Zendala Dare 100 but first for me!

I have admired The Zendala Dare but never participated before. I think I was a little overzealous and my tile is too busy. But I really learned a lot! And this is my first attempt at negative space tangling. Or is it tangling in reverse? Instead of drawing the white line, I thickened the black line making it the negative space, and leaving just enough white (or trying to) to resemble a drawn line. Seemed the Diva Dance would be free form enough that it would be a good place to start. It R E A L L Y slowed me down. In addition to Diva Dance you will find Shattuck, Enyshou, and ??

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Dancing class

At my last class we worked on Trim-A-Rim borders, but before we did that, we tried a Diva Dance sampler. Don't these look fabulous together?

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Pearlescent Stenciled ZIA cards

I needed to catch up on my cards, and I was hoping to do something with color and Zentangle®. I saw this YouTube video by Jennifer McGuire using stencils and stamping ink. I thought I'd try that but change it up a bit. I started by cutting Strathmore Mixed Media vellum surface 140 lb paper into 4" x 5 1/4" pieces. I taped them to my craft sheet (taped to the back side of the paper) and placed a 12 x 12" Crafter's Workshop stencil called Flower Frenzy over them. I started with Brilliance pearlescent pigment ink byTsukineko using small finger daubers to apply the ink. Next I moved the stencil slightly and then instead of using dye stamping ink as Jennifer did, I used my Copic air brush for the next layer. The Copic added a light coat of color that let the pearlescence still show thru. So the Copic looks like a shadow or a reflection even though it was applied on top.  It was a really pretty, shimmery effect. Instead of just cleaning my stencil at that point, I pressed shipping tags and ATC sized Bristol vellum over the stencil to pick up a second, third and fourth print. If it didn't pick up, I spritzed rubbing alcohol over it and tried again. I have a dedicated pump spritzer, like you use in the kitchen for oils, strictly used for the craft room filled with rubbing alcohol. After cleaning my stencil, I heat set the pigment ink and then tangled onto the colored areas. I used, black, green, purple, orange and brown Sakura Pigma microns. I also used a white Sakura Gelly roll for highlights on one card. No shading. I then adhered them to A2 sized cardstock in various colors.

These were quite fun. I ended up with some nice looking tags and ATCs that might or might not get tangled too! Tangles: Wadical, Shattuck, Fescu, Hibred, Tipple, Mooka, Maryhill, Jetties, Printemps, Diva Dance, Meer, Paradox, Marbles, Tortuca, Amaze and Static.

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Spring sky

This week's contribution for The Weekend in Black and White.

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Cubine Pokeroot obsession

Yes, I admit it, I was a little obsessed with this week's Diva challenge. It fit so nicely with what I have been doing. Even before the challenge, I had a photograph last week for The Weekend in Black and White that was essentially Cubine! Plus I had been enjoying Margaret Bremner's "and then some" posts, just hadn't gotten to Cubine yet. Then The Diva challenged us with combining this lovely organic and round tangle, Pokeroot with boxy Cubine for this week's DuoTangle.

Since I had given away ALL my ATC's (artist trading cards), I decided to practice on hand trimmed ATC blanks made from Bristol vellum finish. I started with adding the front to Cubine and varying the sizes of the filled in box as Margaret shows in this post. I was coloring in that corner box when I realized I had colored in the wrong area. Hmmm, we'll just emphasize that by putting my initials there and that can be an intentional artistic statement, right? So, looks good, but no Pokeroot.....

I just knew I wanted to put Pokeroot into the grid, but how? This is my first attempt. Pokeroot was a little forced as I was starting with the stem and trying to make the orb "sit" where I wanted it. It had a mind of its own. I also used my Sakura Koi brush markers direct to the paper and it was just too harsh for me.

Next I tried a different orientation for the fruit (berries/cherries/apples/olives?) but the black squares just weren't working with the perspective. I set it aside. Later I filled in where the squares had been, with either a solid triangle, or filled the entire cube and added the lines...ooo I like that much better!

Another attemp at Pokeroot in the grid. Better, rounder, but they still landed wherever they wanted with some floating in space. I felt better about the color, still using the Koi markers, but scribbled onto a craft sheet and then lifted onto the paper diluted, with a waterbrush.

I felt I was finally ready for a Zentangle tile when I wised up and thought to draw the Pokeroot as parentheses from the bottom up, then added the stem. Now that's better! (See first photo)

I was appreciating all my efforts but seeing the same thing over and over. I needed one last effort that changed things up! Since I had put Pokeroot into Cubine I decided to try Cubine into Pokeroot.

In addition to the supplies already mentioned, I used an 01 Sakura black micron (I'm realizing I prefer to color in with that most of the time) and white Sakura Gelly Roll pen. There is also some graphite shading although most of the shading is done with the Koi.  And hey, I have a few ATCs to give away again! Yeah!

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Window on the world

My contribution to The Weekend in Black and White.

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Um...there are bats in my Unbatz!

This week's Diva Challenge is UMT (use my tangle) Unbatz by Sandy Hunter. As I was drawing my little horse shoes, I unintentionally (don't really want to use the "m" word) drew beyond my pencil frame line. I kept going, finishing the rest of the pattern, wondering what to do with that little glitch. And of course I saw the bats looking back at me from the pattern, so I decided a bat needed to break free! If you can't tell that's a bat, then you're just not using your imagination! I liked it so well, I let the bottom left corner go past the limit too! So that goes to show that a mistake, nope I mean unintentional line,  can turn out to be your favorite part!  I also used tangles Paradox (with some rounding) and of course Cadent since I can't seem to stop drawing it lately. It's there with a modified Beadline, and as a border. Both influenced by Margaret Bremner's post. If you missed my Cadent Bijou paint chips, check them out here and you'll also find the link to Margaret's original post that started my Cadent addiction. Be sure to check out the other Unbatz at The Diva's blog.

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Enthusiastically Cadent

A couple of weeks ago I was preparing for a class I was teaching (Beyond the Basics) where we were emphasizing techniques and enhancers. For the "take off and land" section I chose Cadent. I was looking online for Cadent variations when I found Margaret Bremner's wonderful post, CADENT and then some. Wow, what inspiration! Maria Thomas (co-founder of Zentangle® with Rick Roberts) likes to think of Zentangle as her discovery of a new color. I like to think of these Bijou size tiles as my Cadent hues, like little paint chips, thanks to some inspiration from The Enthusiastic Artist! I hope you enjoy!

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