Mission Accomplished

“As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life."  John Lubbock

As soon as I saw the Zendala dare this week (dare # 62, but #1 for me), I knew I'd be adding a few little lines to create some separation in the bigger spaces. Once I did that I felt more comfortable with this template. 

First I used the graphite transfer method to get the template onto a Zendala tile, and immediately noticed that it was a little off center. Oh well!

So I began tangling, but when I was finished I felt disappointed.

Something didn't feel right about it. I like to have some "weight" around the outside border area, and the outer rim of this Zendala was just too light for my taste. What could I do to try to "fix" it? I knew that I still had to add shading, but I didn't think that would be enough to satisfy me. So I decided to add some color, hoping that would solve my problem. 

I pulled out my Irojiten colored pencils. They were brand new, shiny, unused pencils. To be honest, I have not done much color work with any colored pencils other than the watercolor variety. I had a great time breaking in the pencils, and it was way more fun than I expected. I used orange and red on the "Betweed" points, layering them several times until I was happy with the look. But as I colored I noticed two spots that had not been blackened in like they were supposed to be. I'm hoping you didn't notice them in my before photo!

I fixed those spots and added a little more color to the center "Crescent Moon" area. The color was enough to add that missing weight that I was looking for. My last step was to add a little shading in other areas with a pale gray Irojiten pencil rather than the regular 2B pencil that I normally use.

 Another successful rescue mission. What a relief!