Bottoms up!

My contribution to The Weekend in Black and White.

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Basics...fun!

Photos from my Introduction to Zentangle® class. We all had a good time. And look at those tiles!

At my classes students are expected to bring their class fees in a sealed envelope. No making change and we can quickly get started with class. This came about by a requirement of the facility where I am teaching. I thought it might be problematic. In true Zentangle form, it's turned out to be wonderful. Check out a couple examples of what I get to see when I get home!

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Traced object strings (and tiles!)

I'm just back from vacation in Moab. Had a blast drawing, walking, met up with my brother, I even met a CZT who attended the first CZT class! An added bonus was she introduced me to Taiko drumming. Wow! So as it turns out, the first class had a few tangles that didn't make the final cut. I got to see some of those early tangles. Some ended up slightly different or with a different name, or maybe it was a technique vs a tangle, but there were a few I wanted to try right away.

This week's Diva Challenge #213 is to use traced objects as your string. Game pieces were suggested among other things. Hmmm, what could I use? Went to my craft room and, (Of Course!) die cuts!! Some were just flat out too elaborate, but I pulled out some extras that were more basic.  I seldom throw anything out, never know when you might need it! And these seemed like a nice selection.

I'm working on journal covers and dividers for my bullet journal. I decided to try this out on black Strathmore Artagain paper (60 lb) cut to size for my journal which is exactly half a sheet of standard paper or 8 1/2" x 5 1/2". I have already punched and bound the blank pages in my journal so I can work on them whenever I want... The idea is to take it apart and laminate anything that will see heavy use after the artwork is completed then re-bind it. For more info on my original bullet journal check out this post.

This is what the page looked like after tracing two standard Zentangle® tiles and some of the die cuts with a white pencil. I think I used a General's charcoal white.

Next I used Sakura Gellyrolls in white and the moonlight set. For shading, I tried using them as a watercolor using Sharla Hicks suggestion here. It's a cool technique that I likely wouldn't have thought of on my own. It didn't work fabulous on the thinner black paper (but I think heavier white would be great) but some of that could have been my technique needs practice. I ended up also adding Cretacolor Aqua monolith woodless watercolor pencils and Stabilo CarbOthello pastel pencils. Because of the pastel pencils, I did finish it off with a sealer.

New (old) tangles used: Mesa, Musekick and Whelk. You'll also find: Meer, Paradox, Chard, Athitzi, Spokes, Static, 'Nzeppel, Isochor and Yincut.

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Just tangling

I used this combination teaching a few weeks back and thought they went together nicely. Tangles: Hollibaugh, Static, Cubine, Nippa, Rain, Yincut, Courant and Arukas.

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Second time around ATCs

You may remember I had some scraps I used to get second prints from my stencils as I was cleaning them. (Check out the photos at the bottom of this post for the "before" picture.) I pulled out my Stabilo point 88 pen set (I have a set of 20) and started tangling with different colors. The nib is 0.4 and has a different feel and look from the Sakura microns, but the price and the color choice is awesome. I'm not sure how the quality of the ink compares. It was a fun experiment. I'm not sure if you can see it, but some of the pearlescence from the first print came thru on these as well, but muted. Tangles used, Betweed, Shattuck, Tipple, Amaze, Diva Dance and Orlique.

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