Mistakes? Methinks not.

We do make mistakes. But that doesn't mean we have to abandon the entire project. There's almost no mistake that you can't do something with, and maybe even make it better.
This concept is a 180 degree turn from my attitude 35 years ago in University. If I did something I hadn't intended I'd often scrap the thing and start over. An important message brought to me by Zentangle!

First, here are two"mistakes" that my students have made.
Once in a while, learning the tangle Florz, someone puts the little black squares in line with the square grid rather than doing little diamonds at the intersections.

It's a rather interesting variation. And as proof that it's really not a mistake, here's a floor I saw in a historic building.

When drawing Crescent Moon, occasionally someone will think the Aura lines go all the way down to the base line all the time rather than keeping the Aura happening, with space between each row of lines. It's an interesting, tunnel-like variation.

Seven ways to deal with something displeasing.

1. Shade.
Besides adding wonderful dimensionality to your art, shading is a great way to hide or disguise something that's a bit disappointing. Go to the dark side with your pencil.

2. Overlay with a tangle that is mostly black.
Of course you'll think immediately of Bronx Cheer, usually done in raspberry form, but demonstrated here as a border pattern.
Or try Punch from Sandy Steen Bartholomew's book Totally Tangled. Simply draw some circles around parts you do like (or do a regular pattern of circles) and fill the rest of the area with black. I used a variation in the darkest section of the tile below, where I'd done something I just didn't like. Maybe try squares or triangles. If there's a LOT of black, refer ahead to idea #6.

Tangles: Keenees, O-Bob, Punch, Tipple, Tripoli,
stripes with highlights

3. Try the Tranzending technique.
You can watch Rick and Maria demonstrate it here. It will still leave a lot of what you already drew showing, but perhaps you can draw a heavy line over your "mistake" - and add some heavy shading. ;)

Tangles: pinched Assunta, Black Pearlz, Yincut
overlaid with Echoism

4. Do it again, and again...
Made a little booboo? Do it again a few more times and it will look as if you intended it as a cool "Oooh, look at that!" kind of thing.

5. Accept it. Be creative. Deal with it.
Accept what happened, see it as an opportunity to be creative, and make something of it.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

In the tile below, the tangle Chebucto went haywire at the left end. I'd put some lines on the wrong side of the black squares. But it's interesting how the tangle interlocks at one end and flies off in ribbons at the other. If I hadn't told you, you probably would have thought I intended it. :)

Tangles: Chebucto, Drupe and Fracas,
and one whose name I forget!

6. Cover it. Then maybe tangle on top of it.
Use black. In the tile below I didn't like the pink sections; they seemed to take away from the yellow/orange. I blacked over them, then used a white pen to draw spirals. Other details completed it.

Before and after covering, and tangling over.
Tangles: Doodah, Pearlz, Stella, Within, and the sparkle enhancement

Or try another opaque ink. Sakura's Metallic ink pens cover well. Here are before and after pictures where I felt the dark blue Diva Dance (top left) was the wrong color, so I used silver and blue metallic ink to cover it, and added more for balance. (Now I'm not sure which one I prefer!)

Before and after covering with silver and blue metallic ink.

7. Channel your disappointment and carefully chop it to bits.
If I've been working on something that has its good points, but I'm generally not happy with where it's going, I cut it up and make bookmarks or ATCs. I also save bits for future collage.
Here are four bookmarks made from very different beginnings.

And four ATCs.

No mistakes, right? Only opportunities to have fun and be creative.
Here's wishing you a year of creative 'mistake' making!

Shades of Gray

I've been having fun with CZT Sonya Yencer's "Shades of Gray" idea to use pencil for some of the tangles. She demonstrates this technique using the tangle Jetties, so that's what I used for my first attempt.

This technique can be used with other tangles of course, and next I tried it with Aquafleur, one of many favorite tangles. I wonder if it doesn't work quite as well because of the Aura around Aquafleur, but I love Aquafleur with an aura!

I wanted to try it with a 'border' tangle and did it with Skye, a tangle I deconstructed a little while ago.

Ginili, from Randi Wynne-Parry, also works very nicely!

Molygon works alright but I think the black lines are too heavy. The details in Jetties also add a lot. Perhaps if details were added to Molygon?

As I typed that I thought, "Yes. I really should try adding details to Molygon." So, what do you think? Better with details or better without?

Sonya has a project kit available on Etsy through Acadia Laser Creations. It comes with clear instructions and all the tools you need to do this. If you're interested, you can see it in Jenny Perruzzi's shop here.

Shading first

Say what?

I was sharpening a woodless pencil and was dismayed at all that wonderful graphite just going to waste. I thought, "I could smudge it all over some paper and it would be like doing shading before the tangling." So I did.

I took out two white tiles and sprinkled the shavings on one, placed the other upside down on top of it, and rubbed them together. Ta-da! Well, uh, no. They looked really messy and too dark and I almost threw them out, but I thought, "No mistakes, just opportunities. See what happens." So I did.

The smudges offer their own unique sort of 'string', suggesting areas and shapes. On one tile I saw several large ovals, and Festune came to mind so I started with that. When I'd finished the ink drawing, I added a bit more shading in some places.

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Dandelion Seeds, Drobbles, Festune

The other one seemed to have two large disks. Again, when done all the ink drawing, I added more shading, especially under the smaller disk.

Tangles: Beadlines, Black Pearlz, Daggerly, Drupe, Pearlz, Perfs

I wanted to try more, and on tan, and this time I took a picture of the smudged tiles. They look quite uninspiring, like they fell in the mud or something.

But here they are with tangles!

Tangles: Blake, Blooming Butter, Frosty, and elements of Drupe

Tangles: Circfleur, Pearlz, Tipple

It's kind of a fun, different way to create sections on your paper, but I don't think I'll be doing much more of this. I need another way to use those wonderful graphite shavings.

Attempting white on black...

...with varying degrees of success. I find working in white ink on black paper very challenging.

Tangles: Chartz, Flux, Paradox, Purslane, Seljuk

Part of the challenge is the "shading" which in this case is really highlighting. It's already dark; what I need to add is lights not shadows. I find myself trying to think in reverse and then my brain hurts.

I used my initials 'MB' for a string.

Tangles: Black Pearlz (in this case, white!),
Crescent Moon, Florez, Paradox, Tipple

I tried a spiral and added a little metallic green ink.

Tangles: Coaster, Flux, Tipple

My Zenstones arrived and I couldn't wait to try those for the shading/highlighting. It's a lovely effect once blended, softer than the white pencil.

Tangles: Beadlines, Black Pearlz (in this case, white!),
Camelia, Fiore, Knightsbridge Aura, Lamar

There's something here alright. It's such an interesting effect and I enjoy the challenge. But I think I just have so much fun - and so many ideas for - working on white paper I'm not sure I'll be doing a lot of white on black. It remains to be seen.

Zentangle 7 - new book

Yikes! I found this, half-written, in my draft posts. It had fallen out the bottom of the screen and I'd forgotten about it. Now it's finished and ready for you, dear readers. :)


Some months ago Suzanne McNeill asked if I would be interersted in contibuting artwork to the next book about Zentangle from Design Originals. Are you kidding?!? YES! She asked me to use some of the new tangles that would be in the book, so I got a sneak preview and have been trying to hold back from using any of them in work that I've posted between then and now.

However, Zentangle 7 is published and available and now I can share! 

Here are two mandalas that I have in the book, showing some of those 40 new tangles, in situ.
This pink one (it's on the cover!) is on a standard 3.5" tile. I used Prismacolor's Magenta pencil for shading. I began with an apple corer as a template. (Search 'apple corer' under my Labels for more examples.)

Lots of NEW Tangles! Blooms, Cuddles, Sunflower, Thorns.
Plus Hurakán, Knightsbridge Aura and Black Pearlz

This multi-colored one was done on a blank Zendala tile, and again I used the apple corer as a template, adding the smaller circles and the outer ring. The new tangle Firecracker (love it!) reminded me of the outer ring on some Tibetan mandalas so I chose pen colors that reminded me of those also. Besides the basic colored pens I also used black ink, white ink, some metallic inks, and colored pencils for shading.

ALL NEW Tangles! Firecracker and Starburst,
plus Amaze, Tortuca and Tripoli.

Suzanne did a video to promote Zentangle 7. You will recognize these two pieces in it! In case you haven't seen it, here it is.



In the video Suzanne demonstrates a method to create a six-pointed mandala. I tried this idea using a peanut butter lid and a Zendala tile.

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Dansk, Lotus Pods, Seljuk

 That piece is another example of how different, and better, something can look with shading. Here it is, before and after:

And another one. Here I added some "pearls" and black gems.

Tangles: Allium (sort of), Pearlz, Starburst

Just add shading and... voilá!

BEFORE:

Tangles: Barnacle, Cruffle, Pearlz, Striping

AFTER:

I used a mandala template from Erin Olsen's Bright Owl blog, Zendala dare #11.

Eccentric circles revisited

For some reason recently, I pulled out this piece that had been sitting around for over a year, very little work done on it. It was rectangular but I was able to cut it down to a square. One of the reliable things I do with art that isn't working is this: Draw a circle on it and see what happens. Works almost every time!

Tangles: Assunta, Black Pearlz, Coaster, Crescent Moon, Knightsbridge,
Munchin, Paradox, Pearlz, Prestwood, Providence, Tipple, Tortuca, Tripoli, Xyp
and stripes with highlights

I used black, various blues, and gray inks. One circle overlapped another and so on and so on. This happened shortly after the Diva's challenge to use circles so of course I had to title this one "Eccentric Circles". (Thanks Laura for the fun word play!)

This piece is another good example of how shading can make a tremendous difference. Here it is before. Rather dull in comparison I'd say.

Zendala dare #10

I haven't done one of these dares for a few weeks, although I have some templates sitting ready. This one was done on a blank Zendala tile in an interesting color of ink, a deep red/brown that I think would be called Oxblood. A Tuscan Red Prismacolor pencil did well for the shading.

Tangles: Bilt, Ionic, Jalousie, Opus, Providence, Shrock

When I finished the ink drawing it didn't look like much and I had the feeling that this was one where the shading would make a BIG difference. Was I right? :)

If you want to join in Erin's (Bright Owl) weekly Zendala Dare go to her blog.

Stippling - a tutorial

Stippling is a delicate drawing technique with lovely results. In this technique the drawing is composed entirely of tiny dots. Some very impressive shading can be accomplished this way.

Drawing by Jayel Aheram on Flickr. Image licensed on Creative Commons.

Christine Farmer does a lot of pen and ink work using stippling. You can see examples of her work here. She says, "Stippling as a technique requires precision, skill, and concentration, and I like the fact that progress is necessarily slow and steady." Sounds rather zen, doesn't it?
Noli Novak frequently does illustrations for the Wall Street Journal employing this technique.

Image from Noli Novak's website

Some superb artwork can be created using only stippling. BUT... it can also be used in small amounts. It's a terrific way to achieve an effect in pen and ink that is other than black, white, or lines. Some time ago I tried a very simple Zentangle tile using only stippling. For the string I overlapped two 8s. There is no pencil shading.

CZT Donna Hornsby's tangle Keenees uses tiny dots... basically stippling. When stippling in Keenees you can go darker into the corners, like this:

I thought it would be interesting to do some Zentangle tiles entirely in stippling. I found it has a sort of misty look. I think I could be a little bolder with areas that could be more black. Both these next tiles were done using a 01 pen, with the exception of Zedbra on the left which was done with a 08 just to see the difference. I used pencil for the shading.

Tangles: Florez, Keenees, Lotus Pods, Tripoli, Zedbra.

Tangles: Dutch Hourglass, Flukes, Flux, Miranda, Paradox

Next, I tried a normally-drawn tile, but did all the shading using stippling. I still much prefer the effect of pencil, but stippling can be a good option for shading should you find yourself with only a pen.

Tangles: Cubine, Golven, Hibred, Pearlz, Unyun and stippling

HOW TO?
Simply use your Sakura Micron (or similar) pen, hold it vertically (not slanted) and with a light touch tap the pen tip on the paper. Many, many, many, many, many times. :-)
More dots in one place gives darker areas. Fewer dots, lighter areas. You can use different sizes of pen for varying effects. If an area is to be quite dark you may want to begin with a larger pen to fill space faster, then switch to a tiny pen for finishing.

There is a little more about stippling from Canadian CZT Geneviève Crabe on tanglepatterns.com here.

Finally, here's a two minute video showing the development of a portrait done entirely in stippling. Prepare to be amazed!


Hero from Miguel Endara on Vimeo.