Personal Mosaic

One of my favorite parts of a Zentangle class is the class mosaic, a gathering of all the various tiles made by students.  Both similar and widely divergent at the same time, the class tiles together demonstrate the breadth of creativity--and give me some great ideas!

So this morning, with sun beaming in the windows on this otherwise cold day, I made a few of my own personal mosaics, from the tiles I keep in a box.  They aren't really in any order, though I can see similarities in groups I must have put in the box at the same time--comfort tangles, new techniques, similar strings.

And Eris helped . . . .

Top of the Class

Two recent injuries--a bum knee and, subsequently, a low back spasm--have me doing more from the great comfort of my bed.  I joined Eni Oken's Art Club and have been working my way through several of her classes.  I really liked the classes on tangling letters and words, which can be combined with the shading little details information.  I can't wait to see how these new techniques affect my practice. If you are looking for an easy and relatively affordable way to expand your Zentangle practice, especially if there isn't a CZT nearby, I highly recommend her videos and ebooks.

Here are some pages from my sketchbook as I worked through the lessons.

Shading Tiny Details

Fractalized Tangles

Tangled Words

Tangled Initials

Radial Zendalas

November Challenges

For November, I'll be combining two challenges: #Gratitangles and #Giveatangle2017.  On the lists are many tangles that are new to me, which is my favorite part.

#Giveatangle2017

#Gratitangles

Day 1: Squid and striping

Day 2: Cockles & Mussels and Vitruvius

#Inktober2017

Here are the rest of the tiles for #Inktober2017, a challenge to complete a tile with a tangle a day.  I really enjoyed the challenge and am starting a new one, actually two, for November!  It's a great way to learn new tangles and to eliminate decisions about which tangles to use.

Day 16: Tripoli

Day 17: Shattuck

Day 18: Ix

Day 19: Hibred

Day 20: Hollibaugh

Day 21 and 22:  Meer and yin cut

Day 23 & 24:  Pokeleaf and florz

Day 25: Singapore Slingshot

Day 26:  Wibble

Day 27: Cadent

Day 28: Joki

Day 29, 30 & 31: Oof, naida, and q-belle

Inktober Tangles 2017

This Oktober I'm participating in #Inktober tangles for the first time.  Here's the list of tangles that I'm working my way through each day, some familiar and some not, some "official" and some not.  I'm enjoying the focus that the assigned tangle creates.  Below, you'll see the first sixteen tiles I've made this month.  Among the new-to-me tangles, I've especially liked MaRaSu and Feeling Knotty.  But I still struggle with rixty and didn't like twizted much (too much like hair.)  And I really like how the tiles for Day #2, 4, 5 and 11 came out.  If you'd like to give it a try, just start tangling!  You can find pattern step-outs by Googling the name and the word "zentangle."

Here's to fourteen more!

Day 1: Bunzo

Day 2: Feeling Knotty, with a Zen Gem

Day 3: ISCO

Day 4: Diva Dance

Day 5: MaRaSu

The weekend: ponio, rixty, twisted

Day 9: Hurry

Day 10: Flux

Day 11: Bales

Day 12: Patience

Day 13: Printemps

Day 14: Flukes

Day 15: Crescent Moon

Day 16: Tripoli

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.