WIP

Certified Zentangle Teachers are a creative bunch.  Almost everytime I check our private FB board, there is a new style being demonstrated, a new class or kit being sold.  I especially like the latter and have had good fortune in the quality of the classes I've ordered--Delft Tiles, Twisted Rope, Radial Blossoms Radial Zendalas, Zen Gems, Echo Lines. I've been working my way, slowly, through two more classes, CharKat's Creative Insanity Celtic Knots and Tints on Tan's spring kit from etsy.com (for which there is no page anymore), which was the first kit I bought and probably the hardest.

The trick about Tints on Tan's kit is that you utilize just a few colored pencils to create all the shades that make the project beautiful.  I don't work in color much, so I practiced a few times.

This second tile, on a regular 3x3" square, is a quick and miniaturized version of the final Tints on Tan project.  I'm not quite happy with my colors yet, so I haven't attempted the final project.  Still, it's something to aspire to and I'll keep practing my colors.

I had more success with my initial forays into Celtic Knots.  Here, the hard part is laying down the "string," which requires concentration and an eraser.  I don't usually like to be so meticulous--I rarely use stencils or compasses or rulers in my Zentangle--but I do like the effect.  And really, what is the different between my laying down gridwork myself versus tangling a complicated pre-strung tile (which are obviously usually created with compasses and rulers)?  Neither is the true Zentangle meditative, no preconceived ideas, no rightside up, no measuring way.  And that's okay.  I'm not a purist (honestly, most CZTs aren't.)

I wonder what my next project will be?

The Lull

Sometimes, I have a lull in my practice.   If we're out of town, if we're busy with things here at home (like the beginning of the school year), if I'm focused on another project like a crocheted blanket for charity, I don't practice Zentangle everyday.  But sometimes, none of those things are happening, and I still feel stalled.  I've just come out of such a period.  After the beginning of school, I started and stopped several tiles, just dissatisfied.  Not in the flow.  Did I have a preconceived idea of how I wanted them to look and couldn't accomplish it?  Maybe.  Was I trying to follow a new Zentangle trend that wasn't a good fit for me?  Sure.  Was I rushing the practice just to say I'd done my tile for the day?  Yep.

And so I gave it a break.  I didn't tangle for a couple of weeks.  I didn't worry that I wasn't tangling.  I just let it be.

Now, I'm back.  One of the ways I find to get out of the doldrums is to pick a tangle and use it repeatedly in various ways.  Sometimes I focus on my "comfort tangles," the ones like printemps and crescent moon, that I've drawn from the beginning; sometimes I add a new one to my repertoire.  I've done this now a few times, with joki and waybop.  Another trick is to go back and do a basic tile, the first tile I learned--a "z" string with printemps, hollibaugh, crescent moon, and florz.  I also change pens--from an 01 to an 08, or the opposite--or change tiles, from square to Zendala or Bijou. I don't try to learn new techniques or tackle something big.  Tangle, shade, repeat.

Here are some of the tiles I've been working on in the last few days as I find my way back.

Experiments

It's been a time of exploration and experimentation--of growth--in my Zentangle practice.  I've been trying new techniques, revisiting old ones, taking online workshops, and reading ebooks.  An exciting time for me!

Delft Delights
Marguerite Samana CZT originated the Zentangle style that draws inspiration from Delft tiles.  Her Delft Delights workshop is available on her etsy site and walks learners through using various blue pens and pencils to create a few specific projects.  I borrowed the general idea and experimented with my tiles.  I don't often use color but, as an art historian, I appreciate the style of these tiles.

Radial Blossoms
I really like Eni Oken's various videos and ebooks and have taken a few of them, including "Radial Blossoms."  This course draws upon Oken's Zentangle taxonomy, which includes categories like filler, grid, vine, and blossom.  Radial blossoms utilize different tangles to create centralized, relatively symmetrical tiles--vine-, feather-, and flower-like tangles are the arms while grid and filler tangles occupy the space between them.

My favorite, with mooka and tri-bee

Several together, many based on Eni Oken's video.

More Zendalas/Radials/Petals
I must be having a Zendala/radial symmetry/petals/blossoms thing, because I've been playing a lot with swirling forms with a central point.

Twisted Rope
This technique or tangle of twisted lines come from Eni Oken CZT.  The resulting ribbon looks complicated but is relatively easy to learn as long as you stay focused.  I imagine you could make any letter of the alphabet with it.

"Tranzending"
Tranzending is the new technique from Zentangle HQ, which overlays one tangle on top of the other. The secret is in the highlighting, which I'm still practicing.

Here I added shattuck on top of printemps and pokeleaf.

Nipa on top of a betweed-like star, with drops added after.

Dewdrops
Dewdrops are an original Zentangle "Tanglenhancer" that I'd never practiced.  For the best droplets, you have to know you're going to include them and put down the orb first.  I experimented with adding them towards the end, a la "Tranzending," but can't get the highlighting to my liking (see above.)

Droplet orbs were included in the string.  They are similar to Zen Gems.

Dewdrops gone wrong become gold orbs.

One String, Many Tiles
And then, continuing my radial obessesion and also inspired by the pattern on a neighbor's outdoor table, I have recently created several tiles using the same string (though I just put the string down in pen, not pencil.)  Yep, kinda like a Zendala.  The result is very Zendala-like and quite versatile.  I don't think I've finished with the string yet.  Especially because I've decided to lighten my shading somewhat, which you can see in the suite of tiles I did.

"Spoken"
A tangle that radiates from a central point, this is like a bicycle wheel.  Since I'm still having a radial/Zendala thing going on, I enjoyed playing with spoken.

Minis

My inspiration for these greeting-card tiles with tiny tangles comes from Beth Malley CZT, who has done numerous little cakes herself.  Her work is so fine and light and I tried to capture that here.

Hope

The idea of hope has been on my mind a lot lately.  Numerous people in my immediate and extended circles are in need of hope--friends with cancer, friends whose loved ones have cancer, friends who have suffered major losses, and all my hospice patients.  Hope is one of those concepts which has grown more important to me with time.  It's not just big hopes--hopes for cures, hope for miracles--but smaller ones, like hope for a good day or relief or patience. 

Happy tangling!

Recent Tiles

I try to do a tile-a-day, in the morning, after the kids leave for school.  It clears my mind of the morning chaos, grounds and centers me for the day ahead.  As I mentioned in an earlier post I've been working on line weight and rounding.  Here are some of my recent tiles, in rather dark photos because it's been so rainy here the last week or so.

#covfefe

A new tangle I found on Pinterest called Salo

Tangles: spoken, huggy bear, w2, and Zen Gem

Rounding the Bend

As an art historian, I spent a lot of time studying and contemplating the concept of style, particularly comparing "isms" and learning the hallmarks of an artist's own hand and how it changed.  You know, Impressionism vs. Post-Impressionism, early Monet vs. late Monet.

I hadn't given much thought to Zentangle styles until recently--some CZTs prefer a lot of three dimensionality, some like a lot of shading, some are very precise, while some are more organic.  What did I like?  I like organic tangles more than precise, grid-like ones.  I don't like too much shading and only some 3-D (I don't need them to look "real.")  So where does that leave me?

After watching a recent Kitchen Table Tangles video from Maria and Rick, Zentangle founders--and I highly recommend it--I started giving more thought to my style.  I liked Maria's broken, imprecise lines (and how she creates little decorative "dingbatz.") She utilizes rounding, which is one of the official Zentangle "Tanglenhancers." See above, even in the thumbnail, where she rounds (darkens) the corners of the rectangular dingbatz and the corners of the mooka tangle? I like the effect.

I started paying more attention to my lines and came across Eni Oken's tutorial on line weight and rounding.  She's an artist and CZT with an array of useful and beautiful ebooks and video tutorials on shading, Zen Gems, and other technqiues.  I won't rehash the video here--you can purchase her tutorial for a small fee--but I really liked her discussions of adding substance to lines and forms.

Here are some of my efforts (with mediocre photos taken inside on a rainy day):

And to make it really clearly, a single progression from beginning to end.  I still need to work on my technique (some of the rounding and thickening is a little too jagged), but it's an intriguing exercise.

Plain tangles

Wtih rounding and weighted lines a la Eni Oken

Finished tile with shading

Something about this change of style seems to add weightiness to my tiles, literally and figuratively.  The tiles seem more "serious," not quite as whimsical.  Perhaps a little dark.  I'm going to try to balance it a little bit.  But I do like the possibilities.