Monday 29 January 2018

ONE Focus: Dublin

This week's ONE Focus is on a new tangle by Chris Titus, called Dublin. I've had a couple of tiles recently that I haven't been happy with, and I think is because I've tried to plan them first, and made them too complicated. So I kept this one simple, and went slowly. After I'd drawn Dublin I felt it
didn't need much more, so just encroached on the remaining white space with Msst and Scrawlz. Quite pleased with this one!


Sunday 28 January 2018

12 Days of Zentangle: Day 7

We had a busy weekend with friends, but after they'd gone home I found some time to relax and try out my new Zendala tiles. The first had no string - just a flux border and a sprig of mooka, with some filling. Finished of with a new one - Scrawlz (prettier than it sounds!)

The second is from the 12 Days of Zentangle, day seven, on a pre-strung official white Zendala.


Tuesday 23 January 2018

Diva Challenge 248: Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day

This week's 'Diva Challenge #348', from Laura Harms, is for Moebius Syndrome
Awareness Day on Wed 24th Jan. I'll let Laura explain why:


The symbol for MSAD is a Moebius strip, and the colour is purple, so Laura has suggested using the symbol as the string. The ONE Focus for this week is Riki Tiki (Renee King), so I decided to tangle this around the strip, with a purple gem in the middle. Irradial (Tomas Padros) fills the gaps (coloured with Prismacolour pencils), with purple Printemps (midnight gelly roll) around the outside.

Sunday 21 January 2018

Drawings

Mixed feelings about this one. I think I made the mistake of planning it in my head first - I had the idea that I wanted to put Drawings on top of Mi2 , so I deliberately left a space so I could fit on more of the Mi2. But then I thought it looked a bit odd, so I rushed it a bit to get it over with! I didn't really start to like it again until the final bit of white charcoal shading 😂
The moral of the story - a bit less planning, and a bit more care 😉

Friday 19 January 2018

No mistakes!

One of the principles of Zentangle is that there are no mistakes, only opportunities. I tried Stella for the first time on this tile, but went wrong very quickly, by missing one of the for markers I'd made - this should have had eight points! I nearly scrapped it, but decided to keep going and see how it ended up. By modifying one of the lobes slightly I managed to rescue it, and I'm pretty pleased with the end result - what a great lesson!
This was definitely inspired by all the wonderful examples of Stella on the Zentangle Mosaic app, but hopefully not a direct copy of any of them.

Fengle fun

Think this is the first time I've used Fengle on a proper tile - found it a lot easier than the first time I practiced it a few months ago! Filled the sections with YewDee (a tangle I really like, but keep forgetting about!) The decided to hang done tangles off the points. I picked a few from my new e-book - Tangle Patterns 2018. Definitely want to do more with Laced and Henna Drum!

Saturday 13 January 2018

First Zendala

Finally got round to using one of my Christmas presents - a Zendala instruction and work book. I photocopied one of the pages of pre-strung designs onto sketch paper and cut them out, before starting this one. Kept it simple with Paradox and Betweed in the main circle, and Onamato as the border. Shading is a bit heavy four my liking (more noticeable in real life), but on the whole in happy with this first attempt. Looking forward to trying more, and adding some subtle colour.

Monday 8 January 2018

Renaissance Mooka

I've seen lots of examples of BIG Mooka on the Zentangle Mosaic app, and wanted to have a go myself. I'm fairly pleased with the result, particularly the Mooka and  Sand Swirl, but I wish I hadn't added the small white Mooka top-right - it really doesn't need it. Still, there are 'no mistakes' in Zentangle, so I'll take this as a lesson learned!

Used: black, sepia, brown and red microns, white gelly roll, white charcoal and graphite, on a tan tile. 

Butterfly ZIA

Finally finished this ZIA - a Christmas present for my friend Nicola. It's 8" x 8", the usual black micron 01 with graphite shading, and Prismacolour pencils for the zen gems. Hope she likes it!

Monday 1 January 2018

A renaissance tile for the New Year

Had to try out a couple of my Christmas presents - new red and brown micron pens. Also used black and sepia, white gelly roll, plus white charcoal and graphite for shading. I can definitely understand why Zentangle was originally just black on white - it's amazing how much more complicated things get when you add more colours/media. I really wasn't sure about this one at first, but I think it turned out alright in the end. Definitely need more practice though!