Time for 9 and 10

"Creativity is intelligence having fun."     Albert Einstein

Another two Zenduos finished! 

The first one, my #9, combined the two patterns Baldosa and two variations of Bales. Baldosa is one of my own tangles which was introduced in my e-book Step Out in Style, which I published in 2014. If you haven't seen it yet, it contains 40 new tangle patterns not published anywhere else, and you can take a peek here.

I created this one on a tile that I colored using Dylusions paints. I scanned the tile to show it before tangling, but... I didn't save it immediately, and while I went ahead and did the tangling my laptop decided on its own to restart, and in so doing, the scan was lost. Frustrating! But here is the final tile, which includes some tangling and accents with a white gelly roll pen.

For the next one, #10, I used one of the colored tiles that I make using alcohol ink (also available in my Etsy shop). This time I was sure to save it right after scanning it!

Then I tangled using the next two patterns in my collection, Basketweave from Suzanne McNeill, and Baton from Carole Ohl (one of my favorite patterns). I added a little shading with pastel pencils.

Hmmm...looking ahead to what the patterns will be for my next Zenduo... it will be an interesting combination. Hope to see you back here once I've completed that one.

Forgotten Patterns

"I don't trust words. I even question actions. But I never doubt patterns."   Unknown

A couple of years ago I published an e-book, Step Out in Style, which has 40 tangle patterns in it. Most of the patterns are my own, but I also included several from other talented CZTs. So many patterns I developed, yet when I'm tangling I rarely use them. Why? I don't know! I just don't think of them, as strange as that may sound. So I decided to devote this blog post to some of those patterns.

This first one was created on a piece of tan paper. The pattern I did in brown pen is called Robo. This is one of my favorites from my book, maybe because it's made up primarily of lines. I love using a combination of black and brown pens on tan paper, and then, of course, adding highlights with white pastel pencil. 

Patterns used: Robo, N'zeppel, Garlic, and Tipple

For the next one I used one of my hand-colored blue tiles. My pattern that I highlight here is Danza, the one going down the center of the tile. I used a blue Micron pen to tangle this, and found it interesting to see how much darker the pen looked when it was used to fill in the areas, compared to when it was used to just draw lines.

Patterns used: Danza, Sand Swirl, lines, and orbs

For the last one I used a traditional Zentangle tile. The pattern you see on the right and left sides is called Baldosa.

Patterns used: Baldosa, a tangleation of Florz, and Dandi

Now that I've shown you a few of my tangles, maybe you'd like to try them out. If you've read this far, and you don't already have my e-book, I'd like to offer you a $2 discount to get a copy for yourself. You can find the book here in my Etsy shop. Use the code 2OFFBLOG before you check out. This code will be good through March 31st. I hope you enjoy it!

Bound for Santa Fe

"The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do."   Steve Jobs 

This past weekend I reached a huge milestone. I surpassed 100,000 views on my blog! That's a huge number. Thank you all for taking the time to stop by on a regular basis to see what I have to share here. 

As I mentioned in my last post, next week I will be on my way to Santa Fe to attend TangleU, a retreat for CZTs. It is the third year that I will be attending, and I'm eagerly looking forward to it. Those who are attending have the option to participate in a tile swap. Create a Talavera tile - in the style of the colorful clay tiles adorning building interiors and exteriors all over Santa Fe - to swap for someone else's tile. 

I decided a long time ago, when I first heard we would be doing this swap, that I would use my tangle pattern Baldosa, from my e-book, which reminds me of the tiles I saw all over Spain and Portugal when I vacationed there last year. Here is the basic pattern that I began with on my tile.

Next I added all the color that this kind of tile is famous for. I used my Tombow markers, and added some subtle shading by either applying more layers of the same color or using a slightly different shade of the color. Then my very last step was to add a touch of graphite shading in the parts that had no color.

I hope whoever ends up with my tile will like it, and I can't wait to see what tile I'll receive in exchange. Here's looking forward to another 100,000 views here!