The random string that came up for day five of my “back to basics” journey is, well, complicated! I decided to treat this like a patchwork quilt. I figured it would give me the opportunity to practice many differeent tangles, all chosen at random. Perhaps too many!
This tile has 16 different tangles, two of which are new to me: Moon Pie and Floo-ish. I really love that last one! Choosing all the tangles before I started drawing allowed me to arrange the locations for each so that the composition had a balance that I liked.
Day four of going back to basics with my Zentangle practice. For this tile, I chose a string at random from the instruction booklet, and random tangles from the Legend card and the back of the booklet.
While I enjoyed creating the tile, and it worked great for the reasons I tangle, I am not as excited with the end results. I loved the Cogwheels and the Flux ribbon, but when I added the background, it did nothing to enhance them. It isn’t enough contrast, and distracts from the other tangles.
Day three of my back to basics journey along the Zentangle path! Today, I continued following the instructions in the little booklet in my kit. I randomly selected a string from those shown. It was a triangular shape in the middle of the tile, with three other triangles around it to make up the square.
I don’t have the die that belongs in the kit any more, so I just used a random number generator on my phone to select tangles from the Legend Card in the kit. Just by chance, I got three different tangles with rounded designs and a single, angular grid design! The combination worked out perfectly for this string!
Yesterday, I talked about going back to basics with a restart of my Zentangle practice.
Today, I’m showing you the second tile, which I did yesterday. Again, I followed the instructions in the booklet included in my original kit. The only change I made was to color in the background, in the section containing the Hollibaugh tangle, giving the design stronger contrast.
#drawing #tile #zentangle
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil.
I am home!
I know that sounds a bit odd, but if you had my life since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, you would understand. The last original tile I posted was May 26, 2020. Certainly a long time ago!
Since then, I’ve moved 4 times. My stuff has been in and out of storage in three different cities, and I now have a teenager and a pet!
Merry Christmas from our family to you and yours. May this day find you enjoying the company of friends and relatives near and far. We wish for you peace and joy!
Tangles: dewd shattuck zailz
This beautiful, blue Zentangle was created by CZT Amanda Higbee!
Posted with permission from the artist
Tangles: Toodles
Today, I took Eni Oken's Art Raffle app for a spin. This tile is the result! For my first tile in eons, it’s not bad! If you tangle, you should get this FREE app, it’s lots of fun!
Zentangle drawn on an white, official, Zentangle tile, using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil.
Tangles: Antidot Bales Beedz Crescent Moon Emingle Hollibaugh Knase Knightsbridge Perfs Printemps Shard Shattuck Stiritup Tagh
Sometimes, I sit down to practice something in my small sketch book, and my pen has different ideas than I do!
Here, I was going to practice various tangles… and a “shapie” family just flowed out! There are still some tangles… can you spot them?
Small sketchbook page, drawing done with Sakura Pigma Micron pen.
Tangles: Bumper Fescu Mooka Printemps Springle
For the first project in the new Zentangle Project pack for grey tiles, we are creating a small, rearrangeable puzzle of four Bijou tiles, all with the same tangles.
These can be assembled into your own mosaic and arranged in different designs depending on how you place each little tile.
This is my first tile. I got carried away with the Diva Dance, on the second side, so I will be redoing this.
I am willing to bet that everyone who tangles for any length of time has those few designs that are just difficult for them.
Showgirl was one of mine. Everytime I did it, I would end up with something that wasn’t quite right. You can see some of my failed attempts in the smaller tests in the image above.
I kept practicing, for several months, on and off. Then, after following a lesson from Eni Oken , the light bulb came on, and I finally got it! I just drew two of them, correctly, easily!
When my MIL passed away, we found the ZIAs and Zentangles she created later in her life. One of the things in these was a box with a tangled alphabet.
Today is brought to you by the letter “Q”, as tangled by Twyla!
Zentangle drawn on white card stock using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil.
Tangles: Quabog Quipple Queen's Crown Quiltz
#4 - This is the fourth in my series of fountain pen, shimmer and sheen ink tests.
J. Herbin, Amethyste de l'Oural , a dark, purple ink with a beautiful crystalline-to-silver sheen, is such a deep, royal color. It’s beautiful with any tangle that has some filled in portion which allows the variations to shine when rotated in the light.
I wish you could see here, in the scan, the beautiful sparkle along the bands in the Jetties tangle. You’ll just have to try it for yourself!
#3 - This is the third in my series of fountain pen, shimmer and sheen ink tests.
I think I am in love with this Jacques Herbin ink, , Kyanite du Népal ! It is a beautiful, turquoise-blue with a sheen consiting of turquoise and silver metallic flecks. It’s an ink that will make any mermaid swoon!
Although you can’t see it in the photo above, slightly rotating the tile under good light or outside in the sun causes the droplet ends of the opus to sparkle like a beautiful lagoon!
#2 - This is the second in my series of fountain pen, shimmer and sheen ink tests.
The ink used here, Jacques Herbin, Rouge Hematite is perfect for the second tangle in this series! Pepper reminds me of those red and white peppermint candies that you see everywhere during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season!
While you can’t see the pretty, gold sheen in this gorgeous ink, you can see how it affects the color and variations created when it is used to draw the stripes in the peppermints.
#1 - This is the first in my series of fountain pen, shimmer and sheen ink tests.
I am currently using the 2019 Gratitangles list. The first tangle is Rain.
What ink could me more appropriate than the Jacques Herbin Stormy Sky ink! This ink is a deep, flannel grey color with very tiny, sparse gold flecks. It worked well in the fountain pen and covered nicely in the areas that are filled in. The drying time on a standard Bijou tile was very reasonable.
Throwback Thursday!
Three years ago today, I did a reset on this website. I changed the style and the content over to be able to show you my art. While I have been tangling, more than anything else, I also do other kinds of art. But I have to confess, tangles often slip into it.
This quick Halloween drawing was created with colored pencil. But you’ll probably find a couple of tangles here and there!
Did you notice that I skipped a number in this series of ATC cards? While this one was actually the sixth one I did, I saved it for the last because of the way it came out.
Ok. I had this idea about using Paradox to make a symmetrical design. I think it sort of worked… but not at all what I imagined it would look like!
ATC #6. Project done!
Sometimes the simplest tangles can have a powerful impact. It depends on how you treat them.
Here, I used Hollibaugh, but gave it a bit of a curve. Then I made it holey!
And a little touch of blue just makes it magical.
ATC #11
Zentangle drawn on a cut down, grey, Official Zentangle tile using a blue, Micron pen, cobolt, Copic Multiliner, and white Gelly Roll. Shading done with graphite, Copic marker and colored pencil.
“Fishy, fishy in the brook, Daddy catch him on a hook, Mommy fry him in a pan, Johnny eat him like a man.”
– Unknown
Looking for a simple tangle that can be use in a variety of ways? Take Indy-Rella out for a spin!
Depending on how you draw it, you can suggest flames, or fish. You can add them to the ends of Fescu, turning them into some kind of plant, or follow various contours to create a nice, organic fill.