"The most exciting attractions are between two opposites that never meet."
Andy Warhol
This week's Diva challenge
was to do a duotangle (a Zentangle using two tangle patterns), with
Knightsbridge (checkerboard) and Tipple (circles). A study in opposites,
squares and circles.
My first
try was a traditional Zentangle with some variations of Knightsbridge
along with Tipple interspersed between the squares. But it was much too
busy looking and just didn't live up to my expectations.
So I decided to give it another try using a totally
different approach. I began with the Auraknot pattern as my string and
filled the bands with alternating rows of Knightsbridge and Tipple.
After adding a little extra Tipple and some shading I was finished, and
much more satisfied with this tile.
“Mere color ... can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.”
Oscar Wilde
I haven't posted in a while because I just returned home from a vacation cruising Norway. A cruise ship is a great place for pattern inspiration - everywhere you go on the ship there are patterns. So in addition to beautiful photos of scenery, I have lots of pictures of patterns - not typical of most vacationers. I'm hoping to recreate some of them as tangle patterns, but that will have to wait a little while since I'm busy with many other things right now.
When I saw the Diva's challenge this week was to add color, I was thrilled, knowing that I'd be able to post a couple of entries to the challenge right away. One of the things keeping me busy right now is preparing to teach a class on Zendalas, so I am working on lots of samples. Here is one that I probably would not have added color to had it not been for the challenge. I used Twinkling H2Os in colors that remind me of autumn since it technically begins in a few days, although here in SC fall doesn't pay much attention to what the calendar says.
Here is another zendala where I started by painting a random watercolor wash for the background using my Koi watercolor set. The background was painted before I left on my cruise - based on these colors I must have had the ocean on my mind.
Although I do love the traditional black and white Zentangles, I must say that adding a little color now and then brightens things up.
“The best way to predict your future is to create it”
Peter F. Drucker
Last week I attended a marketing retreat in Dallas for CZTs, led by CZT Angie Vangalis. It was an amazing three days filled with information and inspiration for moving my Zentangle business forward. In addition to the business information shared, we worked on several fun projects, some of which will turn into new classes that I'll be offering in the near future. I'm sharing photos of a few of those projects here.
This first one is an illuminated letter that I tangled on the front cover of a journal. The glimmer in the letter "C" is not clearly visible in the picture, but was the result of using Fine Tec paints in one of the golds found in the pearl colors set. A white charcoal pencil was used to create the white highlights.
Here is a picture showing an interesting way to use a tangle pattern as the string for other tangles. To begin, I drew W2 and then used a few other tangles (Hypnotic, Printemps, Dex, and Jalousie) to fill the spaces formed by W2. I also used one misplaced Hybrid which doesn't belong there, but there are no mistakes in Zentangle so I just went with it!
This last picture shows some tangling on a background made with random watercolor paint strokes. It's such a fun, simple way to add a little color to your designs.
I was happy with the way all three of these projects turned out. And happy with my whole experience in Dallas. I hope to get to see my new CZT friends, who came from all over the country, again soon.
