Deerfield Public Library 3-9-13

Saturday was my visit to the Deerfield Public Library for a program for their patrons. They all got into Zentangle quickly and produced some beautiful tiles!

Whyz challenge

This is the latest Diva challenge so I'm trying out the tangle Whyz from Jane McKugler, CZT here. 

It's a bit of a challenge to get this tangle going at first but fun to work with. I saw the tiles that Margaret Bremner CZT posted earlier in the week with her tangleations so I had to try to keep exploring.

I started with a tile that I had previously colored with my watercolor markers using a watercolor technique. Then I used a pink Micron Pigma pen and two shades of colored pencil for shading.

Class updates McHenry, Huntley, Antioch and more

SNOW DAY!

I feel like a little kid again. I got the call early this morning that my class tonight in McHenry will be postponed. We are expecting 6-10 inches of snow. So this is a good time to sit down at the computer and tend to some housekeeping on my blog. And then later, I can do some tangling too!

New dates for classes are now available. I'll be in McHenry, Huntley, Bartlett, and S Barrington. There will also be a presentation at the Deerfield library this Saturday. Look under the tab marked  'Zentangle classes' for all the details.

And yes, I am disappointed  that the class for tonight has been postponed. But honestly, a little relieved. I had a class in Bartlett on Sunday and Antioch last night. So I will be taking a long nap this afternoon after I shovel the front walk.

This picture is from the presentation at the Antioch Public Library last night. It was a full group but the library was a wonderful place to hold classes. Such creative people there. I've gotten several new ideas from their tile! Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Zendala class at Banbury 3-3

Yesterday we had 7 ladies at Banbury for the Zendala class. It was a lot of fun going through all the different ways we can create a zendala and I swear I could see the wheels turning in their heads by the time we started putting pens to paper. These ladies have all taken classes before so I gave them a lot of creative freedom and just give input as needed. Great job!

Tangles from Carole Ohl

Today's tile shows tangles that come from the blog of Carole Ohl CZT. She is a talented tangler and beader. Carole is also the artist that created and sells the 'tangle-a-day' calendar. Her blog can be found at http://openseedarts.blogspot.com/. On her home page look in the column on the left for the section that says 'tangle steps'.

The ones I've tried here are;

Feather fall
Shard
Footlites
Lava juice

This is part of my continuing challenge to myself to use tangles by different artists (that have created multiple tangles) and to use them together in a single tile.

Zendala greeting card

I needed a card for a friend and since I couldn't find one that had the right sentiment I decided to make one myself. The blank greeting cards from Strathmore are made from watercolor paper so I was able to add colors from my watercolor markers and get right to the tangling. None of these tangles are very complicated so I was able to complete this card in one evening. I swear it was harder to come up with the right wording for what I wanted to say on the inside of the card! I hope it brings a little happiness to my friend.

I Heart Art contest

Valentines Day has come and gone but I recently found out about a contest sponsored by Jerry's Artorama on Facebook. Jerry's is a good source to order online from. I've had great service myself. If you are so inclined, I'd appreciate your vote for my Valentine Zendala. The prize is a gift card so I can buy more art supplies. I guess I love art supplies like some women love shoes, - we can never have too many! The link below should take you to my entry.

https://apps.facebook.com/iheartart/contests/193656/voteable_entries/65314412

This zendala was done with a pink Sakura Micron 05 pen. Then it was shaded with a magenta Prismacolor pencil.

Banbury 2-24

Banbury class 2-24. We had a bright sunny day in February with 6 talented students. Fun class with great ideas from all. I love being at Banbury. Every time I go there it changes in some way. New products, new furniture, but always the same great people!

Several new classes at Banbury are coming up. Check under the classes tab for dates.

Quandary and string 40

I've done two tiles here using string number 40. It's a simple string that I came up with when I was playing around with circles.It's a fun string to use because it allows the tangle patterns to really spread out so you cam appreciate their details. Linda Farmer featured it on tanglepatterns.com last week. http://tanglepatterns.com/2013/02/tanglepatterns-string-040.html   I was away on vacation at the time so I couldn't post a picture right away. It's just as well since when I came back I was able to use this string for the Quandary challenge.

There is one other interesting thing you may notice about these two tiles. The coloring looks very different. The first photo was taken on a cloudy day while the second has bright sunlight (note the shadow). I do my best to correct the coloring so it reflects the tile as it actually appears. Alas, I'm not an expert in Photoshop so it is what it is!

McHenry Community College 2-19-13

Last night I had 15 ladies in my Zentangle Basics class at McHenry Community College. I am constantly amazed and awed by how each group finds their own way to interpret the same basic tangles. Click on the pictures above to enlarge them and see the detail.

This was my first experience teaching at this facility. I really enjoyed it. I had a mini disaster when I was wheeling my stuff in and a box and bag fell off my cart into the rainy, slushy, parking lot. As I hurriedly tried to pick things up, two students came to my rescue. Mind you, the temperature was in the teens, so I really appreciated their help. When I got to the classroom I saw a huge space. I pulled the chairs up to the front so we could see and hear each other. At the front of the classroom was a whiteboard that lined the entire wall. I could demonstrate the tangles easily and not have to erase them right away! Of course, I used a large sketchpad too so the shading could be demonstrated.

I'll be back at this facility on March 5th to teach more tangles and projects with a spring theme. Click on the classes tab above for all the info.

Tangles from Sue Clark CZT

Today's tile shows tangles that come from the blog of Sue Clark CZT. http://www.tangledinkart.blogspot.com/

Look on the blog in the column on the right side. You'll have to scroll down a bit, but when you get to the section labeled 'My Tangle patterns', you can the stepouts for each tangle.

The ones I've used here are;

Cheers

Tri-Po

Hope

Zazzy

Echo

This is part of my continuing challenge to myself to use tangles by different artists (that have created multiple tangles) and to use them together in a single tile.

tangles from Michele Beauchamp CZT

 

In this tile I looked for tangles on the blog of Michele Beauchamp CZT - Michele's blog name is Shelly Beach.  All of the tangles I've used can be found on her page here  http://shellybeauch.blogspot.com/p/micheles-tangles.html

 

The names of the tangles are;

 

Popsicles

Brayd

Oke

Wist

Bloomin Butter

 

Thanks Michele!

 

This is part of my continuing challenge to myself to find tangles by different artists (that have created several tangles) and use them together.

Discovering Dansk

Dansk is the tangle pattern that the 'Diva' has asked us to play with this week.

I'm spending some time with my daughter right now which means I get lots of quality time with the grand baby, but I can't crop and adjust the pictures that I take of my tangles. When she goes to bed I usually have time to play with the Diva's challenge. I got so into this one that I tried out 3 versions.

So as you look at these, imagine that I've straightened and cropped the pictures, and adjusted the brightness so the paper looks like the white that it is instead of a blueish hue.

Silver orbs

Whenever I get new pens, or paints or papers, I have to try them out as soon as possible. I was at Ikea recently and they had the holiday merchandise on sale. To my surprise, their were some sets of metallic and colored gel pens. They didn't have a manufacturer's name printed on them so I have no idea where they came from. They weren't a very fine tip - I would guess they would be similar to a number 5 pen.

In the tile above I tried out a set of gold and silver metallic pens. The gold pen didn't show up well on the black paper, so I went over it with the silver, which obviously does show up well. If you look in the smaller orb, you can see some spidery lines where I tried the gold pen.

These are very simple strings - two circles - but they gave me a quick way to get going with my pens. This string also made it simpler in that it limited the number of tangles.

tangles by Geneviève Crabe

Today's tile shows uses tangles that can be found on Tangle Harmony - the web page of Geneviève Crabe. She has a wonderful assortment of tangle patterns. Plus, she posts the invaluable weekly roundup. That's the best way to keep up with the newest articles and tangle patterns that have been posted on the web.

The names of the tangles are:
FLEURI
WARTS
DESSUS-DESSOUS
VACHE 1
YANG

This is the link to find her tangle patterns.
http://www.amarylliscreations.com/zentangleharmony/my-tangles/

This is the link to connect you to her latest roundup.
http://www.amarylliscreations.com/zentangleharmony/2013/02/weekly-zentangle-roundup-51/

I am continuing to  challenge to myself to find other artists that have posted several tangle patterns and use them (and only them) in a tile. I have a few more tiles done that I will post over the next few weeks.