This beautiful Zendala was created by Amanda Higbee, CZT. I love the way the tangles flow and transform from one to another! Zentangle drawn on an Original Zentangle Zendala tile using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite and black Kimberly watercolor pencil. Tangles: Indyrella Umble Vermal Zander Warble
On the back of this tile, created by Amanda, is written: “If you can’t run, then walk If you can’t walk, then crawl, But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” —Martin Luther King, Jr. As we are working on tiles, we hear or think of things that we want to remember going forward. So the back of our tiles become a kind of journal, over time, as we write notes on them.
Amanda created this tile with the help of her family! She has four children that range in age from 7 to 17 years old. She started by creating the string and then, each child would roll a dice and select a random tangle. The child would also choose where the tangle would go in the string. The kids got a big kick out of challenging Mom, and they had a ton of fun.
I accidentally left 3 tiles behind at the CZT Seminar. While I’m sad about that… I decided to recreate them! This one is done on a Zendala tile, but it’s not perfectly symmetrical. Working in the round isn’t something that I do very often. But I was very surprised at how relaxing this was. I think not having to make everything match from side to side takes the stress out of this type of design.
Textiles. She looked at varied shapes and textures hanging all around her in the stall. Of all the places on merchants row, this was the one that brought her the most inspiration. It was a never-ending kaleidoscope of color and patterns that constantly changed with the light. Looking for new inspiration for strings for your tiles? Grab a magazine and open it to a random page. Look at the picture on it.
Portal. The view through the portal was of a crazy, star-strewn universe. She knew she didn’t want to linger. It was too dangerous for her and the ship. Besides, she really wanted to go home. She realized she missed the familiar feel. All the exotic adventures were fun, but sometimes you just want to be comfortable and know what is expected and what to expect. Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen.
Autumn. They brought her sheaves and heads of grain and placed them at her feet. As she looked down at them, against the hem of her gown, she understood. It is the time of harvest, to prepare for the cold to come. It is time to burn the man of straw and rags. They must celebrate with things sweet and warm and ready everyone for the days of propitiation.
Island vacation. She looked down, out of the window of the raised hut to the cobblestone path and imagined the adventures that were possible here. This Zentangle had a life of it’s own and ended up nothing like it’s original conception! Once of the tangles that came out of the jar was Tuffit. I never know what to do with it, since it kind of looks like a cross between an alien space ship and sofa pillow.
Show time. This tile was drawn from Eni Oken‘s tutorial for the Showgirl tangle. I have to confess, I had a lot of problems with this one. Showgirl isn‘t my favorite tangle to begin with, and I‘m not really happy with the way these came out. But after several false starts, I decided to persevere. I was kind of surprised that the end result is better than I thought it would be.
Inner ocean. Another one by the sea! This tile makes me think of viewing under the deep ocean on a microscopic basis. From single-celled creatures to tiny plants and even prismatic organic elements, they all seem to float towards a net that was cast from a vessel above. Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Tangles: Angel Fish Black-Eyed Peas Blooming Butter Chillon Locar Tidings Vitruvius Zander
The process. One of the things about tangling is that it is a meditative process. I focus on each line I draw, and often don‘t have a clear picture of where the over-all design is going. This is particularly true when I select tangles at random, as I did here. Sometimes the over-all design works, and sometimes it doesn‘t. But there are days when the process is what is most important.
Triangular. I usually don‘t use straight lines to draw the string on my tile. Here, I decided to use straight lines to make triangular areas on my tile as the basic divisions. I also had a hard time making up my mind, which was the visual “top” of the tile when I was finished, which is why Msst is moving in an uncommon direction. Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen.