Friday, January 28, 2011

More fun with blind strings

I really enjoyed Laura Harms' challenge to do a zentangle tile having done the string with your eyes shut. For one thing, it sometimes creates wobbly lines to work with. I also find that it usually places the string off-center - and occasionally off the page! That was the part I liked best. It sent me right over the edge! :-)

It reminded me of when the technology of photography arrived on the scene and artists started playing with it. It produced some interesting compositions with off-center subjects. Sometimes the subjects were only partly in the picture. Sometimes the images were even blurry. It gave painters a whole cartload of new things to think about! Gustave Caillebotte, a French painter working in the late 1800's, is one artist who was quite taken by this new way of conceiving the picture plane. Here are two of his paintings.
"The Oarsmen", 1877
"On the Pont de l'Europe" 1876-77, Kimbell Art Foundation, Fort Worth, USA
It looks perfectly ordinary to us now, but 140 years ago it was quite bizarre.

Okay, so coming back off that tangent, here are some of the blind string tiles I've done recently, admittedly much less impressive than Caillebotte's paintings.

with Zedbra and droplets

This tile includes a tangle pattern concocted by myself and Laura Harms, CZT, also in Saskatoon. It's along the left edge and it's called Zedbra.

Laura said about Zedbra: "...it was created by Margaret, but named by me... it's a little inside joke.  Margaret and I are both Canadian and in Canada "Z"s are pronounced zed not zee..."

Click here to see one of Laura's tiles (from her weekly zentangle challenge number 2) using Zedbra including highlights along the middle.

I'll post a how-to page on Zedbra soon (although you can probably figure it out yourself).

 This tile
includes a pattern
I discovered recently on
stART's blog. There are two
bold  stripey edges in this tile,
and two delicate rolling edges.
The delicate tangle is called
Organza Pleated Ruffle
and was designed
by Ruth Howell,
a friend
of stART's.
Ruth's tangle has dots
around  the curved parts,
so perhaps this is a tangleation!?
It works nicely with Lilypads.


13 comments:

  1. I find the "eyes shut" string fascinating also, and do need to try it more. All of these tiles are wonderful!!!

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  2. Your sense of composition and your beautiful, dippled shading continue to knock me over every time I visit. Thank you for posting this parade of tiles!

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  3. sigh - i just love looking at your tiles!!

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  4. these are all so lovely and inspirational!

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  5. I´m always looking forward your postings. The tiles you share are so delicate and so well composed!
    Blind-strings have become my favorites too, along with double-strings ;-).

    And this ORAGANZA RUFFLE pattern – is it a tanglation of COASTER?

    Love all your work!

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  6. Love your tiles! the last one is especially cool with the pods turning into bubbles.

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  7. faves-tile 1,3,5!
    just made a tile using your box spirals and diamond panes
    http://cukipokart.blogspot.com/2011/01/ive-played-my-cards-zt.html
    thank you :)

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  8. Nice tile Ildiko! I've left a comment with it.

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  9. Gorgeous tiles, kiddo! The blog was mine - startartblog.blogspot.com - and the pattern includes a dotted border beyond the curve so you've designed a tangleation of Ruth Howell's original tangle pattern, "Organza Pleated Ruffle". She doesn't have a blog yet, but you can check out her website for her Homeopathic practise at schedulewellnessnow.com

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  10. Thanks stART! (What's your real name?) I've changed my blog post to include the information you provided. Tell Ruth I really like her tangle!
    --Margaret

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  11. Sorry, kiddo! My "real" name is Christina Vandervlist, pleased to meetcha! *G*

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  12. Hi Christina. As an Australian we also say 'zed' so love it! I also love your butterfly and wondered what tangles you are using? As I am also relatively new to Zentangles and I have no one even close to learn from, I am getting all the patterns via the web. After 5 months I am addicted! Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Tracy, there are several CZTs in Australia but perhaps no one close enough to you. Check the teachers list on the Zentangle website:
      http://www.zentangle.com/index.php?option=com_czt&action=list&Itemid=139

      There is a tangle called Pina, from Carole Ohl, similar to what I used in the background of the "butterfly". I haven't looked at that tile in quite a while and wonder if it's something I made up at the time?!?!

      Margaret

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