Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Zendala Dare 70

This week's mandala template is lovely.  Again.  Another winner, Erin!

I jumped out of the box by not obsessing about completely filling an area with a tangle, allowing negative space to circle around the pen strokes and using the opportunity to add simple shading. 

Remember the lesson on how to make a "bubble" in the middle of a tangle?  (or some refer to it as a "water droplet" or "dew drop")....  Well, the outer orbs and circles on this template is where I made an attempt at that technique. 

▼  Hope someone (Enthusiastic Artist *hint hint*) will do an indepth tutorial on the bubble/dew drop technique, and which tangles enhance the bubble quality vs. tangles to avoid.  I, obviously, don't get it!!  lol



Zendala Dare 70
 
Margaret, the Enthusiastic Artist, is awesome.  She has done wonderful in-depth tutorials on Cadent and Paradox... and other great creative artistic information.  Hope you'll visit her site.
 
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Peace - and happy tangling.
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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Zendala Dare 69

"Pop Goes the Weasel"!  That's the children's song that popped into my head when I saw Erin's mandala template for this week!  Why?  LOL.... it's a mystery to me. 

I've been smiling and humming that song for 3 days!

Zendala Dare 69

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Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Zendala Dare 68

The theme for this Zendala Dare is "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", which = black and white in my land of Zendala.  I love the look of white ink on black paper.  I have experimented with many brands of white ink and white gel pens, but I don't like the way the pen lays down the white ink and the thickness of the white lines. 

My "perfect white pen" would be as perfect as the Sakura Micron Black Pigment Pens (#01) (that I love to use), preferably a fine nib, #01 or #02. 

Even though I struggled with the white ink on this tile, I really did enjoy the mandala template.  And, yes, I was able to enjoy the moment while tangling the black on white.  Another great challenge, Erin.

Zendala Dare 68
If you have had a good experience with a pen that delivers an opaque line of fine/narrow white ink, (other than a dip-pen), I'd love to hear from you. 
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Happy tangling...
... and thank you for visiting.
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Thursday, August 1, 2013

" String Theory " 0- Challenge #129

I used to really, really like tangling within 'pre-strung' strings..... but somewhere along my  Zentangle Journey, it has become a not-so-favorite method-of-choice.  Or maybe it just depends on the mood-of-the-day.  After all, tangling those weekly mandala designs (Zendala Dare) is pretty exciting.  At least it has peaked my interest for now.  Sometimes I feel claustrophobic and don't want to be confined to a small area designated by a string.  I just want be loosy-goosy and pop out-of-the-box with curving, lingering, random lines exuding from the tip of my pen.  The pen does all the work.

This week, the Diva's challenge is to work with a predetermined string.  Oy.  This is going to be a challenge.  "What can I possibly do with this?", I thought. 

So, I moaned and groaned (for a brief nano-second!) - until I remembered a very cool, brandy-new tangle that I found and fell in love with this week (on line).  I have been so anxious to test-drive it, and this predetermined string challenge is the perfect time to give it a go.  Once again, the Universe has come to my rescue!!

Because I don't remember the name of this cool new tangle, I was unable to locate it!   So, I put my pen into 1st gear and proceeded from memory.... (always a risky venture!)   I'm happy with how that tangle looks, but the tile as a whole..........eh.

If you should happen to know/find the name of the tangle in the two- teardrop areas on the tile below, please enlighten me!   (Many thanks, in advance.)

ZIA-4" square bristol; Sakura Micron Black #01; graphite shading; crackled rubber stamp/platinum ink background
 
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Happy tangling,
... and thank you for visiting.
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