Thursday, July 25, 2013

CADENT, and then some


Settle in. This is one of those long posts!

Cadent
is of one of Zentangle's 'official' tangles. It's simple, elegant and easy when you know the steps. It was designed by Maria Thomas and you can see her steps here, as well as some possible variations. Being basically a simple pattern, it lends itself to massive possibilities! It can be done with straight lines rather than curvy, but I prefer it with curvy lines so that's what I'll focus on here. Most of my examples aren't shaded yet; you should do that. :)

I want to start by sharing some of my favorite variations. My left brain realized that they would best be displayed in chart form.

And then some #1
A single row of Cadent makes a lovely border. You'll see a few scattered throughout this tutorial.



And then some #2
The square parts of Cadent can be filled with many different things for various looks. You may want to add Auras or ribbons to separate the squares. Think of some square grid tangles you like and see if you can adapt them. Here are a dozen ideas to get you started. I've used Cubine, Dex, Tortuca and Yincut, as well as other ideas.

And then some #3
If you make the circles larger they can be filled with something. Here are three possibilities. Think of tangles you like that are composed of small circles and try them out.
And then some #4
Cadent can be done as triangles too. I find this especially useful if Cadent is along an angled edge.
Using triangles, Cadent can be done in the round. Start with a central circle. Draw about six circles around it and connect all the circles using Cadent lines. Then you have to think triangles, add more circles, and keep going. For another method to arrive at almost the same pattern, see my tangle Wildwood.



And then some #5
You can do Cadent as rectangles instead of squares.

And then some #6
Here are some fancified versions of Cadent for more inspiration.
This border uses simple dots instead of circles, and alternates the direction of the 'scrolls'
And then some #7
For more ideas, see Patti Meijer's page of Cadent variations here.

And then some #8
Finally, I was about to throw out the samples I'd drawn for this post. Two of the large circle ideas and one with border designs caught my eye. Then I thought, "I could make ATCs out of those!"
ATCs developed from Cadent variations.
The large circle ideas are at the top and the 'border designs' are at the bottom.

Well, that should keep us out of mischief for a few days. Have fun!

You can see my "and then some" tutorials on other tangles here: Paradox, Knightsbridge, and Munchin.

76 comments:

  1. wow. . . just wow! jaw dropping wow! thanks, my brain is melting! :-) You're always an inspiration when I can't think of what to do next. . .

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  2. OH, WOW! Beautiful, creative, and organized. How do you do that ? I'm practically speechless. How long did it take you to do all of those. More long posts please. This is so inspiring.

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    1. Thanks Cris! It took me all of one day, and patches of two or three other days.It's great to push myself like that as I discovered some new ideas in the process. :)

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  3. So inspiring! Your ability to fill space with perfection always feels me with wonder!

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  4. Wow! I loved reading this post about one of my favorite tangles. This will keep me busy for months! Thanks for sharing so many ways to see creatively.

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  5. Totally utterly delicious & a joy at 5.30am when sleep has eluded me. Shall have great fun exploring these. Thank you so much for your posts - they stretch me in ways I couldn't have imagined & there's such a huge sense of learning when I visit.
    Paula (PEP)

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    1. Thanks Paula. I have only had insomnia once or twice, but it was defifinitely not fun. I can sympathize.

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  6. Wow, thank you Margaret for this very useful post. I love the Cadent Pattern as well and like using it in different types. But now I can be even more creative with it. I think I'll soon try a Cadent Monotangle whith your examples :)

    Have a wonderful day,
    Janina

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    1. Thanks Janina. I find monotangles a really terrific way to explore a tangle. Enjoy!

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  7. This is an amazing post! Thank you for sharing all those variations on cadent. I thought I found a lot of tangelations, but you make me rethink and redo and have fun with so much more beautiful tangles. I know what I will be doing this weekend.

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  8. Fabulous gathering of Cadent's!!!

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  9. amazing. Thank you for sharing all these ideas. I will have to practice some more with Cadent!

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  10. Margaret, I LOVE this blog today! I often find it hard to "see" what I can do with a certain tangle...this being one of them. You opened it all up for me!! Wonderful and beautiful examples!! Thanks for showing me how to think outside the box today! :)

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  11. Thank you for sharing this! I love your work & was inspired to do my first Zentangle the other day. I'm seeing patterns everywhere now. Thank you for sharing how you create some of the patterns. That really helps!

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    1. Yay! I'm sure it won't be your last Zentangle. :)
      If you don't know about tanglepatterns.com check it out. Lots of links to how-to instructions.

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  12. I love doing cadent too. I've done a lot of these same variations but some of them are new to me. I really like how organized you are about presenting them. Very well done. I always try to teach my advanced classes that there are dozens of ways to vary each tangle they learn, and that they should experiment and play and see what they can come up with. We use cadent a lot as a starting point.

    And your ATCs are super nice!

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  13. You NEVER cease to amaze me! Wow! I love your cross-section investigations of tangles ... this study/review of Cadent is equal to your study/review of Paradox. Thank you for always having a fresh and multi-leveled perspective of the tangles we all love to work with. Stunningly inspirational, as always! Thank you!

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  14. Margaret, you never cease to amaze! What a gift you have given in this awesome and comprehensive tutorial. Thank you thank you!

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  15. Fantastic Margaret!! Thanks for sharing and inspiring us. I don't know which to try first....

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  16. Margaret, do you ever sleep? Thanks so much for everything you do and share with us. What a gift you are!

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    1. Angela, I do sleep. What I don't do enough is house cleaning! My husband is likely going overseas for some months in the fall and someone said to him, "Ooh, you're going to have to do your own housework!" and I thought, "No. I"M going to have to do my own housework!" :P

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  17. I have always loved Cadent, but now....WOW! I love your creative imagination and that you take the time to write up these tutorials and share them with all of us. You ROCK, Margaret! Thank You!!!

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  18. Ditto for everything above. Your mind is just awesome. I can't wait to start playing with these. Thank you soooooo much for sharing with all of us.

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  19. You never cease to amaze me!!! Loved the border especially!

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    1. Cadent does make lovely borders. Depending what you put beside it, you may want to add an Aura around the border to separate it from the tangle beside.

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  20. Wow, BONANZA!! Thanks Margaret, I've added a link to your "ode" on the Cadent page on TanglePatterns.

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  21. Wonderful creative imagination Margaret, Beautiful!

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  22. You are so creative! Many of us spend time collecting tangles and we don't stop to figure out how much can be done with just one tangle. Cadent is one of my top favourite tangles.

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  23. Crackerjack!! Margaret your cadent creations are snap happy super-duper!! Thank you so much for sharing.

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  24. Wonderful, beautiful....! So many variations of Cadent! Thank you so much for sharing. Also I like your idea to present the variations in a chart. It´s so inspiring for other tangles too. Over again thank you!

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  25. Margaret this tutorial takes my breath away! Love this. You are such a great teacher and fabulous artist. Thank you for this - it made my day! What a gift you are to all of us. Hugs, Patty

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  26. You are SO generous Margaret.
    Most people would put this into a book and sell it!
    You are giving it away free!
    WHAT a wonderful gift!!! Thank you thank you.
    I plan to devote a page in my personal "handbook" of tangles to your cadent chart and the 12 examples.
    Just as I did with Maria's "grid" chart.
    It is just mind-boggling all the variations possible.
    But you explain things SO well.

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    1. Thank you Ginny. Maybe one of these years I'll get a book happening...

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  27. Wow! This post has me drooling! I love seeing this art form through someone else's eyes-- gives me fresh perspective. Thanks for the time you've dedicated to sharing this with us :)

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  28. Margaret ~ I just want to thank you so much for sharing this treasure of cadent variations. Your exploration of this tangle makes me think you really felt good, if not wonderful, while you were creating. Truly a marvelous collection ~ again, thank you!

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  29. Rick Roberts just linked this page in their new Zentangle letter. OMG. I'm going to print out this page so I can practice, practice, practice. Your art is so lovely, thank you for sharing it with us.

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  30. This is so inspiring. I have done cadent in a few different ways but nothing like these at least most of these. I am so happy to see so many different ideas for cadent as it is one of my favorite tangles to do.
    Thank you so much Margaret for you putting this up and creating some fabulous variations. Just what I needed right now. Thanks.

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  31. Well done. I like doing Cadent too. One of the zendalas I show my class has sections done in different colors. I then tangled basic cadent on the entire piece. I then added a different tangleation each time the colored section changed. It blows my students mind when the recognize the basic cadent throughout.

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    1. That's a great idea Sue! I might steal it. :) Is it something you show finished, or do you demonstrate it to the class?

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    2. It's a piece I did last year. Here's the link to it http://suejacobs.blogspot.com/2012/06/first-day-of-summer-cadent-zendala.html

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  32. Wowzers is too small a word for this amazing number of beautiful designs that came from one 'simple' doodle! I"m very, very new at Zentangling, and I really enjoy doing the different variations on the basic forms. There are more here than I could imagine, EVER! I've done all kinds of art in my 50some odd years, and this one I'm doing just for me right now. All the other types became business, work, or something I taught. The Zen part of it actually works quite well for me, and I do it when I'm stressed out. It's nice to see something good come out of a stressed time.
    Thanks for the inspiration!
    Renae

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    1. Thank you so much! I expect you'll become an addicted tangler too. :)
      A wee word of warning: Be wary of dropping the dreaded "D" word (doodle) amongst tanglers! Tangling and doodling are really very different, although the results often look rather similar. Doodling can be very helpful in some circumstances. It's done by the hand while the brain is focused elsewhere, such as a lecture or phone call. In Zentangle, on the other hand, one's focus is entirely on the drawing, the pen, the lines, the patterns.

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  33. It is a very valuable share from you Margaret. What a range you have covered! Kudos

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  34. Margaret,
    I love what you have done with cadent. This gives me ideas to branch out with the tangles.

    Jane

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  35. Wow...love love love your ideas...thanks so much for sharing your inspirations so we can be inspired as well. -r-

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  36. You certainly weren't kidding when you said ..."and then some"! The original Cadent has always been a favourite with me and now its had babies!! What a family!!! :-))

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  37. Oh my!! I never..! Wow! Thank you! Love, Tracy

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  38. I'n so very glad that you did Not toss the samples & made ATC's out of them. Each vartation on them are different than the one shown in the "main" section of your presentation. Thanks, Tracy

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  39. Wowser is right! Cadent is probably my favorite tangle. Your ideas could keep me busy for weeks! Thanks so much for sharing these wonderful ideas.

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  40. OMG !!! It's mind blowing!

    Malathi

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  41. thank you for the encouragement and inspiration

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  42. Oh my! They are all so beautiful and inspiring.

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  43. Thank you Margaret, I had not thought of Cadent in many of these ways before, you have again inspired me.

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  44. wow and wow again. Thanks for sharing, it is truly amazing.

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  45. Rick and Maria shared your "Cadent and then some" with us (class 16) this past week. What an inspiring resource! My mind just went *boom*.

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    1. I had heard that they showed this post to seminars. Glad you enjoyed it! And welcome to the ranks of CZTs! :D

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  46. Great Stuff. I like the way you explored the different ways of using the same pattern on one tile. It looks lovely. You are a great inspiration.

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  47. I enjoy drawing Cadent a lot, but now, with all these great ideas, it'll be a lot more fun! BTW, I really, really like what you do with "Aquafleur," Margaret; your drawings of everything are always so beautiful, but that particular pattern, especially in the blues and greens, is simply amazing.

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    1. Thanks! I've been having a little love affair with Aquafleur recently!

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  48. I just loved all the variations you have done here.. Thanks a lot for sharing!

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  49. Mercy how MARVELOUS!!!! I was lucky to see some of the tiles our fellow CZTs shared after attending Zen Again and sitting with you!!! Thank you for sharing here for those of us homebound!

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  50. Thank you, Margaret. I echo the sentiments expressed in others' comments, especially about how I appreciate your generosity. I know I'll enjoy sifting through your variations and playing around with them in the days, weeks, months, years to come!!!!

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  51. Oh la la comme c'est jolie je voudrais essayer chaque modèle ,
    merci encore du partage

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  52. There are such a lot of posts, but I'll write anyway. I dropped into your Cadent-dedicated page and was delighted! Cadent is a pattern I always fall back on if I don't know what to do next with a space (I work on A3 all the time) and the variations you have created are simply stunning. Thank you. Lots of them are bound to crop up on my drawings from now on!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it Faith! I like Cadent but often forget about all the possibilities!

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  53. Well, here I am six years after you gave us this delightful collection, Margaret, and I'm speechless (a huge miracle in itself, believe me!); I often cannot sleep due to a lot of chronic pain, so drawing is my mental relief. Your wonderful pages and pages and ideas upon ideas will certainly get me through quite a number of "I'm-going-to-be-awake-all-night-so-let's-drink-flavored-water-and-draw-instead" nights.

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    1. Jorojalo, I think I missed this when you posted, 'way back pre-Covid-19! I hope you've had fun exploring.

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  54. So excited to have found this!! Have loved playing with Cadent but your ideas have sent me into hyperspace with it! Thank you!!

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    1. I'm so happy that I could be the cause of your happiness Paula! Have fun!

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