Tangles from Lara Williams

Today's tile shows tangles that come from the blog of Lara Williams CZT. Lara is a CZT from the Indianapolis, IN area. Her blog can be found at http://laralina-tangleware.blogspot.com/  On her home page look in the column on the right for the section that says 'my tangles'. All the step-outs for her tangles are there.

The ones I've tried here are;

Tuscadero

Sparkool

Koryl

Kloonz

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.  - If you wonder why you haven't seen more of these lately - well, life has kept me busy lately. 

It's hip to be square

This week the Diva challenged us to uses squares in our tile. Squares are fun! They appeal to the orderly side of me but when I tangle them I can get all funky. I like that contrast of styles.

I used one of my hand-colored tiles for this challenge. I love the way this particular tile has a variety of coloring in it so when I did the tangling I purposely left some areas open so you could still see the background. Tangles were done with a blue Micron pen and shading was done with a blue colored pencil.

April showers

April showers bring May flowers - or so they say! The storms are coming and I suppose all the rain will be good for the plants. So I'll put on my rain boots and slog through it!

This is a template from Erin's series of zendala challenges - it's number 41. I wanted to do it with color to bring some spring cheer. This uses Tombow markers in a watercolor technique for the background and Micron pigma colored pens for the tangles.

Illinois Prairie Painters and Banbury classes

This weekend was a busy one for me. On Saturday I did a presentation to the Illinois Prairie Painters. They are all very talented artists and welcome Zentangle as a way to stretch their artistic abilities. Several of the ladies had taken classes with me before so I added several new tangles to this presentation.

On Sunday I was back at Banbury with a group new to Zentangle. They were all amazing and created some wonderful tangleations. I hope to see them back at the advanced classes!

Sepia Dare with Irojiten shading

It looks like spring may finally be coming out way. YIPPEE! So I  was in a really good mood as I did this zendala. It uses Dare 51 from Erin at the Bright Owl. The center and most of the rings going out, started as a basic 'Bales ' . Then I added variations and tangleations to make each ring a little different. 

I got a new tool to play with here. It's a colored pencil from the IROJITEN line. I was lucky enough to get a set to try out for the 100 days of Tombow. This zendala only uses one color for the shading. It's the fawn color. I like how it complimented my sepia Micron pen. It went on smoothly and was very easy to get a light shading where I wanted the shading to be light. I'll be playing with these pencils a lot more over the next few weeks so I'll let you know what I think of the rest of them as I go. Thanks Tombow!

I also wanted to share a picture of my granddaughter enjoying some yummy frozen yogurt at Yumz in Libertyville. If you live nearby, stop over for their grand opening this weekend. They are at 163 N Milwaukee in Libertyville. Looks like the weather will finally be right for enjoying that treat!

Tuxedos and Prom

'Tuxedo' - That's the tangle pattern we have been challenged to use this week. It's a fun tangle from LeeAnn so I was happy to use it again. I decided to pair it with 'Teeny', a tangle pattern from Moon Attic. Teeny is inspired by martini glasses so I like it paired with Tuxedo.

I was planning to do the stars with a clear glaze pen and do a watercolor wash over them but when I found my clear glaze pen had dried up I had to switch gears. I realized that if I used enough pressure with my pen I could make an impression on the paper. Then when I used the side of my colored pencil I was able to leave the impressions white!

As I was doing this tile I thought about couples dancing under a starry sky - or maybe just the sparkles of reflected light in a high school gym. Can you tell I was watching "Dancing with the Stars" last night on TV. The theme this week was Prom night. Seeing everybody in there prom best made me look for my old prom picture so I thought I'd share it here. My prom dress makes me smile as it brings back memories of shopping for it with my mom. My mom was always very frugal. When she heard that sample sizes of bridesmaid dresses could be bought cheaply, that's where she took me to get this dress.

Mooka Madness

Mooka is a tangle pattern that I could use more practice with. I love the way Maria gets hers to move and flow and I'm not quite there yet. So for this challenge from the 'Diva' to use only Mooka, I decided to concentrate on trying to get mine to flow better.

In the first tile I used a tile I had hand colored first. I put the Mooka pattern in lightly with pencil and used it to do my LaBel pattern over the line. Mooka looks a little bumpy here but interesting. A little white colored pencil highlighted the buds.

For this tile I used a black Tombow marker and used the brush tip to see what variations I could get with thick and thin lines.

Here I used my Tombow colored markers with a watercolor technigue.

And when I went outside to photograph my tiles I saw that my crocus have FINALLY opened. So I did one more tile inspired by that.

Good luck Buckeyes!

It's fun to see how Zentangle can be used in so many ways. I saw a contest on Jerry's artarama to draw your favorite mascot, so I thought of doing something for Ohio State. My son is a freshman there now. Their team is doing well in the basketball March Madness!

This is the basic block 'O' with the buckeye plant. All of it is done using Zentangle tangles. I used a red Micron pen for the middle and a red colored pencil to shade the 'O'. (Green and brown for the buckeye plant.) The shading really helps the logo pop out. 

By the way, if you are so inclined, I'd appreciate votes on Jerry's site so I can win gift certificates for more art supplies. Copy and paste this link. https://apps.facebook.com/marchmadnesscontest/contests/311349/voteable_entries

Black and White trend

It's official, Black and White is a fashion trend. But those of us that love Zentangle already knew how fantastic black and white is. This picture was from 'The View' this morning as Brad was being interviewed about fashion trends. I simple snapped a picture of the TV screen with my phone so I apologize that the picture quality is poor.  Notice her jacket, her purse, and even the shirt that Elizabeth is wearing.

The next two pictures were from a trip to IKEA with my daughter last week.  I was also chasing after my granddaughter so I had to take these pics in a hurry. But I loved the inspiration I saw. 

Geneva Public Library

I had a wonderful visit at the Geneva Public Library last night. There were over 30 people that attended,  including several teens and men. I love seeing how Zentangle has appeal to many different groups! I took my pictures of their tiles in separate groupings so that you could click on each picture and actually see the wonderful details. Thanks Geneva!

I also want to thank Kathy Shabowski a fellow CZT who lives in Geneva. She came out on a very cold night (who says it's spring?) to help me set up, pass out materials, and pack up at the end. Thanks Kathy. You can contact her via her blog at www.creativecalm.net 

tangling outside the box

This week the 'Diva' challenged us to 'tangle outside the box'. Now I consider it a personal challenge to think outside the box on every challenge so this one really had me stumped at first. What was it I hadn't tried yet? I wandered around my house looking at everything, trying to see things in a new light. Finally, when I looked outside my window it hit me.

Our front walkway is made from blue stone. I've always loved the variety of colors and the way various pieces have different layers showing. Well this time I looked at it and thought, STRINGS! It's only 25 degrees here but I put on my warm coat, hat and gloves and out I went.

I used a chalk pencil (Yellow cause I couldn't find my white) and just went for it. The stone is pretty hard on the pencil so I had to sharpen it several times. And with the temperature being so could I decided to skip any shading. But it was fun. I wonder what my husband will say when he comes home!

Color class and new Tangled Tote class

These are the tiles that were produced by Sunday's color class at Banbury. We had a lot of fun exploring color techniques and new tangles. I love seeing how we can all learn the same tangles and interpret them differently. And, by popular demand, we have set up a new class at Banbury.

TANGLED TOTES! May 5th 2013 - Bartlett, IL

We will learn new tangles and do them on fabric totes. The class will explore techniques and materials to use when working on fabric. A small tote bag will be provided but students may bring their own bag or apron to tangle on. (White or off-white only please)

I'm teaching in Ohio this summer!

I have been selected !!! Yes, I will be teaching at a big convention in Columbus, Ohio this summer. I've been to this convention many times before as a student and I can promise you it's a well run convention with lots of classes, friendly people, and a fantastic exhibit floor with great shopping! All the dates and signup info is now online.

If you follow this address - (copy and paste if it doesn't click)   http://heartofohiotole.org/convention.html     you will be taken to a page where you can download the convention brochure. Look in the brochure on pages 17 and 23 for my classes. Take your time in looking at all the classes and check your calendar. But don't take too long! The signup begins on April 1st (no fooling!).

This picture gives you a hint of what I'll be teaching. Each class will cover the basics of Zentangle  You will do 2 or more tiles, and then we will do an actual project. Don't think by the catalog picture that we will ONLY be doing what's pictured. I intend to cover so much info that you will be inspired to go out and create on your own!

Zentangle Quest - challenge #109

Playing around with the new tangle pattern from Rick and Maria. It's a fun pattern and I'm sure I will find many more ways to use it in the future.The first tile is much too literal to be considered a zentangle. Zentangle is really more about abstract. The second tile uses it with color since I'm into an Easter egg mood lately!

Easter Egg tangles

Easter is almost here so I've started adding more tangled eggs to my tree. These are simple shapes cut out of posterboard and tangles with a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen. The shading is then done with a colored Prismacolor pencil that is a shade or two darker than the color of the posterboard.

If you want to go back to my post from last year, follow this link. 

(It's March 22, 2012 if you have trouble with the link.)

http://suejacobs.blogspot.com/2012/03/tangled-easter-egg-tree.html

Prismacolor Premier Soft Core Colored Pencils, 48 Colored Pencils (Google Affiliate Ad)

These eggs were done by my students in class last night. Didn't they do a great job!!!