by Betsy: My Zendala Dare 1 and 101 and then ahhh simplicity.

Friday, July 31, 2015

My Zendala Dare 1 and 101 and then ahhh simplicity.

My first attempt at Erin's Zendala Dare over at The Bright Owl was #100. I enjoyed that so much I thought it might be nice and go back to the beginning with #1. And then trying to keep current with #101 would be nice too (she has since added several more; oh well, so I won't keep current after all). I traced the Zendalas onto my watercolor paper in my journal and then added Erin's templates. At the time I was preparing for a Zendala class using a red micron, so in addition to the black micron I added red. And I was playing around with the red by scribbling some out on a craft sheet (you could also scribble it on glass) and using a wet watercolor brush added the color to my tangle. Why was I surprised when it came out pink? I showed my husband and he asked me what I was expecting? Oh, maybe a more translucent red, after all I didn't add white! He said, you got it! The white from the paper is showing through!

Then I thought I needed a little "brass tack" so I added some metallic too, not sure what this is called, I purchased it at the Calligraphy section of an art supply store. It's been adorning my craftroom ever since, it's so pretty! Sometimes I just used the wet watercolor brush to pick it up, sometimes I mixed it on the craftsheet with the red. I really enjoyed adding a little color.

Tangles used between the two Zendalas: Maryhill, Trimonds, Boss, Cirquital, Cruffle, Patena, Mysteria, ING, Shattuck, Tipple and Itsy Twisty.

I also enjoyed learning a new-to-me tangle, Boss by Margaret Bremner. Yes, it's representational, but I really got into the zone drawing and adding sparkle to all those black lines. This one isn't on tanglepatterns YET, so check it out here.

I think my favorite section of the Zendalas is this Maryhill center surrounded by Trimonds.

Before I had finished these, The Diva Challenge #226 calling for simplicity came out! Oh, how I needed that right then! These Zendalas are so, so busy! I really enjoyed that simplicity break. But of course I had to come back to these and shade. In addition to graphite and the metallic I also used some FaberCastell Polychromos.

So after I finished, (am I really finished? Maybe I need a color wash surrounding the Zendalas?) I decided some more simplicity was in order, so here is my Maryhill with Tipple border Zendala.