Home again

It's snowing. It's beautiful. I am at home for the day. Ahhhhh.

Having spent the past several weeks on our winter vacation - which was WONDERFUL and WARM -  I am now back home. Actually, I have been home for a week and today is the first day that I have nothing on my schedule! It's a real catch-up-at-home day. (thus the 'ahhhhh)

My past few blogs have been all about zentangling  - it seemed a great way to put aside all my other art interests and really take a vacation. As I 'tangled' I could feel stress melt away. I escaped into another gentler world. I did not have to produce a great work of art. It was just fun.

On the four-plus hour plane ride home I did a few more tangles. I didn't have my paints with me - these are just done with ink and pencil.

Zentangling at 40,000 feet!

I can't promise that I will never post another zentangle, but I know I need to at least get into my studio soon!

Hope YOU are trying this out, too!

Zentangle - Part Three

Yeah, yeah, I know . . .I am going a little overboard with this Zentangle thing, but it really is fun!

Here is another simple tangle: It is a basic grid - every time a line crosses another line you round the corner and fill it in. I think it looks pretty ho-hum in this form.

But, if I use straight lines going different directions and add color, it becomes something entirely different!

This time I used curved lines instead of straight ones and changed the color . . .

Are you hooked, yet?

When you combine many different patterns, the variations are tooooo many to number.

Have fun! Let go! See how many different patterns you can combine! Think gift tags, note cards, small framed pictures . . .

Zentangle - Part Two

I don't normally post twice in one week, but this tangle 'stuff' is such fun - here is something to try.

You need to know that I love reading manuals and instructions. Yes, I am one of those who really do read the manual in a new car, read the directions to put things together and save all the manuals for reference later on.  Knowing that, you can imagine me pouring over the zentangle book and intensely viewing the instructional videos.

I have a sketch pad next to me and follow the step by step directions. Sometimes my finished drawing even looks like the picture! One of the things that I discovered is that some of the coolest looking patterns are sooo easy.

Try this: make a grid  - any size - with filled in small circles. Remember, they do NOT have to be PERFECT!

Then draw a curved line from the top circle to the one below it. Think of it as being on the "outside."

Add the next curved line on the 'inside."

Finish up the row - outside then inside . . .

Begin the second row as shown.

And then connect all the remaining rows.
Now turn your paper 90 degrees and begin again. Starting at the upper left corner . . .outside . . . and then inside.

Keep going and VOILA - you have completed the pattern! Cool, huh?

For extra challenge and satisfaction - try shading and a watercolor wash!

Of course, there will be more coming. This is too much fun to stop now! 

What's a Zentangle?

Several months ago I ran into this strange word - "Zentangle." Well, it seems that it is a word that some folks coined that really has to do with 'art doodling.' Remember all those doodles that you did on the side of a page when you are on the phone or supposedly listening to a lecture? You sort of zoned out when you should have been paying attention?

That drawing was a bit of a 'tangle' - the zoning out, I think, adds the 'zen.'

Having seen a few examples of zentangles, I decided to explore it further and discovered a whole new world of YouTube videos and other resources. Apparently, there are 100's of tangle patterns and lots of ways to draw and use them. They also say - get this - there are no mistakes in zentangle! If you mess up on a pattern, just go on and make it into something else. Anybody can do it! Now, that's encouraging, isn't it?

Most of the directions begin with white paper (or a tile) and black ink. I practiced a few patterns with an ink pen and a pencil for shading. And, yes, I found myself 'zoning out' as I was drawing!

  

However, I really missed color, so I tried using watercolor washes on the patterns.

  

Once you begin playing with single patterns, then you have to start using various patterns together!
Here's my first attempt. Obviously, I used different patterns from these two examples.

Lots of squiggles and repetitions - and some watercolor!

Since this little bit of tangle, I have been practicing lots of patterns - more on my next post. Don't want to spoil all the upcoming surprises. Give it a try - remember, you can't do it wrong!