Ebony and Ivory

Black and white. Half and half. 50/50. That's this week's challenge from the DivaCZT: try to keep the artwork in equal balance.

I haven't had much success with this (maybe I was trying too hard) although I don't mind my first effort. I chose tangles that were fairly equal black and white, but had to made a few adjustments once they were on the paper! I also tried out TanglePatterns string #53.

Tangles: Bunzo, Firecracker, Knightsbridge, Paisley Boa, Unyun

Then I thought of using a white tile and a black tile, half and half. I eyeballed a shape that looked to be about half the tile and cut it out with an Xacto knife. Then I drew an identical shape on the other tile and cut it out. Then I taped the black shape into the white tile and vice versa. Cool. I like the idea and may use it again, but I'm not particularly happy with the results in terms of this challenge.

The first one here is the white shape in a black tile. The equal black and white made the whole tile too monotoned so I grayed some of the background. Having darkened that, I thought I should lighten something else, thus the white dots in Bunzo (which I like!). Interesting, but still too monotone. On to the next one.

Tangles: Bunzo and Demi

Here's the black shape in the white tile. I did one tangle a much larger scale than the other, which I think helps a lot. I again added some gray on the background, and did some white highlights on some of the black squares. I found that if I let the white ink dry really well and went over it a second time it was whiter. I love what I've been seeing others do for this challenge and I'd like to tackle it again later.

Tangles: Bunzo and Dyzzee

But here... here's my idea of Ebony and Ivory in true perfection. These are the children of a friend, a fair-haired, fair-skinned Canadian married to a lovely dark Haitian. Aren't they absolutely gorgeous?!?!?