Monday, January 18, 2016

Amulets with gems

Here are more of those gorgeous gems that some folks have been doing lately! I started one on a round tile and it seemed rather magical, so I've decided to call them amulets.

The first was on a tan, pre-strung, zendala tile. Doing the gems on non-white paper is a little tricky because you don't have the white background to give translucence. To counteract that, I began with some white pencil in the gem areas.
AMULET: GEMS OF DIVINE MYSTERIES
4.5" diameter; pen and ink, brush pens, colored pencil on paper
Tangles: Emingle, Pearlz, Snaylz, Tipple and hints of Parabola

I tried another, again on a pre-strung Renaissance tile. This time I limited the 'gems' to red and blue. I also added a little copper foil in the 'suns' at the outer edge, but it's hard to see here.
AMULET OF FIRE AND WATER
4.5" diameter; pen and ink, brush pens, colored pencil on paper
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Cubine, Pearlz, Tipple
I was really pleased with a turquoise stone I'd drawn on an ATC recently and wanted to try that again.
AMULET FOR THE SKY
4.5" diameter; pen and ink, brush pens, colored pencil on paper
Tangles: Finery, Floo, Pearlz, Tipple, and hints of Crescent Moon

Again on white. I wanted to attempt opals. Something's not quite right about them, but I'm not unhappy for my first go at it. I think there may be too much color.
AMULET FOR RAINBOWS
4.5" diameter; pen and ink, brush pens, colored pencil on paper
Tangles: Tipple and Zewm

Here's another one on white paper, the same pre-strung tile as the first one here, this time with all the colors that make the translucence wonderful.
AMULET: A MINE RICH IN GEMS
4.5" diameter; pen and ink, brush pens, colored pencil on paper
Tangles: Beadlines, Black Pearlz, Pearlz, Snaylz, Tipple

I expect I'll be doing more of these. They're just too much fun!

For two good tutorials about drawing these gems check the links on my recent post about gem ATCs.

23 comments:

  1. I love the turquoise and the rainbow (opal?) ones beautiful work Margret :)

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  2. Margaret, these take the ZenGems to an entirely new level. Your amulets are breathtaking!

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  3. reminds me of something beautiful in leather.

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  4. i would love to have the turquoise one as a ring

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  5. These are astounding. Your work just gets deeper and richer and more beautiful all the time!

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  6. OOOOH, the opal one is gorgeous!!!! I wanna be able to make art like you when I grow up. :-)

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  7. Yeah, yeah, I just knew once you got rolling on gems, they would be mind-blowing, Margaret! Just gorgeous!

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  8. Beautiful work! I haven't tried the gems yet but this is inspiring me to give it a go.

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  9. All of these are so beautiful. You have no idea how much you inspire me to practice, practice, practice. Thank you for sharing your wonderful, creative talent & beautiful art.

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  10. Love them all. Can't pick a favorite. They are all stunning.

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  11. These are gorgeous. Opals are tricky things - tiny fragments of colour all mixed together. I think the problem may be that the areas of colour in your opals are too large? It's a tough one. But I could see immediately, before I read your description, that they are opals, so you definitely have it working, if not working entirely to your satisfaction. Your gorgeous tiles make me feel like rushing away from teh computer and picking up my pens.

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    1. That's a good point Michael. Next time I'll try smaller patches of color.

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    2. I don't know why, but that comment came up with my husband's google account (I wish he wouldn't use my computer). Haha. He gets credit for having an artistic bone in his body. Haha.

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  12. Thank you for sharing your amazing talent with us. As always, your work is incredible and inspiring.

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  13. Margaret, thank you for sharing your amazing talent with us. Your work is always inspired and something we all look forward to enjoying. 💜

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  14. These are truly magical tiles! Love them!

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  15. Wonderful zendalas. I like the colourful ones - the first and the last. They really make good mood.

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  16. You have taken ZIA to a new level. These are simply breath-taking. Thank you for sharing with us. You are truly an inspiration!

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  17. I would be honored to wear any of those if I could just reach in and grab them. (Which it feels like I can do!) How many years have you been doing this? I see wonderful works like this and it makes me feel like a dud compared to it. Will I ever see the light of day?

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    1. Thanks so much for your kind comments! I see so many gems recently that I think are much better than mine, and I want to try some other methods. I've been doing art since I was about three or four - never really wanted to do anything else!

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