Blanes part II

Sometimes a pattern takes time before I can see the possibilities to go on with it in more than one direction. It is not only about embellishments. It is something else. After the last blogpost I haven´t used Blanes, I felt a little stuck with it. But then all of a sudden Debbie Huntington made a post on Fb where she had used it in a Dingbatz kind of way and all the bells started to ring! I asked her if I could use it in this blogpost and she said yes! So here it is:

She had made it on a Gray tile and used gold and the rest of rennaisance colors. I loved it so much! Now I am convinced about this pattern and now I also can go on with it and just having fun! Today´s meditation between baking bread and buns, I spent with Blanes on a Rennaisance tile:

I used fragments all over this tile and a random string. A fragment of Zonked (Barbara Finwall) in the center and the petals could be a part of Batumber (Kelley Kelly). There are other fragments too. I found that Blanes is fun to use with layering techniques. When I did Blanes at the start I was aware of the metapatterns that easily came around depending on the shading. But I wasn´t too excited about the rest. Now I am happy to be able to go on from here with it! Thank you Debbie, you opened my eyes! 

Project Pack 06 - NO Mistakes!

I have followed the Project Packs from Zentangle since they started doing them, but this is the first time I have bought the pack myself. You don´t need to buy anything you can follow the video-lessons and do them on material you already got. A friend of mine who recently went to the seminar in Providence brought me a pack which was great. Thank you Eriko, I appreciated this a lot! In the pack was a mini-journal to work in. I like the idea of journals. But what made this PP06 special was the theme: No Mistakes!. This is one of those things that I appreciate most about zentangle. Maybe one of the most important things that both has affected my own creativity and also it has affected my way of approaching things in my everyday life. As a painting artist I have  been aware of this  philosophy, "there are no mistakes in art - only possibilities". But with the zentangle-method I practise the no-mistakes-philosophy every day in one way or another! Of course this must affect my way of doing things and my way of looking at things!

The introduction-video to the PP06 is recommended to watch HERE.

And here are my eight days with PP06:

When the 8 days were done there are still a lot of pages to do, which is comforting, since the eight day came too fast, I could have followed these videos a lot longer! It is still possible to go back and watch the videos more than one time and I sure will, they are so inspiring.

How to create this pages without buying the pack? Well I tried to, since I wanted to try these ideas in a class last Saturday. I spilled chinese ink on some. And I spilled acrylic Mars Black heavybody diluted with water on some. They both worked very well though I had to let the ink dry much longer till it worked with my white gelly roll. I made this on tiles but I would love to try it in a concertina sketchbook too! Here is one example on chinese ink:

and on on acrylics:

I enjoyed PP06 a lot mostly because of the "no-mistake" theme. But the result working on spilled pages is also very exciting. I look forward filling the rest of this little green journal up with tangles! And yes, I am going to tangle the frontpage too!

Same String x 4

The String in Zentangle is something I have learned to appreciate more and more as I tangle on. From the start I did like the idea of dividing the working space with this technique. But now I feel like without a string it is more difficult not to start planning the result of the tangling. The freedom of limits is something recognizable in any kind of art. With no limits it is very very hard to create anything.  The string is the kind of limit that can change during the work, which is the best kind of limit when it comes to create something unique. The string is just a string, it is possible to step over it, to bury it and go in other directions or just follow it strictly. This means that the String is to be followed as a guideline, nothing else.

The Fb group "Today´s Tangles-Keeping It Classic" offers a prompt every week which includes a string and a list of official patterns. This week the string was Fragment B3 from the Zentangle Primer. It was such a great string, I just went on doing it in different ways. I didn´t choose the patterns myself this time, I let a dice with numbers 1-20 do it for me, which worked well since the suggested patterns were 18.

Patterns: Crescentmoon, `NZeppel, Florz and Printemps

Patterns: Mooka and Ixorus

Patterns: Hollibaugh, Florz, Betweed, and Rain

Patterns: Betweed, Striping, Tipple and Ennies

As I did four of them I got a nice mosaique which makes me happy! I can keep turning the tiles, change the places of the tiles and it will look new each time!

I am not sure I am finished with this string yet. There are infinite possibilities to work with this, so far I have used the string  strictly I think, which means that it is possible to see where the string goes even if you don´t know what it actually looks like. What happens if I only use one pattern?  What happens if a pattern crosses the lines going it´s own ways? This is so much fun! To find out what happens if I go into another direction.....

All about Ratoon

Shortly after the CZT32 seminar, in november, The Zentangle Headquarter released the pattern Ratoon. I was still in US at that time at my friend Susan´s place and we experienced this pattern together. It is such a beautiful pattern! It is a high-focus-pattern, but after having done it a couple of times it is easy to remember.  This is one of my first Ratoons which I made in Susan´s home:

Ratoon with Dewd and a variation of Crescentmoon.

I was so happy with this one! But after this I made one that went it´s own way for sure!
 

Green Ratoon with Florz and auras.

In March 29 Helen Williams made a post on Ratoon that was very inspiring! And made my Ratoon go into another direction:

Sandy Kelley Jones take on Ratoon after having seen
Helen Williams blog!

I love the ribbonlike Ratoon! Then I wanted to try it on a black zendala:

Ratoon with Crescentmoon, Tipple and Sonnenband
(Simone Bischoff)

I think this one came out like something in between the first one and the ones I did after I had seen Helen Williams post. Ratoon is such a fun tangle to learn and it does live it´s own life most of the time. Which is a good sign for a true zentangle!   

Dingsplatz and IAST285

I have been having fun with Dingsplatz for a couple of days along with the Way Bop-thing. This is an easy technique to limit the work-space. Rick and Maria demonstrates how to do this in a video you find here. It is addictive and it is very relaxing. So when Adele Bruno asked for Dingsplatz in her challenge no. 285 it was right up in my alley!

This one I made on a rennaissance-tile a week ago and in the center I used Fragment D23. Then a lot of orbs, Crescentmmon and some Fescu.

This one is from my Cappucino-journal (which I like very much, the paper is of a kind that makes it possible to work on both sides of a page). In the center I used Spoken and Striping. Then Crescentmoon again and orbs and auras.

My latest Dingsplatz for IAST 285. In the center Fragment E25, Then Shattuck and Betweed and Orbs.

I love to do them. They just land on the paper/tile or whatever I draw on!

Practicing Way Bop.

I think everyone knows that it takes practicing to learn a tangle. Most tangles are easy to learn and easy to draw. But there are tangles that need some more practicing than other tangles to learn them and know them by heart. Those tangles are often called high focus tangles. Of course there are differences between tanglers - what seems easy for one tangler might be hard for another. Sometimes I am not motivated to practice as much as I should to make a tangle beeing mine, and I abandon that tangle and maybe I don´t pick it up at all. But those tangles very often  come my way anyhow and I can´t avoid them much longer. This is interesting, they just show up and tell me to do them over again!  This happened in the last prompt in Todays Tangles - Keeping it Classic. Way Bop: A new possibility for me to learn! 

Step-outs are good. But I don´t like to have the step-out in front of me while tangling. I need to know the tangle by heart to be able to get the full benefit of tangling. 

On the first one I had to look at the step-out. It was a little struggle until Printemps, Striping and Flux could take care of the process and make it pleasant again.

After this I asked little Bijou to help. I made Waybop more than three times, acutally I tangled on the back of the Bijous too. The three last Bijous I didn´t need the step-outs any more! Happy moment!

The second tile was a joy to make! Not me struggling any more. Here with Jonqual, Zinger, Flux and Printemps. This was a way to make friends with a beautiful tangle and I guess Way Bop has come to stay with me this time! 

Journaling - Zentangle

I have thought about journaling for quite a long time. Michele Wynne´s blog Coffee and Creativity has been and is a great inspiration. I love the classic Zentangle, I love to do my tiles in black and white and I love the possibilities when it comes to "beyond basics".I haven´t done a lot of ZIA:s (=Zentangle Inspired Art). But journaling is something that I want to explore more. I decided to post my first steps on the journaling road and I might post some more further on. Here are my first pages:

I have joined a group on Facebook (Our Tangled Lives),which will be a support for me I hope. I have chosen my word for 2019, which was the easy part: Possibilities.

Then I found a quote: "You don´t need to know precisely what is happening or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope" - Thomas Merton

This quote just popped up as I looked for it and it is special to me. A couple of years ago I was reading Thomas Merton and his thoughts made a great impression on me at that time, so this is exactly what I was looking for!

This page is about Schway, which I have avoided as a pattern. But maybe Schway will follow me further along???

I have done a ZIA!!! This was because of a prompt in the Fb-group. I read a story about a tradition in Nepal where they use to make flags with messages, prayers to dead ancestors, friends and so on. It was a wonderful story and that made me do this page. I loved it! I also made me a bookmark for this page:

It is tiny just 8,9x4cm!

My latest page is about imagination: Notice the invisible. I used Embedded Letters, Denma (Anoeska Waardenburg), and Sistar (Hanny Nura).

I don´t know where this will take me. But now I have taken my first steps on the journaling road. I will try to do this once in a while and look for the possibilities.

Arukas Day 20-25

I don´t belive it! Only 5 days left!!!! 

Calendar 4th-9th of December

I belive the red spots is pointing out December as the month of Christmas. Can´t help thinking in that direction. The patterns: Florz, Zenith, Icantoo (Hanny Nura), Icanthis, Bales var. Ing, Locar and Ipso (Jennifer Hohensteiner). About the last three days with Ing: After the seminar there was another gathering of CZT:s called Zenagain. I wasn´t there, but after that I saw some wonderful Ing variations and I kept those in mind since I wanted to give Ing a round with fragments this time. I loved to do that, using fragmens from the Zentangle Primer.

Arukas Day 11-15

This is a tangle-adventure. When I sit down with my little journal I never know what it will end up with. I hope you can read my notes.

I think it is a good idea to try Arukas in different strings. This string is offered by Sandy Kelley Jones in the Fb-group Today´s Tangles -Keeping it classic.

One more try on the same string as day 12.

These five days I think Arukas lives her own life. I think of Arukas as a female no doubt. And I do love her still. She is too adventurous, I have no chance to get bored!

Arukas day 7-10

These are the last days with Arukas. I still enjoy it. A lot!