'A' Tangles

Another fun prompt in  Zentangle All Around. Use the first letter of either your first or last name. Draw it on your paper. Then tangle with only patterns that start with that letter. 
This is a piece of paper about 4" x 6" that I had pre-colored with some  Color Bloom sprays. I used the letter A from my first name and drew it on the paper. The tangles I used are: Ahh, aquafleur and avreal from  Zentangle HQ and my own airways and All Boxed Up. White highlights came from a gel pen. What a fun idea!

Zentangle Challenge

 I admin a group on Facebook called

Zentangle All Around.

We focus on tangles that have some element

of roundness in them - 

a curve or oval or circle - anything round at all.

And we are currently doing a year long focus

on strings. The thought being that at the

end of 2016 we will have 366 pieces of

zentangle art with some element

of roundness to them.

Yesterday I offered the challenge to try  Caren Mlot's tangle navaho  with my tangle All Boxed Up. So this is what I did with them. I worked on a square about 4 inches across. The top tile shows my work unshaded. Across the top is Julie Beland's beauchamp mixed with my baubles, then All Boxed Up to the right. Across the middle is my tangle semaphore. Then in the lower right corner you see Caren's navaho. (Sorry, I haven't posted step outs for semaphore yet.)
The second tile shows the piece totally shaded. I don't do heavy shading like some pieces of art you see online, I go for the lighter touch. But even in the lighter touch, you can see the difference shading makes in your art. Caren's navaho stands out a lot more, the beauchamp baubles are more 3D-ish, and All Boxed Up looks like a completely different tangle.

Challenge for you today? Try these two tangles and let me see what you do. You can post them directly on our Facebook wall - Zentangle All Around.
In case you are new to my blog ~ anywhere you see pink, click there. It is a link because . . .  pink = link. SaveSave

Make Your Own Journaling / Tangling Cards

Recently on Blitsy I found little packages of journaling cards -  actually bits of colorful scrapbook paper - from BoBunny.

 The cards came in several different sizes,

all perfect for tangling.

 Do you only have a few minutes at night for yourself?

Pick up a journaling card and tangle it for yourself.

The first three you see only took me 10-15 minutes each to complete. 

You really can fit a quick project into your tightly scheduled routine.

Do you have to buy little journaling cards from Blitsy? Or Michael's?  Or Hobby Lobby?  (No, but you should go there and check out all the holiday decorations! I am now the proud owner of three snow covered Christmas trees that I saved a total of $1,300.00 on by waiting till the day after Christmas.)
If you scrapbook/ed like so many of us, you probably have scrapbook paper that you bought for a  specific project and never used.  Or paper you bought in a pack and you  still have sheets that you don't really like,  or they don't go with your color scheme.
Take you trusty little paper trimmer and cut those sheets into: 4" x 6" 4" x 4" 3" x 3" OR 2" x 2".
These are frequently used journaling sizes, and they will fit into any of the journaling sheet protectors you might have from various companies.
Tangle and decorate these cards with  whatever tools you normally use.  Pens, fine liners, markers, pencils, watercolor, ink sprays, they all work well on scrapbook paper.
And have fun! That's the recipe for success!

Quick Stacks

My life is consumed with books. Literally.  It is rare for me to sit and tangle just for myself. This piece was just for me. In a little journal I made, I intentionally did not shade this piece,  so the graphite wouldn't ruin the adjacent page. 
From top to bottom: flying geese, bits of TootsieMoon here and there, florz, All Boxed Up, netz, and curlz.
Here's hoping you have a great weekend,  and that you make some time for yourself!

Busy, Busy, Busy

It is all about downsizing the life. I am way too busy, all the time. It is a good busy. A productive busy. Just a 'too busy' busy. Hahaha! I wonder what things I can cut out of my life, in order to be less busy? (And in other news, I bought teal drapes for my art studio in Maine today.  So excited!!!)

A Few More Dropz

Dropz is a super fun tangle to work with! Here you see the regular version on the left, and the reversed version on the right. To see the step out go here. 
I also used another my tangles - All Boxed Up - the step out for it is here. And I included printemps,  a loose version of onamato, and atorm.
Background is a leftover piece of scrapbook paper. My go-to paper recently. You should look around your area for a cool piece of paper you can tangle on! I'd love to see what you do. 

Thursday String Idea #2

 Welcome to Week 2 of

Thursday String Idea!

Hopefully the string will work a little better this week.

AND

I will go back and fix last week's string if this works.

There will be a link provided below where you can

print out the string at the correct size.

OR

you can click here.

Thanks to Erin, host and creator of the Zendala Dare!

This is what I came up with using string 2. I do not typically tangle on the 3.5" tiles. I am trying to get back into that habit. Tangles I used from top to center: printemps, zander, All Boxed Up, and flux.
If you would like to print out String 2, just click this link and hopefully it will work. If it doesn't, please let me know so I can try it again.

New Tangle: Dropz

This new tangle just came together as I was circle stacking. Dropz. So easy to do and it looks really cool!

 See that band across the middle?

That is dropz.

Someone asked for the step outs, 

so here they are!

 Those are the steps.

Just below this sentence you see what dropz looks like when it is completed.

Below that are two tangleations.

 Really versatile and you can make it look different

by adding highlights, or changing up the dark sections.

Dropz. Across the bottom.

Why don't you try it out today and see what you can do with dropz?

Thursday String Idea #1

Here is a new string idea I came up with.

Feel free to borrow it and tangle up your own tile.

Use this link to print the string.
It will fit on a 3.5" tile.

It is easy to transfer. 

Use a pencil and shade the back side of the string. 

Then place the template on top of your tile. 

Use a blunt marking tool - like a ballpoint pen - and trace over all the lines.

When you remove the template, the string design should show on your tile.

Ready for you to tangle any way you wish.

Remember string lines are meant as guidelines.

You may combine sections if you want to.

Here is mine all tangled up with my pattern All Boxed Up.
Again, here is the link to print the string.
Please let me know how this string works for you. I will try to post another next week, about this same time. Have fun while you get your tangle on!

Tangling With Mickey

One of our recent stack and tangle prompts was to use found papers.  To find a paper that you could tangle on and turn into a piece of art. 
It just so happens I checked into a Disney World resort that day and had a packet of information available to me.  I found this sheet of paper,  a bit water-rimmed and stained from someone before me's drink. Shame on you, housekeeping, for leaving me someone else's coaster as part of my introduction to Disney World. Anyway, I liked this sheet of stained paper because of the photo that was on it - Mickey and some awesome cast members. The rest of the page had information about staff and safety tips. 
I divided my drawing area into segments,  then started filling them in with tangles. I did a little shading - which didn't work well on this slick paper -  and called it done.
Tangling with Mickey. Apropos title, I think. 

Circle Stacking

Circle stacking is different than stacking circles. Hahahaha! And I have done those before. This is an idea developed by Italian tangler Simona Arian Cordara. You start with a circle, then lay in your string. Next add tangles. Shade, admire, reflect. 
I made this circle stack on a page in one of my smash books. From K & Co. That bright, pretty scrapbook paper is the perfect background for some tangling. Circle stacking. It's what's new!
Why don't you give it a try and  see what you can do?

Floral Step Outs, A New Tangle

Here are step outs to another tangle I've been drawing for a couple years.

I've just named it Floral.

No fancy name. 

Floral is super easy to draw. I've used it many times! Either the full flower as you see it here. Or . . . 

. . . a half flower like you see here.

Using color will change the way it looks.

I imagine it will look like different flowers depending on the colors you use.

I am not really up on my flower nomenclature.

Hehehehehe!

Regardless how you tangle it,

regardless what color you make it, 

Floral looks spring-y and summery! 

Feel free to pin the step outs. 

I would love to see what you draw with Floral!

I just realized those steps in the first drawing are a bit tiny. Hahaha! You can see these better!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms,  all the wish-they-were-moms, all the other-moms, all the soon-to-be moms, and all the dads acting as moms. It's your day to celebrate the joy that only a mom knows. To celebrate family. To celebrate that special love. To celebrate you. Cause you, Mom, are worth it!

Dylusions Swirls

This was a mega fun work of art to make! I made the background the day I received my new Dylusions Paints in the mail! I used my fingers to rub the bubblegum pink and crushed grape colors into the paper. I didn't realize how fast the paint would dry,  so that line between the two colors didn't get as blended  as I would have liked it to be. No problem.
I took a stencil and dabbed the white linen Dylusions Paint  through it with a makeup sponge. Gave just the right amount of variation to make the line not quite as obvious.
Last night I tangled a stack of fun patterns, including my All Boxed Up and Jane Eileen's 4Mom, along with a couple others. Fun to do, didn't take long, and it looks like I worked really hard on it! What are you tangling today? If you click on the pink links above - you can see the step outs for those two patterns.

Faith

One more example of stacked, tangled, and lettered. I used another scrap of scrapbook paper to tangle this on. I really like the pink flower pops showing through the tangle design. An excellent use for all those bits of scrapbook paper I never use anymore. Love it! And the words - speak for themselves.

Tangling in the Round

There is a wonderful tangle artist named Michele Beauchamp. She is also a CZT and I have followed her work online for two years now. Shelly lives in Australia and does the most exquisite linework. (You should go google her right now and look at images.) Recently she tangled a piece in the round and it was so beautiful that I wanted to give it a go myself.

I drew this a couple nights ago while watching reruns of M*A*S*H. (I don't believe I've ever drawn something this big in one night before.) This is the unshaded view. I hate to shade, but I figured this piece deserved a little shading.

So I added some very basic shading in a few areas. What a difference it makes! Can't wait to frame this piece.
Why don't you give tangling in the round a try? You might just fall in love with it. A friend of mine called this piece - stacking on steroids. Yep, pretty much! Hahahaha!
Zentangle has these cool large tiles now. I tangled this circle piece on a 10.5" square official tile called the Opus. I used microns, a Sharpie fine point pen, graphite, and a tort. 

New Tangle - All Boxed Up - A Complete Post

Last week I started playing with a new idea for a tangle. I named it All Boxed Up. Primarily because the framework is a bunch of boxes. Super simple to draw.

Straight lines, horizontal lines, and auras.

 In this post I want to show you four different versions for all boxed up.

In the above photo - four tangles up from the bottom you see all boxed up in its basic form.

This is exactly what you see in the step-out above.

Here you see that same basic all boxed up -  two rows down from the top. Just like in the step-out.

This is the second version for all boxed up.
Divide that middle section in half horizontally - the top half is exactly what you see in the step-out. The bottom half is that same step-out but flipped.  I turned the tile upside down and drew the exact same all boxed up steps, but because the tile was inverted, the design is also inverted. I had no idea how it would turn out. I like this version, too!

Then I drew version three. Looks awesome, right? It's actually 7 rows of what you see in the step-out, stacked on top of each other  in exactly the same format. No turning the tile. Just a complete drawing of the row -  7 times.
The shading is really what makes this piece pop.  And it's unbelievable how different it looks once you add the shading. 

See what I mean? I like it both ways but it looks like two totally different pieces. And I just repeated the row - until I had seven of them.

Well. You've seen all boxed up in:  a single row, with rows opposing each other, and in repeating rows where they are exactly the same.
For version four let's talk about size. For all the other tiles, I drew the boxes approximately the same size. And straight across. For this piece I wondered how all boxed up would look  in a curvy framework, and with different size boxes.
(The background was colored with the new Dylusions Paints.  A post about those will be upcoming really soon.)
I drew my framework string with some of my boxes small,  and some considerably larger.

Then I filled in the boxes. You can see that it did not cause any problem with the boxes being different sizes or being curvy instead of straight.

For this particular piece, I just drew one row of  all boxed up.  It fits in very well with other tangles. 

So there you are. Four different versions for all boxed up. And all really easy to do. I imagine there are many other versions that we could draw for all boxed up.
Please feel free to use my tangle in your art work. Pin it, post it, share it. I'd love to see what you do with it!