Monday 9 May 2016

Pokeroot and Drupe

I am just back from a wonderful day out. It was forecast to be a hot sunny day and so it turned out. We wanted to explore a new area, about an hour away, to try and find some good parking spots from which we can set off on walks. If we could explore the area today we would be all set for walks during the coming summer.

The area is called the Slieve Gullion Forest and is just over the border in Northern Ireland. It was weird being back in the United Kingdom again. We stopped first in the main Forest car park where there is a little shop, as I wanted to buy some crisps to add to our lunch ( I love crisps squished into a sandwich, do you?) When I came to pay I suddenly realized I needed Stirling and I had left my English purse in the car! It is so weird needing two purses, after all we were only an hour away from home - and yet home is in another country!

Anyway we sorted it out and moved on to find somewhere as a base for walking. We followed a single track road through the forest and up the mountain and finally came across - a fire engine!!!

Well we had not expected to find that up a little single track forest road!! Goodness knows why it was there as I have never seen one in a forest or on the moors in 50 years of walking. It made me think of those terrible fires over in Canada that the Diva mentioned. We do see the odd fire at certain times of the year, but those are controlled burnings by land owners or rangers, not bush fires gone wild.

There were wonderful views 
and then as we walked into the forest we came across this little waterfall.
I got all excited when I saw this:-.

I thought I had found Shamrock growing in the wild, but it turned out to just be wood sorrel :-( Apparently Shamrock is similar but has much smaller flowers. Oh well, better luck next time.

Fortunately The Diva and her family are safe, and hopefully far enough away from the fires, so she was able to set us another Challenge for this week. For my duotangle of Pokeroot and Drupe I decided to draw a huge Pokeroot and put Drupe into it with both black and white Pokeroot drooping out of the Drupe. (Did you see what I said there :-) I had intended to use a third black drupe band around the edge to make the large Pokeroot, but when I did this the huge Pokeroot disappeared so I left it with just the outline.
By the way, there has been an update to Zentangle's Mosaic App and it now has a Tangle Step-Out section - Hurrah :-) These are official Zentangle tangle pattern step-outs, so far only 20 of them, but I am assuming more will be added in future updates. Beside each title is the name of the person who deconstructed it and also the person who named it, which is quite interesting.

Also this week I suddenly remembered my dice and Zentangle legend from the starter box and this is what I did in my sketch book. You would be amazed to know that #11 - Hollibaugh - came up 9 times! I only used it in three sections and rolled again for the rest. Maybe it was trying to tell me I should do a monotangle lol.


22 comments:

  1. Wonderful Shamrock in bloom photo!! and I love your interpretation of drupe on a poke root!

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  2. ohlala, beautiful. I like the huge cherry poke root behind Drupe and escaping Little ones.

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  3. Very clever! Really like it all coming out of the giant poke root!

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  4. Love your Drupe on pokeroot! Clever idea.

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  5. Wauw, great idea, really artistic. I love your Diva tile.

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  6. Me too, I agree with the others: a good and original idea to draw the drupe into the pokeroot, never seen but the result is very nice.
    I like your pictures very much and these "Shamrocks" are beautiful!

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  7. Lovely pictures, especially the "shamrocks"! I love what you did with the challenge. Very creative!

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  8. Thanks for sharing those photo's!!! Your Diva tile is lovely

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  9. I like very much your idea for the Diva's Challenge !

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  10. Hi, I love the idea of all the little Pokeroots falling out of the big one. The contrast of the dark ones with the little sparkles on them and the light ones and their shading makes it very lively.

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  11. Great composition! I love the black and white Pokeroot and them spilling out of Drupe. Very clever with the little Pokeroots within Drupe within a big Pokeroot;-) Lovely photos of your trip. Thanks for sharing.

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  12. I like your mix of Poke Root. Also like reading about your travels around Ireland.

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  13. Great combination of the two tangles - I love your subtle touch of Pokeroot. Also, like your sketchbook tangles. If you were a betting person, I would have put some money on that 11 since it came up 9 times!

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  14. wonderful post...I am reminded I should tell you, I'm reading James Herriot, who I haven't enjoyed since my late teens, and feeling like the English moors would be so wonderful to see in person. you bring them to life for me...

    as for your art, I just love that large pokeroot...it's like a big juicy cherry. And those two squares, united by Hollibaugh...wow! excellent work. You have unity of form too, with opus and flux, and your precise tipple all through is lovely.Well, there is just so much to look at. I could go on forever! good work!

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  15. Brilliant duotangle. Very original idea and your usual excellent execution. I haven't seen any other Drupes in Poke Roots.

    Thank you for taking us along on your foray into Northern Ireland. As you know, I fancy myself a travel blogger and I also enjoy reading about others' travels. One great thing about the UK is the system of public paths and rights of way over private land. In the US, one is likely to have one's walk halted by a barbed wire fence. We didn't make it to Northern Ireland when we visited the Republic of Ireland. Having spent some time in Ireland and now in Scotland, it's interesting to "feel" how the somewhat strained history with England is still somewhat palpable.

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  16. What a delightful post to read - thank you for taking us for a walk in a forest in Northern Ireland - I hope you have many warm summer days to enjoy there. The tile you created for the challenge is a lovely composition - I love the contrast you've accomplished with the black and white Poke Root.

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  17. Thank you for your lovely work--the Pokeroot in a Drupe in a Pokeroot is inspired!-- and taking us along on your travels. I love crisps--potato chips--on peanut butter sandwiches, myself. Cheryl

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  18. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this today and yes, crisps in sandwiches have a rejuvenating effect - I'm five again and going to the baths for swimming lessons. I think your pokeroot idea is truly original - very good indeed.

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  19. Wonderful work! Happy Sunday!

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  20. I especially love the black poke roots with their sparkle. Reminds me of cherries, yum!

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