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.

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!

 

New Alcohol Ink Zendala Tiles

"Life is a circle. The end of one journey is the beginning of the next."   
 Joseph M. Marshall

I love the black and white format of traditional Zentangle. The contrast of black and white is what really drew me to the Zentangle method in the first place. But, oh what fun color can be!

A few days ago I shared my new alcohol ink colored tiles made to create interesting backgrounds for your tangling. I'm back today to show you what I've done with some of the Zendala tiles. The first one is a pretty blue and white.

I decided to tangle with a blue Micron pen. I used a stencil made by Genevieve Crabe, which has lots of holes through which you mark dots, using them as a guide to create your own Zendala design. You can see these stencils here. My theme was triangles and I tangled them with lots of Munchin and a little bit of Phroz.

Next, of course, was shading. Now if you follow me regularly, you probably know of my love affair with pastel pencils. So you think you know what's coming, but no.... this was not shaded with pastel pencils. I used Prismacolor pencils and blended them with a tortillion dipped in Gamsol odorless mineral spirits. It was the first time I've used this method, and I'm happy to say that it worked really well! In the past, the few times I've used colored pencils, I blended by layering and layering and layering and going over and over and over it with a colorless blender. Maybe some of you like that way of doing things, but I found it to be very long and very tedious and very tiring on my hand. Using the mineral spirits was so much more up my alley, much quicker and much easier on my hand. It may have been my first time using this method, but it won't be the last, as you'll see in my next tile.

I love the way the white parts of the background make this tile appear to be glowing.

Next up was a pinkish-purplish tile.

I wanted to give this one a more organic look and used Flux (one of my go-to tangles recently) and Betweed.

As I said, I again used Prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits for shading this.

I added some sparkle to it by applying a clear Stardust gelly roll pen over the shading in the Flux, but you can't even see a hint of that in the above picture, so I took a closeup at an angle to show you the sparkle.

The last tile I have to share with you for now has shades of yellow, orange, and green.

I used a stencil from Acadia Laser Creations for this one. Since it is more earth-toned, I tangled with a brown Micron. It took me awhile to decide how many patterns to include and which parts of the stencil should be tangled with which pattern. This is what I ended up with, Knightsbridge and Baton.

 

Then I agonized over what materials to use for color, and after testing several things, I went with Tombow markers to fill in some areas, but no shading on this one.

I am liking this tile more than I expected to as I worked on it. Always a pleasant surprise when that happens.

Remember, if you're thinking about trying out some of these new tiles for you own tangling, you can still get 10% off until the 18th by using the code NEWCOLOR in my Etsy shop.

 

 

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!

 

Putting my Paper to Good Use

"I go wherever my creativity takes me."     Lil Wayne

A couple of months ago I pulled out a piece of scrapbooking paper to tangle on. I have a box full of these papers which I rarely use. This is what I created with a white gelly roll pen.

Patterns used: Flux and Henna Drum

I was leaving shortly after that for my cruise and decided to take a bunch of squares of various papers to work on... they are very thin and lightweight and take up virtually no space in my suitcase. Here are the before and afters of the ones I tangled on vacation. The before pictures don't match exactly because those photos were taken of a different section from the larger piece of paper.

 Pattern used: Baton

 Patterns used: Knightsbridge, elements of Crescent Moon, Static, Up n Down, Tipple, Fassett, Printemps, and Cubine tangleation

 Patterns used: Inapod and Uncorked tangleation

If you're like me and have a stack of papers just waiting for... something... someday... you might want to pull them out and see what you can tangle up! 

Cruise Tangling

"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."    Andre Gide

I just returned home from a three week vacation. We cruised northern Europe and then stayed a few days in Bruges, Belgium at the end. I've been on cruise ships before, and I've traveled around Europe before, and both the ships and the cities I've visited have always been chock full of patterns to inspire any tangler. Well, this cruise ship and these European destinations were no different. First I will share photos of some of the patterns I encountered.

 I can't remember what this is, but it reminds me of a Knightsbridge tangleation:

  Some carpet doing the Diva Dance:

  Tile flooring:

Colorful design inspiration on a store window:

 This was the wall in one of the restaurants. I have a feeling this is already a named pattern, but I can't think of what it is. And if it's not, it should be!

 The pattern on a sofa in our hotel in Bruges:

A lampshade:

Tile design on the ground in a plaza in Bruges:

 

 

Munchin-like carpet:

Tippled glass lamp shade:

Hollibaugh etched glass in the pool area on the ship:

 Tipple all lined up. Can't remember where this was taken:

Carpet on the ship:

More Hollibaugh on the ship's carpet:

More Diva Dance on a metal sculpture of a cello:

How would you like some of this carpet in your home?

More carpet designs. This reminds me of a combination of N'zeppel and Printemps:

 Some zendala inspiration from a lace curtain:

From the number of photos I took (more than 2200), you wouldn't think there would be time for much else. However, I also did a bit of tangling while traveling, mostly on the days we were at sea without stopping at a port. I'll share just a little of what I did here, and will roll out some of my other pieces in additional blog posts over the next week or two. I had brought along a few pre-strung official Zentangle tiles, and I'll start with those. 

 Patterns used: Cubine, Dex, Florz, and Paradox

 Patterns used: Knightsbridge, Sand Swirl, Navaho, Brit, Munchin, Baton, and Betweed.

 

 Patterns used: Hollibaugh, Hibred, Ginili, and some lines

I'm not in love with any of these tiles, but they're okay and they did provide some good relaxation. And, after all, isn't that what Zentangle is really all about? I enjoy using the pre-strung tiles so that no thinking is involved. No debating about how to draw the string, which, although it seems like it should be such an easy thing, often gets me hung up. If you haven't tried the pre-strung tiles yet, or are in need of some more, you can find them in my Etsy shop here. 

I'll be back with another post soon to share some more of my cruise tangling. Hope you'll be back too!