Relaxing With Narwal

We are finally all settled in and my office/studio is looking pretty good. And workable. Now if I can just keep it clean. As if. Hahahahahaha!
I've spent the past few days in Bar Harbor, Maine, working on some art but mostly relaxing. And eating. Photos will come soon.
This is a piece I started some time ago, but saved the shading. I dislike shading intensely but it makes such a difference in your  finished work. Perservere and do it. It really is worth the effort. (And I love drawing narwal, so that was an added bonus.)
That background wall is my tangle called blox. Here is a link to the steps. Hoping to be a bit more regular with posting now that we are all unpacked. Thank you for being so patient. You're the best!

Small, Medium, and Large

 Recently on Zentangle All Around -

my Facebook group -

guest poster Yvonne Westover challenged us to tangle the

same basic piece of art in different sizes.

 I began with a two inch tile - a Bijou from Zentangle.

Some call this a twinchie.

I decided to go with the wreath shape

and picked some basic organic tangles to use. 

I was surprised how much I could fit into a

small two inch tile. 

 Next I moved on to my middle size in the grouping.

This medium size is about 4 inches across.

Same organic tangles, just with more

attention to detail.

This is where the challenge ended -

with small and bigger -

but I wanted to carry the challenge another step.

I pulled out a 10.5" Opus tile and got to work.

This one took me a couple nights to complete.

I used the same tangles - 

printemps, flux, pokeleaf, and tipple.

To complete the piece, I pulled out a

red gelly roll pen and filled in some of those

little tipple. Zing! I loved the bit of color!

And last, I shaded the flux.  Nothing else.

Just the flux.

I love the way this tile ended up.

You never quite know going in how things will turn out. 

Why don't you give it a try?

Take 3 different size tiles -

or draw 3 different size tiles in your sketchbook -

limit yourself to 3 or 4 tangles

and give it a whirl.

I would love to see what you do.

Feel free to post your art at

Zentangle All Around

on Facebook.

Thursday String Idea #12

 Welcome to Thursday String Idea!

This week we have a stacked straight-line string

that can be filled with both straight and round tangles.

The string is all ready to print at the official 3.5" square tile size 

just by clicking here. 

For my tile, I wanted to incorporate both types of tangles. I started with the longer dividing lines and  filled those with TootsieMoon, rain, coaster,  and folie-form. Then I started filling in the other spaces with printemps, ahh, flux, shattuck, and portholes.  Quick to tangle, this little stack was complete.
Won't you try out the string this week? Here is a link to print. 

Positive v. Negative

 
Positive tangling v. negative tangling. Lights v. darks. Balance and contrast.

Snaylz trayl has always been a bit of a challenge for me. I like how it worked here, though. I was thinking about reverse tangles. Positive v. negative. Like positive space v. negative space. Except in color. And this is what I came up with. And I found that when I thought of snayzl trayl in those terms it was easier to draw. Who knew?

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?

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. 

Coloring Page Perhaps?

I drew this quite awhile ago and never posted it. I found it buried on my desktop :).
With all the interest in adult coloring pages these days, I am thinking this could be a possible start for one. It was extremely easy to do, it just took quite awhile.
So, what do you think? Coloring page, or not?
And, yes, if you should want to print it out to color, please feel free to do so. And if you would be so kind as to send a photo of your finished work to  kenoly2000@hotmail.com and put Coloring Page in the subject line, I would love to post it on my facebook page The Creator's Leaf. Thanks!

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!

4Mom, Jane Eileen's New Tangle

 Here is a pretty cool new tangle my friend and fellow CZT Jane Eileen created for Mother's Day!

Jane was playing around with this new tangle. As she drew it out, this is what she saw on row two and the name right away became 4Mom.

Jane has a pretty fantastic blog called  See Jane Run  where you can see her beautiful renditions of 4Mom,  as well as a host of other goodies!

Here is a little two inch Bijou tile I drew,  stacking Copada with 4Mom.  A lot of punch in a little tile!

This is another 2" Bijou tile, stacking 4Mom with flux.
My tile at the very top of this post stacks 4Mom with crescent moon and my own tangle TootsieMoon.

 4Mom is a versatile tangle, with lots of tangleation possibilities.

We'd don't you join us and give 4Mom a try this week!  

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. 

In a Swirling Tide

Lately I feel like my life is a swirling tide.

A lot of changes going on here in the house,

combining the content of two rooms into one,

making a bedroom for the Frankles.

Taking care of issues for my mother,

trying to figure out how to get out of town for a few days,

making plans for our big trip to Newfoundland

in two months,

just a lot needing to be done.

And I'm tired.

 At night, I sit on my chaise and draw.

Lately I've been re-watching the re-runs of M*A*S*H.

That whole team was so funny!

And even though I've seen the shows over and over

throughout the years,

I still laugh. Sometimes laugh really hard.

And chuckle.

 Then I recall that my dad fought in the 'Korean Conflict.'

Never understood why he called it that,

but they call it that in the show, too.

And I see the conditions he fought under,

and I thank God that he was never wounded.

(Although the patients at the 4077 have a 97.8%

chance of survival once they reach the M*A*S*H unit. 

Learned that last night.)

And since Hawkeye wasn't really in Korea,

I'm thankful Dad was safe.

 So with this piece, I used my Stillman & Birn Zeta Series sketchbook 

and just started by placing random black circles in a big wad - 

central of the paper.

Then I start connecting them with 4 swirling lines.

Next came the black and white contrasting fill-in sections.

Then the printemps and the flux . . .

 . . . then the Prismacolor pencils.

They give some really nice colors, go down smoothly,

and blend really well.

As for the swirling tide that is my life - I am starting to see some relief. The studio reorganization is coming along nicely. Mostly.
(I guess I should have taken some measurements before I got too far along in the process. But things will work out.)
Now, if my new Dylusions Paints get here tomorrow as planned, I will be ready to head to Orlando in a few days, to relax, draw, and paint in a Disney hotel for awhile. And eat ice cream and jelly bellies. Can't wait! I need a break from the swirling tide.