Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Chinese New Year


Happy New Year! That is - the Chinese New Year, the year of the goat. 

When the Diva asked us to try a tile inspired by The Goat my first reaction was HUH??? I am not Chinese and have almost no experience with Chinese culture so I need to do quite a bit of research in the internet. Thankfully, when you type in Chinese New Year and ask for images, there is a plethora of images that come up. There were MANY options to inspire me.

I looked at all the goat pictures but I wanted to stay more to the Zentangle philosophy of non-representational. I saw one picture that used a goat's horn instead of the 0 for the numbers 2015. Bingo! A goats horn, repeated and used as a pattern would be my connection. 

There were many pictures that used the color combination red and yellow so off I went to my stash of colored tiles. I didn't have a red one! So I had to make a new one and I realized why I didn't have one. I had to do many layers of red watercolor paint before it showed up as red instead of pink.

The yellow is done with a Sakura moonlight gelly roll pen. I found the meander line around the edge is used just as much in Chinese design as is is in Greek Key design. 'Bumps' worked well as my fill pattern. The horns are done with the Moonlight gelly roll pen and a gold metallic gelly roll pen. I added a little glitter pen too. Unfortunately the gold doesn't show up quite as well in the picture as it does in person.

Oh, and the glow in the middle was a couple of layers of yellow and orange chalk pencils.

21 comments:

  1. You really gave it a Chinese feel both with the colors and the tangles you chose. :-)

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  2. Love your Chinese New Year challenge Tile, Sue. Terrific design

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  3. Lovely! I had the idea of a ram's horn, too. It is only half-finished and looks nothing like yours, so we'll see.

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  4. this is so cool! The gold on red is inspired...it looks just like something you'd find at a Chinese celebration. The tangles work well with the Chinese theme, too. Beautiful!

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  5. Wow, this is the most Chinese tile I've seen. Nice work! You've done so much research on this. That glow in the middle reminds me of Mandarin oranges.

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  6. oooo.... I wish I could see all the sparkles. I bet it just sizzles in person!. I really like your interpretation of the challenge. My first response was EXACTLY the same as yours... Huh!?

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  7. Stunning, Sue!!!! This yellow is perfect on the red and the forms so real Chinese.

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  8. Wow! Looking at your tile, I would think you definitely have a Chinese background.

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  9. Very nice and with a really chinese spirit! Love your interpretation of the challenge. And the design is so beautiful :-)

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  10. That's a very Chinese atmosphere you create with this work!

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  11. Just love your take on this weeks challenge....very Chinese(y)!! :)

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  12. Absolutely gorgeous! Wonderful Chinese feeling!

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  13. This is quite perfect as a response for this challenge on many levels----theme, color, execution. Very nice job.

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  14. Beautiful tile for this weeks challenge. It really hit the mark for the celebration.

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  15. Dear Sue, I love your thoughts and Interpretation a lot. Looks preety chinese and total zentangly. Congratulation.

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  16. This is just wonderful! I love the border tangle - and yes, it is used often in Chinese art. The colors and round shape are so appropriate. Love it!

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