Decora. The most interesting accessory in her small room in this section was the basket of Toodles. They grew everywhere on this station. The habitants used them for beauty, oxygen production, food, and their fibers produced by the fruits could be spun into textiles. At the end, the entire thing could be composted to start the cycle over again! She would collect some seeds from the biozone tomorrow. Perhaps they would be useful as she visited other habitats.

Inside. She had passed through, to the other side of the barrier, beyond the stars. She could still see it in the distance. Now, she was confronted with the inner realms. She could see the stations, clustered together, ahead. Perhaps the structures connecting them also lead to others. I decided to try my hand at creating a “regular” Zentangle, but using a black tile and white ink. This went through various stages of working and not working and then back to working again!

I chose a fairly simple tangle, Chard, for this tile so that I could do some experimentation. I’m at the point, working with black tiles, where I want to start adding a little bit of color. It’s kind of tricky because I want the color to show up, and not be muted. So for this tile, I’ve added a bit of white, first, and then put the color over it.

A really fun way to explore balance while maintaining interest is by using big, bold tangles! Here, Amanda has turned Springkle into a “blossom” or central motif by starting all the stems at the same point. The big, bold Marasu with the wonderfully irregular edges holds it’s own without being overwhelmed by the Springkle, however. What a wonderful balance vs tension between the two! Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen.

This is another fragment experimentation. This time, I used Fragment A13 from the Zentangle Primer. This fragment is similar to the tangle Intersection by Suzanne McNeill. However, when you put them together, next to each other, they create an interesting, interlocking, triangular pattern. I chose to alter that with the shading by trisecting each one, creating a diamond pattern. Again, it’s amazing what optical illusions you can create with simple patterns and shading!

This tile was done by Amanda. I absolutely love it. She decided to experiment with having both a light and a dark background on the same tile, and I think it worked really well. I love the way it shows off the white “ribbons” of tangles on top of the dark areas. I am also super impressed by the intertwining of all the elements! Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen and white, Sakura Gelly Roll pen.

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.