New Toys

I love playing with new tangle goodies like pens, papers, colored pencils, and other tools.  Although it's nice that I don't need a room filled with craft supplies to enjoy my Zentangle® practice, I do like to experiment with different things.  Fortunately, they're still pretty small.

This week I got to play with my new "Zencils" or stencils by Acadia Laser Creations.  This Zendala tile features one of the Celtic knot stencils.  The second I traced the stencil, all I could see was a knot of Zander across the whole tile.   I had a relaxing time filling in all of the areas.  For the smaller sections, I wanted to continue playing with line work and added some Paradox and Betweed.  The shading was just as fun as the tangling!

I'm looking forward to playing with the other stencils soon.

Just Try It

I was cleaning out a bunch of unused craft supplies for a recent yard sale, when I came across some pretty mulberry paper.  Instead of packing it to sell or recycling the scraps, I wondered if I could tangle on it.

I thought the lovely tan with brown flecks needed a tangled garden on it.  I added some color with Irojiten colored pencils.

I think this delicate piece is rather pretty.  I may have to try some more mulberry tangling.

If you find a new paper or other material, you may have found a diamond in the rough or, at least, a great new surface to tangle.

High Five!

My daughter loves to give high fives, or as she says, "high fibes."  After watching a very cool video of an easy technique of "drawing" a 3D hand, I knew I had to make one!  This was very easy and fun to do.  I used my Microns for the lines and Prismacolor pencils to fill in the areas.  I may try tangling the next one with wider gaps between the lines, but I wanted to get the trick down first.

Here is one of my hands and one of my daughter's.  I had to tangle her initials too.  :-)  This could be a great family activity.  Father's Day is coming up!

Christmas in May!

I love when a new box of art supplies comes to my door.  It's like Christmas pretty regularly around here.  Even when it's an order of books or Zentangle supplies to sell in my classes, it's always fun to receive inspiring new items.

The latest box contained goodies just for me!  I ordered a set of the new Tombow Irojiten colored pencils.  They are attractively packaged in little boxes.  Like most new things, ranging from craft supplies to clothes, I typically admire them and don't want to use them.  Sometimes I like the newness to remain, and sometimes I'm a little hesitant to jump in.

Why is that?  Do kids hesitate to rip open a box with a prized new toy inside?  Well, maybe with all of the fasteners used to keep toys permanently attached to packaging, but that's not quite the same.  :-)  Kids would likely devour the packaging if it meant being able to get to the toy goodness inside.  Toddlers, would squeal for the packaging itself!  As an adult, I hesitate.

The good news is it took less than an hour for me to crack open the box, pull out a pencil, and start tangling!  I bolstered up a little creative bravery by posting about my new acquisition with my fellow CZTs.

I've only used ten of the thirty pencils in this set, but so far, I like how they glide across the tile.  I used the fluorescence set (vol. 7).  Upon initial experimentation, I think they color more smoothly than the Prismacolor pencils, but I think the Prismacolors are more saturated and have a better fill.  It will be fun to explore with my new pencils more.

Here is my first piece with the Irojitens on a pre-strung black Zendala tile.  I have to play with scanning these darker tiles a bit more because it took a fair amount of editing to get the colors to be remotely close to what I see in person.  The pencil is a bit shimmery in person which is lovely.

Facing Fears

I can't draw.

I can't draw a person.

I can't draw a face.

Why not?

Do I need official art training to be able to draw a face?  Who decides if the face is good enough or realistic enough?  If there is no ideal face in human form, why must there be one in artistic form?  Where is this critic telling me that I can't do these things?

Inside of me.

I am my own worst critic.  I know my talents and strengths, but I have never considered drawing or art to be among these until I discovered Zentangle® art.  I truly feel like an artist now and am thankful that I've let go of the idea of what art should be.  Who says?  Who knows?  Who cares?

I've been proud of the fact that my inner perfectionist seems to be taking a vacation with a raspberry martini in hand.  She no longer wigs about trying new things or failing.  Again, who decides when we fail?  Do we get report cards in life?  Do I need my mom to sign a form saying that I have to try harder?

I used to see work by other artists and think, "I could never do that."  I'm so glad that I've let that silly notion go!  We are all human with various abilities and experiences.  Sure, some people bring more traditional art training to their Zentangle practice, but that doesn't mean I can't try to draw something my own way.  I love that we don't need to be classically trained artists to make relaxing and beautiful art with the Zentangle method.

I have been infinitely inspired by Norma J. Burnell's Fairy Tangles.  She is an amazing artist who combines beauty, nature, and art into her creations.

Instead of staring in jealous admiration, I decided to pick up a pen.  What was the worst that could happen?  I mess up?  I ruin a sacred piece of paper and spend twenty minutes in a lovely state of relaxed focus?  Oh no!

With my tangled gardens, I've loved the free feeling I have while creating.  I can't believe that I had the same feeling while creating my first ever earth goddess!  I used a rubber stamp to create the face and enhanced it a bit with some pen.  Next I started drawing long strands of patterns.  Wow, was this fun!  I didn't care if the strands really looked like hair.  I just filled in the lines with patterns that I enjoy.  Many are the same ones in the garden ZIAs I've been making.  I kept filling in patterns until I decided she was ready for some shading.

Where was the fear?  Why did I worry?  I didn't get struck down because I used a rubber stamp or because I put pen to paper.  Instead of being afraid or believing I couldn't do something, I tried something new with great results!  I loved the process, I felt relaxed and inspired, and I did something new.  Yeah, me!

I may have to start asking myself, "What's the worst thing that could happen?" more often in life.  I'm guessing the answer is much less tragic than my mind can imagine.

What are you afraid to try?  What would happen if you face your fears?

Creativity Unleashed

I'm enjoying a wonderful weekend in Northampton for a CZT retreat/training, Tangle U.

First, I'm in love with this town!  I have enjoyed every store and restaurant I've been to so far in the limited free time we have had.

Getting together with fellow tanglers is inspirational.  It's wonderful to share ideas, network, and gab.  We're all in the mood to get our tangle on, so it's a vibrant and buzzing environment.  It's nice to talk our tangle lingo and be understood.  We're a funny little creative Borg.

We didn't have any classes the first night, so we hung out and checked out the town.  I found an eclectic little shop that sold some pretty cool wooden spoons.  Yes, I had to tangle one!

Bright and early today we were up for a colorful journey with Marie Browning, my hero in the tangling with color world.  We created Dr. Seuss gardens with flowers, leaves, and very bright colors.  Trust me the the lighting in this photo doesn't do the colors justice!  It was really fun to add little critters like the dragonfly, ladybugs, and caterpillar.  I think my piece is a bit busy, but it was so fun to experiment with designs and color combinations.  I love my popped up dragonfly!  I bet my daughter would love this page.  

(Book)Marked experiments

I'm participating in a "Worldwide Zentangle Bookmark Swap" through Facebook with approximately 80 other tanglers this December.

I wasn't too sure what I wanted to do, so I experimented with a few things.

First I tried tangling on a paint sample card that I had planned to trim down to a bookmark size.  The Micron pen was far too slippery on the glossy card so my ink smeared in places.  The pen didn't show up as well on the orange areas and was very dark in the white divider spaces.  If I try this again, I'll certainly use a different pen or try to find a paint sample that isn't so glossy.  I liked the color gradation though.  Here was my bookmark attempt #1:

Back to the tangling board!

Next I thought of working on a large piece of paper to create a ZIA (Zentangle Inspired Art) piece that I'd cut into several strips.  I started it but didn't get too far before I lost my inspiration a bit after my colorful paint strip didn't work out.

Then I remembered that I had been experimenting with the watercolor/salt background technique that I had learned from fellow CZT Suzanne Binnie and thought I'd try it with my Twinkling H2Os.  I tested out the colors and the technique on small scraps of watercolor paper and left them to dry.  I thought the colors looked cool, but then I forgot about them.

Wait, why don't I make bookmarks out of my painted scraps?!?!?!  They were the perfect size for bookmarks.  I created one large tangled strip over the green/brown shimmery background.  I had so much fun, I did this all in one sitting.  I cut the piece in two and made two bookmarks.  I remembered to tangle on the back side of one before laminating.  Oops.

I love how they came out, but I should have scanned before laminating.  Note to self for next time!  I finished them off with some funky ribbons from my scrapbooking supplies.

Now I can't decide if I should send one or both.  I like them so much I just might have to keep one for myself.  :-)  Here they are:

Logo is a No Go

After seeing a tangled logo by Christine Turner Gardner, CZT at Tangle Party, I decided to create a challenge for myself.  I designed a "logo" that I could tangle.  It was fun to do, and I like the end result as Zentangle Inspired Art.

I think I'll still play around with this, but I need to get a better scan first.  I may try cropping it as well.

To invert or not to invert, that is the question.

After working on a tile featuring IX, to make sure I remembered how to do it from the CZT training, I started to play with my editing software.  I was interested in the inverted color mode with respect to this tile.  I think I'll have to try doing IX in white ink on a black tile to see if it's similar.

I absolutely love this pattern!  I find IX complex but very easy to do.  It's a great one for filling in a tile and getting into a zen mode for me.  I find myself immediately in a relaxed state because I don't have to think too much about it.  I just make sure to count the lines if I really get stuck.  Auras in threes.  I think this will be a go to tangle when I'm stressed about something.

Blind Tangling

After this week's Diva challenge featuring a blind string, I decided to try a blind tile.  I looked away from my tile, and tangled.  It was freeing in some ways because I didn't have to care how it looked, and I could focus on the process.  Then again, I really missed watching my design evolve and looking for shapes that called out for a particular tangle pattern (triangle and Paradox, etc.).

Overall, I'm somewhat impressed by my blind Paradox attempt.  Everything is fairly disjointed because I had a vague sense of where I had tangled already so they look like seperate designs.

If you haven't tried doing a blind string or blind tangling, I encourage you to try it.  For CZTs, it might be a good reminder for how it feels to be a beginner learning the Zentangle® method.

Let me know how your blind tangling experiment goes.  :-)

Blind tangle experiment.