Earlier today, I just wanted to explore a simple Zentangle Pattern fragment, or two. I started with two square fragments, each with a circle in the centre. One had a diagonal cross, the other vertical/horizontal. And I went from there to create some more ornate versions of them.
I never know where this kind of exercise is going to go, but it is always interesting and some pleasant kinds of fragments result.
These are just a few fragments I came up with during the course of the video; I’ve barely scratched the surface of all the possible variations.
This exercise is good for flexing your creative ‘muscles’, warming up hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, and playing around with colour, shade and highlight. Also, it’s perfect for relaxing, taking a break from all that is happening in this world. Even if for just a short while.
This is the partly coloured colouring page for the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans Facebook group members. It’s a flowy, abstract, entangled, and zentangle-inspired design. Colour, shadow and highlight bring the design to life and add a lot of volume (dimension if you prefer) too.
I chose a more-or-less monochrome colour scheme, with just a splash of violet here and there. I think if I’d carried on adding colour, I would’ve used a more analogous colour scheme.
I enjoyed losing myself in the intricate, flowing, Zentangle-inspired drawing done yesterday; I thought I’d use the idea as the basis of a colouring page.
Not quite so intricate, and everything drawn on a larger scale to make it suitable for colouring, it was still very much a lovely thing to do.
I’m pleased that I’m recovering from my people-filled weekend, though still not quite focused and feeling a bit ‘lost’ in myself. And I’m still rather tired. But, these things will not last, and I’ll soon be ticketty boo again.
This morning, I filmed a tutorial based on a request from one of my YouTube subscribers. He asked if I could show him how to draw some ‘flowy’ patterns he’d seen, particularly one by ladyzadzakiya on Instagram.
Well, how could I refuse such a polite request? I’ve just shown how I draw my own kind of such patterns, as I can only really draw in my own way, as can any of us. I’ve included a few Zentangle patterns in the design. And I even got around to adding some shade! Adding shadows and highlights is what really brings the drawing to life. Part of me wished I’d used blues and/or sea greens for this. But no matter, I can always draw another one sometime.
Today, I am exhausted. I’ve had an incredibly busy three days, and as enjoyable as they all were, I managed to get over-stressed, over-anxious, over-wrought and exhausted. Oh, and an upset digestive system also always happens when I’m stressed.
All I need is a couple of stress-free and calm days to recover. Maybe more than a couple of days.
Earlier today, I wanted to draw, and I wanted to draw something that wouldn’t be too challenging – the focus being on calm and meditative. A Zentangle Cartouche seemed to fit the bill.
The central motif was a sticking point. Try as I might, it took me several attempts to get an assemblage of Tim Holtz Ephemera that was to my liking.
I knew I wanted to use a triangular fragment as part of the ‘cartouche’ to frame the focal point. I knew that black would most likely be too harsh. So, I went with a softer blue-grey. And that seemed to work out just fine. Apart from the fact I used a Zebra Sarasa 0.5 gel pen and the areas of dense ink are rather uneven. What is daft about this decision is that I have plenty of fine-liners that would do the job better!
Brain full of fluff and addlement today – told you so!
Anyhoo, I persevered and have got it to a point where I like the contrast between the ink-dense tripoli border and the more open N’zeppl. The next job is to decide how to add some contrast, colour, highlight or any combination of these! Oh, and what medium to use too, but that decision can wait until I’m less overwrought, brain-addled, and my head is less full of fluff to decide.
I have also managed to bake a cherry and coconut cake, which is remarkable, given I’m not too good at baking when I’m emotionally overwrought. It’s cooling down, so will try it later on for sure.
Although I didn’t tackle all of the triangular fragments in today’s video, I enjoyed sharing some explorations, along with the little bit of an overall pattern that came about almost accidentally!
I’d almost forgotten how much fun it is to use a basic shape and see how it can be turned into a fragment of a larger pattern. Then, create variations on this theme. Some of the fragments are from the Zentangle Primer Vol. 1, others are variations that resulted.
I thought I’d go with some more abstract, pattern-based templates. The last one I drew, at the top right, just ended up having some seed pods.
Abstract designs like these are great fun to add colour to as there are no pre-conceptions about what the colours should be. Also, they’re great for trying out new techniques, media and colour combinations. And, of course, they’re relatively quick to finish, which is great if you’re short on time.
Please click on the “Watch on YouTube” button. Cheers!
I had a lovely time this morning adding colour to yesterday’s drawing.
To be precise, I chose to use Arteza’s EverBlend markers. I’m not at all sure about that green at the moment, but it may look quite different when I’ve finished colouring the drawing in.
In the video, I focus on explaining my method of adding colour and showing how I’ll add colour and contrast to each section of the design.
It’s blessedly cooler this morning as I write this blog. There’s been a little rain, but not enough to help out nature. We have the potential of thunderstorms and torrential rain at some point today. I do hope we get some thunderstorms – I love nature’s fireworks and drama! Rain is fine, but torrential rain can cause huge problems.
Anyhoo, to arty things. There are two drawings in the photo. I completed the one on the right on Sunday and filmed a video tutorial. It explores a new fragment shared on day one of Zentangle Project Pack 18. It’s always fun to explore patterns; I get to understand the pattern more and discover variations.
One of those variations came out in my sketchbook on Sunday evening. I used the ideas of the fragment as a way of filling space. What resulted looked a lot like the tangle pattern Diva Dance. you can see this in the drawing to the right in the image above.
It never ceases to amaze me how patterns can segue one into another as variations are explored. Everything, even tangle patterns, is interconnected and related by not that many degrees of variation!
Of course, I filmed the drawing of the flower and tangle pattern tile as a video tutorial. Hopefully, slowly and clearly enough that it’s easy to draw along with me. I hope you give it a go!
Art is the Adventure 