'Lezy' tangle pattern

Lezy is my newest tangle pattern. It was inspired by a pattern on a Russian tray. It seems to have elements of calligraphic embellishments too.

If you click on the photo you will get an enlarged version. Lezy is simple to do. The steps are as follows.

-draw a scallop along your line. (line can be curved too)
-rotate your paper and draw the scallop again. Note that you begin the points of your scallops a bit away from the first points. This will create small diamond shapes.
-add embellishments at the points and dots as desired.
-add whatever tangleations you can come up with.

Rolling into Tripoli

The latest challenge from http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/ is to use the newest tangle created by Rick and Maria. I wasn't sure how this would go but once I started rolling, I really enjoyed it. I can see using this pattern a whole lot now! The instructions for Tripoli are here; http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs023/1101168872594/archive/1106246554870.html

Quilters tangling class

I'm a little late in getting today's blog done. It's been a busy past few days. On Sunday I had a 'Beyond the Basics' class at Banbury. We had so much fun exploring the infinite things we can do with Zentangles. Today I had a private class for a quilting group. The ladies came up with such wonderful tangleations of the basic tangle patterns. Be such to click on the images so you can see their projects in detail. Thank you ladies!!!

Sepia again

I keep coming back to my sepia (brown )pen. I love the way it looks on cream colored paper and then I can both shade AND highlight! Shading is just a brown colored pencil and in this case the highlights are a white colored pencil. I also use a white chalk pencil for highlights, but hey, this is what I had closet to where I was working.

The center of the largest oval uses motifs from Ukrainian egg art, Pysanky. This craft provides great inspirations for Zentangle designs!

Stormy night

We had a terrible stormy night this week. The sky turned a terrible greenish color and I could hear the sirens blaring between the lightning. I looked out the window into the distance and saw a green flash explosion. I'm guessing it was an electrical transformer doing something. We all went down to the basement and turned the weather channel on the TV. The next morning there was lots of tree damage and some other property damage. They said that there had been two tornadoes that touched down. Many people lost electricity and are even now still waiting. Luckily there was no damage to us.

So I did a tile thinking about the stormy night. I started with one of my tiles that I had previously done a colored background on. It just looked like it had a streak of lightning going through it. Then using a blue Micron and a blue colored pencil it all came together.

Diva challenge - Dex and Verdigogh

Combining Dex and Verdigogh into a tile wasn't my favorite challenge. I did not feel very creative. In the first tile I felt my tile was sooo boring. I liked the second one a little better. I did it even though I wasn't thrilled because sometimes you just have to power through things. Usually if you keep doing them you'll end up creating something special. For me though, I wanted to do other things, so this is where the challenge ended for me.

String Theory continues

Yesterday I talked about string theory - and how putting a small weight on the end of a string helps control the drop of a string onto a tile. Last night I completed one of the tiles.

I also wanted to link you to a wonderful site that Lois Stokes put up a while back.Lois is also a CZT. She lives in Hawaii. (Lucky girl!) Her site takes you into string as a tool for divination. Now that's string theory on a whole new level! http://www.squidoo.com/oracles

String theory - lightbulb moment

I had a light bulb moment this morning. You know, when you think of something and it all seems so right.

 Keep reading and this odd picture will make sense.

 Ditto.

Strings in zentangles can be frustrating. I tend to draw the same string over and over. So the string theory challenges from the Diva have been enlightening. But creating new ones yourself is the challenge. And the zentangle philosophy is "unexpected results" and "unknown outcomes". So I think I came up with a way that I can't believe I haven't seen before.

Find a string around the house. Find a weight that has a hole in it. Tie your string to the weight and let it drop down onto your tile. Do this  until you have a string that you find pleasing. Take a picture or get out your pencil and start drawing.  TA-DA! Your own string! You can incorporate the shape of your weight into your design or not. Your choice.

Now, the string can be a variety of things; cord, yarn, thread, ribbon, beads, etc. And the weight can be a variety of things too. A washer, a heavy button, a nut from a bolt, a ring (wedding or otherwise), a fishing weight, etc. You don't have to go out and buy something. There will be something, somewhere, laying around the house.

Then you can get creative. Try thicker ribbons and twisting them, try rubber bands knotted together, I'm sure you can come up with new ideas. Then please share them with me!!!

zen love for dad

The circle of life. My dad is gone now but I remember him with love on Father's Day.

Playing with my purple micron pigma pen on colored cardstock. Shading with a purple colored pencil.

Eclipse - colored circles

I wish I was in a part of the world that got to see the lunar eclipse. But the pictures I did see were spectacular. So this ZIA was begun with the colored circles done using the Tombow markers and a watercolor technique. Then when it was ready to be tangled, I was inspired by the eclipse.

Have a good weekend!

colored squares - now we're cooking!

I'm really happy with the way this came out. The advantage of working in the 3 1/2 inch format is that you can do a piece to completion quickly and then figure out what you like from it and go on quickly to a new piece.

On this piece I mixed using a 01 Pigma Micron pen with a 08 Pigma Micron pen. This worked better with the size of the white pen. I like that it also forced me to simplify.

colored squares again

Second attempt at a ZIA with my colored squares. I wasn't entirely happy with my first attempt so I tried again. I tried leaving more open space between the colored squares. I also choose different tangle patterns. in addition, I switched to a different white pen. this time I used my Uniball Signo pen UM-153 white. I liked the way it covered on the colored squares better.

colored squares

This was my first experiment with colored squares. I did the colored squares first with my Tombow markers and then the tangling on the outer areas. I liked the color so much I didn't want to cover it with black tangles so I pulled out my white pen. This is one of a series. I'll be posting the rest later this week.

Spirals challenge

In the newest challenge from 'the diva', we have been asked to work with spirals. http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/ Off I went this morning. Last week you may have noticed I've been attracted to squares, so I decided to combine the two today. You'll see more posts with squares later this week.

I'm also loving my Tombow markers. I only used two here. #555 and #245. By using a water brush I was able to get the nice gradation in color. Dick Blick has them for $2.13 right now (list is $3.19). There is a link to Blick on the side of this page if you are interested.

beads and buttons

Yesterday I went to The Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee. The friends I went with are avid beaders and have raved about this show so I was curious. While I'm not ready to get into a new hobby, I have to admit I was very impressed and inspired. The show was huge. There were so many talented people there showing what they could do. And the goods for sale - well, WOWSA! The selection, the variety, the colors - I think I was on sensory overload. We drove up in the morning and home at night (almost 2 hours each way) so it was a long day. I slept well last night!

I had done this tile earlier in the week. This 3 1/2" tile seems to work perfectly with my visit to the bead and button show. I may have to try making some buttons with zentangle patterns now!

Artoo bookmark

I was playing around with the Artoo pattern. (This is back from Challenge #9 from the Diva.) And I was going into the scraps of paper leftover from colored tiles, sooo BOOKMARKS! Simple white ink on the red paper gave me time to practice the pattern.

Zendala Magic

The weekly challenge from the Diva is Zendala Magic. Well, actually it's a challenge from Geneviève Crabe who is doing a guest challenge this week. I love doing these. The challenge is to do these on the standard 3 1/2 inch tile. Obviously this one required me to use the 005 size Micron Pigma Pen.

Peonies in bloom

 It's that time of year again. My peonies  usually bloom around my birthday. And what a wonderful gift they are. The plants came from my husband's old house a few miles away and before that they bloomed at his grandparent's home in Michigan.

I also wanted to share the results of my last class at Banbury. What a great group they were and I think they have all caught the zentangle addiction. The more the merrier!

Getting old is a *******

OK, I really feel pretty good today. I've had a lot of people sending me greetings. And I really do appreciate them. So this Zentangle inspired piece is really more tongue-in-cheek.

You can find patterns anywhere!! Even if you are stuck in the house, look around and you will see them.

State Fair

They are saying it is going to be 90 degrees today. So I was definitely thinking summer when I came up with a name for this piece. I hope my air conditioning is working.

This piece is done on one of the tiles I colored with my Tombow markers earlier last month. http://suejacobs.blogspot.com/2011/05/colored-backgrounds-with-tombow-markers.html I really enjoy that technique. This tile was done with a dark green micron pigma pen and a dark green colored pencil for shading. I realize that it doesn't really look like I used a dark green micron pen but I can assure you a black pen would have given a very different result.

A few housekeeping items:

I love, love, love it when people leave comments. I think most bloggers do. So to all of you who have left comments, THANK YOU!

Also, I do not get paid for writing this blog. I do it mainly because I love Zentangles and zentangle inspired art, and I want to share my inspirations. I hope it will bring interested students to me. For those of you who are outside of my area, I hope you may consider using advertisers that have posted ads - or at least just look at the ads. Currently I have an ad for Dick Blick art materials. I use Dick Blick myself and find their prices - especially when they have sales, to be very good. If you click on the ad through my page they will recognize me. Thank you!!!

private party tangling

Teaching at home parties is so much fun. The food was plentiful (and yummy) and the drinks were special! I love seeing how friends interact when they are tangling. They inspire and encourage each other. Well done!!!

Vigne tangle pattern

These are the steps for 'Vigne'. There are a variety of vine patterns out there but I think this is different enough to step out on it's own. (If not PLEASE let me know!) It was inspired by a pattern I saw on a Russian tray but I've changed it up a little. It is shown straight up but it certainly can be done on any curving string. You can see it done in yesterday's tile.

- The first part starts at the bottom of the pattern. Follow the little lines with arrows to see where to go. (click on the picture to enlarge it.)
-Add the three humps (or scallops) on each leaf to connect it to the vine. Turn your paper to whatever angle is comfortable to you.
-Add the linework inside the flowers. Feel free to add your variations.
-Add the small leaves and dots as desired. As you can see in the drawing one, two, or three dots would all be fine .

If you prefer you can also fill in the petals too. (Helpful if your linework in the flower went too far!)