Dingbatz Unleashed

"Unsuccessful people are busy being busy. Successful people are busy being productive."     Kevin Abdulrahman

 I'm back after a very long and busy month. In that time we packed, moved out of our house and into storage, traveled to Fl, back to NC for a couple of weeks, back to SC to move out of storage into our new home, unpacked and organized... and I'm exhausted! Needless to say there wasn't much time for tangling in all that, and I didn't always have access to my Zentangle supplies. But I'm finally back to a little bit of normalcy, which means finally some tangling time.

A while ago dingbatz were introduced in the world of Zentangle. I hope you've heard about/seen them, because I can't explain them well as I don't know that I fully understand them. Here is the first one that I attempted... a small frame-like thing divided into sections by a tangle pattern that extends outside the frame. For my first try it wasn't too bad, but I felt something didn't look right. Then I figured it out... my Mooka that creates the sections all goes under the frame, and I think some should go above and some below.  Oh well.

Next I tried one on a colored tile (which I sell in my Etsy shop, although the tiles won't be available for about 2 more weeks until everything gets settled in here). Here's the tile before tangling.

And here is my dingbatz. Unfortunately it wasn't until after I did this one that the over/under bit occurred to me.
 

Then I added some shading.

It's okay, but still not exciting me. So on to another one. This time I used Hollibaugh to divide it into sections, and remembered to make some of it go under the frame and some of it over. I added lots of auras which are always fun.

 Then I shaded, added a little more black, and an outside border.

I like this one better than the others, although I think the style kind of got further away from the "traditional" dingbatz that I've seen everyone creating. But that's okay, because I should have my own style, right?

So, back to the drawing board! Here I used some large Flux to create the sections. Definitely my own style again!

 

  
Added shading to some of it with graphite.

And added color to the rest of it with pastel pencils.

This one is definitely my favorite. Whether or not it embodies the original intent of dingbatz... I just don't know!

 

Colors of Summer

"People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy."        Anton Chekhov

Happy summer to those of you in my neck of the woods, and happy winter to the rest of you. Summer is a time full of flowers and color, so this is going to be a colorful post.

The first tile I'm sharing with you is one of my alcohol ink background zendala tiles.

Just because it's a round tile doesn't mean it needs to be tangled with a zendala. I love the swirl in the tile, so I decided to tangle along with the flow. This is the first time I've used the pattern Floral Waves. I think it goes well with the swirl in the tile. Then I added some Mooka and Tipple to finish it off.

But (almost) no tile is complete, in my mind, without shading. So out came my trusty pastel pencils, and blues and pinks were used to add the finishing touches. 

Then it was onto another zendala tile, this time one of my "pre-strung" alcohol ink backgrounds. The designs formed by the inks can be used as a string to tangle inside or outside, or just tangle right over them.

That big shape going right up the center of the tile reminded me of a tree trunk, so after tangling that with Sand Swirl, I added Pokeleaf "foliage" to the tree. And once again, pastel pencils were my choice for shading.

In case you're interested, these colored tiles are available, along with many more, in my Etsy shop here.

Until next time, happy tangling!

Molygon

"No matter what the colour of your skin is, we all bleed RED."  
 HH Younus AlGohar

It's been a long time since I last blogged. I've been really busy with lots of other things (family visiting, vacations, selling a house and building a house), and I haven't tangled nearly as much as I usually do. But I'm taking time to share what I did for the Diva's challenge this week, which was to use the pattern Molygon. 

For the first one I chose a Zendala tile, drew some Molygon in the center, and added Pokeleaf (and a few Pokeroots) around the outside. I used my red stardust gelly roll pen to add some color.

For the next one I used a 4 inch tile I cut from Bristol vellum paper, one of my favorite surfaces for tangling and shading. I couldn't decide if it needed something more around the outside, but I left it as is. 

I added some red to both of these tiles because in the FB group that I manage, Zentangle: Adventures in Color, I just issued a challenge to add only red to a traditional black and white piece. If you're not already a member of that group, enjoy adding color to your work, and would like to join, click here to get to that page. If you do, please be sure to read the group guidelines!

 

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!

 

Study of a Tile

"It's easy to make good decisions when there are no bad options."    Robert Half

I've been having so much fun with my pre-strung colored tiles! Here is one of them that I wasn't so sure that I liked at the beginning, but it has grown to be one of my favorites.

Since there are so many different options for tangling these tiles, I decided to take this tile and tangle on it using three different methods/styles. In the first one I show here, I tangled mostly on the "pathways", using one pattern. This is the way I tangled them when I first designed the tiles. I love how relaxing it is to follow the paths without any thinking about where to go next, especially when I just draw with one pattern (I've also tangled them like this using two patterns.) I didn't add any shading to this one, and opted to leave a chunk of pathway untangled.

Pattern used: Diva Dance

Another way to use the tiles is to tangle behind/in between the paths. Although this is not my favorite way to tangle them, I've learned that I like them better when I leave some of the behind spaces open instead of tangling them all. On this tile I added some color using stardust gelly roll pens and some shading with pastel pencils.

Patterns used: Purk, Fassett, Falls, Tipple, and Crescent Moon

For my last one, I chose to just tangle, kind of ignoring the pathways. Not necessarily tangling on them or behind them... just wherever my pen decided to go. By the way, all of these were tangled using a Micron 01 pen. When I first started on this one, I wasn't too sure about it. But I have to say that this is now one of my all time favorite tiles that I have ever made! What really brought this one to life for me was the shading, which I did a little differently than ever before. I shaded using pastel pencils, which is nothing new, as I use them a lot. But after that shading, I went back with graphite and added darker edges, which, I think, added more depth to the tangles. I've never combined pastel pencil and graphite shading together in the same pieces/shapes/elements.

Patterns used: Flux and Pokeleaf

So there you have it, an in-depth study of one tile. Depending on your individual tastes and style of tangling, there are so many different ways to use these tiles. No bad options - I love the quote that I began this post with. (I wish that today, on the eve of Election Day here in the U.S., I could say that this was the case.) If you'd like to give my tiles a try (they're also available in Zendalas), please check them out in my Etsy shop.

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!