Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Totally lefty

Eek! This week's challenge is to do an ENTIRE tile with the non-dominant hand! Lines are a whole lot easier to do than filling in teeny-tiny black areas. I'm trying a few things with the Tri-Shape string so decided to use that for this challenge too.
Tangles: Dansk, Flez, Knase, Not-a-Knot, Pearlz, Phuds, Sanibelle

Monday, January 30, 2012

Monday tiles

More Monday morning mangled miles. I mean... tangled tiles.
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Caviar, Finery, Flez, Tipple variation
Tangles: Blake, Fengle, Flux, Fohbraid, Phuds, Seljuk
Tangles: Beadlines, Blinkles, Coaster, Finery, Wud
and a 2-pencil string

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Zentangle inspired poetry

I'm a bit of a limerick fan, so I'll share that first. The author is Janet Nordfors, a member of the Yahoo group "Zentangle Inspired Art".
There was an old woman who tangled.
With Microns and tiles she wrangled.
She blogged and she swapped,
'til one night she dropped.
With her fine strings, she'd been strangled.

Sandy Popa is one of the moderators of the "Zentangle Inspired Art" Yahoo group, and she presented this poem:
Fountainy cylinders of dripping ink,
What patterns will come
Not sure what to think.
A dribble, a swish, then a dot,
Zentangles develop
Without a thought.

And since what's a book without pictures, here's a recent tile shared with me by Jenn, one of my students. Pretty cool!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Moebius

Diva Laura's zentangle challenge this week is to use the logo of the Moebius Syndrome Foundation as a string. Laura's number two son, Artoo, has this rare neurological disorder.

All those 'ribbons' seemed an ideal chance to try some tangles that fill a 'line' rather than a field. I realize now that I have one of the twists wrong. Both times. Oops.
Tangles: Coaster, Diamond Drop, Gingham,
Knase, Knightsbridge, Meer, Seljuk

Then I thought about leaving the Moebius logo white and filling the background. What better tangle to use than Artoo! with a (L)Aura! Now that it's finished, I wish I'd left the tiny circles off the Moebius logo and just used shading.

Tangles: Artoo, Paradox

Monday, January 23, 2012

YUAN tangle instructions

新年快乐
 HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

I've always like those old Chinese coins with the square hole in the center. The hole helped keep the coins together as they could be strung on a cord or ribbon. When our youngest daughter finished high school and all three daughters had plans, my husband and I went to China for two years to teach English. They don't use coins with holes in them anymore but I bought a small handful of old ones at a street market. The yuán is the unit of currency in China, thus the name of this tangle.

Photo courtesy of
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimmiehomeschoolmom

Licensed under Creative Commons
The Yuán dynasty was founded by Mongol conqueror Kublai Khan, who was the first to unite all China as we now know it. At its peak the dynasty's territory surpassed 12 million square kilometers (4,633,226 square miles for Americans) and ranged from Siberia in the north to the South China Sea, from the Pacific Ocean to the Middle East. Kublai Khan was a ruthless conqueror (weren't they all?) but he was also a great supporter of science, was interested in various religions, commissioned the design of a Mongolian script - until then strictly an oral language - and headed the first government in the world to institute paper currency.
Tangles: Caviar, Festune, Flux, Lotus Pods, Miranda, Prestwood, Yuan

In 1271, at the age of 17, Marco Polo left Italy and travelled overland with his father Niccolo and uncle Maffeo - who were gem merchants - to the near and far east. Marco stayed in China for 17 years in the employ of Kublai Khan and was one of very few Europeans to witness first-hand that traditional period in China.
Tangles: Caviar, Chebucto, Crescent Moon, Gingham, Lacing, Snookums, Triangle, Yuan

Here's how to draw Yuan. I admit to using a circle template when drawing the instructions, but if you look at the examples you'll notice that the squares and circles can be quite off-center and still have the desired effect! It seems to end up rather larger than I expect it will; just a heads up. If you want to pronounce yuán correctly in Chinese, with the rising tone, say it as if you're asking a question: yuan?


A few of pointers:
- In step one, the spaces between the long rectangles should be about half as long as the rectangles themselves.
- In step two, the small black rectangles on either side of the long rectangle indicate a square. Just keep that in mind.
- In this case, two pictures are worth about forty-eight words.

Tangles: Blake, Lotus Pods, Prestwood, Shattuck, Yuan
Blake is newly named. I used and mentioned Bettie Lake's 'ribbons' in an earlier post (third tile). I contacted her recently to ask if this pattern had a name and, if not, might I suggest "Blake"? It didn't, and she agreed. :-)
So today, also introducing the tangle Blake! Here it is in brown on a bookmark I made recently.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Purple Haze

The Diva's zentangle challenge this week is to use purple in some way. Scroll down on the Diva's post for this challenge to find out why she chose purple. I decided simply to do a zentangle tile using purple ink instead of black. I jazzed 'em up a bit with a little metallic or glitter ink too. Of course, I used purple pencil to shade.

Here, I added metallic purple with a Sakura Gelly Roll pen. The shading is done with a violet Prismacolor Verithin pencil.
Tangles: Bouclé, Crescent Moon, Earth Rising, Flez, Fohbraid, Lacing, Undine

I began another one with a wash using purple and magenta Derwent water-soluble pencils. I used the purple ink again, as well as a bit of fuchsia ('pink') ink. I felt there was too much of that so I covered some of it with the purple. I added glittery purple with a Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pen and used the same violet pencil for shading as well as a magenta pencil.
Tangles: Borb, Caviar, Diamond Drops, Featherfall, Flez, Flukes, Flux, Jalousie

Thursday, January 19, 2012

DANSK tangle instructions

While visiting a friend recently I chanced to use the bathroom where the soap dispenser had a simple and interesting pattern on it. Due to much forethought and good planning I had pen and paper in my purse! I made a return trip to the bathroom to draw the pattern. I looked on the bottom of the soap dispenser, hoping for inspiration for a name. It said simply "Dansk".

I also suggest adding the Auras around the 'drops' equally, until they bump into each other. Here's Dansk at work.
Tangles: Crescent Moon, Dansk, Diamond Drops, Paradox, Tipple, Tripoli
Tangles: Amaze, Dansk, Tripoli and my Drupe/Fracas hybrid

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

No mistakes

There are no mistakes in Zentangle. There is no eraser in life. That's why there's no eraser in the kit or at classes. Very interesting things often happen on the paper or canvas when I do something that wasn't what I intended or expected, but I keep going anyway. Deal with it. It's a challenge, an opportunity. Learn. Experiment. Have fun. Be amazed.

I enjoyed this 13 minute video of jazz musician Stefon Harris and his improvisational quartet. For him the bandstand is a sacred space. For me that's the paper or canvas, for a dancer or actor perhaps the rehersal hall or the stage. Stefon talks about there being no mistakes on the bandstand saying, "Every 'mistake' is an opportunity in jazz." Sometimes one member will play something that may seem like a mistake to the audience, but Stefon says that the 'mistake' there is that the other members didn't respond to it; it's an opportunity that was missed.

Many actions are perceived as mistakes only because we don't react to them appropriately. Perhaps it seems like a mistake because we try to ignore it rather than recognizing, accepting and developing in another direction. Eliminate "Gosh darn!" from your vocabulary and replace it with, "Hm, how 'bout that!" 

Enjoy the video; plus there's some really interesting music!








Monday, January 16, 2012

Recent Zentangle tiles

While the Diva was taking a holiday break from challenging I decided to post some recent tiles on Monday mornings. This may become a somewhat regular thing for me as I often have a few interesting things worth sharing.

In the first, I like how the two sections of Hibred plus the Munchin-y Striping make a strong swoosh on the left.

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Earth Rising, Fengle, Hibred,
(Munchin), Striping, Zapateado, Zedbra

A while ago I posted about the occasional Zentangle tiles wanting to look like Something. This one was asking to be a tree, so I took it in that direction.

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Crescent Moon, Finery, Fohbraid, Ionic, Opus,
Triral and a hybrid of Hopscotch and Spinners.

In the next one I did a blind string, probably holding the pencil rather loosely.

Tangles: Beadlines, Black Pearlz, Chebucto, Florz, Hibred,
Knase, Munchin, Prestwood, Tipple

Friday, January 13, 2012

Drucas? Frape?

The tangles Drupe and Fracas are quite similar, but the curvy parts go in opposite directions. It occurred to me the other day to try combining them, doing one section of Drupe and the next of Fracas. The result is quite charming, lively and bold.
Tangles: Drupe/Fracas, Knase, Shattuck and half a Black Pearl
Tangles: Dancet, Drupe/Fracas, Earth Rising, Jonqal, Meer, Pearlz

Here's a section of a larger piece, done in sepia ink on buff paper. It doesn't have any shading yet. This is actually the first time I tried combining Drupe and Fracas.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Circular tangles

I've been trying some circular tangles, specifically Danni O'Brien's Crossview and Joyce Block's Not-a-Knot. There is a similarity, and they both have a Celtic feel; perhaps that's why I think they go well together. I showed one in an earlier post (4th tile).

In the lower right of this tile I tried adding some curves to Not-a-Knot, which I rather like.
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Blinkles, Crescent Moon, Not-a-Knot, Prestwood, Tipple

In the next tile I tried that again, adding curves to the outside edge as well as the inner parts. I also tried out Maria Thomas's idea of doing Tipple more regularly, moving from tiny 'bubbles' to gradually larger and larger ones. I really like the effect! Read about it on the Zentangle blog here.
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Crossview, Fohbraid, Knase, Not-a-Knot, Tipple
Tangles: Beadlines, Caviar, Crossview, Drupe, Magma, Not-a-Knot,
Tipple, Undiala. I also used a two-pencil string

There are quite a number of tangles that are large circles. Besides Crossview and Not-a-Knot there's Circfleur, Cirquital, Daggerly, Drupe, Dust Bunny, Fracas, Gneiss, Hurakán, Marasu, Pepper, Striped Snail, and many more. They'd make very interesting middles for zentangle-inspired mandalas, and could even spread out into the mandala. Ooooo, too many ideas!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Undine

The DivaCZT is back with her challenges, and a new tangle Undine. I realized, when I didn't do this once, that with Undine it's important to have the Xs match up, at least sort of. As I drew the elongated hexagons it reminded me of something I often do with the tangle Xyp, so I tried that.
Tangles: Paradox, Posh, Tipple, Undine

Here are two more tiles and five more variations. There are lots of possibilities with this tangle Undine!
Tangles: Diamond Panes, Flez, Fohbraid, Pearlz, Phuds, Undine
Tangles: Borb, D'Uni, Fohbraid, Knightsbridge, Ogen, Undine

Monday, January 9, 2012

Fengle!

Recently a new tangle named Fengle was introduced to the CZTs. I've been having fun with it this past while and you'll be seeing it in future posts I'm sure.
Tangles: Fengle, Jonqal, Paradox, Tidings
Tangles: Crescent Moon, Fengle, Knase, Striping, Tipple
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Crossview, Fengle, Knightsbridge,
Not-a-Knot, Posh, Sanibelle, Tripoli

Friday, January 6, 2012

Words, and missed concepts

I encountered Zentangle in late 2008. I still don't know what posessed me to attend a CZT training seminar - it seemed a lot of money at the time - but I knew I had to go. It was just the right thinig to do. In May 2010 I was in Whitinsville with 60-some other bug-eyed enthusiasts. It's one of the best things I've ever done.

Between learning about Zentangle and LEARNING ABOUT Zentangle I did a fair amount of drawing, tried to figure out things, copied patterns, searched the internet and so on. Patterns and repeated elements I totally grokked but somehow I just didn't grasp the idea of strings and shading.

I did a series of short words in the summer of 2009, completely missing the idea of pencil strings and shading, but bang on with the pattern thing. In a way, the outlines of the letters serve as strings, but without any mystery. Here are a few of them (still rather cool nonetheless!).
This is supposed to say 'now' but looks rather like 'wow'.
Oh well, I guess "Wow! Now!" is a good attitude!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Dreaming Girl

Following our move across town I discovered this small drawing I'd done in university (a lo-o-o-ong time ago). You can see why Zentangle was such an immediate *click* for me!

"Dreaming Girl" (c) Margaret Bremner
The paper is non-archival and has yellowed over the years.

I used technical pens years ago, and always loved that medium. I rediscovered some of those pens too, following the move. That pattern on the bottom edge is something I used frequently back then and I've done it in some recent zentangle drawings, too. Although we don't use the term "uni" here, I've called the tangle D'Uni. That pattern on the shawl is interesting too!

Monday, January 2, 2012

Recent Zentangle tiles #3

This is our last Monday without a Zentangle challenge so here are a few more of my recent creations: my Monday offerings while the lovely zentangle challenge Diva is taking a wee break.
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Deco Leaf, Fohbraid, Msst, Shattuck
Tangles: Caviar, Chebucto, Coaster, Crossview, Knase, Striping, Unyu

My brother recently bought some tamarind pods at the grocery store. You crack them open and eat the fruit inside, sort of like soft raisins with one large seed in the middle of each.  The pods are a medium brown. To those unfamiliar with the fruit (me, my daughters...) they look like dog poop. But the fruit is good! This zentangle had a similar lumpy, bumpy, curvy shape in it.
Tangles: Keeko, Munchin, Paradox, Zedbra
Tangles: Baton, Black Pearlz, Crescent Moon, Flux, Fohbraid,
Knightsbridge "Aura", Punzel and something in development