Ghosts of Tangles Past

This post is sort of a 'Before and After'.

It includes a Zentangle I did yesterday and a tangle I did back in 2010 - shortly after I discovered Zentangle. I used the tangle I did back in 2010 as an inspiration for the new tile. It has a similar string and similar tangles. But I found ways I could improve on it and use some of the skills I learned since then.

Since it is my own work, I don't have to be polite. I can - and will critique the heck out of it. 

The tangle from 2010 was done on the back of a flimsy index card. I know now to use quality, archival materials. I now use quality paper and pens that will not fade over time. Thankfully, this piece was in a binder, so it wasn't exposed to sunlight.

I had learned a few of the tangles back then as I surfed the web. Some of them you will recognize, and some - I have no idea where they came from! I like that there are so many tangles that have step-outs online so I can really expand my selections. I tried to use the same tangles I used in 2010 but some I had to revise.

I was able to create a string within a circle. I used a circle template to draw the circle with my pen. I don't do that anymore. It looks almost machine made and doesn't have the handmade look that I value. Now I draw a circle in pencil first and then use my pen freehand. The string is OK but has so many tiny sections that created problems for me.

As I drew my piece in 2010, I tried so hard to get tangles into all the tiny places within the string that I ended up drawing the tangles tight and small. If you look at the new piece on top, you can see that I took the tangle patterns and drew them bigger. When I had the freedom to draw bigger, some of the 'tightness' disappeared.

The 2010 piece doesn't have any shading. I didn't understand that back then but now it's my favorite part of the process. My new piece also uses highlights since it's done on a Renaissance tile. That's something that didn't even exist back in 2010. I really like how it expands the piece and gives it depth.

I invite any of you who have been tangling for a while (even if only for a couple of months) to revisit one of your early tiles and redo it!

Valentangle

Valentines Day is tomorrow. So this valentangle is for my husband - my valentine for 42 years now. I did this while I was with him in the hospital. I wish I could take his pain away but it looks like this roller coaster that we are on will be a long ride. Your prayers for him would be appreciated.

I started with one of my hand colored pink tiles. I colored it all one light shade first and then did a second layer of color on the inner circle. I left the heart in the middle with no tangles and just shaded and highlighted.Tangling was done with a pink Micron. Shading used a Prismacolor colored pencil. Highlights were done with a white charcoal pencil.

Molygon

Molygon is the newest tangle pattern from Zentangle headquarters. It was published in the last newsletter and the stepouts can be found there.

I've had fun playing with this tangle and it is the current challenge on the "I am the Diva" website. If you want to see a wide variety of takes on this tangle, click over there. (Link in the right hand column.)

I tried doing Molygon both inside a large molygon shape and then echoed it. Added some extra line details, shading, and done!

Tangles with tangle stings

Some tangle patterns lend themselves perfectly to use as strings. All you need to do is to "biggify" them. Blow them up in size. Then add the tangles of your choice.
The first one I tried is meer. I used a variety of tangles within the lines. The fun thing I discovered as I worked though, is that sometimes I could use the line as part of the smaller tangles too. See the rain tangle and vertigoh tangle.

Then I did a large W2 and filled it with zenith. Zenith is one of the newer tangles and has become one of my favorites.

Finally I tried using drupe as a string. I didn't quite get the tangle done as shown in the stepouts. But since there are no mistakes I went with it anyway. I decided to keep the smaller tangle simple and add only some echoism. Shading finished it for me.

Below are pictures of the tiles in progress so you can see the stages.

Basic tangling on vacation

The Diva challenge is to go back to basics this week. Just use black pen with pencil shading on a 3 1/2 inch paper tile.

As I'm visiting family this week it's a perfect challenge.  I created a string using my granddaughters' initials - A and O. Then I just started tangling with whatever felt right. Pokeleaf, Mooka, and Bales.

2016 String

Happy New Year! I wanted to do a tile that celebrated the new year but I wanted to stay true to the spirit of Zentangle and not be too representational. I mean - I didn't want it to look like 'something'. So how could I be inspired? Out came a stack of looseleaf papers and I traced a couple of tiles and started sketching and playing. I eventually came up with using the year to create my string.

But how to use the numbers? At first I lined them up normally but that wasn't very useful for tangling. Then I tried overlapping the numbers and I could start to see some possibilities. Then I realized that I didn't even need the entire number - just a part of the number would do. I drew the numbers so they extended past the outline of the tile. When I was happy with my results the string that resulted was highlighted with a red marker.

This is the tile before I added the shading. I was afraid it was looking too busy but once the shading was done it all came together.

Curvy line tangles

African Artist is the challenge tangle this week. It's the one all around the border. As I was working with it I was thinking about all the other tangles that start out in the same way - with curvy lines. So I pulled all the similar tangles out of my files and put as many as I could into this tile. I could only fit 7 into this tile so I drew an entire sheet with all the ones I found. I'm sure there are more out there that I haven't included - if there is one you know of that I should include please let me know!

It's amazing that so many tangles can start out in the same way but still look so different. 

Click on this picture to enlarge it for the details. (Sorry it's sideways!) I added shading to the bottom half of each tangle but of course, you can adapt the shading however you want.

monotangle trees

purk, echoism, cayke

arukas, meer variation, flux, shattuck, opus

These little pieces are quick and easy to do for Christmas cards. I cut a piece of black cardstock to 5 x 7. I lightly sketched a few triangles and then filled each one with a white gel pen and monotangle. The snow drifts were then added with a white charcoal pencil that I smudged and softened.  

Art supply stores sell watercolor cards that measure 5 x 7 when folded so these can be attached as is or trimmed slightly so that you will have a white border around your piece.

Hollibaugh Plus

Hollibaugh is a tangle that is wonderful for adding a different sort of element to my tangles. While it has the repetitive element of the two parallel lines, it also has a lot of randomness in where those lines are placed. There are also many tangleations you can do with this tangle and if you look at the challenge pieces from 'The Diva' web site you will find lots of inspiration.

One aspect of Hollibaugh that I find intriguing is that you can use it to connect other tangle patterns to each other. In the tile here I used four different tangle patterns around the edges and then used Hollibaugh to find ways to join them.

Here is the tile before shading - (and the photo was taken late at night so the focus is a little off).

Tangling in the hospital

As many of you know, being in the hospital is not fun. Since I knew my surgery was coming up soon, I packed a bag of tangling supplies. I did these ATC tiles when I was at the sweet spot in my meds so I could do  them. You know - when the medicine has started to wear off and you aren't too loopy - but before the pain started up again.

I decided to each tile diffently while keeping to a basic string and a small group of tangles.

I cut them out a paper I found at Jerry's artorama . The backrooms were done with watercolor paints. Tangles were drawn with a fine tipped pen. Finally I added the shading and highlights with colored pencils.

I'm hoping to go home later today.

Trip to Tripoli

I don't know much about Tripoli - and I don't do this tangle pattern very often so I'm not very comfortable with it. That pretty much describes how I'm feeling this morning. In a couple of hours I will be at the hospital undergoing surgery. It's something I've been anticipating for a while but I'm still very nervous and somewhat scared about. (I do have great doctors and confidence in the facility.) I will be in the hospital for about 4 days so as you can expect, it's not a minor procedure. I would appreciate it if you would send some prayers and healing thoughts my way.

See you on the flip side!

class pictures

This is a collection of pictures from fall classes this year. You can see Basics classes, Beyond the Basics, Jewelry, Shrink art, Holidays and Zenspirations. I apologize that some are not in good focus. AND be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post to see a special one on one class photo.

Zenspirations

Holiday tangles

This is my granddaughter who tried her hand at an art piece with lots of triangle shapes that she glued down. She was so proud of what she accomplished!

Just a taste

Let's call this an experiment.  I've been wanting to tangle my suitcase that I carry class supplies in but I just haven't - until now. Really, the idea of adding just a taste of Zentangle was just the right idea.

I used a white pen so I have no idea how durable it will be. Check back in a few months and I'll post an update.

Gourdgeous

Gourdgeous is the newest tangle pattern featured in the Zentangle newsletter. It was inspired by the pattern on bead board and it evolved into the pattern that is similar to all the gourds that we see in autumn. This is a tangle that challenged me at first - so I just decided to keep doing it until I was happy. 

This is how I started out. I did it a couple of times and wasn't too thrilled. So I tried the version with the dimple at the bottom and was happier. One more time in the basic way to balance out the zendala. So far so good - now what. Well, I got this far on Monday and hit a mental block. I couldn't decide what do do next. Finally last night I settled on the patterns to complete this piece. There is a version of Sampson in the middle and Vigne around the border. Done!

Stone tangles

Stones are fun to tangle. It really gives you a very tactile experience. First you need to choose the right stone. As I walked along the beach I saw many to choose from. If the shape looked promising I picked it up. I turned it over, I felt it to see if it was smooth enough. If it felt right I put it in my pocket. Sometimes I would catch myself playing with the rock in my pocket later that day - feeling the shape in my hand.

Washing the stone would reveal other aspects to the stone. I would discover cracks, and/or see that the water would darken the color of the stone.

After it dried I would turn the stone in all directions, trying to see if there were any tangles that seemed to be wanting to be drawn on that particular stone. When I 'discovered' them it was almost a Eureka moment!

I did most of my tangles with the Sakura IDentipen and the white graphite pencil. On the really dark rocks I used my white gelly roll pens. 

I have accumulated quite a few rocks now. These rocks are a combination of rocks I found along the shoreline in Rhode Island and rocks that I have purchased. I discovered that my big box home improvement store sells bags of rocks for landscaping. The river rock bags had several lovely shapes! (If you live in a Northern climate you may need to wait for spring to see these in stock again.)

 I love drawing Zendalas so it seemed only natural to create a small rock mandala. I used a black placemat under the composition to keep my rocks organized. Fun - and soothing.