Recipe for Zentangle Inspired Art

"I just want to make beautiful things even if nobody cares."     Unknown

Zentangle Inspired Art

Ingredients:

     Stonehenge paper
     Pencil
     Black micron pen

Directions:

Using your pencil, draw a string with random curves. Then draw auras around your lines so you have space to tangle between the lines. Now take your Micron pen and fill that space between the lines with the tangle pattern Baton.

Next, aura the outside lines and fill that space with one row of Knightsbridge. Aura the inside spaces and fill the narrow area with orbs and blacken behind them.

With your pencil, add a first layer of shading. Then go back and darken the shading right along the edges.

Add a few lines to the center open areas, just because.
And voila!

Just the kind of recipe I like... one with only a few ingredients and a few steps. And one that tastes good in the end!

Wishing everyone a happy new year, one filled with lots of tangling!

Renaissance Faire

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."      Leonardo da Vinci

Here is a piece I completed recently on tan-colored Stonehenge paper. I really enjoy working on that paper because of how nicely and easily you can shade on it with a tortillion. In my opinion, the shading is much smoother than on the Renaissance tiles from Zentangle.com. 

Patterns used: Henna Drum, Mooka, Steffi, Flux, Printemps, Flowtus and Tipple

I absolutely love the way this turned out. And what a difference the shading (with brown pastel pencil) and highlighting (with white pastel pencil) made! I was never a big fan of Mooka, probably because mine just never looked good to me, but here I really like it. Those little flowery things in the upper right are my pattern Steffi from my e-book, Step Out in Style.

Coincidentally, the day after I completed this piece, Cris Letourneau contacted me. She is the author of the Zentangle related books Pattern Play (co-authored with Sonya Yencer) and Made in the Shade. She wanted to know if I'd like to contribute any of my art using pastel pencil shading (since I use that method so often) to a new book she's working on all about tangling on Renaissance tiles and tan-toned papers. (More info on her book at the bottom of this post.) Of course most artists wouldn't pass up a chance to have their work published, so I showed her the piece from above, and then worked on a few more to send to her.

The first one is light and airy with lots of open spaces for shading and highlighting. Completed on a Renaissance tile.

 Patterns used: Joki and Pokeleaf

The next one is more traditional, started with four dots, a border, and a string. Also completed on a Renaissance tile.

 

Patterns used: Cadent, N'zeppel, Leeter and Printemps

I decided to go with color (also pastel pencil) on the next one instead of the brown I usually use. This one is on tan-toned paper from Strathmore.

 

Patterns used:Flux, Sea Wave and orbs

This last one was not one I sent to Cris, but another one done on a Renaissance tile, this one a pre-strung zendala. I used both brown and black Micron pens, along with brown pastel pencil and graphite for shading, and of course the white pastel pencil for highlights.

 

Patterns used: Purk, Baton and Munchin

I have no idea which of these might show up in Cris' new book, but I enjoyed working on them all.

Cris informs me that the title of her new book will be Timeless Tangling: Art Inspired from the Renaissance and Beyond, and the publication date will probably be next summer. In her own words, "This book will be about techniques for working on tan-toned papers, using different tools, and learning some fine-art skills to make your ZIAs even more beautiful. Included will be inspirational art, step-by-step projects, and practical information to help take your tangling to the next level."

I know that I'm looking forward to the book and am confident that it will be just as wonderful as her previous publications!

 

Moowa

"Art is the only way to run away without leaving home."     Twyla Tharp

I was supposed to be on the road to FL right now. However... we've had a lot of rain in the last 24 hours, and at 11:00 last night we found that a roof leak that we had last year has returned for a visit. So we postponed our trip for a day (the roads would have been bad anyway and it probably would have been a  s-l-o-w trip.) I turned to tangling as a way to take my mind off our problems. 

The Diva's challenge this week is to use the tangle Moowa, by Anya Ipsen. This pattern was the focus of the Square One FB group a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't have time to give it a whirl then, so this is my first time trying it out. I decided to use one of the tiles I made a while ago using Dyan Reaveley's Dylusions acrylic paints. And this is what I did...

Patterns used: Moowa and Aquafleur

I probably should tell you that I planned it that way, but the way those Moowa lined up was pure coincidence. A happy coincidence. I used graphite to shade the Aquafleur and pastel pencils to add a touch of green shading to the Moowa, and I was pretty happy with the tile!

Well, that took my mind off the leak for at least a little while. Now back to reality.