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!

Reflections of an Alcoholic

"Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment."    Claude Monet

It's been about 3 months since my last post about tangling on alcohol ink. You can see that post here if you missed it. I still had several colored "tiles" all inked and waiting to be tangled. Here's the first one I decided to use this time around.

Since there were obvious circular shapes on this, I thought I would tangle each of those circles. As I was working it began to take on the look of flowers, so I went in that direction. I added stems and ended up with this little flower garden.

Patterns used: Arc Flower, Floral, Garlic Cloves/Bloom, Dandi, Betweed, Steffi, and some lines.

Then I picked another "tile" with circular shapes, figuring I'd stick to a theme. I particularly love the colors in this one.

Again I tangled in the circular shapes, but did not turn this one into flowers.

Patterns used: Z-trik, Crescent Moon, Sand Swirl, Printemps, and some lines.

I loved the colors, loved the flow of my Microperm pen on the Yupo paper, and am pretty happy with the results. This is not the last you will see of my alcohol ink creations, because I still have even more inky "tiles" all ready for tangling whenever I feel the urge.