I wear glasses all the time. I put them on when I get up in the morning and I take them off at night, when I go to bed. Recently, however, I’ve realized that my eyes are getting “older” and aren’t working quite as well as I would like. Because of this, I decided to get some specialized eyewear for specific tasks.
The first new pair I got was special glasses for working on my computer. The are set up so that the exact focusing length is right where my monitor is. I also had them coated to block out the blue light from electronic screens. What a huge difference they have made! I can see my screen very clearly without having to jink my head and neck around to look out of the middle section of my bifocals! No more sore neck and shoulders, no more red, tired eyes. I LOVE them!
Sticks.
Do you know what a Talking Stick is? It comes to us from the Native American Traditions. It was a decorated stick that was used during group council meetings. Whomever was holding the stick had the floor, and was the speaker. They were the only person allowed to talk and could continue until they relinquished control of the stick. As I was drawing these bars decorated with Scute, they kept reminding me of talking sticks!
Rising.
She looked into the converter and saw the fuel spheres rising in the waves of super-heated air. She knew she would need all the power possible to make it to the nearest star system before the others caught up with her.
There is at least two tangles with the name of Gust that I know of. The one used here is not the Official Zentangle version, but rather the one designed by Sandy Steen Bartholomew. I love it because it can illustrate so much movement with just a hook and a wave.
Spiral.
I tried to create a string that would give the feeling of spiraling around. It ended up looking like those Purks are on a wild ride.
Zentangle drawn on Official Zentangle Tile using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil.
Tangles: Arrowheads Dex Feathers Paradox Poke-Root Purk Queen's Crown
Ships.
As she looked back at the gate, she saw the others had followed her into this new dimension. She wasn’t sure if they were friends or enemies, but it didn’t matter at this point. They were all here, now, and there was no going back.
I decided to try a couple more radial blossoms and continue the story from the first one, here . I also used reticula patterns in-between the arms of the lower, Ix blossom. I started with E15 from the Zentangle Primer and just expanded on it.
It’s a string thing.
For this tile, I decided to accent the string with ribbon-type tangles and used the fill areas more for texture than for focus. In addition, I did this tangle for a challenge in the Shading and Exploring Zentangle group on Facebook. The focus of the challenge was on the tangle Flovine, which was created by Lin Chiu. It is the last ribbon tangle on the right side of the tile. I really like the way the dark area of box spirals and the light area of Keko make it stand out!
It’s a New Day!
Notice anything different?
There’s been some major changes to the website. The look is a little different. The major portion of the changes are under the hood. I am no longer using Wordpress. Instead, this is now a static website. That removed all of the crazy maintenance and overhead that Wordpress required. That means I now have more time to create art!
Instead of the menu just below the words “Tandika.com”, the menu is over on the right side of the header bar. The Zentangle Gallery and Art Journal Pages now work on phones and tablets, to the best of my knowledge. I know they work on iPhone and iPad, because I’m able to test those. In addition, the Art Journal Pages are now sized properly.
Grace.
Mooka is a tangle that illustrates gracefulness in a very simple way. Here’s it’s as if they are dancing in coordinated groups with each other. There is even a main couple surrounded by auxiliary dancers and even some further back on the stage. The goal here was to show a few different ways that Mooka could be use to define and fill space on a Zentangle.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil.
Angled.
This tile is all about the angles. The string is made up of straight lines set at various angles. The tangles also provide tension due to the placement against the string and each other. The occasional curves help to balance out the rigidity of the lines by providing some softness.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil.
Tangles: Deco Border Dyon Jalousie Juke Papyrus Plum Leaf Printemps Scena
Color.
This was the first Zentangle that I ever used color on. I even used my markers to create the shading. I didn’t do another full color Zentangle until this year, because I really didn’t like the way this came out, at the time. It just seemed too alien for a Zentangle. Now, I don’t mind color and actually enjoy it once in a while!
Zentangle drawn on Official Zentangle tile using a black, Micron pen. Coloring done with Tombow markers.
Choices.
She realized, as her ship emerged from the gate that the choice was going to be almost impossible. Hard enough in a single universe, she now had a universe of universes to choose from!
This is the first time that I’ve used Derwent Graphtint pencils on a Zentangle. I like they way they add greyed tones without overwhelming the design.
Unfortunately, the silver of the ship’s structure doesn’t show up well in the image, but it’s really spectacular in person!
Update: This group has been cancelled because there are already so many different Zentangle groups on Facebook.
If you have been tangling for a while, I be there are tangles that you don’t like. Don’t worry, it happens to everyone!
There is a new group on Facebook that you can join that can help you to change a tangle you hate… into one you love. You can get tricks and tips for drawing them differently and enhancing them, or maybe using them in an entirely different way!
Island vacation.
She looked down, out of the window of the raised hut to the cobblestone path and imagined the adventures that were possible here.
This Zentangle had a life of it’s own and ended up nothing like it’s original conception! Once of the tangles that came out of the jar was Tuffit. I never know what to do with it, since it kind of looks like a cross between an alien space ship and sofa pillow. I decided to just play with it, rounding out the edges and drawing it in a different order. Then something possessed me to fill in the centers with perfs. Apparently they wanted to be some kind of exotic blooms!
We looked up at the ceiling and saw the fan, its blades moving slowly across the light. Blinking, bright, dim, bright, dim, it left us hypnotized on a lazy summer afternoon.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil.
Tangles: Antidots Betweed Crescent Moon C-Wing Footlites Nzeppel Orlique Printemps Tropicana
Shield.
She hid behind the shield and allowed the expression of art to speak her truth.
I found the shield shaped string to be an interesting challenge. I tried to arrange the random tangles so that they complemented the shape, making it the focal point.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil.
Tangles: Angel Fish Beadlines Bumper Fassett Raddox Shard Squill Yincut
Still blue.
A while back I tried a blue tile, but ran into a few problems. After a few tests, I decide to give it another shot. This is more like what I wanted!
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a blue Micron and a Cobalt Copic Multiliner pen. Shading done with colored pencils.
Tangles: Cool 'Sista Hibred Kandy Ribnz Lobella Rain
Reticulum.
Recently, Zentangle released a Kitchen Table video that featured using Tripoli as a Reticulum (as the underlying structure) and filling each section with a fragment. I chose Fragment G13 from the Primer. I have never liked Tripoli until now! But I will not discount it in the future. This gave me a really good understanding of Reticula and Fragments.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil.
Dance floor.
Dressed up in his tux, with and fancy bow tie, he swept her gracefully across the dance floor as if in a dream.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black Micron pen, and warm gray and gray Copic Multiliner. Shading done with graphite pencil.
Tangles: Boti Chard Echo Hurry Starmap
Garden view.
When I looked out of the window, I realized that all of the plants were bare stems and pods because of the hot days of Summer!
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil.
Tangles: Huggins Sedgling Squid
Golden ropes.
“I have stretched ropes from steeple to steeple; garlands from window to window; golden chains from star to star, and I dance.”
– Arthur Rimbaud
I had this idea to do ropes with loops at the top of the tile. It‘s simple, but it turned out to be slightly more complicated than I thought it would be.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite and colored pencil.