"Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules,making mistakes, and having fun." Mary Lou Cook
In my last post I mentioned that I had bought a set of 24 chalk pencils after having learned about them at Tangle U. For the past week I've been experimenting with them. To begin, I decided to do a few Bijou tiles (2 inches square) using the chalk pencils instead of graphite for shading. Here are my samples, showing Merryweather, Flux, Bunzo, and my own tangle Robo from my e-book Step Out in Style. I tested several colors as you can see here.
Next I wanted to use the pencils in a Zendala since they are one of my favorite things to create, and a Zendala was what I had in mind from the minute I decided to purchase these. I used a template from a mandala coloring book I have, and tweaked it a little bit. Using three shades of green, including a teal, I added the color, as well as a little bit of graphite shading on the N'zeppel.
I love the way the color came out and I love the way the Flux looks as a border.
After completing that, I decided to do a 'stack,' incorporating the pencils. In case you don't know what a stack is, check out my recent post here. This is how it turned out, using Strathmore gray toned paper.
At first I wasn't sure if I liked it, but it has since grown on me. I do know that I love my chalk pencils. What do I like about them? They blend easily. If the color goes outside the lines, they erase easily (shhh...I didn't really say that). They are easier to control than watercolor pencils, markers, etc. When used over your Micron lines they don't muddy the lines the way some pencils do. What don't I like about them? Nothing that I've discovered yet!
But I'll tell you one thing I did discover. Not all tortillions/smudgers are created equal. I used different smudgers for the different colors. Most of them were from Zentangle.com and worked great. But I had a couple that were obviously different - you could tell by looking at them - and they did not work well at all. The paper was not the same. I don't know where I got them, but now I know to be careful what I pick up when shopping for smudgers!
"Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties."
Erich Fromm
Do you ever feel like you've hit a roadblock in your tangling? Although there are thousands of tangle patterns do you find yourself using the same ones over and over again? Well that's what I felt was happening to me. There are no rules in Zentangle, I know that, but if I didn't follow the step-outs for a pattern just as they were presented, I felt like I was doing something "wrong". When I wrote my e-book Step Out in Style, I included tangleations (variations) for several of the patterns. However, I never felt right changing someone else's patterns.
That is, until a few months ago, when I received my copy of Pattern Play, a new book by Cris Letourneau and Sonya Yencer. The book is all about thinking outside the box and changing patterns to make them your own. After perusing the book my mind was really opened up, and I found my creativity soaring. If you're yearning for more creativity, I highly suggest that you run, not walk, to get this book (or you can probably stay in your seat and order it online).
Since the book was so inspiring to me, I decided to teach a class based on it. In order to plan for the class I took out a new sketchbook and started playing with patterns. Add a little of this, change a little of that, put something here, take away something there. That's the way my mind worked as I looked at pattern after pattern, and designed new tangleations; sometimes one new look, sometimes a half dozen. I had more fun planning for this class than any other one I've ever taught. My biggest problem with it was deciding which tangleations to present in class. I wish I had time to demonstrate them all, but I guess I had to leave some things to their imagination.
As part of my planning, I created several tiles. Here is a one I did just to show several tangleations I came up with for the pattern 'Nzeppel.
The next one has "Nzeppel, Hollibaugh, Cubine, and my pattern Gaudi.
Here is one with 2 tangleations of the pattern Well, along with some Printemps.
A colored tile with Fife and Keeko (that Keeko looks very different, doesn't it?).
And another one with Huggins and Cubine.
Then I had to throw in a Zendala with Cadent, Hollibaugh and Diva Dance.
This last one is an ATC tile with some variations on Paradox.
All this preparation led up to my class last weekend. There were three students, and I won't lie...I was a little disappointed that there weren't more. I gave them Bijou tiles (the new 2 inch square tiles), and had them do a tile for each tangleation. At the end of class I offered each of them a hole punch to punch a hole in the corner of each Bijou, and a metal ring to hold all the tangleations. Here is just a small sample of the tiles they created.
I hope that my enthusiasm wore off on them and they will continue to come up with many of their own tangleations. As for me, the book Pattern Play, and the time that I spent preparing for this class, have opened up a whole new world of tangling opportunities. I am much more inclined now to not follow the (nonexistent) rules and to go where my imagination leads me. And I think that's a good thing!
"Notice the small things. The rewards are inversely proportional."
Liz Vassey
The newest member of the Zentangle family recently came out of his shell to be introduced to the world. If you have not yet met Bijou, you can read about this adorable little snail here and watch some videos. Along with Bijou, Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas have introduced a new mini Bijou sized tile. Made of the same paper as the 3 1/2 inch Zentangle tiles, these cute little tiles are just that....little! They are 2 inches square. That's only a little over 1/4 the size of the regular tiles. Small...and quick to tangle. Have only a few minutes? Pull out a Bijou tile and you'll complete it in no time at all.
The Diva's challenge this week is to "Be like Bijou" and tangle something little. Since I don't have any Bijou tiles yet, I cut my own out of watercolor paper. On my first tile I decided to try out the new tangle pattern, Maryhill, by CZT Betsy Wilson. I love the look of this pattern once it's shaded.
Next I used Tripoli with several different finishing touches.
Since both of those were monotangles (using only one pattern), I decided to do the next one with more than one pattern. I tried out Holdy (by Ksenija Vojisavljevic) for the first time, along with Flux.
And for my last one, I used my tangle Collana in the center (from my e-book Step Out in Style ), Florz, and Ramy (Sandy Steen Bartholomew).
I took a picture of one of my Bijou tiles next to a regular sized tile, just to show you how little these tiles really are. The bigger tile is one I completed while waiting at the airport on a recent trip.
And speaking of the airport, here's the tile I completed in the airport at the other end of my trip.
I will confess that I had more fun tangling on these Bijou sized tiles than I thought I would. They're tiny, they're cute, and they're kind of irresistible.
