Visual Haiku

A while ago I took an online class called Visual Haiku with Serena Barton (through TangleU). Serena uses traditional haiku poetry as inspiration for her non-subjective artwork and she took us through her process.

I was looking forward to bringing in a lot of mixed media elements and trying some techniques I don't often use.

Here is my completed piece, which looks nothing like Serena's work, and was not inspired by a particular haiku! 🙄

ALMOST CLOSE ENOUGH TO TOUCH
8" square • acrylic mixed media

The moon is a blob of dried paint that I'd peeled from the lid of a paint jar and saved. Why? Apparently for this piece! It rises off the surface a centimeter or so. I had fun smearing paint with a palette knife, spattering gold stars with a toothbrush, and collaging bits of my own old artwork onto the hills. I used stencils to create some patterns, then mostly covered them. What do you think?

Sketch Box October

I recently subscribed to Sketch Box, a monthly, themed box of art supplies. The first one I received is October's, and the supplies are themed around oriental ink painting.

The box contained a pad of sumi-e paper, three black drawing pens, a white pastel pen, a small pot of Scarlet calligraphy ink, an oriental brush and a block of ink and a grinding stone. I opted for the Premium boxes so all these supplies are lightfast.

Much as I adore oriental ink painting, it's not something I aspire to do, so I used the supplies in my own manner, 'drawing' rather than 'painting' and incorporating tangle patterns.

Here are three I did using only the materials provided. 

I have three pieces of Khadi paper sent by a tangling friend that I wanted to try. I used the SketchBox supplies plus some of my own. This is a heavy-weight, rough-textured (thus the fuzzy photos, my apologies) paper but curiously easy to draw on with a pen. I quite like it.
(I don't need more paper. I don't need more paper. I don't need more paper...)

Interestingly, the tool I was least interested in when I unpacked the box - the Edding white pastel pen - may be the one I use most in future. I wonder, what will November's SketchBox bring me?

Phi again. PP11 follow-up

A bijou tile with Apacore centered 
at one of the four phi intersections.

Revisiting the golden mean through Project Pack 11 was such fun I wanted to do more!

The pack contains a "markus operandus" for locating the phi proportions on Zentangle tiles. Markus Operandus II can be downloaded here, for free, at the bottom of the page. I've added marks to mine so I don't have to rotate my paper in order to indicate all the phi lines. I may have it laminated. It looks like this.

It can be used not only with the new Phi tiles, but also with the classic square (also apprentice and bijou) tiles, as well as the triangular 3Z tiles. I wanted to give them a whirl. 

The proportions work on a square just as well as a rectangle. I'd done this years ago when my focus was mandalas. With the mandalas I used all four phi lines to create the working space:

Here's a mixed media painting from that time using these phi ratios.

Pro Fanis  •  ©1998
30" (76 cms) square; acrylic and collage

I've been fascinated with sacred geometry and the golden mean for many years. Delighted to revisit it in this project pack, I created a number of square tiles. 

Using the same four lines as above I did a classic-size tile. You can see Hollyhock in the corners, Icantoo in the rectangles, and the center connects it all.

Tangles: Hollyhock, Icantoo, and hints of
Crescent Moon, Pearlz, and Sanibel

I had a gray tile with a mauve wash. It struck me that somewhere near the 'center' of the flower shape might be a phi intersection. Here is the finished tile, with backwards steps to the mauve wash.

Tangles: Aquafleur, Pearlz, Pokeleaf

This is an eco-dyed tile that I subdivided into various phi-measured sections. I used Moonlight pens and gold ink as well as brown and sepia micron pens.

But triangles? The kit says it works with triangles, too. I don't see why not, but I'd never thought to try it before. On a rectangular shape, there are four phi intersections (shown above). I discovered that with a triangle, there are three.

The black and white 3Z tile below has the tangle Ayame, but instead of beginning it at the center I began at one of the intersections. On the tan tile, I used the six notches at the perimeter as places to begin the droplet shapes.

I'm grateful to Zentangle for reintroducing me to divine proportion. I plan to do a lot more with these measurements.

9 years !!!!!!!!!

(... and 9 exclamation marks.)  :)

An acrylic painting from nine years ago.A nine-petalled lotus, 16" in diameter.

I published my first ever blog post on 17 October 2010, a few months after I attended the third CZT teacher training in Massachusetts. On this nine year anniversary I wondered which are the nine most-read blog posts. Here they are, Letterman style:

9
Lilypads, a new tangle: 10305 page views.

8
Skye, a new tangle: 10520 page views.

7

Pixioze, a new tangle: 14841 page views.

6
Cockles'n'Mussels, a new tangle: 15675 page views.

5
Küustler, a new tangle: 33906 page views.

4
Copada, a new tangle: 40712 page views.

3
Cadent and then some: 41378 page views.

2
Gingham tangle instructions: 61,018 page views.

1
Aaand... the most read post over the past 9 years?
Paradox, and then some with 150,915 page views!!!

Aaaaaand...
Tomorrow I'll be having an anniversary giveaway!!!
Come back then to enter for a chance to win one of nine, nine-pointed, tangled mandalas on a zendala tile.

Enthusiastic techno-peasant artist

Hmm. Yes. Well. It seems some of you have been unable to post comments here lately. I've received e-mails. (Thanks.)

A while ago I enabled Google+ Comments, thinking that it would be an easier way for some of you to post comments. Unfortunately, the techno-peasant who does my blog and doesn't read everything through before pressing buttons (that would be yours truly) didn't realize that enabling Google+ would disable the other comment system.

So, back to the old method. I hope. I pressed more buttons.

Another unfortunately: if you commented using Google+ in the past few weeks, your comment - so they tell me - will evaporate. If you feel inclined to post it again I won't mind at all.

By way of apology and thanks for your patience, here are a few recent zentangle-inspired pieces to cheer your eyes and hearts.

"Blooming Rainbow" (c) 2013 Margaret Bremner
Zendala tile mounted on canvas, acrylic paint.
I've posted this piece before, but recently mounted it
and added the series of colored dots.

"Outside the Crazy Kitchen" (c) 2013 Margaret Bremner
Zentangle tile, will be mounted on canvas and painted, later.
Have you ever visited a science center with a 'crazy kitchen'
where everything looks normal, but the floor - in fact the entire room -
is tilted and you have to hang onto railings in order to make your way through the room?
This is outside that kitchen.
(If you've never visited a crazy kitchen, find one! So much fun!)

"Riverbank" (c) 2013 Margaret Bremner
Zentangle tile mounted on canvas, acrylic paint.
I kept trying to center the tile, and it always looked so boring.
Then I realized that the tree had to be OFF-center.
And yes, the 'sky' is a dark gray while the 'earth' is black.
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Coaster, Diva Dance, Emingle, Florez, Flux, Hollibaugh,
Hurly Burly, Lamar, Leaflet, Opus, Sanibelle, Tipple, Wud

Jack Wise, Artist

I have long enjoyed the intricate mandalas painted by Jack Wise. In particular I like how he often flows the same pattern through various color changes or shading.

In his early 30s Jack Wise moved from the United States to British Columbia, Canada, to pursue a life as a homesteader. That was in the early 1960s. After a brief hiatus, he returned to his painting with a passion that lasted the rest of his life. Wise was known for his calligraphy based upon Chinese brushwork, and for his colorful mandalas which embody a Buddhist cosmology. 

I originally had one of Jack Wise's mandala paintings on this blog post, but was requested to remove it. I did. Nonetheless, you can see some of his wonderful artwork here. Click on the yellow word "Contemplate", then on the yellow word "mandalas". Be sure to look at the detail images for each painting.

Digital Oriental brush play

Looking for yet another way to spend fun time at your computer? Try some digital Oriental brush-and-ink play here. 

(You can even save your masterpieces.)

Take Time to Laugh

For an artsy chuckle, wander around the blog That is Priceless - Art's Greatest Masterpieces Made Slightly Funnier. Steve Melcher, who operates the blog, is a two-time Emmy-winning comedy writer. He finds old world paintings and gives them updated and humorous titles.




This lovely little oil on panel by an anonymous artist from the

Flemish School has been re-titled

Liberace’s First Day of Kindergarten

Here is an oil on canvas by the British artist John William Godward that demonstrates the Effect of Alcohol on Model's Willingness to Pose Nude.

This 1424 fresco by the Italian painter Masaccio depicts St. Peter Alerting Lunch Companion that He's Forgotten His Pants

Enjoy!

Beautifying Brazilian favelas

Painted slums in Santa Marta.

"To prevent kids from getting caught up in the drug trade, the Favela Painting project pays Brazil’s youth to create murals for their communities... The hope is that within the next few years, the entire landscape of favelas will become a massive work of art, drawing attention to the needs of the poor and filling the community with pride.”

See more of the buildings here.