Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Tangled up in blu-u-ue

Yes, I'm married to a Bob Dylan fan.

The diva's zentangle challenge this week is to use some color, specifically blue. In my first attempt I used my trusty Sakura micron pen - blue of course. I tried Coil (by Sue Jacobs) and have been enjoying Finery lately. I looked up the name of Marasu, having done it a few times but not knowing what it was called. This tile initially had a bit of Payne's Gray acrylic wash. I finished with some shading in blue pencil.

Blue challenge 1: Betweed, Coil, Finery, Marasu, Pearlz, Tipple, Xyp, checkered Aura, dots

On the second tile I used a heavier paper. I did a string in blue watercolor pencil and brushed all over with water. It was kind of pale, so I added more pencil lines. They were too prominent so I brushed more water on and let it (almost) dry. I drew some lines on the damp paper with an aging black Brush pen. They were rather dark; I'd have to deal with that later. I tangled away.

It wasn't developing particularly well and I made several rescue attempts. I tried one pattern and then another behind Gneiss. Neither worked and I filled it all with black. But then the star-point halves were too dark so I used a metallic blue pen to lighten them. The Finery at the bottom was too much so I got out my envelope of Saved Bits of Failed Art, found some blue snippets and stuck one on between the blue and black Finery. It looked better, but it wasn't enough. I glued on more blue-and-black bits. That was a definite improvement, but the initial wash had left some not-particularly-nice-looking color out to the edge of the paper. I did blue and black shading outside the border to disguise it.

I'm not sure yet what I think of it, but it certainly holds the title of the Strangest Zentangle Tile I've ever created!

Blue challenge 2: Betweed, Finery, Flux variation, Gneiss, Perfs, Pearlz and something I might call Ashbee.

20 comments:

  1. wow, very nice. I really like the bottom one :)

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  2. They are both very nice, but I really love the bottom one and all the contrast in color and tangles. It is very pretty!!

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  3. Both are wonderful. I was very entertained by the write-up of your process on 'the strangest zentangle'. Thank you for sharing the process you used for them.

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  4. You may consider Tile 2 to be "strange" but your innate sense of colour, balance and scale shines through and it presents a graceful face. That said, I really LOVE Tile 1 - possibly due to it's blue to the bluest degree colouring - have I mentioned I like blue? LOL!

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  5. I agree with Cam and Sue. They're both great, but the contrast of blue and black is just smashing!

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  6. Ooooh! Very pretty! I like the variations you did with coil too.

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  7. Nice work! The (as you called it) 'strangest tile' is my favorite. Love those Sakura colors.

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  8. I like strange....I look for strange..... so, I love tile#2. It speaks to me! M

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  9. What I like most about your tiles is how you shaded them. In your strange tile I like how the blue shading blends so effortlessly into the grey shading.

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  10. Hi Margaret, these are great - I find them intense and interesting - the more I look the more I see - AWESOME!!!

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  11. Both are beautiful;It seems to me that adding color to a tile awakens the creativity in the highest degree.
    thanks for sharing the proces you went true .

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  12. 1st, I looked and thought whacky doo, so clever, then up popped your version of 'strange' oh Margaret whacky double doo!!
    Love them!

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  13. I don't know how black and blue could make me want to jump for joy, but that's what I felt like when I saw your second tile. The first is beautiful, too, but that second one, geesh. I hope you take this as a compliment: you and 'strange' do nice things together!

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  14. Thanks so much everyone! I think the 'strange' tile is a good example of letting inspiration take you where it will, something I'm trying to do more frequently.

    The small size of a zentangle tile is perfect for this. I feel that if I completely mess up, no big deal. Now to transfer that sense of freedom to larger pieces...

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  15. Both are exquisite! I cannot possibly choose a favorite.

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  16. Your results are lovely. I'm enjoying the tangles that are done in blue pen.

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  17. Your sense of coloring always takes my breathe away… I love both tiles in all their otherness.

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  18. I love the way you problem-solve! Love those happy accidents, as well as the way you "fix" something you consider a problem!

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