Beyond the Basics class: Layered water color background

Do not post much about things that I do in a class but this was an interesting class.  I had introduced using a water color wash before but did not spend much time on adding layers.  Wanted to have them take their time putting down the water color before they tangled on the piece.  Am waiting to see the finished pieces as they were all so different.  One used a lot of small sections of color and used a lot of organic tangles, which is what she enjoys. With her permission may post a picture of it later.  I am showing the piece that I did.  I used larger sections of color and layered the same color on top. Did not try to layer different colors for muted or different effects.  Will post a series of pictures showing the piece as it progressed.  Really did not have a plan when I started. Picked a tangle and just let it develop.  Here is the results.

Thought I had a picture of just the water color but I guess that I did not .  I first did  what I am calling "Semi-crazy" Huggins.  Is not a regular grid but not too much "wonkiness".  I then put in Finery and then Puf.  

Next I added Inapod and then put Paradox around the outside.

I then added Zander in both sections. The next was the Flora variation and then added the Phicops and Zingers to finish it off.

I then added Mooka, Flux, and Tipple.  The Tipple was added and randomly.  Was looking at different orientations when I took this picture.

And here is the finished piece with the last section finished.   The paper is water color paper and is 6"x 8". 

The last tangle is Opsess, one that I did the step out for.

I have a couple of other projects I want to get to but want to do something like this again.  I would like to use smaller areas of color and try more blending like when doing the gems.  That is a time consuming process so not sure when I will get to it.

Thanks for visiting.  As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !! 

Diva Challenge #346: Duo Tangle - Phicops vs Huggins

First post of the New Year and it is the first Zentangle® related post in months.  There has been a lot going on in my life. Won't go into the details.  Nothing major in terms of illness but just things that result in a good deal of stress and are time consuming.

When I saw the first challenge of the New Year, thought I could knock something out quickly. Well, it took longer and it probably got more complicated than it needed to be.  It did give me some much needed tangling time however.  There was no stipulation that had to use the standard Huggins, so as somewhat apropos, I chose to use "Crazy Huggins".  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

I chose to use a combination of stippling and graphite for the shading.  Maybe got a little carried away with the stippling.  As I was doing this, had some thoughts of adding some color but chose to stay with the basic black pen and graphite shading.  Liked the way that the shading turned out in the Phicops.  

I had some difficulty deciding which orientation I wanted to use and decided that there was no reason I could not post both.  Interesting how it changes how you look at it when you just rotate the tile a little.  I also chose to put the square orientation as I could get a better close up of the tile.  Here is what it looks like with it oriented on the point. 

I have not had a chance to look at any other things that have been submitted. I am sure that there are some really fantastic pieces of art.  If you have not done so, would encourage you to go to I am the Diva and look at what others have posted.

Thanks for visiting. As usual, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated. 

Go Tangle !!

Another tangled pumpkin

The other two that I did have been sold so was trying to get others done. Here is one that is a mixture of free form and structured patterns.  Used a Sakura Microperm pen to do the tangles.  I am fond of the tangled tree myself.  Here are picture of the top and the different sections of the pumpkin.

The tangle dividing the different "scenes" is Shattuck. It is one of my go to tangles.  Other tangles used include Sea Wave, Aquafleur, Phicops, Diva Dance, Squid, Indy-rella, and Sanibelle to name a few.

Thanks for visiting. as always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Another experimentation on Bookmarks: Using a fountain pen to tangle

I know that this is probably not new to some of you but I have not done this before. My sister got me some fountain pens for Christmas. I have used different pens and even done some work with dip pens but had never tried to tangle with a fountain pen. I use them at work, primarily for signatures and entering some information in a chart as I like the way that it looks. It also usually makes me slow down some, so whatever I write is a little more legible.

I know there are a couple of CZTs that have commented that they prefer to tangle with a fountain pen and some of the videos that Zentangle® has posted have been done with a dip pen. This is usually something done by Marie, I do not think I have ever seen Rick use one. Well, one of the pens that my sister got for me has a .03 nib, which is similar to one of the microns. Figured that would make it similar to using a micron. Also she got me some colored inks to try. One of them I used to write a letter, just to see what it looked like. Is not a color I would use regularly to write with so I decided to use it to tangle a bookmark.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Tipple, Narwal, Phicops, Dragonair, Zinger, Angel Fish, Boing (variation), Sinchun, and a few little relatives of Bijou. 

Did not do any shading on this. Did try to to a little stippling with the fountain pen. That will take more practice. 

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated. 

Tangled pumpkin: Free form

Have continued to be busy trying to get things ready for the next 7 weekends. I had hoped to get some tangled pumpkins done earlier but was not able to get to them. I finally finished one. Usually when I do the pumpkins I use the vertical lines as the string and do tangles inside them.  Decided that I wanted to do one that was a little more free form. May have done a smaller one in this manner before, but not one this size. I chose the off white pumpkin. I used organic tangles for the major part of the pumpkin and used more grid based tangles for the top and bottom.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

These first pictures are of all the tangles that I used around the pumpkin. I managed to not repeat any major tangles. Sanabelle, Zinger, and Fescu are the most often repeated but I considered these more embellishments.

This is the top of the pumpkin. Cannot really see it that well, but I think that the Msst around the top makes a nice finish.

This is what I did on the bottom. I just started in the center and worked my way out. 

Most of the work was done with a Microperm although I did use and identiPen on some of it. The identiPen  has more of a gloss finish.

I won't try mention all the different tangles that I used. In addition to the ones that I all ready mentioned I used, Chain lea, Phicops, Aquafleur. Featherfall, Dragonair, Mooka, Flux, Angel fish, Hear vine, and Antidot.

I am guessing that it took between 5-6 hours to complete. A little tough to really get a good handle as did not do it in large time blocks until recently.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

I have been busy and just not goofing off: New stone coasters with Zenith and Organic as frames/borders

I  have not posted much of anything lately or even participated in any of the challenges that I so much enjoy. I have been in what I refer to "production mode".  Doing a lot of ZIAs but not much relaxation in the process. Do not take the time to take pictures of everything. If I remember, will try to take a picture this Saturday. Most days I am just focused on staying warm. The overage temperature at the start of the event has been in the low 30's. One day we had about 5" of snow. We are inside, but the building is being remodeled so is no heat. Some have propane heaters but I am not one of the lucky ones and not going to spend the extra money to get one. Place is not wired to handle electric heaters. Oh well only have two weeks left.

Wanted to post some things that I just finished today. Have done these before but not for a while. They are 4" stone coasters. Have not put a sealer on them yet and will probably also fire them for a short time in a small craft oven that I have. Think this process burns off the dust and reduces clouding from the sealer. Here is a picture of the four that I did today.

Here is a picture of all four that I got done today. I forgot how much fun these are to do. They are about the size of tile so it is almost like doing one of those. Used a Identi-Pen for the tangles and then a gray Fabrico dual tip marker for the shading. Will probably use a light coat of a spray acrylic sealer.  

Did a single picture of this one as I was able to use a  newer tangle, Organic by Sayantika Ray. When I first saw it, thought that it would make a nice frame but as with a lot of tangles, the corners can be the tough part. Was able to work out a way to do this one that I was pleased with. 

I keep saying that I hope that I will be able to get to some of the challenges. I have started a few, but have not finished them in time to post them. When, and if I finally get a chance to complete one, maybe will post the ones that I finished after the deadline.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #228: Guest Blogger - Cari Sultanik, CZT

Have another newer CZT being the guest blogger for the Diva Challenge. Cari Sultanik is also the lady who started the FB Zentangle Prayers for Hayden. This was to support a little girl, and her family, that is struggling with cancer. People she asked that people do a tile and post it to the page but a number of people also sent the tiles as well. But that is not what this challenge is about. This is about celebrating things organic and natural. She stated that she has always liked the tangles that imitate nature.

I have been busy the last couple of weeks getting ready for classes, an event, deciding to put items in a local consignment/reuse store, and my job has kept me busy. I did not even do a tile for last week's challenge. I was not sure that I would do anything this week either. After I started it, I was glad that I did. It was nice to do something just to tangle and not preparing things. Was definitely ikn production mode before. This was just relaxing. I enjoy doing the organic tangles also but there are times when I can be frustrated by them. I chose to use some old faithful tangles for this one. This is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Featherfall, Phicops, Abundies, & Tipple. 

I am not sure about the pod tangle. It is kind a cross between In-a-pod and Sandy Steen Bartholomew's Awdry. It may also be one that someone else has done and I just do not know the name of it.

Shading is done with HB, 2B, and 4B pencils.

Carol Ohl's Featherfall is one of my favorite oranic patterns. I like the way that you can have them close together and it still looks nice. Did not really intend it, but after I was doing this had an aquatic character to it. I am pleased with the way this turned out as well as enjoyed doing it.  

I have not looked at many of the pieces of work that others posted. I saw a few that were in my blog reader. Probably will not have time to look at a lot of them, but hope to get to as many as I can. Will have to see how many I can comment on. I know I like it when people take the time to comment on my work. By this time, as this is really a late post, I am sure that most people have all ready looked at the posts but if not go to I am the Diva and check things out.

Thanks for visiting. As always comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Square One Focus Tangle: Mooka - Gone Wild

This week's focus tangle on Square One FB is Mooka. This seems to be a tangle that people either really like or they really dislike it. I do not have a great relationship with it, but it is getting stronger. I think it is one that is a little more difficult to play with but that is exactly what I tried to do. I had done it before on a black tile. But that would not be an acceptable post on Square One. I have seen some very nice renditions of this tangle. Some have been in the traditional style. Meredith Yuhas is one of those. She just has a flair for this tangle. Have not seen one done by Shelly Beauchamp yet. She does some great looking things with this tangle also. If I have time, I may try to get a more traditional Mooka done later. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used as embellishment: Crescent Moon, Stripes. Phicops, Hibred, Tipple, Meer, Ahh, Gneiss, & Diva Dance

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #185: Duotangle - Phicops vs Diva Dance

This week's Diva Challenge used two fun tangles, Phicops and Diva Dance. I knew fairly quickly what I wanted to do. As is my usual practice, I do not look at other entries until I have almost finished mine. The exception to this is a couple of blogs I follow in my reader. What a surprise to open up blogger and see two post with similar ideas to what I did. They were different enough, that I did not think about changing what I was doing. It just happens that one of the posts was from my sister, Tinkered Art, and the other was Michelle Beauchamp's. I am sure that there will be others that are similar but these were the two that I saw. As is the case with a number of tiles, shading was a challenge. I almost did not shade it at all but decided against that. The real challenge was Diva Dance. In general this is a tangle that I am not sure how to shade. Over all I was pleased with the results. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Diva Dance and Phicops

I hope to have some time to look at all the other posts. The last time that I looked at the blog there were all ready a long list of posts. If you have not all ready done so, I would strongly encourage you to visit the Diva's blog to look at some amazing art. Try it your self since there are links to the stepouts for these tangles.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle!!

Diva Challenge # 176: " B.Y.O.B" - # 2

Won't go into any of the background on the challenge as this is my second tile. I decided to do another one as I was less than satisfied with my first. While I was not any more enthusiastic about the challenge, I was more pleased with the result. I chose to do the second one on a zendala tile and I made a much larger stain. I think this helped with deciding what I wanted to do, but it still took some time. Here is what the stain looked like before I started tangling.

Here is what I came up with. I kept it simple. I hope you enjoy it.

I usually take a couple of different pictures, using different setting of my completed tile.  I could not decide which one I liked the best so I put them both on here.

Tangles used: Phicops, Florz

I used a sepia marker to do Phicops. The shading was done with both Derwent  and Irotijen pencils. The Derwent was Baked Earth and I used Bamboo and Maple Syrup Irojiten pencils. I was pleased with the results of the shading. I thought about shading Florz but decided not to. Some of this was based on time, but also I liked the contrast that the simple black/white tangle provided.

Thanks for visiting. I know this one was submitted at the very end of the time. I appreciate any views on this one.  As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !! 

Adventures in Monotangles #8 - Phicops

Doing well for Challenges this week. I am 3 for 3. Phicops is this weeks Adventure in Monotangles. I remember when Laura aka The Diva introduced it. It was one that her husband developed. While I like it and it is a fun one to draw, I have to admit I have not used it a lot. Not really sure why. I did use it recently in the Diva Challenge as part of a tile. You can see that at this post on my blog.  I did not even think about using it for this challenge as it is not a monotangle. Here is what I came up with. For me the harder part is coming up with different embellishments. Hope you enjoy it.

Here is one that I did earlier using Phicops. This was actually a way of practicing the tangle.

This was a bookmark that I made and was part of the packet I gave to a student at one of my classes.

Go to Mindful Creations to look at the monotangles that others have done.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged and appreciated.

Go Tangle!