Color on Tan

"Life is art. Live yours in color."    Unknown

I'm experimenting with color on a tan background. For the tiles I'm sharing today, I used Strathmore tan toned paper. And for the color, I used pastel pencils, my favorite way to do color these days. My first piece was drawn with a green Micron pen. Color was added using three shades of green pencils which blended together beautifully. I love the way it turned out.

Patterns used: Mooka and Shattuck

 

For the next one I tangled with a black Micron pen. Then I used a combination of two green pencils and two blue, to add the color. I don't like this one as much as the first, but it's okay. 

Patterns used: Hamail, Pokeleaf, Zinger

I love being able to use white highlights on the tan paper. I'm looking forward to trying out some other colors too.

Wishing everyone a happy, tangled Thanksgiving. Don't eat too much!

 

What's Black and White and Colored All Over?

"Be the most brilliant color in the box."    Unknown

Several weeks ago I blogged about using Dyan Reaveley's acrylic paint to make some colored "tiles." You can see that post here and read all about the paints and how I used them. I had two more tiles left over from my play date with the paints and it was time to go back to them. Here's the first one, where I used sponge daubers and black ink the same way I did on the tiles shown in my previous post.

I decided to use those black spots as part of the pattern Cadent, and attached them to make a string for the rest of my tangling.  This is what I ended up with.

I really liked it, but even though I used a thicker Micron 08 pen for drawing the Cadent string, it basically disappeared among the other tangles. So I added some white pen embellishments to make the original Cadent stand out.

Patterns used: Cadent, Diva Dance and Fassett

I love the way the white pops out against the black pen and red/pink background.

Here's the next tile before tangling.

I added white embellishments to this one also.

Patterns used: Crescent Moon and Frost Flower

I'm very happy with both of these. They were the last of my Reaveley colored tiles (at least the ones I liked), so I will have to pull out the paints and work on some more.

Presenting Zigbee

"Success is following the pattern of life one enjoys most."    Al Capp

In March, 2014, I published an e-book, Step Out in Style, with 40 new tangle patterns - mostly my own, but also with contributions from other CZTs. The book has been very well received, and I'd like to thank those of you who have purchased it. I called it Volume 1, leaving the door open for me to possibly do a Volume 2. For the last year and a half I have thought about it, and finally came to the decision that I will NOT be creating another volume. However, I do enjoy coming up with new patterns, or at least what I think are new patterns, as there are SO many out there that I can never be sure.

So... from time to time I'll be blogging about a pattern for which I've created the step-outs. Today is the first one. This pattern begins like Beeline, a pattern from Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, founders of the Zentangle Method. But in the end, it looks totally different. I love patterns with lots of repetitive lines, and if you are a fan of those patterns also, I think you'll enjoy this one. Of course I'm hoping that you all like it, even if you're not crazy about lines like I am. 

I've decided to call it Zigbee. Zig for the zig zag lines, and bee for the fact that it begins like Beeline. Here are my step-outs.

First, a couple of notes about the pattern:

• In step #3, after you have drawn your first column of diamonds, move over to leave some space, and aura the the right side of your diamond. Do NOT draw your next column of diamonds right next to the first one. Remember to do that after each column of diamonds.

• In step #7 I show one way to shade Zigbee, but you may find your own way of shading that you like better. Sometimes shading can totally change the look of a tangle.

• In step #8 I show a tangleation (variation) of Zigbee. Notice that I have drawn the lines in the spaces surrounding the diamonds in different directions. This brings out the star shapes in the pattern, which I have heavily shaded here to make it easy for you to see.

I'm sharing several tiles I created as I was playing with the pattern, showing some of the different results you get based on shading, filling, and changing line direction. These are not in the order I drew them, but I do have my reasons for showing them this way. 

Here's one on a zendala that I colored using Ranger distress ink pads. In case you're interested, my colored tiles are for sale in my Etsy shop. This is the unshaded tile, showing two variations of Zigbee that look a bit different because I chose to blacken different areas.

This is what it looks like after being shaded.

The next one shows how to make star shapes really pop out by drawing the lines as shown in my tangleation in the step-outs, as well as creating black stripes in the stars. Notice that on the left side of the tile I used all straight lines, and on the right side I curved the lines to make it puffy looking.

In the tile below, I again drew the lines as in my tangleation, but this time just used shading to make the stars (partial stars) pop a little. This is one where your eyes can really play tricks on you. Focus on the tile one way and you will see the stars pop, but keep looking and your focus may change so that you see cubes popping out instead.

 

I did one more on a Renaissance (tan) tile. Here I used both black and brown Micron pens, graphite and brown pastel pencil for shading, and white pastel pencil for highlights.

And there you have it - Zigbee! I hope you enjoy the pattern. Have fun playing, and I'd love to see what you create with it.