds just blew me away! what a great song!

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