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!

 

I Walk the Line

"No one ever discovered anything new by coloring inside the lines."    Thomas Vasquez

My drawings in this post are going to be a little different than my usual style. As a matter of fact, you may not even consider this true Zentangle art. But whether it is or not, I'm having a lot of fun with this. For some time I've admired other people's drawings that I would call line art, or something like that. I've wanted to try it out for awhile, but just now got around to making the time for it. 

I worked on these pieces last week, and then saw the Diva's guest challenge from Sharla Hicks, CZT, to use undulating tangles. I think what I did fits in that category pretty well. I'm sharing my first few pieces here. It took a little time to get into the groove of it, so my favorite one is the last one. 

Here's the first, completed with a Micron 01 on an official Zentangle tile. I was pretty happy with it considering it was my first. I realized after completing this that it's similar to the tangle pattern Meringue, by CZT Kelley Kelly. If I look at it that way, then it is a true Zentangle - a monotangle.

Next I worked on the one below, also on an official tile. As I drew, my hand began moving in a rhythm, and it was very relaxing. I'm not sure about those outside humps, but overall I like it. This one is not yet shaded.

Using my famous pastel pencils, I added purple coloring and then some shading and contouring with a pinkish-reddish pencil. And again, except for those humps I'm unsure of, I was happy with the way it turned out.

Then I tried a flowery design on a Zendala tile, which I colored with Tombow markers and shaded with Prismacolor pencils. Not bad, but I don't think the lines flow as well.

My last one for now ( I figured it was time to stop drawing and put these together in a post) was completed on Strathmore gray toned paper. Like I said at the beginning, this is the one I like best. I tangled with a Micron 01 pen and then added the outline with white pastel pencil. I thought of using a white gel pen but was afraid of messing it up. With the pastel pencil I knew that I could always erase it if I didn't like it (don't tell anyone I just said that!)

I found this process to be very relaxing. My pen didn't even leave the paper when completing a section. I just drew a line and then turned and went back, never lifting the pen. I will absolutely be doing lots more of these and already have ideas in my mind for changing them up a bit. So expect to see more of these type of drawings showing up here in the very near future.

Gray Matter

"Life is about the gray areas. Things are seldom black and white, even when we wish they were and think they should be..."   
Emily Giffin

It's been a long while since I tangled in my toned paper sketchbooks, so I decided to pull out the gray paper. I always love the way the black pen looks on the paper with white highlights. For my first ZIA I decided to go organic. If anyone knows the name and creator of the main leafy tangle here, please let me know. I have the pattern in my collection, but never knew who to credit. I added some Printemps and B'Dylan to the unnamed pattern, then drew highlights with a combination of white charcoal pencil and white Prismacolor pencil. A little bit of graphite shading and voila! I was VERY happy with the completed piece.

I started this second one with some Tripoli. I could never get the hang of Tripoli until we did an exercise with it at Tangle U last spring. Now I'm okay with it as long as I don't get stressed over the fact that they don't all come out perfectly even and lined up. As a matter of fact, I made a "mistake" in my Tripoli, so I repeated the "mistake" so it wouldn't be the only one. Since Tripoli is all triangles, I decided to stay with the triangle theme, adding some Fassett by Lynn Mead, and Z-Trik by Yamit Fridman, both of which are based on triangles. Again I used the white pencils for highlights and graphite for shading to finish it off.

The white makes the patterns really pop on the toned papers. I must remember to pull out these sketchbooks more often!

An Elephant of a Different Color

"Possessing a healthy imagination is a necessary ingredient for creativity."  Steve Vai

A couple of weeks ago when I was at Tangle University, I bought a few Dreamweaver stencils. They're heavy-duty stencils made from metal and I suspect that they will survive any abuse I send their way. One of the techniques we learned from Sandy Bartholomew was how to make prints on black paper, using these stencils and scratch-foam. I hope to share more about that in a later post once I receive the foam that I ordered from Dick Blick. In the meantime, I played around with a couple of my new stencils, just tangling them in the traditional way. 

One of the stencils I got was a very cute elephant. I traced the stencil, tangled it, and shaded it, and here is what I got.

Part of him (or her?) was shaded using a graphite pencil, and part using Tombow dual brush markers. Can you tell the difference? I love my elephant, so I decided to try some variations. Next came a colored version, but first I scanned it after tangling and before coloring.

Then I went ahead and created a fantasy elephant, more like something you'd find at Disney, very unrealistic, but nevertheless cute.

I used Tombow markers to add the color. It looks a little better in person, but clearly I need some help and practice with using these markers proficiently, and that's why I registered for Marie Browning's Time to Tangle in Color online class. Haven't had time to begin the class yet, obviously.

For my final elephant in the series, I decided to use gray toned paper from Strathmore. After all, elephants really are gray, unlike the previous one. 

I love how this guy turned out, and always love the look of the shading along with white charcoal pencil highlighting on the toned papers. But I decided to try one more thing. I took my original elephant and played with it in Lightroom to come up with this.

Remember that horse of a different color that Dorothy met in the Emerald City? I guess this is an elephant of a different color!

I had a lot of fun playing with my elephant and can't wait to use him for printing when my new supplies arrive.

What Goes Around...Comes Around

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

It's been a while since I did the Zendala dare, and I like the template this week so I decided to jump in. I pulled out my Strathmore toned paper, thinking I'd use the tan paper, but changed my mind and used the gray instead since I've done very little on the gray. I try to remember to scan my design before shading it, although I admit that doesn't always happen. Today I did remember, so here is my Zendala without any shading.

Next I used pencil to shade. It never fails to amaze me what a difference some pencil shading makes in a piece. 

Then I used a white charcoal pencil to add highlights. Even more amazing what those highlights do for it. 

I'm pretty happy with the results, though I'm not sure if I should have blackened in the center spot. But I do have to say that I think I like the tan paper better than the gray. I'm not sure why, especially since I have gray paint on some of the walls in my house and I don't usually like tan in clothes, walls, or anything else. I guess Zentangles are the one thing that goes better with tan for me.