I’ve been battling some wrist issues lately that makes writing and drawing a bit painful. I am in the process of overcoming this but I also had to fight some horrible sinus mess that had my head aching, with special focus on my ears. NOT GOOD!!! Seriously folks, I was miserable!!! Anyway, it was just too much for me to deal with to attempt to draw too.

So, I decided to share some of my favorite artists with you.

I guess I should start with Rick and Maria, the creators of Zentangle. I learned about this art form from a fellow home educator who was teaching a monthly art class. I’m so thankful to Cheryl for introducing me to this easy art form that has been so meaningful in my life. I’m also thankful to Rick and Maria for using the time honored technique of stepouts that makes it so easy to obtain good results. Sometimes it is better to see the tangle drawn but most of the time the stepouts is enough.

One of the first to make an impact on me was Sandy Kelley-Jones. I don’t know her in real life (irl) but she added such contrast with a lot of black inked backgrounds. Just gorgeous. She inspired me. (I loved her work before she even became a CZT. ) Turns out she is friends with the lady that does our Tulsa Zentangle Group, Pam. What a nice coincidence. Sandy created a closed facebook group where members share their daily tangles; it is aptly named Today’s Tangles.

Eni Oken is another that has left her mark on me. Although she was an artist before finding Zentangle so she keeps her artist ways in shading which has been a real challenge for me. One of the things I love about Zentangle is not having to worry about where the light source is. It seems like Eni finally realized this when she got into Zendalas. But she has helped me become who I am with regards to this form of art.

The next one that really inspired me is known on facebook as Lily Moon. She does some amazing work. For any that don’t know, she has a website where she shares her tiles and tangles she creates. I really like caracole. I don’t do it justice but I like it and her art.

The most recent one impacting and inspiring me, is Zen Linea whom I also follow on facebook and do not know irl. Her work is just stunning and adds a bit of color. I will admit that in the very beginning of my Zentangle experience I wasn’t sure about the lack of color. But as I drew it myself, it was so freeing. I got to where I preferred it to those that had used color. But then this artist started adding just hints of color and I could see how it enhanced the art. Now she has some amazing colored work. She has a website and has started doing videos too. Very nice to see how she does what she does.

When I went online to get the links for this post, I came across this interesting post on Today’s Tangles for a summer challenge. I wish I’d have seen it at the beginning of the summer but then again, I was so busy I doubt I’d have committed to doing this. But it sounds interesting to me now and may start this or something like it next month. We’ll see. Who knows, maybe I’ll use it as a jumping off point and start filling up the empty spots (which is most of them) in my Tangle-a-Day calendar.

Oh! As I was looking through the summer challenge I saw she had a clarification page. As is typical, I followed the bunny trail and found that Zentangle Project #3 incorporated some color and white chalk. I enjoyed watching the videos of Molly and Maria adding the color to their finished lineart.

Well, I hope that I’ve shared something here today that will inspire you.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Today I could not decide what color tile to use. I had found that the Square One: Purely Zentangle focus tangle was Icantoo. I also found the daily tangles for yesterday and today on Pattern Collections was S-cada and Smile.

I decided to do a quick template check and found template #7 would work for me to use all three of these tangles. I first thought I’d just do as I always do  and use a white tile. Then I thought about a black tile. And finally a tan tile. I couldn’t decide which one to go with so I tried it on all three.

Here it is before shading.

I did the black one first and thought adding in the orbs was a good idea . . . not so much. Then I did the tan tile, which looks pink on my laptop, and as I was drawing S-cada I thought, “I need to make sure I draw the spirals in the right direction,” and totally drew the second ones wrong. I got it right the third time around (the white tile).

I had no idea how to shade the black tile. I know you have to “shade” the highlight and not the shadow but, yeah, so I just left it with the few highlights and called it good.

The tan tile was a bit easier and I used both some white ink highlights and the graphite shading. I think it turned out okay.

Here it is a bit smaller.

I didn’t bother erasing the template/string lines.

Then on the white tile, I shaded under Icantoo, making the string visible. I also drew Icantoo in the same direction instead of all 4 pointing towards the middle.

Here this one is a bit smaller.

It was raining today so I didn’t get a photograph in natural lighting.

So, which is your favorite? What tips do you have for me when drawing on different colored tiles?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and I’m glad you stopped by!

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº