Category Archives: Artwork

Toodles

Last month a new official Zentangle pattern was introduced as part of the Twelve Days of Zentangle program. This new tangle is called Toodles. Rick and Maria demonstrate how to draw Toodles on their YouTube channel here.

Toodles is fun to draw and is very versatile. I quite like this new pattern, and especially like it with touches of color added. My first two tiles featuring it are below.

Sienna Toodles
Sienna Toodles
Blue Toodles
Blue Toodles

 

 

Diva Challenge #344 – Afterglo

Diva Challenge #244 Entry
Afterglo

This week we have another Use My Tangle (UMT) challenge from the Diva. The selected tangle is Afterglo by Carole Ohl CZT. Step outs are available on Carole’s blog here.

As Laura points out, Afterglo looks like snowflakes and other seasonal images and is an apt choice for a December challenge! I had fun with it, although I did feel a little stuck with what to do with the remaining space after completing the trio of Afterglo tangles. Eventually I decided to add the smaller ones plus a smattering of AHH. Lastly I added Tipple to give the tile a more unified and finished look.

Diva Challenge #343 – Dewd

After a couple of months of little to no posting, I’m back hoping to renew a routine of sharing my tiles and other projects. During my absence I was busy working on rebranding the blog (there’s some more to do). In addition I was laying the groundwork to start a home business.

This week’s Diva challenge is to explore the latest official tangle, Dewd. This brand new tangle was introduced in a recent Zentangle.com newsletter, which also featured a video of Maria demonstrating how to draw this new pattern.

Diva Challenge #243 Entry
Dewd and Paradox

For my tile I chose to combine Dewd with Paradox, and I also added a touch of Tipple. Dewd reminds me a lot of Fescu and adds a cool variation on the aura.  I had a little trouble with the spacing between the fescu-like elements, but overall I enjoyed working with the new pattern.

Square One on Facebook recently also had Dewd as a focus tangle. I posted a different tile to that group which I think has a real botanical look to it:

Square One: Dewd
Square One: Dewd

As long as you are here, I’d like to bring your attention to a previous post I made concerning a possible new tangleation. Would you mind taking a look and letting me know what you think?

As always, thank you for visiting!

Square One: Dewd and Zailz

During the week of November 17 – 24, 2017, the challenge tangle for the Square One Zentangle group on Facebook was Dewd. As of this date, Dewd is the newest official Zentangle pattern. A step-out can be found here.

My Dewd tile appears below. The pattern is very close to aura’d Fescu (with a touch of sparkle)  I think. The resulting look is simple and appealing, and I think that there is a botanical look to it. As is my tendency, I went for  simplicity… in this case a monotangle. It almost looks like a bouquet!

Square One: Dewd
Square One: Dewd

Moving on, for the following week of November 24 – 30, 2017, the Square One challenge pattern was Zailz, by Loretta West CZT. A step-out can be found here.

When I looked at the Zailz step-out and other tiles, what I though of was an image of ocean waves cresting. Perhaps the Tipple (or Perfs) are bubbles? Anyhow, here is my Zailz tile:

Square One: Zailz
Square One: Zailz

Fins to the left, fins to the right? Or choppy seas? Fancy triangle shapes?

You decide.  🙂

 

New Tangleation: Palmetta?

Hello fellow Zentanglers!

As a fan of ancient Greek culture and also a happy tangler I would like to introduce a possible new tangleation. I’ve been playing around with this pattern for a while now. As you will see it is related to tangles like Lanie and Balo, but as far as I have found, the basic design primarily has been used as a grid pattern.

Apparently this familiar design used in various tangles is based on the Anthemion motif from ancient Greece. It was a representation of the Palmetto plant in that part of the world. In examples of ancient Greek art I noticed cases of the motif appearing as  an individual “flower.”  I thought it would be fun to adapt the solo flower for use as a tangle. It can also be repeated to make a lovely border.

And so I present Palmetta. (I will add a step-out soon).

Palmetta pattern
New tanglation: Palmetta

So what do you think? Might this pattern also work as a more free form or singular flower pattern? And would it qualify as a tangleation or tangle? I look forward to reading any comments you’d like to share.

UPDATE: I finally got around to doing the step-outs for Palmetta.

Palmetta stepouts
Palmetta stepouts

They can also be found on my Patterns page here.

If you try Palmetta I would love to see what you come up with! Please leave a link in the comments below, or send me an email.

New Tote Bags

Not long ago VIDA added tote bags to their product line. I’d been wanting to upload some of my designs to be featured on totes for a while and finally got around to it!

The first one (below) is a variation on a mandala that I created in Photoshop CC. I described the project in this post on my blog. For this variation I applied a different gradient and texture.

Textured Mandala Tote
Textured Mandala Tote

The second one (below) is a reuse of my first design for VIDA, an applied watercolor effect to a photo of a hibiscus flower that I took at Walt Disney World a couple of years ago. I continue to love the watercolor texture effect as applied to photographs!

Pink Hibiscus Tote
Pink Hibiscus Tote

Diva Challenge #319 – BEad INSPIRED

Tile for Diva Challenge #319
BEad INSPIRED: Echoism, Beadlines, Eke

The call for this week’s Diva challenge is to take inspiration from Beads of Courage in creating a tile (visit the link to learn more about it). This program gives children with chronic or serious illnesses a way to chronicle their “medical journey”. They are given different types of beads which symbolize various aspects of their specific course of care. Beads of Courage is clearly something that is near and dear to Laura’s heart. What a wonderful way to honor this “arts in medicine” program for children by representing it through Zentangle art!

My first thought was to draw Beadlines to represent the beads, but after thinking about it some more I wanted to use Echoism — so I ended up combining the two tangles. For the finishing touches I added a frame of Eke and shading.

 

 

Diva Challenge #318 – Diptych

Diva Challenge #231 Entry
Diptych tangle: Printemps, Viaduct, and Sand Swirl

The challenge from the Diva this week is to create a diptych tile.  What is a diptych you ask? To quote Laura Harms on her blog: “A diptych is two panels joined with a hinge – and the panels are mirrored – and i use the term ‘mirrored’ loosely.”

Previously I had encountered the term “diptych” in connection with photographs. Frequently they are presented as side-by-side photos which are related in some way (for example, “Before and After” pictures). The idea of tangling a diptych was something new and interesting!

For my tile I used Sand Swirl as the hinge to unify the two sides. In the middle I drew rows of Viaduct and mirrored them on the other side. Lastly I filled in the remaining areas with Printemps in “mirrored” fashion and added shading.

Thanks to the Diva for another great Zentangle challenge!

Diva Challenge #317 – Photo Tangle

Diva Challenge #317 Entry
Tile for Diva Challenge #317. Photo credit: https://wallpaperscraft.com/

The Diva’s challenge for this week is to create a photo tangle. The idea is to use a photo as the string and then tangle around the image.

Initially I thought I’d look for a photo of a model with curly or long hair. It seemed like it would be interesting to draw tangles to extend the hair outward to fill up the tile. As I searched online I found this photo and thought it would be perfect for this project. The tangles included are AHH, Queens Crown, and Telis.

I really enjoyed this challenge. It was a fun change of pace.

 

Double Diva Challenges: #315 and #316

Diva Challenge #315 Entry
Tile for Diva Challenge #315

I’m late in posting my tile due to a very hectic schedule last week. The challenge for last week was a study of Molygon, an official tangle. The step out is available here.

Molygon is a fun and versatile pattern and you really can do a lot with it. I decided to keep mine simple and loose, and I added shading consistently to the “insides” to help make the moon shapes stand out more.  Thanks for this opportunity to explore Molygon further! Continue reading