Paradox Re-Defined

What you see above is an unfinished tile. At this point you have one half of Rick's Paradox. I have tried this pattern on several occasions. When I drew on a small scale, I could get the pattern to work 'somewhat.' Not good results, just barely passable. When I traveled to Rhode Island last month to be trained to teach zentangle, this is one of the patterns the students asked for help with. This made me feel better knowing I wasn't the only one having problems with it.

So I made some notes in my CZT journal and some little line drawings with arrows to remind where the lines should begin and end. I finally had time two nights ago to try paradox out again. The first photo is what I drew the first night. I remembered that Rick and Maria both taught us to slow down with our strokes and to be deliberate with every stroke of the pen. So I really tried to do that and it worked! I like the first tile a lot! It is half of the pattern with the lines all starting at the lower left point and drawing them deliberately to the right. I did all 4 sections, then took a break. I didn't want to reverse the lines for the second half, alternating back and forth, because I knew it would confuse me and I wouldn't get the results I wanted.
Last night I completed the second half of the tile. If you look at the two above, you can locate the first tile's lines in the second. It is kind of hard for me to see that, I'm having some vision issues with differentiation in small details, but it's there. I just reversed my lines, where before I started on the left lower angle and drew my first line slightly upward and to the right, this time I started at the right lower angle and drew my first line upward and to the left. Rotation of the tile for every single line is a must. Why don't you try it out and let me know how you do?
(This is where there used to be a diagram of instructions for drawing paradox that I got from the Tangle Patterns website, but apparently as of October, 2012, the CZTs are no longer allowed to show official patterns online. So, if you want to know how to draw this tangle, you will need to go to Tangle Patterns to find it.)  

Here are the steps for drawing paradox, borrowed from the official Zentangle page. You can find this pattern and so much more information about the art of zentangle in general at www.zentangle.com . You can also find a wide range of tangle patterns listed alphabetically at CZT Linda Farmer's page - Tangle Patterns. So, go. Have some fun! But watch out, zentangle is addictive!