Passé data.
They fell from the sky as she watched from the tower. It looked as thought they were tossing out a mass of data chips before they landed. She wasn’t sure what good that would do… Nothing had worked since the pulse happened many years ago. Nobody cared. They were sick of the connections. The chips were pretty, though. Perhaps they could use the metals for adornment.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil.
Dementia is a terrible thing. It steals a person’s mind a little bit at a time… for a long time.
This Zentangle was created by my Mother-in-Law for my birthday in 2010. I was tangling with her very often, teaching her various tangles and techniques. I thought it would be good for her. She had had a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery. She was on a lot of medication. I thought that tangling would help her by lowering her blood pressure and taking her mind off of her problems.
Christmas market.
She loved this time of year. Even the cold weather didn’t bother her. There were so many things to choose from: exotic fabrics and trims, fancy jewelry and decorations, beautiful baskets and ceramics. Even the colorful awnings and tents brought her joy!
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil.
Tangles: Bales Criss & Cross Dyon Huggins Mooka Quipple Sez Shard Striping Tidings
This is another in the series of Tan Treasure tiles . I decided to combine the treasure tile with the Distressed tile technique. For the theme, I chose a wreath. It’s the time of year when we start decorating for Christmas, so I thought it would be appropriate.
In addition, Zailz was used because it is the focus tangle for this week for one of the Facebook Groups that I participate in. I have to say, I didn’t think I would particularly like this tangle. But, I love it used here!
From the Zentangle Primer: Lesson 3, page 55, Exercise #7.
In this lesson, we are learning about strings. For the first exercise, we are supposed to combine two (or more) sections of our string together to form a new section that is better suited for the tangle we want to use.
Here is what Amanda’s original string looked like, so you can compare it with her finished Zentangle above.
Giving thanks.
I have so many things to be thankful for this year, it would make a very long post to list them all. So I am going to tell you that I am grateful for my wonderful husband, beautiful daughters, and fabulous grandchildren. I am thankful for my good health and good life.
I also am very thankful that I discovered Eni Oken. She is a fabulous artist that shares herself, her talent and her knowledge with others. Over this year, learning from her has taken my art to a whole ’nother level, as they say. This tile is another one based on her Tan Treasure video lesson . I think this is my favorite of all the techniques I’ve learned so far!
Message.
She was sure there was something important hidden there. Perhaps a clue to the treasure. She searched the bowl of flowers, the cobwebs in the corners, the lattice- and the lace… Somehow she totally missed it.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil.
Tangles: Afterglow Chartz Cubine Eke Gourdgeous Muchin Quandry Vermal
Yo ho ho…
Not all treasure is jewels and gold! Sometimes, the treasure lies within each of us, waiting to be discovered. If you are tangling, and looking for your own, internal treasures, follow the link over to Eni Oken's Tan Treasure Video lesson! Her video will take you through all the steps to create your personal treasure map.
Zentangle drawn on an Official Tan Renaissance tile using a black, brown and sepia Micron pens. Shading done with Copic markers, colored pencils and graphite pencil. Highlights were done with pastel pencil and gel ink. Distress ink was used for the background and edges.
Swirls.
Am I looking down at a carpet? A muddy river? Foam at the edge of a wave on the beach? It’s an interesting, visual mystery!
Sand Swirl is one of my favorite tangles to draw. It’s simple echoed lines allow your mind to enter the Zen zone quickly. Here, I used three different colors of ink to give the tile more depth and dimension.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen, warm grey and cool grey Copic Multiliner. Shading done with graphite pencil.
What’s up, Dewd?
Zentangle has introduced a new tangle, Dewd, along with the debut of the new Project Packs! I decided to do it on a black tile, in keeping with the spirit of the introduction video, here .
I used two different pink, metallic pens and two different silver pens so that I would have a tiny bit of variation between the inner shape and the outer auras.
Then, I used the Mooka 3D behind the Dewd to add another layer of interest.
Another’s view.
The tiles above and below were created by my husband. If you remember, from yesterday's post , I mentioned that I had asked all of my relatives to draw Zentangles for my birthday in 2010. Recently, I found them again and got to reminisce about that time and to see all the wonderful tiles everyone made.
For this first tile, my sweetheart used a heart as the central string! I think he did a fantastic job.
Note: I had some trouble scanning this drawing because it is in a large-format sketchbook. The upper left isn't really blurry. That was caused by the drawing page not being flat on the scanner. This Zentangle was created by my husband a little over 7 years ago. At the beginning of October, 2010, I gave all of my family members blank tiles and asked them each to draw a Zentangle for my birthday present. Apparently, my husband did some practice drawing in his sketch book before actually creating a tile!
Tiny details.
This tile is a result of Eni Oken’s Tiny Details Lesson . This excellent video shows you exactly how to create and shade areas of a tile which include little, tiny detail drawings which can be a major challenge to shade!
I love tiny drawing and repetitive patterns that are very close to each other. There is just something really soothing and satisfying about filling predefined areas with tangles like these, making this tile lots of fun to create.
Fractalized stars.
Recently, Eni Oken added a lesson about fractalizing tangles to her Art Club members. It was a fantastic lesson and everyone had a lot of fun creating beautiful tiles.
I decided to try Betweed for my tangle because it looks like a star to me, and I love anything having to do with stars! The “rule” I used was to draw a new, smaller Betweed in each space created by the original rendition. I managed to go three iterations before some of the spaces became too small for another iteration.
From the Zentangle Primer: Lesson 2, page 45, Exercise 4.
For this exercise, we were to use all the same tangles: Shattuck, Jetties and Bales, but use different shading.
I think Amanda (above) did a fantastic job with this tile! I love that she used several tanglations: Bales, Hollibaugh, Florz, and Jetties! My favorite is her version of Bales. It has so much depth to it now!
My artwork is above. I mixed Bales and Florz togther for my background, and pillow-shaded each floret in the design. I had a lot of fun with Jetties. I decided to treat them more like beads, and made each one different, although a few original Jetties snuck in on their own. I’ve drawn Shattuck many times, this is the first time I’ve added perfs to them.
From the Zentangle Primer: Lesson 2, page 36.
In this chapter, we are learning three new tangles: Bales, Jetties and Shattuck.
For the first tile in this chapter, there are step-by-step instructions that tell you where to put each tangle and how to draw and shade it.
I did make a few choices like drawing straight instead of curved lines for the Shattuck, and I chose to overlap my Jetties, rather than make them all touching. However, I did try to follow the shading instructions as exactly as I could.
From the Zentangle Primer: Exercise 2, page 33.
For this tile, we were told to select two tangles and to alter or combine them to create a new tanglation.
I chose to use Printemps and used it to create the strips for Hollibaugh. This ended up presenting a challenge, because it was difficult to distinguish edges where the strips crossed over each other. I ended up outlining each strip with a wider-nibbed pen to create stronger edges.
As I’m sure you’ve seen on various posts, I mostly use Strathmore Bristol Vellum as the paper for my tiles.
Note: It's important to understand that this is not thin, translucent vellum. "Bristol" is bristol board, a form of very thick paper. The word vellum, here, refers to the finish on the paper. The vellum finish has a slight tooth to it. Bristol board also comes in a smooth finish, which is very popular for illustration work. It works really well for me for both wet and dry applications. It’s perfect for Zentangles because the Pigma Micron pens draw very nicely on it without a lot of bleeding and pencil shading is smooth and velvety.
From the Zentangle Primer: Exercise 1, page 33.
For this exercise, we each had to create a Zentangle using the same tangles as the first. However, we were to shade them differently.
Amanda’s artwork is above. You can see how she shaded around the outside of the central bobble which makes it appear more like it is floating above the tile. She also altered Printemps from her original style. This version gives it a lot more drama and depth.
From the Zentangle Primer: Exercise 1, page 33.
For this exercise, we were to create another Zentangle, using the same four tangles as the first tile. However, this time, we were instructed to shade each tangle differently.
In addition to changing the shading, I also changed the style of each of the tangles. I chose to wrap Florz around a bobble and give it more of a 3D, or dimensional feel. I took a lot of creative license with Cresent Moon, adding more details and treating it more like ruffles. I normally draw Printemps fairly small, but here, I tried to make it much larger than I normally do. And for Hollibaugh, I rounded out the areas where the strips ran into the border.