Saturday, September 20, 2014

A Tangler's Paradise

In-spi-ra-tion (noun):  the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.

I've been home one week now since my 3-week European vacation ended, and I'm just starting to get over the jet lag. Don't know why it's taking so long. First we went to Scotland to visit my daughter who has been living there for 7 months (she was happy with the "no to independence" vote). Then we went on a cruise around Spain and Portugal. I took close to 3,000 photos, with about 200 of those being pictures of patterns. Spain and Portugal are a pattern hoarder's delight. Wrought iron balconies, tiled floors, walls, and sidewalks, facades of buildings...pattern inspiration abounds. So I thought I'd share some of those photos with you....I promise not to include all 200, but this will still be a long post!

First there were the ones that obviously ripped off existing Zentangle patterns:

An article of clothing made with Bales

A building Diva Dancing

Some more Diva Dance, but can't remember what it was!

Architectural detail over a door imitating Prestwood or Puffle

A door made of 'Nzeppel

A sidewalk of Swarm

A chair on the cruise ship very similar to my pattern Robo from my Step Out in Style e-book

Then...for inspiration I found:


Wrought Iron Balconies







Tiles adorning every surface imaginable











 Sidewalks and streets with patterns galore





Miscellaneous doors, floors, buildings, etc:









 And even some fashions


This one was an unsuspecting subject!

And imagine my surprise when my daughter donned this shirt with tangled birds on it. Granted, it came direct from Target in the U.S., but made itself known to me in Europe.

So...I told you I wouldn't share all 200 of the photos, but you can imagine many more where these came from. Some might call it pattern overload, but I call it a tangler's paradise!



3 comments:

  1. I absolutely loved Portugal and Spain for all the patterns ingrained in their cultures. Thanks for taking me back there with these pictures.

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  2. I'm from the UK and off on a cruise to New York, then up the East coast to Quebec. I'm hoping to get some ideas for patterns on that trip!! I do recognise some of those patterns that you took photos of and I agree it is a tangles delight. We must look an odd bunch taking pictures of pavements, chairs, clothing - in fact anything that takes our eye! Well done.

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  3. Hi Caren, I was enjoying a trawl through your lovely blog...not reading your words as much as appreciating your work. As I looked through these inspirations, I suddenly felt deja vu and skipped up to check where your photos were taken. Yes! Spain...and my guess would be some parts of Andalucia where I now live. Granada is a feast for the eyes. Glad you enjoyed it all. Let me know if you plan another trip, won't you? Ax

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