Zentomology Today

I spent a rainy, chilly day in the glorious mansion, Ochre Court, in Newport with Zentangle founders Maria and Rick Thomas and daughters Molly and Martha and about 40 of my fellow Zentanglers.  We were there to learn about classifying and deconstructing various tangles--"Zentomology"--along with an exploration of the mansion looking at all the craftsmanship--and patterns--in wood, ironwork, gold, stone, plaster, cement, and paint.  It was a wonderful afternoon with great people and inspirational practice.

Because Zentangle HQ has asked us not to share certain details, I'll focus on the patterns I found.  I believe they will be publishing aspects of Zentomology soon, as well as some of the patterns they deconstructed.

Look at the inside--gorgeous materials, intricate patterns, huge space; it's the second-largest mansion in Newport, just behind the Breakers.  It's now the administrative center of Salve Regina University, which has preserved it beautifully.

The grand staircase at the entrance

The main foyer

So many patterns to work with! This is the fireplace in the room where we worked.

A variation of Florz, with squares at the intersections and auras.

The braided beard of a figure on a mantelpiece--looks like Ragz.

The dragon in this medallion seems to be sitting on Spoolies!

I liked the tri-partite medallion in the balcony. I think those are the windows into the room where we were.

I liked that the entwined strands in the upholstry are different.

Looks like a Bales variant!

This ceiling decoration looks like the current Dingbatz Doors trend, with its subdivisions.

Florz with fire and a wonderful slinky-esque design.

Can you see Cadent?

This grate with its Green Man and multiple patterns covers a heating vent!

And these are just some of the photos I snapped.  Literally every surface was decorated, the exact opposite of our modern love of minimalism.  And that doesn't even include all of the housewares and decorations long gone, much less the clothing!  Quite the horror vacui.    I can't imagine living in such luxury, much less this just being the beach house for summers; I wonder if the occupants, used to such extravagance, even noticed the details.  As we wandered around--looking closely, even touching! so much better than your average docent tour--and I had a chance to sit by myself, I could take it all in.

As much as I can admire the craftsmanship and luxury and be intrigued by the history, another part of me is fair disgusted by the excess and equality gap. (And politically and economically, I think we are returning to this time of robber barons and poverty.)  But I put some of that aside in my study of the patterns, which I have been playing with.  We'll see what it amounts to, besides lovely memories.

Tangles from Ochre Court: Beaucourt, Alexem, Romo, and Magong

Bordering On

I've been working on various Zentangle borders, specifically creating a tile that includes the ones I like to use so I don't forget (because sometimes I get fixated on a few tangles and then forget others.)  Here it is, along with a legend to identify each.

Working outside in, clockwise, changing to the next row in the upper left corner.  I still need to locate a few names.

1. XYP
2. Annee
3. Cynder
4. Akoya
5. Tulips
6. Myswing
7. Organic
8. Wibble
9. Row row
10. Selfeat
11. Bwiya
12. Batumber
13. Fandango
14. Cordoba
15. Vikings 3
16. Oof
17. Prestwood
18. Chainlea
19. (name unknown)
20. Pach
21. Noom
22. Swipping
23. Zigmi Barreled
24. Chaist
25. Vega
26. Toodles
27. Ponio
28. Stribations
29. Wud
30. Lollywimple
31. Balo
32. from a fragment (name unknown--looks like an owl)
33. Surf's Up
34. Snail
35. Meer
36. Tresse
37. Dragonair
38. Coil
39. Ragz
40. Golven
41. Ragz
42. Golven
43. Zenith
44. Orbs
45. Zander
46. Inapod

Tangles in a TWYSTY: Experiments in Freestyle Zendalas

I love Zendalas, a circular, symmetrical mandala drawn using the Zentangle method of mindfulness and simple, repetitive patterns.

I especially like free-style Zendalas, not ones that require precise measuring, pre-printed strings, or a stencil.  I want to draw them free-hand, freestyle.   For me it encapsulates the meditative aspect of Zentangle and the focus on "no mistakes."  Using compasses, stencils, or pre-strung tiles, takes some of the creativity out of it for me.  Precisely-measured Zendalas also entice me to stress the perfection of the product over the process.  I find that free-style Zendalas are all about process--slowly drawing the center and working out from there.  True, it's never perfectly symmetrical or balanced; my tangles are usually somewhat off-center.  But I love practicing freestyle Zendalas. So I've been experimenting with central patterns that can easily be expanded symmetrically.  I fiddled with various tangles, as you can see here (and earlier, here).  All were drawn freestyle.

Gneiss

Fengle

Geo-Flower

Arukas

Auraknot

And then I happened upon a new one to me.  I'm calling it TWYSTY.  It's a combo between a four-petal flower, a labyrinth, and a celtic knot. Or two figure-8s or infinity signs intertwined.  Completed, it looks like this (with the addition of some tangles):

1.  Draw "rice" or "petal" shape.  May be pointed or rounded.

2.  Add as many rice shapes as desired, odd or even number.

3.  "Hug" two rice shapes together with a curved line.
 (Or you can make the line come to a point, see example #9 below.)

4.  "Aura" the hug, connecting the tips of the rice.
The first part of the TWYSTY is completed.

5.  Draw behind or "hollibaugh" to create more hugs.

6.  Repeat until all pairs are connected.

7.  Complete as desired.

8.  Here is another TWYSTY Zendala.

9.  Another TWYSTY, this time with more orb-like "rice" shapes and slightly pointed circles.

10.  Another TWYSTY variation:  for this one, after completing steps 1-6 above, add a "rice" shape between the existing ones (adding, essentially, NE, SE, NW, and NE to the compass) and repeat the aura-ing and hollibaugh-ing of the TWYSTY circles.

The Evolution of a Tangle

I'm not sure exactly when I first saw the tangle Floatfest, but I remember a beautiful tile on the Zentangle app Mosaic by my co-CZT#22, Anja Schaffeld (the link leads to photos of two tiles on her blog) that featured the tangle--and almost as importantly, it's name, Floatfest, a tangle by Carole Ohl, CZT.  I wanted to give it a try.

And so, here, I'm documenting how I go about learning a new tangle.  For me, this one was particularly challenging, a high-focus tangle.  I found a link to a step-out by Adele Bruno, CZT, on Pinterest; I used that as my starting point.

I first tried it in my regular sketchbook, working fast and trying to get down the pattern.  Bruno's notes were helpful, especially the one that said it didn't matter where the arches started or ended.  And so I practiced.

And practiced.

And practiced, not completely happy with my understanding of the tangle quite yet.

And so I put it on a tile (photographed here with a rainbow from a prism.)

My second tile went through it's own progression; first, with white arches.

But I had liked the play of black and white in my first tile and so colored some arches in, which has the bonus of hiding some "mistakes" in the hollibaugh-like overlap.

But I didn't like that much either and so I colored them all in.  I think I prefer the first one, uncolored. Oh, well.  No mistakes.

Which led me to the next two tiles, with the words "Try" and "Practice," and different heights and widths of arches.

 I combined it with fengle and crescent moon, making a mandala of arches (with prismatic rainbow.)

I tried it with another new tangle I learned this weekend, Rubenesque, and some perfs, an idea from Anja.

Which brings us to this morning and a Zendala (Zentangle Mandala) that I made with geo-flower, Rubenesque, and floatfest.  I'm getting the hang of floatfest now, after several attempts; I'm comfortable enough playing with it but know that I'm still not consistent with it (or with geo-flower and Rubenesque, for both of which I've worked through a similar process as floatfest.)  

And that's okay.  For me, it's about process--all of those tiles above and the relaxation and calm I experienced doing them (okay, not in the first few attempts, which was concentrated learning)--not product.

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Class Preparation

I've got a string of public introductory classes over the next two months, both youth and adult, and I've been getting ready.

Today, I ordered postcards, stickers, and business cards featuring my "Tangled Heart," above.

I've also been practicing basic tangles and strings for the adult class this Thursday.  Granted, I've added some small advanced touches as I practiced.

Crescent Moon, Florz, Hollibaugh Printemps, Perfs, and Flux

Flux, Crescent Moon, Hollibaugh, Printemps, Zander, Springkle

I'm really looking forward to the class. I have eight people coming on Thursday, all new to Zentangle.

More on that soon.

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I've also started a list of some basic tangles that encompass many techniques, including auras, "drawing behind," grids, organic, and "drawing towards/drawing away from self."  I've also included a list of "doo-dads" or extras that many of us add to the edges or corners of our strings, extending outside of main design.

 Basic Tangles for Beginner Classes

(I've used the ones marked with an *asterisk.)

Auras

*Crescent Moon

Tripoli

Sez

Quipple

Fassett

Hurry

"Drawing Behind"

*Hollibaugh

Squid

Tagh

(many organics)

Grid

*Florz

Chillon

Bales

Flukes

Patena

*Knightsbridge

Cubine

‘Nzeppel

Yincut

Emingle

Keeko

Organic

*Printemps

*Pokeroot

*Flux

Rixty

*Msst

*Tipple

Nipa

Floo

Ahh

Purlz

Indyrella

Drawing Away/Towards Self

*Static

Eke

*Ing

Meer

Striping

Rain

Echoism

Orlique

Shattuck

Extras--these are sometimes added to corners, extending outside of the string.

Fescu

Springkle

Zinger

Sedgling

Indy-rella

Bumper

Floo

Ynix

Opus

Perfs

spirals

loops