Striping on a black zendala and calendarpage 25th-27th of November.

In PP01 there was a video with striping on a black presprung zendala. As I didn´t have a presprung black zendala I searched the web and found a template I wanted to try. Here is what I decided to try. I printed the template, used my white charcoalpencil on the back of the paper, placed it on my zendala and traced the lines and so there I had a "presprung" zendala! I don´t use templates very often but for this purpose I thought it would work ok.  This is the first time I made a monotangle on a zendala and I must say it was the perfect thing to do on a presprung one! I do enjoy the process  working on a zendala very much. So: More zendala in my life is a promise to myself. 

Here is the calendarpage:

Viaduct (Wayne Harlow), Cubine, Beeline and Drupe. A strange combination I thought. Especially to get some Drupe on 27th to be done! But however it came out and I do love this page more than I thought I would. Cubine is a favourite of mine for sure but I wouldn´t have chosen these combinations if I hadn´t followed the #Giveatangle2017 -prompts! So glad I did. 

Tangling in a round

Today I remembered something important. Tangling in a round is special. It is hard to explaing why, but at once started the focus is there. 

I love to do this very much. It is relaxing and very meditative. I went out on the internet looking for thoughts about this and ofcourse I ran into Mandalas. I don´t want to use rulers nor templates which seems to be the common way, at least on the internet. Happily I found a blogpost made by Margaret Bremner, which I think nailed important things about mandala. She writes: "The circle is one of very few virtually universal symbols throughout history and across cultures, representing eternity, wholeness, protection and unity. The mandala is symbolic of balance, transformation and the interconnection of all things." Of course this is not new, but it is good to keep in mind.

About this tile: I used Zailz (Loretta West) and Lisbon Fragment (Henrike Bratz) with string 77 (Barbara Finwall). Starting with the circle lightly penciled on a 8,9x8,9 cm white tile then just going for the tangles. So simple, so relaxing, so meditative. 

One more Duotangle

I had to go on with Paradox and Bunzo for the Diva´s challenge on a white tile. It is something with this combo that just goes on and on. Both tangles are onestroke-tangles. Maybe that´s why...

And they appear so differently, but still there are just onestroke-tangles! That is magic! And very relaxing! 

Calendar 22nd-24th of November and the Diva´s challenge 342

Margaret Mc Kerihan´s Ta-Da is a favourite of mine though it was some time since I used it. Thank´s to #Giveatangle2017 I found it again! Some small Fengles also joined and then came Phroz (Lynn Shelton Mead) and Viaduct (Wayne Harlow).

I am the Diva´s challenge no 342 is about making a duotangle using Paradox and Bunzo. Paradox is one of those I want to make friends with. The pattern looks complicated, but as Laura Harms says: It isn´t complicated to draw. I don´t use it very often though I find it relaxing and flowing easily. It is something else. I find it difficult to make variations on. If I try to, I am not so pleased with the result. It is like Paradox is so perfect by itself... But I like to let Bunzo play with it. It kind of soften the sharpness in Paradox. I made it on black tile today and here it is:

Bunzo is a kind of wild striping and I like that a lot. Like there are something organic inside it waiting to come out!

Calendar 19th-21th of November and Crescent moon

One thing I like about the calendar is that you never know what the next page will be like! I am surprised about how Flourish turned out and also about Fengle.  Bales is also something that surprised med. The variation in the middle is inspired by Martha Huggins video. To me this variation is the same as Puf (Carole Ohl) I didn´t realize it actually is the same tangle! I will use it further on thinking of it as Puffed Bales!!

And now the next video from Zentangle! Crescent moon on black tile! It was so fun to draw this!

If you haven´t already watched the video, I recommend you to do it!

Bookmarks from Ela

In beginning of September I got som happy surprises from Ela Rieger. Among others three untangled bookmarks. They had such beautiful surfaces, I had to wait and see how to treat them. But then Dewd showed up! That pattern wanted to take place on these! 

The bookmarks has another side too in other colors. So I made some more tangling there:

The yellow one to the right was the hardest one for me to tangle on.  I think I am more a red or a purple person than yellow....  But I am very pleased with the process and I do love the Dewd on the light green surface a lot! In the middle is my first try on Meshmerize (Tòmas Padrós).

16th-18th of November + Crazy Huggins

Following the November Prompts in Today´s Tangles (FB)in the calendar is very relaxing! And fun!

16th of November: Sandswirl (Kerry Heun) and Molygon.
17th of November: A favourite of mine,Papermint was added.
18th of Novemger: Then a new to me tangle, Flourish (Stephanie Skelton) showed up. I love the way the combos of patterns worked out.

Of course I watched the video about Crazy Huggins published by Zentangle on Youtube. I was unsure about doing it, since I don´t have the new Sakura gelly-pens. They are not available in Europe at the moment. Hopefully they will soon, since I would like to work with different tips on the pen. I have got some, but the quality of the ink is not so good, at least not on the finest tip 0,7. It works well on black gesso-surface, but not on the tiles, it seems to disappear into the surface. But despite of this I decided to give Crazy Huggins on black tile a round!

I did it as an exercise, following Molly´s instructions and I am quite satisfied with the result. I love working on black tiles. But I am soon running out of them....

Reflections on "Non-representational"

As I ran into Zentangle method, one of the first things I heard of was that Zentangle was non-representational. To me that means Abstract. It isn´t made to look like anything. I was attracted by this idea, since that was very close to my thoughts about my own art. Of course I can draw a cat and then tangle on it. But as I do that I immediately jump into planning. Another aspect of this is  that the cat has a top and a bottom. Zentangle hasn´t. Nothing prevents me from doing tangles on a cat just for fun but the only thing this way of drawing has in common with the zentanglemethod is the structured patterns.

Today I made a happy tangling, doing an exercise from Zentangle Primer using Shattuck, Jetties and Bales. Couldn´t resist to make the tangleation of Bales I learned from Martha Huggins.  Here it is:

Jetties is a pattern consisting of orbs. Could be balls in the eyes of the observer and if so it could be representational. But the meaning of non-representational is something else. Abstract doesn´t mean there are no recognizable objects. The picture as whole is abstract and there is no intention to make it in an other direction. Maybe this Shattuck may look like a fence? If the observer think it is, than it is ok, but there is no intention to make a fence, the interpretation is in the observers eye.

In abstract art you find a lot of symbols, well known or only known by the artist. Patterns are used in symbolic ways. In zentangle this also happens, but it is always unpredictable, since there is no planning. Even if this was an exercise, I didn´t plan the outcome, but I decided to use these patterns as suggested in the exercise.

This tile is special in another way. Tanglers are using "chops" to sign their tiles. Till now I have used the signature I use on my paintings. But today I knew what my chop should look like! It took some time, but here it was!

Another example of non-representational drawing:

I tangled the cover of the notebook I got from my granddaughter a couple of days ago. Tangles used: Showgirl (Vicki Bassett) and Well Well (Zt). Looking at it I could make an interpretation and speak about whirling feathers or something else, but it still is non-representational.

I love the possibilities non-representational pictures, abstract pictures gives to me: It can be anything and I never get tired of looking at them. And I never get tired of making them, since the focus is mainly on the process and the process is so liberating!

10th - 15th of November

A busy time and I have not updated my blog! But I have been tangling in my calendar between singing in my beloved choir "Siljans Vokalensemble"! So here we go:

10th of November: Betwinkle (Alexandria Cortez Diaz) and Noon.
11th of November: Betwinkle with Papz (mine). It was special to have my own tangle as #Giveatangle2017! I loved to see what others has created. Here I tried some tranluZence with the beautiful Betwinkle!

12th of November: Papz meeting LaBel (Sue Jacobs).

In the Fb-group Today´s Tangles, Sandy Kelley-Jones reminded us all that in zentangle there are no ups and downs, so I tried to turn my page 180°!  Because of the numbers this is easy to forget. But this time I happened to like the page more when I turned it!

13th of November: Huggins and LaBel. Huggins is such a great tangle! I just love it! Some extra Huggins appeared. There are days I tangle in my calendar at the Breakfast-table. I spilled some tea on this page accidently. And ooops some more Huggins grew up right there!

14th of November: Verdigog with more Huggins.

15th of November: Molygon and Verdigogh.

It is a little more than a month till Christmas. But here I have felt like it was Christmas due to the last Newsletter from Zentangle! Rick and Maria has published a Project-pack with some videos that are like Christmas-gifts! Here are my latests tiles inspired by the videos:

A new zentangle Dewd! So nice and so addictive to draw! You find the video here.

And this is a new tangleation on Bales as shown by Martha Huggins here. I loved this little one while listening to her voice telling what to do. So easy and so much zen. 

4th-9th of November

Continuing with #Giveatangle2017. The tangle for 4th was Inapod (Carole Ohl). I don´t feel like monotangling right now, so Schway joined. On the 5th Dragonair (Norma Burnell) was accompanied by Inapod and a little Tipple. The tangle for the 6th was Twirl (Helen Williams). That cute little pattern wasn´t  my easiest though I thought so at first. I only looked at the steps and just went for it. But then I realized there was a video too so I watched it and to my surprise I had missed the last step of the pattern! But here it was like this together with Dragonair and Vitruvius!

I got a new chance on the 7th and now I tried to do it properly with Zinger in focus. My first take went into Assunta instead!!! But at last I made it!!! The 8th came with one of my favourites: Ing! Also with more Zinger. For today Noom was the tangle. I DO like Noom, though I haven´t played with it much. I think I will further on. Here with more Ing.

Schway and Membranart

Schway is an official zentangle. As it was introduced in 2013 I wasn´t a tangler yet. I guess I might not have been hooked if that should have been the first tangle I would have ran into. But you never know. I was reminded on this pattern, which I have tried before, as it came up in the prompt for November in Today´s Tangles. How to deal with it? I am able to make it from the step-outs, I know that. But to take the next step and make it mine? That is another question. 

I started doing it as I have learned to do. Going back to basics with dots in the corner, penciled line binding the dots together and then there came a string, randomly drawn. I had to struggle with myself not to judge, but appreciate what came from my pen. 

I wanted to accept and appreciate this but the fact is it wasn´t much zen. I had to put this aside giving it a chance. So I went for another round today.

First of all I choose to get two patterns together that I didn´t like too much.  Shway and Membranart. Membranart (Thomás Padrós) wasn´t a pattern I took to my heart at the first sight, even if I saw a lot of beautiful examples with this pattern being done in the Fb-groups. My first tile had to be a monotangle with Membranart only, just to get some hang of it:

Mmm. A little bit more exciting then my first round with it in the calendar.  Now I could do it without thinking too much about HOW to do it. Just let it be what it might be. I am not a perfectionist. I am not trying to be one. But the important thing with tangling to me is to get it flow, to be in the zone, to have fun and relaxation. This was almost fun. But I still wasn´t there. So what was going to happen putting these two patterns together?

Now I had to give up my thoughts of the result (which is a problem sometimes) since theese two patterns didn´t actually talk to me. I had to trust them talk to eachother instead.  And there it was!!! I don´t know where it happened, but all of a sudden I was just drawing, not worrying, and it was a wonderful moment! I did feel gratitude, I appreciated the process, I didn´t judge myself and I was happy doing this! Looking at the final result I am once again telling myself "This is magic". I love the zentangle-method because of this! 

I like to set all three tiles together just to get another view of them and be able to revaluate this process.

Looking at them not as separate tiles I do like them a lot. My frustration is gone and you never know, I might go for Schway again! Or Membranart!

Calendar 1st - 3rd of October

November. Grey and heavy. But still a time to tangle! I started off with the suggested fragment for the month, V4. I like the weavy structure of this fragment! Think I will use it more. The rest of the month I will use my calender doing #Giveatangle challenge in the FB-group Today´s tangles. One tangle a day is the theme. 2nd of November: Vitruvius. I made the striping too, since that was on 1st of November! On the 3rd Schway came up. I have read a lot of comments about Schway like "it is not my kind of cup". Well well, how to handle that. I have used it once. But Then it landed in my pile for not-my-kind-of-cup-tangle!!! I have learned something through my zentangle-journey: Not to give up. Just go for it again. And again. Try to make friends. Lets see if that will work for this tangle!

October 31st and the Diva´s weekly.

Autumntheme the last day in October. With Gourdgeous and Leaflet (Helen Williams). I made this with the Diva´s challenge in mind. I tried not to think of Pumpkins. But what to do when it is Halloween! So Gourdgeous had to be there this year too!