Inchies.
Remember last week when I showed you my desk scattered with some old art pieces? Well, here’s what I did with some of them!
I created an inchie mosaic following Eni’s instructions in her Inchies Mosaic Video Lesson . Inchies are little, 1-inch squares of art.
This is my first mosaic, following the instructions in the lesson. I got my tiles cut a bit wonky, which is totally my fault. I used a small paper cutter instead of following the instructions in the lesson. My bad! It caused my tile sizes to be inconsistent, which caused the entire grid to be off. That’s why my borders are an inconsistent size.
It’s hot. I mean really, really hot. Yesterday on the way home, it was 118˚. On Monday, it was 119˚! The official temperature (in the shade at the airport!) was a few degrees cooler. But I don’t live in the shade at the airport. I try to stay home, but once in a while, I just have to go out. Those higher temperatures were reported by my car’s thermometer.
SpundalaZ.
Yesterday, I reviewed various tools that could be used to create the base for a SpundalaZ. Today, I’m showing you one done on one of the bases, this one.
I used colored pencil to push the coloring a little more towards violet in various areas, and also added the violet coloring to the background with Distress ink and colored pencil. But you should still be able to see where the rings and color changes are.
Velvet Elvis.
This odd-shaped tile is totally experimental. A couple of months ago, my older daughter came for a visit. One of the things we did while she was here involved using Oxide Distress Ink on scraps of black card stock. Besides just having fun, we were trying to see if the inks would work on black, since they contain white pigment under the dye ink. I had a couple dozen scraps of 4" x 3" paper, and we inked most of them.
This is the second of a pair of tiles for my current project . I didn’t want both tiles to match exactly, but I wanted them both to have the same theme. The pictures of these have come out a bit paler than the actual tiles. Hopefully, the pictures of the end result will show the colors better!
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a brown Pigma Micron pen. Shading done with Copic marker and colored and graphite pencils. Color was done with Distress Ink markers.
Another piece in my current project! I had so much fun making this part. I hope the rest of it goes like this!
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a brown Pigma Micron pen. Shading done with Copic marker, colored and graphite pencils. Color was done with Distress Ink markers.
Tangles: Hollibaugh Kuke Web
Twofer.
In last Friday's post , I talked a little bit about project I was working on, and I showed you the first piece.
Here it is again, with two more tiles I’ve completed. Both of these have the same tangle on them, Emingle. I liked the contrast of this tangle with the first piece. But it didn’t occur to me how long it would take to draw that many little lines on two entire tiles. I finally finished these yesterday!
Guess what I am making!
I have been kind of “stuck” since about the beginning of the year. I got through figuring out how to handle black tiles, but then I couldn’t seem to get going on anything else I wanted to accomplish. Suddenly, about a week ago, something in the stars changed and I started making Zenbuttons, something I’ve wanted to do for some time. Now, I’m giving you a sneak peek at another project I wanted to try. I’ll be working on this next week. It will take a while because it requires tangling on several tiles to complete the project!
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.
Mutant disks.
Bunzo looks like a cross between striped Frisbees and amoebas. It’s as if the plastic disks are replicating by division!
I decided to make each section a different color, according to the most prevalent color in that particular area of the tile. I was a little worried because there were so many colors, but I think, in the end, it all came together and worked out well.
Succulents.
When you group a bunch of Locar tangles together they look a bit like cactus or succulents!
The techniques that I used on this tile are based on Eni Oken’s Distressed Tile Video . However, I didn’t follow the instructions exactly. (It’s probably a good thing I wasn’t baking a cake!) I already had this tile on my desk, with the Locars already drawn on it in brown pigma pen. I really wanted to play, but I also needed to complete this monotangle for this blog post.
Tangles can be used in various ways from filling a background to creating a focal point. Here, I wanted to use Onamato in a circular focal point so that it looked like a Southwestern beaded ornament. The ribbon behind it is the more “normal” way to use this tangle.
I tried to make the “beads” look like a version of turquoise with fool‘s gold inclusions and polished carnelian with a few gold beads in between.
All wrapped around.
I love Crazy Huggins. It can go every which way or be tamed with symmetry.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Bristol Vellum using brown Pigma Micron pen. Coloring done with Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Polychromos colored pencils. Highlights and other markings done with various gel pens.
Tangles: Crazy Huggins
Sizzle.
It‘s hot here. The other day, the outside temperature on my car dashboard was 108˚. And it‘s not even summer yet! I think that‘s part of what influenced the coloring on this monotangle.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Bristol Vellum using Copic Multiliners and Sharpie no-bleed art pens. Coloring done with Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Polychromos colored pencils. Highlights and other markings done with various gel pens.
Tangles: Opus
Study in Blue.
Dansk is a simple tangle, yet it can be quite effective. Here, I decided to use it as a central motif and as an edge structure.
Note: This design isn‘t completely an original idea on my part. I copied a similar design by Michele Beauchamp, which you can see Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Bristol Vellum using Zig Memory Writers. Coloring done with Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Polychromos colored pencils.
Blues.
This tile was inspired by delft blue china pieces. It didn‘t actually turn out the way I hoped, but it‘s interesting in it‘s own right. It was fun experimenting with all the different shades of blue, and the Sand Swirl in the center makes a distinctive contrast with the rest.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Bristol Vellum using a variety of markers with blue ink. Coloring done with Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Poloychromos colored pencils.
Ticklish.
Every time I see this tangle, I think about how ticklish it would be if it was a real feather! This is one of my favorites to draw, with all the curves and swirls.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Bristol Vellum using Zig Memory Writers. Coloring done with Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Poloychromos colored pencils.
Tangles: Scrolled Feather
Knot work.
I love this beautiful tangle because it reminds me so much of decorative Asian knot work. This tangle can be done large, as it is here, or several smaller ones can be added “on top” of other tangles.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Bristol Vellum using a Zig Memory Writer. Coloring done with Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Poloychromos colored pencils.
Tangles: Mak-Rah-Mee
Jetties is a wonderful tangle that can be used as a fill, a focal point, or scattered into the nooks and crannies of a tile. Here, I‘ve made them all different sizes and given the impression of them falling into a pile.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Bristol Vellum using a black Micron pen. Coloring done with distress inks, distress markers and colored pencil.
Tangles: Jetties
Organic.
Icanthis is a very organic tangle that can meander over a large area. It works well as a central focal element, but, when drawn smaller, can be used to fill in areas behind other tangles.
The tile coloring was created with Distress inks and more color was added with Distress markers.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Bristol Vellum using Olive Copic Multiliners. Coloring done with Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Poloychromos colored pencils.