“Dance is the hidden language of the soul” -Martha Graham This tile is based on Eni Oken’s Tangled Words video. This was a lot of fun, and not as hard as you might think! I was a little worried about “lettering”, but it wasn’t that hard, and I think it came out well. Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with Copic marker and colored pencil.

Easy. Some times, when you are tangling, you just want to do something simple, easy and relaxing. While I really love yesterday’s Zentangle, it was fairly time-consuming. As a result, I wanted the next one to just be something I could do to completely relax. I also didn’t feel like spending as much time on a single tile. And that’s perfectly OK! So, even though it is simple, there is still a lot of depth and dimension.

Pods. Today’s monotangle is brought to you by the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. If you don’t know anything about it, you should. You can go an a virtual tour of the vault via your own compter, without even leaving home by clicking here. The tangle Inapod has always been one of my favorites. I love the way the lines flip back and forth as it is drawn and how the pods emerge as you draw.

Renaissance. I really enjoy tangling on the Renaissance Tan tiles. Just as with the grey-toned tiles, it is possible to achieve a wide range of values. And then, with the addition of brown and sepia ink you can just go even further developing the design! The final piece can look antique, native american, or fresh and modern. Zentangle drawn on Official Renaissance Tan Zentangle tile using a black, brown and sepia Micron pens.

Lace and pearls. They could see the honeycomb living towers through the window. Her pearls and lace-trim dress tossed on the floor. And while the great orb turned, they slept. Their dreams were filled with the lives of the rich and powerful. Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil. Tangles: Awdry Centipede Icanthis Nzeppel Snail Strata Y-ful Power Zingo

Under the suns. All three suns were out in the day. Somehow the river floated in the sky, crossing the mountains in the distance. It was as if it was a bridge across the earth, separating the sky from the fields below. Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil. Tangles: 2-N-5 Flux Fracas Meer Pinwheels Scena Shing Spoken Well

Elemental. This is the first Zendala I have ever drawn. A Zendala is a mandala created using tangles. I have never done one before because I was so worried about it being perfect. However, after watching Eni’s Radial Zendala video, I understand that it was OK to create something that was “perfectly imperfect”. I was still very nervous about tackling this, but I had a concept in mind of creating a Zendala that would represent the basic elements: Air, Earth, Fire and Water.

Calm. Where I live, we have monsoon rains in the Summer. Generally, what that means is that, when it rains, it rains hard! There’s lots of wind before and during the storm and also lots of lightning. And it can be almost impossible to sleep. This simple, all-over pattern of Pea-nuckle was created during a real humdinger of a storm late at night! We got over an inch of rain in about an hour.

Lines. I find it interesting how much texture and shape a repetitive group of lines can create! The Zentangle uses three tangles that use lines in various ways. No, it is not your imagination. You really are seeing a small bit of blue and red here. I used a bit of colored, pastel pencil along with the graphite shading in Isochor (red) and Olb (blue). I just wanted to experiment to see what would happend if I tried it.

Ribbons. I have a new go-to tangle that I love: Pea-nuckle. Here, I’ve used it to make sets of curled ribbons. Originally, I didn’t much care for this particular tangle. I often threw it back in the jar when it came up randomly. Not any more, though. I watched Eni Oken’s Art Club video for a different way of drawing this tangle. And now, I love it! I’m also in love with this gray-toned paper!

Night-blooming. To me, this looks like it could be the blossom of some kind of night-blooming cactus! It was kind of wild and crazy before I added the shading and the gold accents. The metallic shimmer added a lot of sophistication. Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil. Tangles: Chainlea Cobbles Festune Pais

Bridges. While this Zentangle only has three tangles, it becomes more complex by the overlapping of the various components. It’s as if the Quandu are either bridges or barriers to the Waves. Or, perhaps the Waves choose to go over and under? Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil. Tangles: Printemps Quandu Waves

Pods. These look like some kind of alien pods. I’m not sure if they are alive or not! Rundel is an interesting tangle. It’s self-contained, shaped a bit like Purk, and doesn’t look all that good when you first draw it. As you can see above, with some additional decoration and shading, it really looks much more interesting. Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen.

Cornered. She opened the door. “It looks like there is some kind of strange plant growing out of the corner of a psychedelic room here. Perhaps that is a portal on the far wall? See how everything seems to be leaning toward it? We will have to explore. Everyone stay in comm range.” She stepped out onto the floor and instantly disappeared. Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen.

There be dragons! This tile is directly inspired by Eni Oken’s Tangled Dragons blogpost. I’ve been wanting to give it a go for quite a while, but just haven’t had time until yesterday. It was a little tricky figuring out how to do the overlapping loops, but I think it worked out well, over all! I think I want to try one with some color next time. Maybe I will try some distress inks with it!