Beginnings and Endings

 

New Beginnings

This weekend was the grand opening of my new studio, nicknamed The Zen Den. I met some talented ladies and announced my summer workshops and classes. I'm very excited about teaching my first class here this week.  At first, I was worried about working in the basement, but after all of the cleaning, painting, and decorating, I think it is a very nice place to work. It is comfortably cool on hot days and will be cozy warm in the winter with the wood stove down there.

For those who couldn't make it to the open house, here are some photos of what you missed.

 

I had time to start a black Zendala during the open house and spent a few minutes this morning finishing it up. I wanted to try something different on this one, so I used metallic belly roll pens along with glaze pens and metallic colored pencils. (It is much more sparkly in person.)

 

OZAD Wrap-up

Working on the One Zentangle a Day virtual book club was so much more rewarding than I expected it to be. Not only did I love seeing all of the beautiful art, but I really appreciated hearing others' experiences as we shared this journey together. This common bond brought us together even though we were separated by hundreds, maybe thousands of miles.  I hope we can do it again in the fall.  Does anyone have Margaret Bremner's book?

 

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It looks interesting and I was wondering if it might be a good one to explore in the fall.

But for now, here is the last of the One Zentangle a Day goodies I've received.

From Ellen Gozling:

Uw bericht kan nu met het volgende bijlagen of koppelingen worden verzonden:
day 40

day 41

day 42

 

From Marty Deckel:

Thanks so much to you and ellen for hosting!!!  It was a long haul, but it was worth it for all the work and lesson's learned, not only from the book but from each other...so THANKS to ALL who contributed!!!!

 

Here is my Day 40 tile:  Letters as Strings, as well as 2 that I didn't ever send.  Day 16 Achromatic Scale on Midtoned paper, and Day 32 Borders and Frames, which I redid, because I had misunderstood the lesson...so there are 3 tiles attached.

 

I found todays lesson #40 fun to do, as I really love calligraphy and just love the W2 that Angie did behind her letter "a", so I used that tangle and adapted it.  I shaded with my pencil and then used the gray Fabrico marker around the letter and some areas of the background tangle...loved it!!

Well, here is Day #41:  Folk Patterns.  I have a tile and then2 jpg's of the Folk Patterns I found...it was an interesting lesson and one I never would have thought about doing.  I included a jpg of my sketchbook with the patterns I found...I planned out the tile so I could be sure to use all the patterns...interesting, but my tile is jam packed!

and the last Lesson for OZAD!!!  It's been great to meet so many new CZT's and lovers of Zentagle, and to have the privalege to work with and learn from everyone!!!  Thanks to Cris and Ellen for hosting...great job!!!

 

Here are my tiles for Day 42:  Simple Line Drawing. 

Tile one has some of my favorites and I added some Sepia, Inktense pencils and water, and a Fabrico marker for shading...I didn't use the Bronx Cheer, although, I have used it several times on my tiles out of necessity :-)

 

Part 2 of this lesson, Line Drawing...I used a Cala Lily as my line drawing string, and shaded with pencil, Fabrico, and a grey Pitt pen...I really like shading with these markers!  When I showed it to my husband, he asked if I was going to color it...so I decided to color it and I'm glad I did.  I used Tombow Markers.  If we hadn't had all the lessons in this book, I may never have used the markers to shade, or added color with the Inktense pencils, markers, Gelly Roll pens, etc., etc.!  Lots of fun!!!

 

 

 

 

What a nice way to finish the book, Marty.  Beautiful, as always. 

 

OZAD - Almost done

Interest seems to be dwindling here, but that is OK. We've had a great time and we're almost done. Spring is in the air and the outdoors is calling.  The garden and bike are calling and the beach is waiting. Does your tangling slow down this time of year? At home, I find myself tangling less.  But then I travel and have marathon sessions.  

I think I am done with the book, but if you are still working, please keep sending me your creations. I would be happy to collect and post them, probably once a week.

So, here are all of the tiles I've gotten in the last week in the order I received them.

First from Sonya Yencer:

OZAD 35

Once again, I am not fond of the string that began the Zendala. However, after decided to give it a whirl, my personal goal became to figure out how to soften the transition between the geometric and organic sections of the string, bringing harmony to the design. I'm happy with the results, especially the BETWEED star as the centerpiece to the "flower".

OZAD 36

Used ZANDER  for most of my string and love it! However, STICKERS is for the birds. It was an epic fail—thus my Bronx Cheer on top to salvage the tile. Love the background tangle with the dotted lines, stripes and "flowery" shapes, but have no idea what it is called. Does anyone know the name of this tangle? I will definitely be using it again!

 

 

OZAD 37

I'm not sure I see much of a difference between WARMTH and KEEKO (except that one uses straight lines while the other uses curved), but maybe I just need to practice each more. I used WARMTH as my string instead of a filler on this tile. While interesting, I'm not in love with it. Next time I will choose pens that provide more contrast - you can barely tell I used 2 different sized nibs. I'm even less thrilled with my orbs. Overall, don't care much for this tile but, as usual, the exercise was entertaining and kept me busy during my 1.5 hours of waiting time for my daughter's sports practice!

 

From Ellen Gozeling Day 38:

As I don't have a bleach pen, I was thinking of skipping this day.

Then I decided I just do a tile and send that in. And THEN I realized I have bought 2 white handkerchiefs, ages ago, and maybe I could tangle on them. But then there was the "problem" of holding the fabric. So I gave it some thought, and then I came up with an embroidery-ring. I like it! And I will go on with it, but not today. So here is my photo of my finished tile and my just started fabric work.

From Marty Deckel:

 

I didn't do the second lessons on day 38 and 39 (fabric and mica)...but did do a tile for each day.  Day 38 I tried doing just a few tangles, Floo, Paizel, some Perfs and a bit of Fescu...tried to keep it more open.  Day 39, Drawing Texture; is not open and very tight...but it does appear to have some texture  :-)  I used Printemps, Shattuck, Black perfs (Perlz, or Buckeyes), and Tipple.  I also used a white Gelly Roll pen in some areas.

Wow!  Only 3 more lessons to go...

Finally, from Maria Vennekens:

Attached day 39. I used Maria Thomas’string #50 (tangle patterns) and went back to my calendar again. I wish I knew where to buy mica. The work shown in the book is beautiful. I only know mica from my childhood . I used to watch the fire trough  “windows” of mica. They always were a bit dirty because of the smoke of the fire. The combination of the dirt and the flames had the same look as the artworks show on page 111.

As I have holidays this week I decided to finish the book today and send my contributions to you. I enjoyed the first part of the book much more than the last. But once said that I would participate I find I have to contribute till the end. So here are the last three.

40 (m, h and M)

This was fun to do. I used a twin pencil to draw the letters. I depends on the patterns used how the letters show up . The more contrast between letter and background pattern, the better you can see the letter. It also can help to leave a millimeter space around the letter (see h). I think my capital M came out the best.

 

41

I used some of the folk patterns suggested in the book. I like the result but don’t think it is different from using tangle patterns. Again I regret not having the opportunity to use the material suggested on the right page. I looks interesting and it is a material/technique that will create even more dimension in a zentangle.

42

As one tile would not be big enough to give space to my favorite patterns I decided to do the line drawing suggested on the right page. I had better not.

 

Thanks for all the efforts you did to put our works on your blog. It was fun to see what others did with the 42 (or must we say 84) challenges.

 

Lots of great eye candy today.  I hope you enjoyed it.

 

 

 

One Zentangle a Day - Day 37: Monoprint & Tangle Warmth

From you hostess Ellen:

 

Today's lesson is about mono printing. And I did not do that part of today's exercise. I did go to a craft shop this morning to get some material, but the prices was not right for me, so I skipped it.

I did try the tangle warmth. Never done it before, but I liked the effect of the line you draw over and over, or use a different pen on.

So I used it in today's tile and wanted to see the effect of darkening part of a tangle on a favorite: echoism. Not sure it worked as well as on warmth, but I like the overall effect of the tile.

 

Cris mentioned the fact that we are on the last chapter op the book. And yes, I would love to get on and do a different book (shading comes to mind), but maybe with the summer coming (hopefully) maybe it's a good idea to start in October or even November? Maybe we can have a poll? Or just start with a few and see who will join.

 

Have a great day all and see you next week,

Ellen

 

 

I was not very impressed with warmth, until I saw Ellen's version.  Clearly, she got it better than I did.  We were also to do mono-printing, which I did not do.  I just did a beginner class on Saturday, so I thought I would use it with the traditional first class string. I must say that I truly hated this until I shaded it.  I also tried a new tangle Kuke by Katy Abbott.  I definitely did that one too small.

From Maria Vennekens:

Todays new pattern  Warmth is a rather poor tangeleation of Keeko. So I decided to go over my boundaries and try the color exercise. As I did not have the materials that are listed on the page I tried to do it with inktence pencils on a tyvek “paper” wich I pressed as described on a soaked tile. The result was a very bold unclear drawing. Totally not zentangle and  not attractive (as the the exemples in the book are  - except the two on the right of the page) I tried to save it by working over the bold shapes with a brown and green micron. Also I used color pencils to give some shading, but even that did not save the tile. Hope someone else shows up with better work.

 

I will not work on fabric so do not expect a contribution for day 38.   

 

And finally, here is Marty Deckel's contribution:

 

Here's Day 37..I have two, but I didn't do the mono printing part of the lesson...seemed very involved and I don't have some of the materials.  Instead, I did a tile with the Daily Tangle, Warmth, and added Poke Leaf.  I used it as a border, (tile-a), as Maria did in her Wednesday, 4/3/13, blog "Bordering on Reverie", and bordered a pin (tile-b) that was my mother's...it was so much fun!!  I used 08 and 01 Microns, brown and yellow Inktense pencils, a water brush, and clear and gold Gelly Roll pens, and, of course, graphite for shading. 

 

 

Wow. That is simply perfect!

One Zentangle a Day - Day 36

We've made it to the final chapter of the books!  Is it time to start thinking of another book to do or should we take a break.  Our numbers seem to be dwindling.  I don't know if it is because the outdoors beckons with beautiful weather (and yard work) or if people are just getting tired of the book.  I'm not even sure what it is for me!

The daily tangles were Zander and stickers.  I love zander, but have never tried it using her steps.  I decided against stickers.  I don't like poke root and that one does not appeal at all.

To me, Zander looks like hair pulled into elastic and I guess I got carried away with that in my tile.  Very carried away. I even connected it with the Za that was going to be the border to a super long pony tail.  Of course, it needed a feather for our baby chicks that died.  This is not my favorite tile, but the "tangle fairy" came while it was in the bag and it looks better than it did last night.

 

From Ellen Gozeling:

In the book there is an example of a tile that is overworked. And what did I do? I started with making my Zander really small. Using it like Hollibaugh and filling the blank spaces with pearls. Overworked! Then I did the same with the pearls in the corner. Not one of my favorites. But again a good exercise and a nice and quiet hour.

I don't think it is overworked.  I think there is a nice balance of lights and darks.  But a good hour tangling is always a good thing, even when we aren't thrilled with the results.

From Marty Deckel:

Here are my 2 tiles for Day 36-OZAD: Creating Ensembles. The first tile tangles are Zander and Stickers.  The second is a 4-tile Ensemble.  Only OK, not too happy with the string...and it's too symmetrical, although, I did enjoy the tangles I used.

 

 

 

 

I see what she means about the symmetry.  I love each of the individual tiles, beautiful work as always.  I'd like to see it with the tiles switched around a bit.  Hey, I have Photoshop.  Let's see what I can do…

Well, I like it a bit better this way. But I like it either way.  Such beautiful purk and pais.  Lovely shading also.  I'm glad someone did the ZIA part.  

Lastly, here is Maria Vennekden's Zendala for Day 35.  Somehow the internet ate the attachment and she had to resend it.  Lovely work.

 

 

One Zentangle a Day - Day 35

 

From your hostess, Ellen Gozeling:

Day 35: combining organic and geometric tangles in a Zendala.

Well, I have used both. And I know I love geometric patterns, as you can see, I used just a small piece of the string for it.

And for some reason I had to let a big part of the mandala string without a pattern. Just put some shading in it and I does work for me.

Again the coloring was fun. Did 2 different ones and feel like they have transformed the original in different ways. I can still tell it's the same drawing, but the feeling is different. Hope you know what I mean.

 

Wising you all a great day and look forward to seeing all you work. Cris, again, and I will keep telling you: Amazing job putting the blog on every time!

 

Ellen

 

Thank you, Ellen.  Beautiful work.  Love your echoism.  I never would have thought to use it there.  It really is a nice touch.

Also thanks to Ellen for sending me a scan of the book so I could participate.  As you can see, you almost wouldn't even know we started with the same string! I think mine would look better with some color, but I didn't start it until late and I am tired.  Maybe later…

That is it for Day 35.  I tried to get Birdie to tangle one for us, but she had other priorities.  I did get this late entry for Day 34 from Marty Deckel:

I used colored pencils on my tile and am not very happy with it...too many colors and part of the problem was the paper i used...afraid to put any heavy watercolor paper, or anything other than what it calls for, in my home printer and jam it up!   I found these quite challenging because they had to be enlarged, copied, then copied again.  I will try the techniques on regular tiles at some point, though.

 

Loved everyones work for this lesson!!!!!

 

Lovely work, as usual.  I agree with Marty about loving everyone's Zendalas.  What is it about a Zendala that makes it turn out so beautiful?  Any ideas?

One Zentangle a Day - Day 34 PLUS the Diva Star Challenge

I feel like I am constantly apologizing for sending the OZAD late, but in this case, I think you will agree it was worth the wait, since I just got Sonya's magnificent Zendalas.  She was with me yesterday when a fox got after our chickens and helped us round them up before they were all eaten.  We lost 4, but it could have been so much worse.  After that, I was just too sad to blog.  

And, since the Diva challenge was to use stars, I thought it quite appropriate to combine the two since these very geometric Zendalas are star-like.  At least mine is.

First, here is my star for the Diva Challenge.  

 

I received it in my goodie bag at Retreat to Paradise. My first thought was to trace it for a pattern.  Duh.  It was meant to be tangled, so I did.  I think it would have been nicer if I painted it first.  Live and learn.  It was a lot harder to tangle on the slopes than I had anticipated.  Not sure I would do this again, even though I like how it turned out. Here it is after using a white charcoal pencil on the flux.

Now, on to the good stuff. Day 34 of One Zentangle a Day has us tangling a very geometric Zendala.  As was the case yesterday, since I am reading on a Kindle, I could not just copy the template.  I did try to recreate it using Genevieve's stencils, but got off on a different direction somewhere in the middle.  

See, an 8-pointed star.  It's not quite done since I haven't shaded it yet, but I think it is pretty nice as is.

Now, in order I received them, are the rest of the participants' lovely work.

First, from Ellen Gozeling:

Day 34. Another Zendala. Love them! And I did 3 again. Black and white, one with cool colors and one with warm colors. Love the first 2 the best. The black/white was not to my liking before the shading. It was bland and the patterns looked too much alike. With the shading the patterns stand out from each other. Better!

 

 

Maria Vennekens writes:

 

At first I made day 34 as always in my calendar using a self designed angular pattern to work in . Although it came out rather satisfying , I also decided to transfer Genevieve’s pattern to a Zendala tile and do that also. Because I did not copy very precise and also used round looking patterns it came out very organic looking.

 

As you surely expected I did not do the color version.

And finally, from Sonya Yencer, lots of lovely work:

Even after my first submission for Day 33, I decided to give this string a try even though I definitely didn't like it. When transferring the string from the book to the Zendala, I realized why I didn't like it. The "petals" that radiate around are organic, but the center is very geometric. IMO, there was a distinct disconnect between the 2. For me, in order to move forward, the solution was simple - I changed the string on the center. While I was at it, I decided to do everything off-center, and repeat the string for more of a fabric design feel. Then I was excited about it and moved forward quickly, using a core group of tangles but changing their position so it wasn't just the same thing on each "flower". Very pleased with the flow. Happiest with the center of the full "flower"!

{Love this off-center repeat.  Cool idea}

Day 34:

Today's string was *so* geometric that I decided it would be challenging to see what I could do to make the final product organic. It wasn't in the instructions, but it was fun and I'm pleased with the resulting Zendala.

 

For the first time I decided to try the color exercise. Too many colors would distract from the penmanship (which is what I love about this type of art) so the palettes are simple. I am happiest with the teal, green and yellow. I'd be curious to know what others think of this!

{I was lucky enough to see this in person.  Can you believe it actually looks better in person?!?!?}

 

 

 

I really cannot make up my mind which I like the best. I love them all.