A little sidestep

This week, I've had no time to do my usual and favourite challenges - including 'A String Thing', the Diva Challenge, Cheryl's Artful Creations and the Wacky Facebook Challenge. Instead, I'm posting something that I was inspired to try by Marta Harvey. She did some beautiful stamps using erasers and I was utterly smitten. Buying the erasers was no problem but I was stuck when it came to finding the carving tool. As I wanted to use the idea with my two little creators (I teach them English but we do it through craft workshops, including Zentangle, which is fun for us all!) I had to improvise for our first class.
I used foam rubber shapes and stuck them onto flat surfaces - some little pots and plastic lids that I found at home - and off we went! I was really pleased with the results and will work on them some more. At this session, we just stamped randomly and then added some tangles here and there

These three are my attempts - the girls have their own at home - I shall take some photos next time because they are lovely!

What do you think?

Quib and Quibbish.

I wasn't impressed with my own first attempts at Quib at all. I think the new tangle inspired some fantastic work from others and I seemed to like the ones which (like my own) have more than a passing reference to the sea, jelly fish and shells. Quib seems perfect for capturing a waving, moving, fluid sensation of movement.

I went into town today to buy some pens for my forthcoming workshop and decided to try the papeleria nearest to my daughter's school for the first time. I've been in all the others and am mainly underwhelmed by the choice. Although the choice here was definitely wider, the nibs were almost all 0.5 or greater and I wanted something really fine. In the end, I was pleased to find some pens that had a fine nib - with a thicker nib at the other end! Two for one! And she had them in a few colours too - not exciting colours but she said she could get more. So I got those too.

When I came home, I set to on Quib again and came up with something I like a lot better than yesterday's efforts, even though the colours are not good. (The Drupe in the top corner was a practice with the pens... )

And then, because of Drupe and because of the colours and because of the positioning on the paper, I thought I'd run it through the BeFunky website to crop and reposition it.

This to fade out the tacky colours....better I think.

Or better facing this way...with brown tones?

Or even better...Sepia tones! (Sepia is Spanish for squid, so very fitting I think!)

Not sure if it's cheating really. Probably is. But I'm really pleased with the different effects.

A workshop!

Oh I'm very excited. Although I haven't been doing Zentangle for very long, I'm very enthusiastic about it and - being an ENFP - can't keep my enthusiasm to just myself...I long to share it! A number of people locally have seen my tangles (or had them thrust in front of them..) and some have expressed an interest in learning how to do it for themselves. At first, I felt concerned that I shouldn't try and show anyone how to do something I hadn't yet mastered myself. There are Certified Zentangle Teachers out in the big wide world, who undergo courses and then run workshops ...but.....thinking about it, I am never likely to be able to take one of those courses. They're held too far away and I don't have the funds to attend.

In the meantime, I feel it will be quite safe to start 'small', not tread on any toes, and spread the word myself in my own town. So next week, I have gathered together a few enthusiasts - including a real live artist (the lovely Steffi) and an illustrator - to do a 'Tangle' workshop. It may be Zen, it may not! I will, with their permission, share how it goes in a future post.

In the meantime, I've been practising my own favourite tangles in the smaller, Zentangle tile size. It's been good fun and whilst I'm not utterly delighted with any of them, I feel I learn something with each one and certainly enjoy the process. Where I have known the official name of a tangle I've used, I have included it in the caption. Otherwise, the tangles are my own version of things I've seen others use. I am working on improving my knowledge!

This is mainly Betweed and Beedz

Here, I have used Betweed again, Crescent Moon, Feathers and I'm not sure if the 'tresses' one has a name or not.. The shapes at the top have a name but I always think of them as 'Moomins'...they are my own version of whatever is the official pattern.

Here, I use Pokeleaf, Drupe, Beaded Lines and Tipple in amongst the pebble shapes. The seashell shapes probably have a name but again, I don't know it.

Oh dear - not a clue with any of these...is that Nzepple in the top right hand corner? If I find names, I'll come back and amend these comments....

On the left, that is definitely Hollibaugh, PokeLeaf across the top and Huggins down the right hand side. Rick's Paradox - simple triangle only is along the bottom. The column, the snail and the pebbles are my own versions of whatever else might be out there...

This is Verdigogh! I must learn to get the rolled back paper right...Two are not so bad but this bottom right hand corner is rolling the wrong way! How did that happen? There's some Tipple hiding behind three of the corners - couldn't tell you what's in the four

There - away now to try one of this week's challenges and to prepare for my class next week....did I mention that I'm rather excited about it?

Paisleys and Divas

So far, I've worked small. Zentangles are usually done on small, square tiles - about 3 and a half inches square. This really focuses the attention and you can achieve some incredible things on this little bit of space. However, I've recently had the urge to do a single tangle bigger.

This one is a paisley shape - originally a droplet-shaped pattern from Persia or India. It became popular in England when it was brought to Europe by the East India Company - in the form of beautiful Indian fabrics which had the design block printed on them. The name 'Paisley' is from the town in Scotland, where the pattern was used to produce fabric locally. I have always loved its complex internal patterns and it has always been of interest to doodlers and artists - particularly those who create designs using henna.

I tried a few in my last picture and really enjoyed completing them. This paisley fills almost an A4 page and is the biggest single pattern I've done. I can see where my lines are far from perfect but it was a great piece to work on whilst watching a bit of television the other night!

As we were watching a series from a few years ago - ROME - I decided to do another single tangle in a bigger form than usual. This is based on a tangle called 'Diva' and was great fun to do. It's not hard to be pleased with the effect and all it really takes is the patience to draw one line after another.

October tangles

Time to open up the notebook...I started using Pinterest and found lots of patterns, tutorials and ideas there. Some mornings, over my coffee, I sit and sketch - usually very roughly - some of the things that take my fancy...

Here's a selection from October...

Some inspiration from Joanna Fink here...

Trying - and failing several times - to get the curled feathers right! Looks like I gave up on the Paradox...still haven't mastered that but am going to!

 I think the top tangle comes from one called 'Zinger' which is a lovely one to draw - and I followed a YouTube tutorial on how to draw a Celtic knot. The triangle was obviously too complicated for me...

And from the same YouTube sitting as the Celtic Knot - these are definitely Maria Thomas tangles - the Aura Star and Mooka...a delight to draw as it's just one line!

Now LeeAnn Denzer is a genius - her drawing and art work is stunning. If you are at all interested in what can be achieved in the name of tangling, check out her website. I am always in awe.
I enjoyed spending a bit of time on 'bracelet' here - the difference that shading makes was just beginning to dawn on me....

And another heroine of mine - Helen at A Little Lime. She loves to deconstruct patterns and is wonderful at sharing her work via brilliant and inspiring tutorials.  I don't know where the little bud tangle comes from at the bottom right of the sketch page but it's another one I enjoy including.

A whole load of inspiration here - sadly, I didn't name them so can't give my thanks and recognition.
The stick in a coil is great fun to do and I went on to use 'Seaheart' in a card using colour that I sent to my friend, Janice, in France. 

And here is W2 - possibly one of my favourite ever tangles - so clever and such fun to do. And several attempts that didn't work!!

It's a nice thing to have my sketches - seeing that some things do need to be worked on to get right and seeing where all the inspiration came from.