Celtic Knot

"When you are at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on."   
 Theodore Roosevelt

Fellow CZT Cherryl Moote recently wrote a blog post on drawing Celtic knots. She included some videos of how to draw different versions. The videos were very helpful and they inspired me to try making one. 

This is one of my colored zendala tiles that I began with.

Following her video, which you can find here, I drew this knot. I have to admit that I drew it in pencil first so I could tweak it as I went.
 

Then I added some lines in the knot itself, and tangled Opally along with parts of Beelight and Laria. I added a little bit of blue stardust gelly roll pen (whose sparkle totally gets lost in the picture), and shaded with pastel pencils and graphite.
 

I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out. Thanks Cherryl!

Study of a Tile

"It's easy to make good decisions when there are no bad options."    Robert Half

I've been having so much fun with my pre-strung colored tiles! Here is one of them that I wasn't so sure that I liked at the beginning, but it has grown to be one of my favorites.

Since there are so many different options for tangling these tiles, I decided to take this tile and tangle on it using three different methods/styles. In the first one I show here, I tangled mostly on the "pathways", using one pattern. This is the way I tangled them when I first designed the tiles. I love how relaxing it is to follow the paths without any thinking about where to go next, especially when I just draw with one pattern (I've also tangled them like this using two patterns.) I didn't add any shading to this one, and opted to leave a chunk of pathway untangled.

Pattern used: Diva Dance

Another way to use the tiles is to tangle behind/in between the paths. Although this is not my favorite way to tangle them, I've learned that I like them better when I leave some of the behind spaces open instead of tangling them all. On this tile I added some color using stardust gelly roll pens and some shading with pastel pencils.

Patterns used: Purk, Fassett, Falls, Tipple, and Crescent Moon

For my last one, I chose to just tangle, kind of ignoring the pathways. Not necessarily tangling on them or behind them... just wherever my pen decided to go. By the way, all of these were tangled using a Micron 01 pen. When I first started on this one, I wasn't too sure about it. But I have to say that this is now one of my all time favorite tiles that I have ever made! What really brought this one to life for me was the shading, which I did a little differently than ever before. I shaded using pastel pencils, which is nothing new, as I use them a lot. But after that shading, I went back with graphite and added darker edges, which, I think, added more depth to the tangles. I've never combined pastel pencil and graphite shading together in the same pieces/shapes/elements.

Patterns used: Flux and Pokeleaf

So there you have it, an in-depth study of one tile. Depending on your individual tastes and style of tangling, there are so many different ways to use these tiles. No bad options - I love the quote that I began this post with. (I wish that today, on the eve of Election Day here in the U.S., I could say that this was the case.) If you'd like to give my tiles a try (they're also available in Zendalas), please check them out in my Etsy shop.

Off the Beaten Path

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."    Ralph Waldo Emerson

I'm back... with more Zendala pre-strung colored tiles. I had such a great response to the square pre-strung tiles I made, that I decided to create the same tiles as Zendalas. Just very briefly, in case you haven't seen them yet, these are created with alcohol inks on yupo paper and then printed on Bristol vellum, a great surface for tangling. If you missed it, you can read more about the process in my blog from a few months ago.

I will warn you that this is going to be a long post, with lots of photos. Please stick with me to the end.... I don't think you'll be disappointed. I am so excited today to include art work here by my friend, CZT Sonya Yencer. Her tangled pieces are always beautiful, so I asked if she would tangle some of my new Zendala tiles to give you a different perspective on what can be done with them. And she said yes! But first, take a look at some of the Zendalas that I just completed (all include before and after photos, but the befores may not all be turned in the same direction as the afters.)

The first is a multi-colored tile tangled using black micron, stardust gelly rolls, and white gelly roll pen. The patterns used are Antidots, D'rua, Verdigogh, and Tipple. I chose, for the most part, to ignore the pathways and just go for it. I love the coloring in this tile.

The next tile was created in a more monochromatic color scheme. I tangled the pathways using Cadent, but didn't fill in all the paths. Less is very often more, and I have to keep telling myself that. Then I filled in some of the background spaces with Printemps using a white gelly roll pen and a touch of stardust gelly rolls. I kept telling myself, "Don't do it all...don't do it all!"

 

 

Next up is a tile with more earthy tones. So I decided to use a brown micron on this one, with touches of stardust and white gelly roll pens again. At first I wasn't sure that I liked the combination of Munchin and Sand Swirl that I used, but by the time I was done I had changed my mind.

Jumping from earth tones to much brighter pink, purple and blue... on this one I filled some of the background areas with the light and airy patterns N'zeppel and Frost Flower. I added a touch of white highlights using a white pastel pencil, and I ended up liking this one more than I thought I would when I began it.

The last one of my tiles that I have to share with you... for now... is one of the tiles from my gray collection. Just shades of gray in these, no color. That is, until I started tangling. I tangled all the pathways in this one (with variations of the pattern Emingle), using black and red microns, adding shading with graphite and a red pastel pencil. I have grown to love this bristol vellum paper for shading because the pencil smudges so easily with a tortillion.

I've saved the best for last, so please DON'T GO ANYWHERE YET!!!!  Here are three tiles that the very talented Sonya completed, along with a brief description of each, in her own words.

"I was immediately drawn to this one because warm
analogous colors make me so happy! In this instance, I chose to ignore the background shapes and create my image on top. The fall weather appears to have revealed a sunflower-y shape! Materials: black .01 Micron, white Gellyroll, Silver Slicci, and InkTense watercolor pencils."

 

"Love the blend of warm and cool tones on one Zendala! On this one, I wanted to do something bold so I chose a mix of Striping and Pepper to fill a handful of the larger shapes. Sometimes it's hard to know when to stop to achieve the "right" balance of tangled/untangled space. Materials: black .01 Micron, white Gellyroll, InkTense watercolor pencils."

And for Sonya's last Zendala:
 
"This Zendala's bold colors intimidated me at first because I didn't want to "ruin" the background - it was so striking on its own! So I chose a more classic way to approach it, allowing the shapes to be the strings and working inside. I added in tangles breaking free of the strings to add visual interest. The background is filled with Tipple and Printemps. Materials: white Gellyroll, clear Glaze Gellyroll, InkTense watercolor pencils."

Sonya mentioned the Tipple/Printemps background in this one. It's so subtle that you can barely see it in the photo, so here's a closeup. 

I hope that you've been inspired by some of Sonya's and my tiles. Thank you Sonya for allowing me to share your amazing work in my blog! The good news is that these tiles are now available in my Etsy shop here, just in case you'd like to try some for yourself. If you do, I'd love to see what you create with them, so feel free to send me pictures of your art work.... or post them in a Facebook group.... or post them in your own blog... or just keep them to yourself, if you'd rather. Thanks for taking a peek!

Days of Our Lives

"I don't wait for the calendar to figure out when I should live life."     Gene Simmons

Just stopping by to share a few more pages of my tangle*a*day calendar. If you missed my first post about the calendar and care to see it, check it out here. After doing the first couple of pages, I realized that I don't really like tangling the numbers on each page. I like how they look when tangled, but doing them feels stressful to me rather than relaxing, as Zentangle should be. So for the time being I've decided to outline the numbers in color instead. For this first one I used the Sakura gelly roll gold shadow pen in green. I also added some color to spots in my Beelight pattern using the same pen. It makes a gold line with green around it - not sure if you can see that in this photo

For these two pages I outlined the numbers with a red pen and then added some shading. This is a two page spread in the calendar and since the first page includes curvy patterns, on the second page I decided to go with angular patterns.

I'm only one day behind on the calendar right now, but I often do the three squares on a page at the same time. So proud of myself for keeping up so far!

Uncorked

"Enthusiasm just creates bubbles; it doesn't keep them from popping."   Adora Svitak

Another challenge! Sometimes it's hard to keep up with them all. Well actually I don't. I choose the ones that appeal to me most, usually because of the tangle(s) involved, and then hope that I have time to do them. This week's It's a String Thing challenge (hosted by Adele Bruno, CZT, of Tickled to Tangle) was to use her own pattern Uncorked, in her own string (#62 from Tangle Patterns). Here's a picture of the string.




And here's a link to the pattern Uncorked.

I had not used Uncorked before, but it looked like it would be fun, and boy was it ever! It really began to flow and take on a life of its own, and started to burst out of the bubbles. So much so that you can't see the string at all. But I did start with the string...I promise.

Next I tried it on a black Zendala tile. This time I didn't even try to use a string. I started with four enclosed bubbles in the middle and let it burst forth from there. I drew this with my Sakura metallic gelly roll pens in copper and silver. Then I added some pink tipple, also a metallic gelly roll. Those metallic pens are beautiful on black. I thought that the pink might have been a drop too bright with the other colors, so I toned it down just a bit by using some white charcoal pencil right on top of the pink. I also used the white pencil to shade the rest of the Zendala.

Uncorked does seem like a fitting name for this tangle pattern, at least for the way I interpreted it. It's as if a bottle was uncorked and out flowed the design.

Here, There, and Everywhere

"Let your thoughts meander towards a sea of ideas."   Leo D. Minnigh

Another week, another Diva challenge. This time the challenge was to use Rixty, the newest official tangle. When the tangle first came out, I played around with it a bit, but never actually put it into a tile. So this was my opportunity. Rixty is a fun tangle that can meander around in all directions. I love meandering tangles, but my trouble with them is that I don't know when to stop! I just keep going and going. On this tile I did just that, and then couldn't decide what else to put with it. So I started adding auras, and more auras, and more auras. And this is what I ended up with. Just Rixty and auras, and of course some shading.

Then I decided to add some color to it.

I used stardust gelly roll pens, but of course you can't see the shimmer because you never do unless you see the piece in person. And then I added some soft color in the background with Irojiten colored pencils. The verdict is still out on whether or not I really like it with color. One minute I think yes, and the next I think no. Oh well! I'd love to hear which way you like it better, black and white or color?