Monday, 18 April 2011

EggZZZZcellent Monday!

Oh la la, Diva!  Once again the Mistress of Mystique has issued a challenge worth jumping right into!  This week's challenge (in honour of Easter, new beginnings, spring and other noteworthy wonderfulnesses) is to use the shape of Eggs in your Zentangle or Zentangle Inspired Art.  Well!  This is just up my alley!

I love eggs - the shape, the colours, the surprise of discovering the shells below unknown birds nests, the joy when gifted with a perfect robin's shell, bisected beautifully by the emerging frail feathered friend...The shells are so beautiful and the contents so amazing - whether the source of perfect protein or the creation of a new life, they are wondrous environments and objects of great beauty.  Despite their fragility, easily crushed with the fingers alone, they can support unbelievable weights and even provide a sharp and slug or snail impassable border for delicate plants.  You can start seeds in them, then plant the entire thing - shell, dirt and seedling - in the garden as is.  They can be  carved, painted, dyed or etched.  Smashed flat they can mimic ancient craquelure for a decorative paint finish.  Powdered they are an excellent compost amendment or calcium binder.  The eggs themselves are a wonderful source of protein, tasty and self-contained.  The whites make delicious and delicate meringues.  The yolk is an essential for the creation of egg tempera, a lacquer-like, transparent paint used since ancient times for fine art and decorative work.  Russian Icons hundreds of years old still glow with the luminous beauty of the egg tempera used in their creation; the same technique that lives on today, passed down from master Icon painter to their apprentice(s).

In celebration, and in answer to the challenge, I offer the following:
Happy Monday!

23 comments:

  1. Oooh, a fun assortment of the eggs. :D And again I love your turn of phrase.

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  2. Those are so cool! I love all the different patterns.

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  3. What a M-egg-nificent basket of eggs!

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  4. LOVE IT!!! I would love to see these in my Easter Basket! I am dying to do this one too...but it's a little late tonight. I see a Zentangle tile and micron pen with my morning coffee!

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  5. I agree with Darkskye. Love your art and your writing. So fun.

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  6. I really love the way you think and I never before knew that you can use them to plant seeds. I will try this! And of course your drawing is (again) amazing with a lot of wonderful patterns. Thanks for sharing!

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  7. The tangling is super of course, but also love your little essay about eggs!! I appreciate the time you devote to making your blog both visually pleasing and intellectually entertaining ;-0

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  8. As always... it's such a delight to read your posts and view your wonderful artwork. Your eggs are awesome!

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  9. Well, if this isn't just the cutest little group of eggs!! Plain and simple... a strong statement for the little ovoid masterpieces. Great tangles. And again, a wonderful post.

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  10. I love all the open spaces and the various patterns. Totally fabulous!

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  11. I heartily agree with all, and especially Trish's comment that they are "little ovoid masterpieces"!!!
    Eggs-periments: The kids at RISD in Providence are required every year to come up with a contraption they can attach to a pack of eggs and drop it out a window and land so that the eggs don't break. Turns out one of the secrets is to tightly pack the eggs themselves--they can withstand enormous stresses!

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  12. Fun, fun, fun. And love your words about eggs. They are definitely one of nature's gems.

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  13. You made a beautiful collection of eggs!

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  14. I love you entire collection of eggs-wonderful!

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  15. What a great way to present the incredible edible egg!

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  16. What fun these are! (Though I swear that Inapod's looking at me. [smile])

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  17. Beautiful eggs! Oh those are a delight to look at.

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  18. I love all your eggs!! And I am really enjoying this whole group of "Zentanglers"!!! What a creative bunch of people! Also thank you for answering my questions about ZIAs etc. You have a very informative vocabulary section!!

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  19. Love you eggs, especially the one that looks like a mummy egg :)

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  20. Love the variety of eggs you drew!

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  21. Wow great eggs... love them...

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  22. Lovely eggs - I need an egg shaped template so my eggs are so lopsided :-D

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