Is it Zentangle?

The challenge this week from the DivaCZT is an interesting one. She was asked, "...can you do a Zentangle without using existing patterns or tangeleations of them?" Can we? I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure I would even try it.

I had a penciled template (#40) from Erin at the Bright Owl blog. I'd already put a gray wash on it and had an idea of something I might do with it, until I realized it has seven rays, not six. By then I was already thinking within this form and saw bands ending in small triangles, a vaguely Navaho weaving look. I realized that that might be something with no actual Tangles and off I went. I added red, and used gray ink too. Here it is.

Zentangle and chocolate

Need I say more?

Well, I will.

After Christmas I picked up some chocolate finger cookies at half price. Got the last two boxes.

Yum!

I sometimes fight against wanting to keep everything because "it might be useful someday". I didn't want to just throw the box out. Then a lightbulb went on. I fetched a tile and tried it in the box. Ta-da! Whoopeee!!! Tile storage!

I even made file dividers: Border, Full Tile, and so on. All my tiles didn't fit, of course. I'm going to have to eat the other box of cookies. Then maybe I'll need to hunt down more chocolate finger cookies.

Grid (un)locked challenge

The DivaCZT's challenge this week is to use square grids. There are so many tangles based on square grids! This could be the challenge for a few months and there'd still be more to experiment with. I didn't really pursue the seed square idea; that's a wonderful idea I'll keep in mind for later.

I decided to use some of my own square-grid tangles: Moving Day, Ninja Stars, and Screen.
Paradox, one of my all-time favorite tangles, found its way in too. I did something interesting here, an idea I had some time ago but hadn't tried yet.  See the Paradox section in the lower left here? Going from the point in the center, there's a Paradox triangle (sorry, not a square), a Paradox square, and a partial Paradox. In the square section I did Paradox until about halfway in, then, I reversed direction! Cool! I'm going to add this idea to my Paradox tutorial post.

Tangles: Moving Day, Ninja Stars, Paradox, Screen

Then I decided to use the same string and use other square grid tangles. I wanted to try a couple of new tangles, Sindoo and Maelstrom. In the smaller version of Maelstrom here, I got the lines all going the 'wrong' way, which ended up being a really neat variation.  Gingham is another of my tangles.

Tangles: Cheesecloth, Gingham, Maelstrom (and variation), Sindoo

Enthusiastic techno-peasant artist

Hmm. Yes. Well. It seems some of you have been unable to post comments here lately. I've received e-mails. (Thanks.)

A while ago I enabled Google+ Comments, thinking that it would be an easier way for some of you to post comments. Unfortunately, the techno-peasant who does my blog and doesn't read everything through before pressing buttons (that would be yours truly) didn't realize that enabling Google+ would disable the other comment system.

So, back to the old method. I hope. I pressed more buttons.

Another unfortunately: if you commented using Google+ in the past few weeks, your comment - so they tell me - will evaporate. If you feel inclined to post it again I won't mind at all.

By way of apology and thanks for your patience, here are a few recent zentangle-inspired pieces to cheer your eyes and hearts.

"Blooming Rainbow" (c) 2013 Margaret Bremner
Zendala tile mounted on canvas, acrylic paint.
I've posted this piece before, but recently mounted it
and added the series of colored dots.

"Outside the Crazy Kitchen" (c) 2013 Margaret Bremner
Zentangle tile, will be mounted on canvas and painted, later.
Have you ever visited a science center with a 'crazy kitchen'
where everything looks normal, but the floor - in fact the entire room -
is tilted and you have to hang onto railings in order to make your way through the room?
This is outside that kitchen.
(If you've never visited a crazy kitchen, find one! So much fun!)

"Riverbank" (c) 2013 Margaret Bremner
Zentangle tile mounted on canvas, acrylic paint.
I kept trying to center the tile, and it always looked so boring.
Then I realized that the tree had to be OFF-center.
And yes, the 'sky' is a dark gray while the 'earth' is black.
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Coaster, Diva Dance, Emingle, Florez, Flux, Hollibaugh,
Hurly Burly, Lamar, Leaflet, Opus, Sanibelle, Tipple, Wud

Life's Little Ups and Downs

That's what I'm calling a piece of zentangle-inspired artwork (ZIA) I've almost finished using the tangle Schway. It's a fun tangle to draw! I used black ink, colored ink and colored pencils, and other tangles in many of the arrows. There are four tiles, each done individually, and they'll be mounted together on canvas to hang. I wish all of life's little ups and downs were this fun!

Tangles, besides Schway: Black Pearlz, Bunzo, Camelia, Drobbles, Flux,
Knightsbridge, Paizel, Palrevo, Tipple, Tri-dots, and maybe more.

Two zendala dares

Here are two more mandalas using templates from Erin Olsen's weekly Zendala Dares. Both are done on round zendala tiles.

Dare #24

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Going Down, Knase, Pearlz, Verve, Zedbra, Zewm.
The four corners were originally Crescent Moon but it just looked too busy.

Dare #34

Tangles: Bales (sort of), Black Pearlz, Lanie, Pearlz.
In fact, now that I look at it, there aren't many actual tangles!

ZIA tiles

Here are a few recent pieces of Zentangle Inspired Art (ZIA) on standard 3.5" paper tiles: two onion domes and a tree.

"BIGWIGS" (c) 2013 Margaret Bremner
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Cruffle, Lamar, N'zeppel, Paisley Boa,
Tidings, Tortuca, Verve, Yewdee

"OLD MOON" (c) 2013 Margaret Bremner
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Cruffle, Diva Dance, Many Moons, Puffle, Tipple, Zewm
and a variation of Unyun

untitled (c) 2013 Margaret Bremner
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Diva Dance, Emingle, Flux, Florez, Hollibaugh,
Hurly Burly, Knase, Lamar, Leaflet, Opus, Pearlz, Sanibelle, Wud