Category Archives: Zentangle

Inktober Week 2 Doodah and Cadent

Well, my Inktober is not going well! It’s more of a Movietober. ;) We’ve been watching a lot of chick flicks and very little art has been done. But I did get one piece done using two of the week’s tangles: Doodah and Cadent.

I’d originally planned to use some of my inks and my calligraphy pen. I started with a bristol vellum tile but then decided to just use a black inkpen.

Here’s the scan of my tile before shading.

Here is the picture I took of it in natural light. :)

Here’s the scan of the tile after shading.

The sun had gone down by the time I got it shaded. So I had to take this picture the best I could.

I liked both the process of doing this tile and how it turned out.

I hope your Inktober is going better than mine. :)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Inktober 1-6 2020

Well, I didn’t exactly do some art every day. :( But I did create three pieces.

The first is day had the prompt tangles of Flux and Jester from my first two lists and then #doodlewashoctober2020 had the prompt of night. So I decided to use a black tile and a white gelly roll pen.

Day two I incorporated all three tangle prompts: Jackstripes, Snelly, and Ondalina. I wanted to try out my shimmery inks I got for Christmas last year and my dip pen too. I chose a blue one because Ondalina looks like waves.

This is my first ever attempt with this pen, so the tile isn’t that great. AND I didn’t feel like doing any shading that day. I am very happy with the pen and nib. The letter “class” I took at the beginning of the year was very helpful in using it. :)

I loved the weighted lines on the downstrokes of the waves. :) I may go back and add some shading with something later because I’m not liking how it looks very much. That might also be why I didn’t do another tile over the weekend. ;)

Here’s the scan. You can see I struggled with using the ink a bit but that’s okay.

Here’s a picture taken in natural light.

Over the weekend I did not do any art, nor on Monday. So yesterday I decided to combine the tangle prompts from Everything is Art (the first list I found) for days 3-6. So the tangles included are Anthem, Unbirthday, Pepper, and Henna Drum. Unbirthday was the new tangle for me on this day. I really like how this tile turned out. :)

Here’s the scan before shading.

Here is a picture I took outside while the sun was shining nicely, before I shaded it.

It was nice to go back to my comfort zone of black ink on white tile and pencil shading. :)

Here is the scan of the tile after shading and the picture taken outside.

I enjoyed shading with a regular pencil once again. :)

Looking forward to continuing with inktober.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Two Ratoon Tiles and Inktober

This week I chose to tangle Ratoon on two different distress stained tiles. I tangled with a black uniball pen so as not to harm the nib of my microns.

I wasn’t feeling very creative in the shading and color department, so It is pretty much just some lineart on stained papers.

Here are the scans of the tiles.

Wait, they look better a bit smaller. ;)

I just kind of went with the flow for both tiles, adding more lines and auras and even loops where desired. It didn’t work out so well on the first tile. :D

Here are the pictures I took outside in the good old sunshine.

You know, looking at them now, I think I might be able to shade them a bit. We’ll see. If I do, I’ll add in my finished pieces later.

Tomorrow is the first of October and Inktober starts. :) I understand there is some major controversy surrounding the official inktober but I usually follow the tangle prompts. :)

Here is the link I followed to the tangle prompts for this year.

My goal is to do the prompts each day but I may combine some. I’ll share the week’s tiles with you each week throughout the month.

Until next time, God bless,
Michele ºÜº

Purk Monotangle

This week I decided to go back to basics with my tile. Color stresses me a bit, so I wanted to keep it simple.

I started with one of my blank artist tiles, put down my four dots, borders, and a string. Then I checked the prompt over on Today’s Tangles: Keeping it Classic on facebook. Turns out they are keeping it simple this week too.

The prompt was to do a monotangle with your own choice of string. Of the tangles suggested, I chose Purk. It’s a tangle I like and I haven’t used it in a while.

Here’s the tile with my dots, borders, and string.

I added Purk in most of the sections, leaving only the middle and border empty. I should have added a bit of a border between the sections but it is what it is. ;)

Here is the scan and natural light picture of the tile before shading.

I just kept the shading simple too. I had considered using my gray copic markers to do some shading but really just wanted the simplicity of pencil. ;)

Here are the scan and the natural light pictures of the finished tile. Unfortunately the sun went behind a humongous cloud, so it isn’t as bright as I’d like.

It was a fun little tile to do and it felt good to do some art. :)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Color Tile with Annie, Echo Lines, and Quabog

This week I decided to use another of the tiles that I made from the practice of my distress stains. The colors are a bit dark, so I wasn’t sure how it would turn out.I used Ian McDowell’s Tangle Library app based on Sandy Bartholomew’s tangle cards to decide what tangles to use. I picked Annee, the middle tangle, from it.

Then I remembered I had Eni Oken’s Art Raffle app too. So I opened it and raffled away. Echo Lines showed up on one raffle and Quabog on another. ;) I’d already thought about using Quabog and then it came up on the raffle, so I went with it (or at least part of it, as I didn’t do the upside down part).

Here is the tile after tangling, first the scan and then the picture out in natural light.

At this point I wasn’t sure what to do. I got out my prismacolors and used them to add some shading. I ended up adding a brownish red color too, other than the yellows and greens. All I did to Quabog was add some white ink for highlight, although I did thicken the right side of each one just a bit, as Maria had mentioned in a project pack (spinner). I also added some white pencil to the echo lines but I think I did it too early and too scratchy but it is what it is. ;)

Here is the finished tile, first the scan and then the one taken outside in the natural but overcast light. :)

I’d love any pointers you can give me for working with color and “shading”.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a great week.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Ratoon on Colored Tile

Remember those papers that I shared last week? Well, I cut them into 3.5″x3.5″ tiles and some ATC. I decided to use one of the cut pieces for a tile today.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do but finally settled on tangling Ratoon. It’s a favorite of mine and I hoped htis paper would make it look nice.

You can see the sparkly bits from the Lindy’s Magicals. It’s hard to see in the picture but is subtly sparkly and pretty.

Because of the mica in the Magicals, I thought it would be best to keep from using one of my good pens with a nib. I went for one of my Uniball pens. :)

Here is the scan and picture I took of my line drawing.

The clouds had come out, so it isn’t a very bright picture.

I felt like it looked a bit  drab. So I decided to add a bit of colored pencil for shading or added depth.

I picked some greens but wish I’d have picked some blues . . . I’m not very good with color yet.

Here’s how it ended up, both scan and picture in natural light.

I really like the shimmer but using this method is unpredictable. ;)

I am going to have to try the other method, of using the magicals when shading and coloring a piece instead of before. But for now, I have all these tiles, so I’m going to have to figure out how to use them.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Learning Copic Markers

Our dear friends are here this week and Stephanie is a big crafter. She makes amazing and beautiful cards. She does stamping and has used Copic markers for years and years.

Several years ago I got a set of gray neutral copic sketch markers for Christmas. They were suggested in a book by Eni Oken on shading Zentangles. I got them and was intimidated by them and have never used them. (I didn’t get that book back out and see what Eni suggested.) So on their second day here she gave me a bit of a training session on using the copic markers.

I grabbed a 3.5 x 3.5 bristol vellum tile (one I cut from a larger sheet of vellum), put my corner dots, border, and then drew in a quick string without thinking about it. I decided to use several different kinds of tangles to try out some different methods of shading.

I was so focused on learning how to use the markers that I completely forgot about taking a before scan or picture. :D

I used Shattuck, Umble, Zander, and some Tipple (?) or at least that is what I think the tangles were.

The first shading I did was on the right hand side on (straight-line) Shattuck.

Here’s part of the scanned tile.

I was pretty happy with the shading there. Then I decided to try something a little different with Umble, there in the white center section. I did the overlapping areas and then decided to try shading the top most parts to be rounded. It didn’t work so good. Then I added a line of white and that only made it worse. Then I shaded the curved zander on the side and it was okay.

The last thing was the orbs on the top and I wasn’t too sure about them. I figured they were going to be the hardest and I wasn’t expecting much.

I was amazed! Here’s the whole scanned tile and then the picture I took outside in natural sunlight. :)

As usual, the scan is a bit harsher and shows all the flaws. ;) But it looks pretty good from a normal distance. :D This was definitely something that was worth doing and I will try it again in the future.

It’s not easy trying something new, but it is very rewarding. I encourage you to take time for yourself and do something artistic, even if the first results are as nice as you’d like. Go easy on yourself and let it help you de-stress from your day. :)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Practice Tile: Twing, Tidal, Indy-Rella, and Marasu

After Christmas I tried out the Lindy’s Magicals on a artist tile. I wasn’t real pleased with the outcome but put it in my stash of tiles after it dried. And there it has sat for about 6 or 7 months. ;) Clearly there is a learning curve with these and I have not yet taken the time to play with them any more yet.

Since the Zen-Untangled project is over, I haven’t decided to keep playing along with the Tangles All Around facebook group. Honestly, I needed the break and I don’t like that I cannot share my blog page link when I share a tile there.

Any way, I was upset one evening and didn’t feel like playing a game, so I got that tile out and decided to tangle on it. Since I wasn’t in the best mood, I didn’t care how it turned out, so it was safe to use that tile. :D

In the largest section I went with Marasu. I didn’t want to think too much and that one is pretty easy. Then I’d made friends with Twing and so decided to add it as well. Indy-Relly is another one that isn’t complicated and so I added it but didn’t like it when I was finished; we haven’t become friends yet. ;) Finally I added Tidal because it is easy.

So here is my tile before shading, both the scan and the picture taken outside on an overcast day.

You cannot see the sparkles very well in the scan or pictures, for that matter, but it is there. :)

The orange and the blueish sections are the most sparkly. :)

I used my prismacolor pencils and attempted some shading. I’m not very good with color shading yet, so this is definitely a practice piece any way you look at it. :D

Here is the scan of the tile after shading.

I probably should have put some kind of highlight on Tidal to make it look a bit less bland. :D

Here it the picture I took outside in natural, but overcast, light.

In this one you can see the sparkles a bit more.

Well that is all for me today. I hope you take some time to play with some kind of art this week. :) It really is good for you.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Final Zen-Untangled Tile

Well, this is the final week of the Zen-Untangled Project over on Tangle All Around facebook group with Alice Hendon. It’s been great learning all of the current official tangles. I don’t yet have the all down but I’ve done tiles every week.

Throughout this project I’ve learned something about myself; actually I reaffirmed something about myself. ;) It is hard for me to do something every single day, even if I really like that something. And I am more motivated to do things when I have a commitment. In this case, although I enjoy tangling, I don’t take the time to do it every day but am always glad that I make myself do something artsy every week. :)

I’m looking forward to playing with the retarder I got for the acrylic paints and do some more Bob Ross painting. :) So Wednesday posts may vary a bit in the coming weeks. ;)

This week the tangles were Vitruvius, Umble, Vega, Man-o-man, Schway, and Emingle. I have done four of these but Vega and Vitruvius were ones I have not done before. And I’ll admit, I didn’t really like Schway before. Well, actually, I don’t think I really liked any of these. :D

This week the string is very wavy and with so many blocky tangles, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. Here’s the string.

I chose to use Vega and follow the snake-like line line. Then I chose to use Schway  in the background on the left and then some Vitruvius in one of the curves.

Here’s the scan and then a picture taken outside in natural overcast light.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to shade this with heavy black bits but think it turned out alright. :)

Well that’s it for this project and for my post this week. :) I hope one day I will actually complete the project as Alice intended, creating a tangled keepsake and instructions for all the official Zentangles.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Bridge: Knase, Wadical, and Twing

Wow, only one week to go. I had hoped that I’d get into the habit of tangling a little every day but that is not what has happened. I’ve done pretty much what I’ve done for a long time, wait until Tuesday and then do a tile. :D

This week’s tangles are Knase, Küle, Quipple, Twing, Wadical, Well, and Well Well Who. Once again, there were several tangles that I hadn’t seen before: Küle, Quipple, and Well Well Who. I’ve seen Well before but I’ve never used it. Knase and Wadical are ones I’ve seen but haven’t used.

Wadical is one that I thought was peculiar but when I used it I found I really liked it. It was a nice tangle to get into the flow with.

Here’s my tile, both scan and a picture in natural light. Top tangle is Twing, then Knase, and then Wadical.

I think it kind of looks like a bridge and water. I like how Knase and Twing flowed together nicely. :)

Here’s the tile after shading, both scan and picture taken out in natural light.

It doesn’t look like much shading in the natural light. I guess I should have done a bit more but it was looking a bit too dark overall, so I lifted some of it off with a kneaded eraser. I guess I should have left it alone after all. :D

Next week is the last one in this project and we will have then completed all of the official Zentangle tangles. I’m a little bit behind and have quite a few to do the step-outs for yet, but at least I have them all available to me know. :) I’m very happy about this. :)

Have you tried Wadical? Is it meditative for you?

Well, I’m going to run. Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº