Hands On!

Hands On!

So I'm way late in getting this out there - this was the challenge for ZEN N ZIA's FB page, the Palm Zentangle challenge from January 9th. (See, told you I was way late). 

As you can probably see from the pics, this was a large piece and took a very long time to do - but wow, was it ever fun!

I got to play with all sorts of fun toys - here's a brief list of the items I used:

• distress inks
• watercolor pencils
• copic skin color markers
• copic greys
• white gelly roll pen
• Paint brushes, sponges, tinfoil, water bottle caps and lions and tigers and bears oh my!

Bit did I ever get to try out a bunch of new techniques.  If you have any questions about how I did a certain section please feel free to ask, I'm all about sharing :)

And now, on to the pics!

Before color/shading

Close ups:



2nd Attempt at Trelina Zentangle

2^nd Attempt at Trelina Zentangle

 

I decided to try my second attempt at Eni Oken’s Trelina Zentangle pattern with sepia copic markers.  I tried to match it as best I could with for the shading with a coloured pencil.  I still don’t have the hang of this pattern yet, but slowly and surely I’m getting there.

Before shading

After Shading… I have a long way to go with this pattern…

First Attempt at B’Dylan Zentangle

First Attempt at B’Dylan Zentangle

 

“The answers m’friend, are blowing in the wind…” 

 

Love, love, LOVE this new tangle pattern!  Easy and fun!  The shading is a little tricky, and I’m not sure if I nailed it, but I’m so very happy with the rest of the shading in this piece.

 

For the first time, I use a “light source”.  Usually I just shade my zentangles based loosely on the light coming from above.  Keep in mind, drawing in general is not in my nature, or wasn’t for the first 37 years of my life.  Until Zentangle came into my life, I didn’t have an artistic bone in my body. 

 

But here! On this tile! I used the light source coming from the somewhat upper right and I think I may have actual done okay! Yay me!

 

So here is the before pic, as you can see I started to shade before remembering to take the before pic.

B'Dylan zentangle before shading

 

And here is the final piece!

B'Dylan zentangle shaded



Feeling Flux’ed

Feeling Flux’ed

I just had the urge to flux! After my adventures with the Skye Zentangle I started on a larger project… then I wanted that quick fix of a completed tile and since I was feeling a little “KerFLUXed” I figured flux was the way to go. 

I really didn’t have any type of plan on this one – just the urge to flux and away I went. 

Here’s my before shading tile – looks like a bunch of lines really.



flux zentangle before shading

After I shaded it took form but still felt a little lost…



flux zentangle after shading

Then after the shading and adding some background it still didn’t pop. Flux me. *snickersnort* So I added a pop of colour to the bubbles and this is my final piece.  It turned out fluxin’ awesome in my not-so-humble opinion J



flux zentangle

Peace of Art

Peace of Art

 

The Diva’s challenge for the week was to produce a peace-themed piece.  It’s been a sad week.  Not a lot of peace around these days.

 

Stop the hate.

Make peace.

Be kind to yourself.

Be kind to the earth.

Be kind to others. 

It all sounds so simple, yet… 

 

Before Pic.

 

After Pic.



Big Skye Zentangle

Big Skye Zentangle

Skye Zentangle Shaded

 

This piece took me quite a while to do, lots of small detail and such.  I used Copic microns and grey Copic markers for the shading.  It’s my final skye zentangle piece for awhile, as it’s time to move on to a different tangle.

Stay tuned for my next post with skye zentangle how-to video and a whole whack load of pictures of the other skye zentangle tiles I’ve completed over the last couple of weeks!

Before pic - just lines

Before all the shading and details were finished pic



Continuing with Skye Zentangle

Continuing with Skye Zentangle

 

I’m really starting to get the hang of this Skye Zentangle.  It’s certainly not an easy one to master.  Even now after many many tries I still make little booboos. 

 

Anyhooooo… here are the last two I’ve done up.  Played around with a bit of colour on the second one to add a little more pop.  As nice as funky as this pattern is, it can easily get lost without some highlights or darkened lines. The colour certainly helps.

Swirly Skye Zentangle Shaded

Coloured Heart Skye Zentangle

 

No before pics because, honestly, I get really lost in this tangle and totally forget the rest of the world.

 

Stay tuned for more Skye Zentangles, including a video walkthrough on my own little way of doing it.

First Attempt at Zentangle Skye

First Attempt at Zentangle Skye

This is my first attempt at the Zentangle pattern Skye.  Seriously, how cool is this!?!?  A little celtic weave and a whole lotta patience and Voila! A funky pattern!

No before pics sadly, it's been a crazy start to summer and I'm just tangling when I can. (Hence the reason I'm so behind on the challenges).

Anyhoooo I hope you like it, 'cause I sure do!

Skye Zentangle Shaded

Finishing up with Ruutz

Finishing Up With Ruutz

A collage of the pieces I managed to do this week

 I’ve had to sneak in tangle time between hospital visits this week and will need to do so for the following few weeks, possibly longer.  My MIL was diagnosed with breast cancer and it has been an exhausting series of appointments and tests and operation prep.

I still managed to get a few tiles in here and there. I was hoping to do Ruutz video, but just haven’t had the time or energy.  But here we have few tiles to finish up the Ruutz week. 

As you can tell, my mind wasn’t really with it, as I began shading just before the before- pic was taken. But hey, kudos to me for remember at all, lol.

Fun little sepia ruutz tile



Ruutz zentangle sepia

This one was a little more complicated,  here is the before pic a few minutes after I started shading - woopsies

And the final piece all shaded and pretty and schtuff



Ruutz zentangle shaded

And here is all of the ruutz tiles I managed to pull off over the weekly challenge



Ruutz and Crux (Sounds like a crime-fighting team)

Double the Challenge, Double the Fun (yet again)

Ruutz and Crux (Sounds like a crime-fighting team)

 



crux and ruutz zentangle shaded

This week Eni challenged us on her Shading Zentangle Facebook page with her own Ruutz pattern.  At the same time, The Diva challenged us with the Zentangle pattern Crux.  It took a little creative thinking to figure out how to combine these two designs, but I’m pretty pleased with what I worked out.

First I had to practice the Crux design.  I’d already done two previous tiles with Ruutz, but Crux was new to me. 

Here is my first Crux Zentangle Pattern tile.  Kinda pretty eh? Changing the widths of the “petal” and lines can really alter this pattern.

Crux Zentangle Shaded

Then it was on to the double challenge.  Ruutz is a pretty busy pattern on its own, and so is Crux, but I think I made it work. (Patting myself on the back while tooting my own horn and high-fiving myself caused some minor injuries, but fret not, I shall recover)

Here’s the tile before shading:

 

And the final piece! (Forgive the photo quality, it was overcast here today)

2nd Attempt at Ruutz

2nd Attempt at Ruutz

Again working with Eni Oken’s Ruutz Zentangle pattern. This time I DID plan the center design.  I’m not sure if you can see the faded pencil line behind one of the star-lines, I was attempting to do drop-shading there but just couldn’t get it right, so I erased it.  Le sigh.  One of these days I’ll get it right.

Yes again I forgot a before pic.  Something about this tangle makes you want to jump right into the shading.

Maybe I’ll remember for the “double challenge” I’ll be embarking on tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

First Attempt at Ruutz Zentangle

First attempt at Ruutz



Ruutz Zentangle Shaded

The Ruutz Zentangle was created by Eni Oken.  The step-out pattern can be found here.  This pattern took a little getting used to, but is fairly simple once you grasp the concept.

I didn’t plan for the leaf pattern… err.. I mean Yes! I planned that leaf pattern and it turned out just as I expected! (I so did not plan the leaf the pattern… sigh.) 

 Because this pattern is so busy, I think the white space works nicely.

 Totally forgot the before pic.

Basic Jaysix Zentangle Demonstration

Basic Jaysix Zentangle Demonstration

Just a video demonstrating the basic Jaysix Zentangle pattern.

Jaysix Zentangle Again

Jaysix Zentangle Again



Jaysix Zentangle Shaded

I think this will be my last Jaysix focused tangle for a while.  I hope to use it as a filler in the future though, it’s quite versatile and pretty fun.  Be sure to check out Eni’s page with the step out, as this is her awesome design.

Here is the before pic:

Here is a video of me shading in the end of the piece:

 

And the final pic here:

 

Check out my other Jaysix Zentangle pieces on this blog too!

Double the Challenge, Double the Fun! (again)

Double the Challenge, Double the Fun!



Jaysix and stripes challenge shaded

 Here we go again, another double challenge featuring Eni’s challenge of using Jaysix and the Diva’s challenge of using stripes. It took me a while to figure out how to combine these two.  I considered using Jaysix within the stripes, but this way seemed a lot more fun.

It was time-consuming, I will say that.

Before detail and shading

Finished!

Jaysix 2nd attempt

Jaysix 2nd attempt



Jaysix Zentangle Shaded

I was playing around with the jaysix zentangle pattern in my head for awhile and thought, “Hmm… what can I do with the ends?”  My first thought was worms or snakes, neither of which I am of, now could I draw, then I thought, “Hey, why not go a little more organic? The jaysix tangle looks a bit like a weaved basket, so why not?” 

Alas, this is what my mind drew up.  I’m pretty fond of it J

Before pic (again, almost forget as the shading is barely started here)

Final piece, lots of shading! Ain’t it perrrty!?!

First Attempt at Jaysix

First Attempt at Jaysix



Jaysix Zentangle Shaded

 Eni Oken’s challenge this week involved a pattern she came up with while playing with Cruze.  She named it Jaysix because it’s always 6 lines.

So this was my first attempt at Jaysix.  The pattern will forever remind me of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey because that’s what we were “watching” while I worked on this piece. That tends to happen quite a bit, each pattern I learn reminds me of whatever we threw on the tv while I was drawing.  Since our interests vary drastically, an interesting collage of shows/movies play out in my head when I mix in a few different patterns. 

The pattern itself is fairly simple, but I find myself a little lost when adding a bunch together. It required more practice to get a groove going, but alas, this is my first attempt.

Before Shading:  (as you can see I almost forgot to do this pic as I started to shade)

After shading:

 

Yet Another Shnek

Yet Another Shnek

Shnek Zentangle Shaded

Shnek 3 perhaps? Happily Tangling After? I can’t help but see “shnek” and think of Shrek. Anyhooo… I’ve loved playing around with this shnek zentangle, it’s been a lot of fun and it is very versatile.  I went a little nuts with the holes/bubbles here.  I wanted them to sort of look like holes, but I’ll take bubbles instead.  Tis the Zentangle way after all.

Will step out the variation on Shnek – coming soon to an internet near you.

Totally forgot to take a before pic… again.

Double the Challenge with Spring Shnek

Double the Challenge

Spring has Sprung with Shnek



Shnek Spring Zentangle Shaded

Another Double the Challenge, Double the Fun! Following Eni’s weekly challenge to use the zentangle pattern of shnek, and the Diva’schallenge to use a spring string, this is what I came up with.

Though I took a before pic of just the string, I completely forgot to take one after the lines and before the shading which is such a shame because the shading of the lines made all the difference.

This tile will also be added to Eni’s mosaic.

Before Pic:

It's Raining Pixels!

Another Cruze Zentangle



Cruze Zentangle "It's raining pixels!"

So from Eni’s fb page, I’ve noticed I’m not the only with an issue of trying to figure out what else to put on the Cruze zentangle tile other than, well, the Cruze Zentangle.  I find it doesn’t really flow with other tangles and my brain just shuts down when I try to get my Zennyness to inspire me into creativity.  I’ve got to give credit where it is due though, some of those FB shaders have come up with amazing pieces that flow just fine with cruze… I just haven’t been one of them.

With this piece, I drew the Cruze first.  I added the shading and black, then just stared at it, trying to be inspired. I said to my honey, “It could be a cloud I guess”.  He said, “Yeah it could be raining down those little squares you put in the middle”.  And Voila! Inspiration from my beloved! 

So it’s raining pixels, how cute!

Before pic – what I stared at for what seemed like forever…