Reticula. I happen to love optical illusions. I think that’s one of the reasons that I love exploring Zentangle reticulum. By using some careful shading, this tile may look like a series of “Ys” or it may look like “blossoms”. Prior to shading, it looks a bit like the tangle Fassett! It’s a lot of fun to play with. The fragment used here is B13 from the Zentangle Primer.

This wonderful tile was created by my daughter. She is my student and protégé! She is such an amazing artist and she loves to be my class tester. It never ceases to amaze me what she will do and whether she will change something because she likes her way better. I’m so proud of her and so happy we will both become CZTs at the same seminar! She saw my similar tile and asked me to teach her how to do it.

Beyond. Now that she had decided, it was time to pilot beyond the local stars. She could see that something was there. Something mysterious. Something that was waiting to be explored. This Zentangle started out as a challenge from another artist who said “You haven’t don’t very many tiles with Auraknot.” Then she challenged me to do one so she could see my variations and how I shaded them.

Revelation. She stared up at the ceiling, trying to clear her mind. It was time to decide on a direction. Her ship was ready, but she was hesitating. This is an interesting tile, from my perspective. Those of you who have been following my art for a while, know that sometimes I create random tiles and write a few lines of a story to go with them. They are always from the perspective of a female person, one that is travling around the universes in some kind of a ship, exploring various planets.

Beauty. Even the smallest detail was graced with beauty. She was amazed at the lovely, ripe berries tucked, so carefully, within the perfect folds of the napkin at breakfast. Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil. Tangles: Bursti Crazy 'Nzeppel Phicops Poke-Root W-2

Choice. She looked down at the floor and realized that there were so many choices, all woven together, that could make up the whole. While each one was different they were all part of the fabric of her life. So far this year, I’ve done very few “regular” Zentangles. When I completed this one, and showed it to my daughter, she asked me, “ Does it feel weird to do black and white now?

This ValenTangle 2018 tile was created using Spoken as the basis, as we were instructed for Day 1. Hearts were added to the top and bottom of each arm and then the centers filled with Betweed and Tipple. I wanted something textural, yet simple for the background, so I used grey marker to fill it with tiny Printemps. Over all, I love the way this came out. I didn’t have a particularly clear concept in my head when I started, so I just went where the artistic muse took me, and it worked out.

This tile is based on another ValenTangle 2018 challenge, specifically for Day 11. We were to use any fragment, but include or incorporate hearts in it. I chose T7, but I modified the shape to make it half of a heart. Then, I rotated the orientation for half of the grid. This created full hearts across two different grid squares. Then I colored in the sections where the sides of the hearts overlapped, creating the pinwheel effect.

The idea for this tile comes from ValenTangle 2018 by Marguerite Samama CZT. I chose to work on Day 6. We are to do a variation of the F11 fragment, with a heart in the center instead of a circle, on a black tile. I chose to make mine on a 3Z shaped tile. There is also a Facebook group for Valentangle which you can find here. This is the second year for this two-week project, which runs from the beginning of February through Valentine’s Day.

This is my own design, done in the Tints on Tan style. I wanted to finish out the week of beach-themed tiles with something original! After looking at pictures of sea horses, I realized their bodies are basically made up of a bumpy grid. Once I got that, the rest was easy! I didn’t add any wave foam or sand dots because this one is actually meant to be under water.

This is the final, official tile for the Tints on Tan, beach series. These tiles, combining colored pencil and tangling have been so much fun to do. Technically, these would be considered ZIAs (Zentangle Inspired Art) rather than standard Zentangles. However, if you like this type of thing, they can be just as “zen” and relaxing to do. I particularly like the subject matter because the ocean reminds of of summer and vacations, happy times and warm weather.

This is the third tile in the Tints on Tan series. I think this one is my favorite. I love the color combination and Printemps is one of my favorite tangles. Zentangle drawn on Kraft Stonehenge paper from Legion, using a white gel pen and a brown, Micron pen. Color is from colored pencils. Tangles: Printemps

This is my second tile in the Tints on Tan series. I liked doing the starfish. It wasn’t too compilcated, and this time, I planned better and the water is going over the the ends of the arms! Zentangle drawn on Kraft Stonehenge paper from Legion, using a black and brown, Micron pens. Color is from colored pencils. Tangles: Flux Printemps Tipple

Tints on Tan is a set of classes created by CZTs Marty Deckle and Jenny Peruzzi. It was first presented at CanTangle in July of 2015. Recently, the kit has become available on Etsy, and there is now a Facebook group for this style of tangling. I decided to do each shape from the beach set on it’s own tile, along with the full grouping. This is my first tile, the sea shell.

This Zendala concept is from Zentangle’s 12 Days of Zentangle and Project Pack 2. On Day Seven, Maria shows us various ways to use Auras to fill in shapes on a pre-strung, Renaissance Zendala tile. I didn’t have any pre-strung tiles, so I used a blank, white, Official Zendala tile, and filled in with my own design. I chose a simpler string than I used on the last Zendala, which made it easier to draw.