Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Circular tangles as mandala centers (#4)

Here we go again, using an apple-corer gadget as a template!

A few things went "wrong" with the first one, but I don't mind it. More contrast would be better.
At the center: Not-a-Knot (I love that tangle!)
Other tangles: Fohbraid, Seljuk, Sanibelle (missed that challenge)


At the center: Hurakán
Other tangles: Black Pearlz, Ogen, Parabola (almost),
Tipple, and stripes with highlights.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Cirquital and Munchin

A challenging challenge from the Diva this week. That's the point of the exercise, right? Cirquital and Munchin are both tangles with a very triangly look so it was a challenge to get some contrast into the tiles. I've been trying Cirquital recently as it would be an interesting mandala center. I have not been particularly pleased with my efforts, so this was a good opportunity for me to try it some more!

In my first attempt, I inadvertently put in some Tipple/Caviar parts (left edge). When I realized that I filled them all in black! Lots of black turned out to be a good way to get some contrast.

I think this was a left-handed string. Note the giant Munchin
in the upper right, filled with little Munchins!

I rather like my second attempt; it's really different!

This began with a blind string.

Monday tiles (#4)

I tried a number of tangles that I haven't used in a while. I like Bouclé, but I always find Mooka a bit challenging! Moving Day is probably better in larger quantity.
Tangles: Bouclé, Caviar, Flux, Golven, Hopscotch,
Mooka, Moving Day, Nerfy, Sprix

Next, a blind string, which ran off the edges.
Tangles: Ambler, Black Pearlz, Boomerangs, Rain, Snookums, Tipple

I'm very pleased with this third one. It had some large black areas, which rarely happens with me. I made another tentative foray into using white on black. I wish there were thinner white pens!
Tangles: Baton, Crescent Moon, Emingle, Flez, Phuds, Seljuk

Friday, February 24, 2012

Mardi Gras

What do I think of when I hear "Mardi Gras"? Beads for sure. Feathers. Costumes and colors. Over-the-top-ness. I didn't know that the Mardi Gras colors were green, purple and gold, but I like that combination so... easy to work with. With color involved I saw an opportunity to try some new Sakura pens I received recently: metallics and glazes. This was a fun change! Here are my efforts for the Diva's challenge this week.
Tangles: Featherfall, Knightsbridge, Pearlz, Tipple
Tangles: Auras, Pearlz, Emingle to some degree, tiny stripes,
harlequin diamonds, and
a bit of stippling.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Mandala tiles

I've been teaching an eight week series of Zentangle classes. Our final projects will be a tangled word or initials, and a tangled mandala.

Last night, as "practice" for the larger mandala, we did two mandalas on Zentangle tiles. Both mandalas begin with a simple pencil string of a large circle and an eight-pointed 'asterisk'.


I went through a few tiles planning what would look nice and was relatively easy. Here are some of my trial tiles, where I was working things out.
I ended up not using Fohbraid, Coaster, Seljuk,
or 'beach balls' in the outer circles.

These are the two mandala designs I finally decided on for the class. In the first one (on the left) people could choose whatever two tangles they wanted for the eight main sections.
Tangles on the left: Crossview, Flux, Perfs, Rain, Tipple
Tangles on the right: Black Pearlz, Not-a-Knot, Ogen, Tortuca, stripes with highlights

It's a school holiday week so one student was out of town, but here are the lovely pieces (one unfinished) done by the other two lovely folks in my class!


Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Circular tangles as mandala centers (#3)

Recently I used the tangle Undiala in the center of an apple-corer mandala. I was going to do that again, but then Undiala took over the whole thing!
Tangles: Diamond Drops, Parabola, Seljuk, Xyp,
and
Undiala as more of a string.
(Done on Ingres paper with a 05 pen.)

I'm quite pleased with how this next one turned out. I like how four of the 'ribbons' seem to loop over the edge. I used Crossview as a center again because I really like it!
At the center: Crossview (again)
Other tangles: Crescent Moon, Fohbraid
(Done on Ingres paper with a 05 pen.)

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Stippling - a tutorial

Stippling is a delicate drawing technique with lovely results. In this technique the drawing is composed entirely of tiny dots. Some very impressive shading can be accomplished this way.

Drawing by Jayel Aheram on Flickr. Image licensed on Creative Commons.

Christine Farmer does a lot of pen and ink work using stippling. You can see examples of her work here. She says, "Stippling as a technique requires precision, skill, and concentration, and I like the fact that progress is necessarily slow and steady." Sounds rather zen, doesn't it?
Noli Novak frequently does illustrations for the Wall Street Journal employing this technique.

Image from Noli Novak's website

Some superb artwork can be created using only stippling. BUT... it can also be used in small amounts. It's a terrific way to achieve an effect in pen and ink that is other than black, white, or lines. Some time ago I tried a very simple Zentangle tile using only stippling. For the string I overlapped two 8s. There is no pencil shading.



CZT Donna Hornsby's tangle Keenees uses tiny dots... basically stippling. When stippling in Keenees you can go darker into the corners, like this:


I thought it would be interesting to do some Zentangle tiles entirely in stippling. I found it has a sort of misty look. I think I could be a little bolder with areas that could be more black. Both these next tiles were done using a 01 pen, with the exception of Zedbra on the left which was done with a 08 just to see the difference. I used pencil for the shading.
Tangles: Florez, Keenees, Lotus Pods, Tripoli, Zedbra.
Tangles: Dutch Hourglass, Flukes, Flux, Miranda, Paradox

Next, I tried a normally-drawn tile, but did all the shading using stippling. I still much prefer the effect of pencil, but stippling can be a good option for shading should you find yourself with only a pen.
Tangles: Cubine, Golven, Hibred, Pearlz, Unyun and stippling

HOW TO?
Simply use your Sakura Micron (or similar) pen, hold it vertically (not slanted) and with a light touch tap the pen tip on the paper. Many, many, many, many, many times. :-)
More dots in one place gives darker areas. Fewer dots, lighter areas. You can use different sizes of pen for varying effects. If an area is to be quite dark you may want to begin with a larger pen to fill space faster, then switch to a tiny pen for finishing.

There is a little more about stippling from Canadian CZT Geneviève Crabe on tanglepatterns.com here.

Finally, here's a two minute video showing the development of a portrait done entirely in stippling. Prepare to be amazed!


Hero from Miguel Endara on Vimeo.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Circular tangles as mandala centers (#2)

Here are more Zentangle-inspired mandalas using an apple corer as a simple mandala template and some of the many circular tangles as centers.

At the center: Undiala
Other tangles: Black Pearlz, Paradox, Striping (sort of)

In the next one I repeated some of the center elements at the outer edge. This can provide more cohesion and unity.

At the center: Daggerly
Other tangles: Beadlines, Black Pearlz, (Munchin), Pearlz, Tipple

Much as I love the tangle Fengle, I'm not sure it was a good choice here. Cubine doesn't look very Cubine-ish at all, and Cirqital is too straight. Oh well, it's all an experiment!

At the center: Cirqital (a bit too straight)
Other tangles: Cubine, Fengle

(Done in sepia on Ingres paper with a 05 pen.)

Monday, February 13, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day!


Four Diamonds

The Zentangle challenge this week, via the CZT Diva, is from another CZT, Diana Hirsh. You can read about the four diamonds, the challenge, and see the logo here (scroll down). I decided to adapt the logo a bit and did my own take on it.

It made sense to position the tile on the diagonal, and the tangle Facets seemed the perfect one to use! Although I draw it differently than those instructions, the result is the same. I did it in varying sizes, the largest one last. Wish I'd thought of those broken line highlights (sparkles) earlier!

Tangles: Beadlines, Black Pearlz, Facets

Then I tried drawing the four diamonds in pencil and did a random string throughout. It seemed to work to leave the diamonds mainly empty, although I added some unusual shading.

Tangles: Flux and Tipple, plus some dots, lines and stripes.

Monday tiles (#3)

I'm glad I did Coaster after Shattuck on this one; it struck me that the ribbons of Shattuck could flow through the black areas of Coaster. Turned out rather well!
Tangles: Coaster, N'zeppel (both regular and random), Phuds, Shattuck

Sometimes my string creates a few sections that make a long, thin part. Then I often like to use various zigzag tangles, changing the tangle in each section. This keeps the cohesion given by the string but offers variety in the patterns. The tile below is an example of this; around the outside is all zigzag tangles. A few other variations crept in too!
Tangles: Baton, Knase, Tipple, Tripoli, Zedbra
How to choose what tangles to use?  
Be sure to read Linda Farmer's recent post on tanglepatterns.com and LOTS of comments and ideas following.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Circular tangles as mandala centers

Recently I commented that many of the circular tangles would make lovely centers in Zentangle-inspired mandalas. I decided to take my own suggestion. I got out my apple corer again to use as a small, simple mandala template. There are many circular tangles and I thought, best to start small. Here are the first ones.

At the center: Crossview
Other tangles: Black Pearlz, Caviar, Prestwood, Tortuca
plus rounding and stripes
At the center: Circfleur
Other tangles: Black Pearlz, Caviar, Circfleur again, Flux, Pearlz
At the center: Striped Snail
Other tangles: Black Pearlz, Caviar, Phuds
(Done on a parchment-y paper.)

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

CROON - a new tangle!

This idea popped into my head one morning: circles with a crescent moon shape on one side and the non-moon shape filled with something and a black background. Since there is already tangle called Crescent Moon (one of my favorites) I mashed the words together and came up with Croon. It's quite a simple tangle pattern with some careful blacking in.

I think the variation above has a 'seed pod' look about it.
Shading can be added on the inside edge of the non-crescent part. 

Here's Croon at work. On both tiles I've added a few tiny white circles amongst the "croons". Makes it a bit more outer spacey. It would be fun to mix Croon and Suzanne McNeill's Moon Rocks (scroll down).
Tangles: Beadlines, Croon, Keenees, Knase,
Not-a-Knot, Paradox, Tipple, Tripoli, Zedbra
In the next tile I used both the original Croon and the variation shown in the drawing instructions.
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Croon, Knase, Paradox, Screen, Yale

Monday, February 6, 2012

Monday tiles #2

Here are some more Zentangle tiles that I find rather interesting.
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Crescent Moon, Chebucto, Fohbraid,
Krli-qs, Tripoli maybe sort of, Yincut

I used Sue Clark's Tri-Shape string again - it's fun! - and added some black circles to balance it better.

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Dutch Hourglass, Knase, Moving Day,
Munchin, Paradox, Tripoli
Tangles: Afterglo, Black Pearlz, and Pearlz, Gneiss,
a little bit of Jonqal, Oussia, Striping, Y-Not

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Fibonacci


LEONARDO PISANO FIBONACCI
(pronounced FIB-on-AT-chee)
Image from
http://www.gap-system.org/~history/PictDisplay/Fibonacci.html

Leonardo Pisano is better known by his nickname Fibonacci. He was born in Italy but educated in North Africa where his father held a diplomatic post. Fibonacci was taught mathematics in Bugia, an Algerian port city. He travelled widely with his father and recognised the enormous advantages of the mathematical systems used in the countries they visited. 

Fibonacci ended his travels around the year 1200 and returned to Pisa. There, he wrote a number of texts which played an important role in reviving ancient mathematical skills and made significant contributions of his own. Of his books, some no longer exist, but we still have copies of Liber abaci written in 1202. A mathematical problem in Liber abaci led to the introduction of the Fibonacci numbers and the Fibonacci sequence for which he is best remembered today:
"A certain man put a pair of rabbits in a place surrounded on all sides by a wall. How many pairs of rabbits can be produced from that pair in a year if it is supposed that every month each pair begets a new pair which from the second month on becomes productive?"
Trying to figure out things like this muddles my brain and neurons go off like holiday fireworks. I generally have to draw pictures with arrows, so I'll take it from the experts that the resulting sequence is 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144 and so on. In this sequence each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers. It appears in many different areas of mathematics and science. It relates directly to the growth patterns of trees, shells, flowers and animals, the proportions of human bodies and what we perceive as visually appealing or beautiful, and so much more.

You may have noticed that the Zentangle kit contains 34 blank tiles. You can buy tiles alone in packs of 55.

Here is a beautiful video that gives an overall impression, and a bit of hard information, about the Fibonacci numbers and sacred geometry. (Go full screen. It's worth it.)