The Magic of Color

"I never met a color I didn't like."    Dale Chihuly

A while back I downloaded a number of stock images online. I've tangled some of them, but others have been sitting around for a really long time. Here's one I decided to pull out and tackle today.

I love the bright colors in it and thought it would look nice if I used colored Microns to tangle this. I don't often use the colored pens, but there was one to match each of the colors (except yellow) in this design and I figured it was a great idea. A gray Copic multiliner was used to tangle those circles clinging to the outside of the big circle.

I really liked the way this was going until I got to the last part (isn't that the way it always goes?) which was the blue penned part in the top green circles. Definitely not my favorite part of this piece.

The shading was done with my pastel pencils, which I have in all the colors to match the pen colors. If I could cut out the top part of this I would be really happy with it!

 

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!

 

Lucy in the Sky With Gems

"There are little gems all around us that can hold glimmers of inspiration."     Richelle Mead

If you belong to any of the Zentangle Facebook groups, you've probably seen that "gems" have been the hot topic recently. I decided to give them a try, not really expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy they really were to draw, and how realistic they look.

I used Prismacolor colored pencils, 3 or 4 shades in each gem. Normally I don't do a lot of colored pencil work because I find that it is very labor intensive due to all the layering and blending that needs to be done. I once colored a large piece with colored pencils and it took me forever! But it didn't take too long to just color the gems in these pieces that I'm sharing here. 

This first one just has lots of line work... back and forth, getting in the flow, never lifting the pen except to change the direction of the lines. Very soothing.  

Next, I decided to try a flower, with a big gem in the center.

Patterns used: Betweed, Sand Swirl, Diva Dance, Hypnotic, Fassett, Huggins, and Navaho.

I wanted to see how it would look with color added to the outside border of the flower, so after remembering to scan the one you see above, I added purple in the border.

I'm not sure which way I like it better. What do you think?
All the while I was working on the flower I had another vision forming in my mind, which you see below. I love the way this one turned out, full of bright, shiny color.

Patterns used: Purk and Squid

That's where I intended to end this post. However, I had another piece sitting in the corner of my desk, half finished. I started it with small size gems, and found that I really didn't like working in that small of a space with the colored pencils (you'll notice in the above pieces all the gems are larger in size.) I almost threw this one away, but at the last minute decided to go ahead and complete it.

Patterns used: Arukas and a tangleation of Fassett

I'm glad I didn't throw it away, but it's definitely not my favorite of the batch. The gems were a lot of fun to do, and I expect that they'll be popping up in my art work from time to time.

**In case you've been living under a rock and have NOT seen these gems before, here is a helpful video by CZT Chris Gerstner, on how to create them.

 

Tangling Tempting Templates

"A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament."    Oscar Wilde

It was time for tangling some more templates from Ben
Kwok. If you're not familiar with him, check out his Facebook group "Ornation Creation." Each week he posts a different template for your tangling enjoyment.

This first one is, obviously, a jellyfish. I decided to use some new Stonehenge paper that I bought, and this is the color they call Fawn. I knew it would be great for drawing with my brown micron pens and adding highlights. Of course my intention was to show you a photo before I did any shading, but in my excitement to get started (because the shading is what brings it to life), I forgot to get a picture. Luckily I caught myself before I got very far, so here you see just the very beginnings of the shading.

 Patterns used: Papyrus, Printemps, Betweed

As you can tell in the following photo, the shading and highlighting, which I did with my pastel pencils, makes such a huge difference in the look. I think the shading in this one took longer than the tangling did, but it was well worth it!

Here's another one of Ben's templates... one of my favorite foods!

Patterns used: Navaho, Emingle, Static, N'zeppel, Crescent Moon, Heartstrings, Prestwood, Munchin, Paizel, Printemps, and some line work

And again with shading...

Next time I'm in the mood for template tangling (try saying that 5X fast!) I know there are LOTS more templates waiting for me over on Ben's Facebook group.

 

I've Got the World on a String

"Creativity itself doesn't care at all about results - the only thing it craves is the process. Learn to love the process and let whatever happens next happen, without fussing too much about it."
Elizabeth Gilbert

This past week's "It's a String Thing" posed the challenge to use string #044 from tanglepatterns.com, along with any or all of four tangle patterns beginning with the letter N. Those tangles are N'zeppel, Nipa, Neuron, and ... Navaho. That's my pattern! How could I not participate? 

I chose to use another one of my hand-colored tiles like the ones I was playing around with in my last post. I intended to take a picture of the tile before tangling on it, but, as is par for the course, I forgot to take the picture. Not too far into the tangling I remembered that I had forgotten (if that makes sense), so here's the picture.

Continuing with my tangling, I decided to keep it to two patterns. I have recently come to the realization that often, when I am not happy with my completed work, it's because it looks too busy. So, I'm trying to simplify my pieces by cutting down on the number of patterns I include. For this tile I stuck to only two, my pattern Navaho (in three variations), along with one of my all time favorites, N'Zeppel.

I like the empty space in the center (another thing I often forget to include), and I'm happy with the not too cluttered look. And of course I love the colors.