Zentangle Fairy

Hi Folks, here's a Zentangle Inspired piece of Art incorporating some rubber stamps from Chocolate Baroque. Those of you who know me will know that I am on their Design Team, and when I saw these new stamps, they just seemed to fit with a project that I wanted to try.

I had recently received the new book 'The Art of Zentangle', and loved the fairies drawn by Norma J. Burnell. She has a step by step in there for one. I decided to have a go, even though I hadn't drawn most of the tangle designs before! I have drawn this piece on a 12" x 12" piece of Hot pressed watercolour paper, as I love the smoothness of this paper. It's very similar to the little zentangle tiles in composition. I drew out my rough guidelines, and then stamped the portions of the flowers that I wanted to use, before drawing my sections of Chainlea, so that the stems came out of the middle of them, rather than wafted around in mid air. By stamping the flowers with black archival ink, I could add sections of stem with my Micron pen, and the join wasn't noticeable.

I decided to add colour to the butterflies, flowers and the fairy's face, but to leave the tangles in black and white. I felt that this allowed the tangles to be more striking in the drawing as a whole, than if I had coloured everything in. I have simply used pencil shading in some areas. I could spend more time, adding and refining, but this is my first piece. I want to have the enthusiasm to go on and do more!

If anyone was considering purchasing this book, I can heartily recommend it. I love the workbook style, and the mixture of tuition that the four women bring. It has renewed my enthusiasm, and got me tangling again.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Alphatags a final flourish

Hi Folks, long time, no see, I know. I was very poorly before Christmas, aand this little blog was one of the things that got neglected, I'm afraid. Anyway, I'd like to show you a tag that I made recently for the Chocolate Baroque Alphatag swap. You wouldn't have to guess too hard, that I made a 'Z' for Zentangle tag this time around!

I used some stamps from Chocolate Baroque of course, as the basis of my design, choosing a large open flower, and a smaller clear stamp in the shape of a butterfly that is already decorated with designs. I covered my tag, using the wrinkle free distress method, picking up colour from my craft sheet. I also coloured a second tag to use for stamping elements for decoupage, like the butterfly, in a slightly different colour.

I stamped a portion of the flower onto my tag, as it is too large to be stamped as a complete image. I filled in the various sections of the flower, and then added some colour using pencils. I also added pencil highlights to the butterfly.

I chose to add a border to the tag which symbolises good health. The outer petal design symbolises happiness. So, hopefully, my recipient will get a little bit of both in 2013. I already know who has received my tag, she was the organiser of the entire swap, and she put so much work into the whole thing for us all.

I hope to be back sooner than the last time, as I really enjoyed putting this tag together. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Tangled Butterfly

As promised, here's the first Design Team sample, which is posting on the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog today. I have also posted the details on my main blog, so won't bore you with them here.

I don't have much time for tangling, so it's been lovely to have an excuse to get my pens out and do something. I'll be back in a few days with another sample, thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

A quick catch up

My poor neglected blog hasn't seen much activity lately, I'm sorry to say. I have been beavering away with some tangling, but it has been for Design Team purposes, so I have been unable to show anything on here. There are some new stamps available at Chocolate Baroque which are called Tangled Garden. These stamps are great for those who like to tangle, as they are large stamps, some with large open areas, just crying out to be filled with zentangle patterns. There are other stamps in the set that already have patterns included. So, if you want to create a design in a hurry, or are less confident in your abilities, these are just great.

Over the coming days, I will be showing some designs on my <a href="http://poppycottage.blogspot.com>main blog</a> but, I'll try to include a link on here as well for those of you who do not follow that blog. I've made something today, using the stamps, just for fun, which is on my other blog:

Finally, another colour explosion, that one or two of you will have seen already, but I'd like to add it here for my other followers. One of the challenges set recently on the CB Zentangle Ning Group was to tangle your 'Favourite?........' I chose to use Cadent as my favourite tangle pattern supersized, and then went with a Rennie Mackintosh inspired theme as it is a style that I really love. I used Trentwith in the circles, Pokerleaf in the squares, and Knightsbridge as a suggestion of the block elements that the designer used in so may of his designs.

I hope to be back soon, and would like to say thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

All About Zentangles, Online Course

Hi Folks, sorry it's been a little while since my last post. If you follow my main blog, you will have see that I have been gadding about all over the place. Unfortunately, I am due to set off again at the end of the week for another round of travels, but then hopefully, I will be home again for a bit.

I have recently started the All About Zentangles class run by Marie Browning for MCC. I like their classes, they are reasonably priced, easy to access, and available 24 hours a day, so you can dip into them whenever you have the time. I actually have three on the go at the moment! I am a glutton for punishment with my busy schedule, but I am enjoying the variety of them all.

Marie's class is great, starting at the beginning, and it is so inspirational. I have her book, 'Time to Tangle with Colors', which is amazing, so I knew that I had to take this class. The artwork that is being posted by the other students is fabulous as well, a real treat.

Anyway, this first week, we were encouraged to draw a tile with a basic string, and some tangles within the string, incorporating some shading. Here is my tile:

Now, I had never drawn Nekton before, and I made a mistake at the start. I had been really happy with how the rest of the tile had gone, so I decided to just finish the tile with the error in place. I can live with it.

My second tile is dealing with drawing within shapes, using circles. I just drew around whatever craft supplies I had sitting on my desk. I then used some of my favourite tangles to fill the spaces; Cadent, Keeko, Nzeppel, Knightsbridge and Yincut.

My last sample for today uses linking hearts to tangle. I used a couple of Paper Artsy die cuts to draw around, then drew the smallest heart freehand. This design took ages, as I take forever to choose my patterns. I need to be a bit less selective I think!

I am really looking forward to the next lesson of the class, to see what Marie has in store for us this week.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

A challenge completed

Recently over on the Chocolate Baroque Zentangle Group, we decided to set ourselves the challenge of using this string:

This is taken from the Tanglepatterns.com website, a great source of inspiration for those of you looking for Zentangle information.

I chose to draw two designs, the first, using some new designs that I hadn't used before, but that had caught my eye. My focal image is Mooka, I'd seen it around, and really like it. So, I decided to give it a go. It's not that easy in a triangle format, but I hooked one of the three designs under the other two, and then the pattern worked. I've used Printemps, but in a larger format than I do normally, Knightsbridge, Paradox, Buttercup, Heartline, and Oof, (Out of Focus).

My second design is a nod to the Olympics. I couldn't let it pass without some kind of tribute. I have really enjoyed watching the events that I have managed to catch. I've spent a lot of evenings with my OH marvelling at the brilliance of the past few weeks, and the outstanding endeavours of our athletes, and those of our neighbours as well. There have been some memories that will stay with me for a long time, and I think that the whole thing was staged brilliantly. The crowds were uplifting, and it was simply memorable. I remember watching the Olympics growing up when there was less choice on TV, sat with my family. I loved the athletics and the gymnastics then, not much has changed. I enjoyed watching some of the Olympics with my Dad this time around, that was priceless for me, as he lives so far away.

I have drawn this piece of ZIA in colour, and used a piece of poetic licence, as my Olympic rings are not a Zentangle pattern. However, I wanted to get them in my design. They are a bit wobbly, as they are quite intricate to draw, and I'm still new to this mullarkey! I have used Intersection for the British flag,(what else!), Pokerleaf to represent the flames, Dandelion Seed to represent the fireworks, and Tufted Leaves to represent the crowds.

This is purely a bit of fun, but I really enjoyed finding patterns to fulfill my brief, and to tangle in colour was very refreshing. I used some Stabilo Fineliner pens left over from my Art Club days. They are 0.4mm nibs.I've used the official Zentangle tiles for the first time, and I've found that they bleed a bit in comparison to my usual watercolour paper which is a very good one. I used Sakura Micron pens and they bled as well, so once I've used these tiles up, I think that I'll go back to my watercolour paper, as I prefer the finish.

I have another work in progress, so hopefully, I'll be back before too long. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

More Tangles!

Hi folks, I have a couple of pieces to show you today. I was watching a video on the Zentangle Blog yesterday, learning how to draw the Aura Knot. I love this design, and the technique looked achievable. I followed the instructions, and this is what I managed to come up with:

I took my time, and found this so relaxing to draw. I can see myself drawing these all of the time!

I was working on another project earlier in the week, using a Peacock stamped image, and parts of it reminded me of Zentangle patterns. I decided to use it as a focal point for a piece of Zentangle Inspired Art. I looked through some of my books for patterns that appealed to me, and learnt how to draw them, as most of them are still new to me! A couple of designs reminded me of peacock's feathers, so they had to be included in the finished project.

Clockwise from the top, I have used Cadent, Peacock Tail, Crescent Moon, Flux, Jester and Nzeppel.
It's a bit busy, but it's the first time that I have tried something like this. It was fun, and I will certainly try mixing stamps and tangles again. I am certainly enjoying this tangling process!

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx