Siros is a lovely, stylised flower Zentangle style tangle pattern. It was deconstructed by Simone Menzel CZT.
It’s a totally new pattern to me, so in this video I share how to draw it, along with some of my explorations of the pattern.
Pattern Explorations
Draw With Me … Zentangle Tangle Patterns Ginili and Gingo
In today’s video, I do a little pattern exploration of two lovely, organic tangles. Ginili is by Randi Wynne-Parry, and Gingo is by Lisa Chang CZT. The deconstruction of the tangle patterns can be found on TanglePatterns.com.
On the face of it, they may appear to be rather different tangles. However, there are some commonalities between them. This means it was quite natural to look at them together.
I particularly enjoyed using the brown 01 Micron pen for the textural lines in the patterns. It really helps to separate the different ‘petals’ or ‘leaves’ of Ginili from each other.
Gingo, based on the lovely Ginko leaves (my favourites of all!) also benefited from the use of the brown pen. It gave a light, airy feel to the pattern.
Also, I made use of a white gel pen to add dotty highlights. Sometimes, however, I used a finger to smudge the gel ink while it was still wet to give a softer, more natural highlight.
This was a lovely way to spend a little while in my sketchbook this morning. I hope you have a look at the video and try drawing these patterns and variations too.
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Draw With Me … Shattuck and Flurry Tangle Pattern Variations
I always enjoy exploring tangle patterns and motifs. I never quite know what I’m going to end up with. Today, I stumbled upon ‘Flurry’, a tangle pattern by Suzanne McNeill CZT. It reminds me of ‘Shattuck’, which is one of my favourite tangle patterns to use as a border or ribbon filler.
So, I took a look at variations of Shattuck that I often use before having a little exploration of Flurry.
You can see these explorations, which are the top row of drawings, in today’s video on YouTube. Just click on this link.
So, as the video was uploading and processing, Used the time to draw some tripoli-style gridded patterns.
The one to the centre-right was not a happy outcome. The one to the left is much happier! It reminds me of the view through the Millenium Falcon’s windows when jumping to hyperspace, just a bit, not exactly the same. That was a fun realisation.
I didn’t do as many variations of the patterns as usual. I like the triangular shapes of the basic fragments too much.
On another positive note, I finally figured out how I can draw the tripoli style arrangement of triangles! I don’t know how long I’ve struggled with it, but finally, the penny dropped today. Huzzah!
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Fragment Friday – “D5”
In today’s video, I explore fragment D5 from the Zentangle Primer. Some interesting variations appeared, which were more interesting when put into either a regular or a crazy grid (or reticulum).
I decided to use Graphitint pencils to add both shadow and colour to some of the drawings.
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#FragmentFriday – “Holly” by Linda Dawson
Ah! Fragment variations! One of my favourite things to do just for fun!
Today, I chose the lovely tangle pattern ‘Holly’, by Linda Dawson, as the source of the initial fragment.
My coddiwomple through the variations let to some lovely variations. Some were definitely dead ends, and some just don’t work in a reticulum.
Each dead-end and ‘fail’ teaches something. To persevere. And to accept that playing around with variations means mistakes, yeuchy variations are going to result. This is what sketchbooks are for – to make mistakes, to try things out, to work out what does and what does not work. And more importantly, to help get over the fear of failure, of having a go.
Even the ‘fails’ can lead to fragments that are lovely and unexpected.
Also, it’s nice not to have the pressure to create finished and highly polished artwork. It’s always nice to draw just for the joy of drawing.
Of course, I created a video showing my exploration. You can view it by clicking on this link.
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Tangle Tuesday – “Sandswirl” by Karry Heun
Tuesdays are #TangleTuesday! This week I’ve chosen “Sandswirl” to draw and work out some variations with.
Sandswirl has long been a favourite tangle pattern of mine. I’ve never thought about exploring variations of it. I really enjoyed doing so!
When shadows are added, this tangle pattern becomes really dimensional in an interesting way.
I’ve never thought of using Sandswirl as a border before. This shows that all the time I’ve spent exploring patterns and fragments is paying off! I’d always thought of Sandswirl as a filler pattern. Today, I discovered otherwise.
If you’d like to see my explorations today, then here’s the link to today’s video on YouTube.
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Fragment Friday! 11 Feb ’22
I love alliteration! Back in the so-called ‘Dark Ages’, the time between the collapse of the Roman Empire and the Battle of Hastings in 1066, alliteration was used for rhymes. One reason I’d love to learn to speak, write and read Anglo-Saxon.
I’ve decided to have a different alliterative social media theme for each day.
Fragment Friday was a natural choice. I absolutely enjoyed creating variations for each of the fragments in the “Fragments of Your Imagination Challenge” that ran through January. I miss doing these variations. So that led to this particular theme.
For my first Friday Fragment, I decided to use ‘Hearts’ as the theme. Today it’s not so much creating variations on a particular fragment but the use of a particular motif within each variation. Some of the variations are familiar fragments or tangle patterns. Others go off in surprising directions.
Of course I filmed the process (though not the addition of colour and shadow with marker pens). You can see the video by clicking on this link.
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Days 30 and 31 of the Fragments of Your Imagination Challenge 2022. Also, end of challenge wrap up!
Today, I drew my last two pages of fragment variations for the Fragments of Your Imagination Challenge 2022.
Day 30 is Ladybug by Shie Naritomi CZT. At first, I didn’t know what to think of the fragment or what I could do with it. However, as I started to draw it, a variation appeared. Then another. And another. I was truly surprised by all the fragments that appeared!
Fragment E4 was right up my street! I know I’ve only scratched the surface of the possibilities with this one.
Today’s YouTube video has a quick look at these pages, followed by a flip through and review of each day’s page(s).
You can see the video by clicking on this link.
My thoughts on the challenge
I really enjoyed playing with the various fragments, even the ones that gave me a bit of trouble! To see how many different pattern cells could be created just by simple changes never ceases to amaze me. My only problem is that I have way too many to use in my artwork. However, there are many that fellow artists, tanglers, doodlers can use or draw inspiration from.
I’ve learned a lot of things from this month’s daily drawing. Some I can put into words, others aren’t quite ready to be verbalised.
One important realisation is just how important shadow is to bringing patterns alive! Not just that though; how more textural patterns work with shadow so they enhance each other.
Another was just how many shapes fragments can be in! I’d actually call many of them motifs, though. Moving away from squares, seeds, circles, triangles into the realms of teardrops, ginko leaves, hearts, spirals, kites, rhomboids and more was an eye-opener for me. And a lot of fun!
I’ve started trying to put together the many ways I used to vary a fragment, but it’s all still a bit messy and the words aren’t quite flowing right. It is easier to show rather than explain just using words!
I’ve got mixed feelings now the challenge has, for me, ended. There’s a sense of achievement, but also a sense of loss. Having a daily focus is really good for me. When I don’t have a contract to work towards, I tend to be unfocused, all over the place, and nothing ever really gets done.
Self-motivation isn’t a skill I have a lot of. It is something I think I need to develop. I have a list of books that I could do, including two full of my variations from the Inktober Tangle Pattern Challenge 2021 and the Fragments of Your Imagination Challenge 2022 too.
It’s not just self-motivation, however. It’s also this darned imposter syndrome and a lack of belief in self as well.
What next?
I’m not sure what to do yet for YouTube and social media. Do I carry on with more fragments? Perhaps ‘draw with me’ videos may be an idea. What about card making and similar?
I actually don’t know what to do! So, if you have any ideas or suggestions or requests, leave me a comment!
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Gingajava by Donald Wilka CZT | Day 29 of #FYIC2022
Day 29 of Fragments of Your Imagination 2022
Gingajava, a tangle pattern by Donald Wilka CZT, is not a pattern I’m familiar with, though I think I tackled a fragment similar to this when I did a few fragments in one go a few days ago.
It’s an interesting fragment, and does lend it’s self to variations fairly well. However, to keep the essence of the tangle, not as many as I’d thought.
Having said that, my creative mind isn’t firing on all four cylinders this morning; one at best I think. So, this fragment does deserve another look at at another time.
Beyond the fragments of your imagination challenge…
Just two more fragments to do in this year’s #FYIC2022 challenge. So, my mind is turning towards what next.
These challenges are fun. They give me a defined task to do each day. I find that really helpful as I’m not very good at motivating myself at the best of times.
So, I’m not sure what to do next … not just in terms of projects for my business, but videos and social media posts.
It’s always a funny feeling I have at the end of a challenge, project, commission, contract – there’s a sense of accomplishment, but there’s also a kind of sadness, emptiness, that it has come to an end.
I’ll figure it out; I usually do. But for today, I really do need to put my head down and have a sleep. I didn’t get a good night’s sleep last night and my attention is straying way too much. That also means it’s not a good time to come to decisions about what to do next, other than give my mind a chance to rest.
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“Naaki” by Nadine Roller CZT | day 28 #FYIC2022
I enjoyed exploring the leaf shaped fragment based on Naaki. I ended up with two pages as I filled the first one with ideas before I started filming. So there are some repeats. There are quite a few variant fragments I’d like to use in my drawings in the future. Indeed, a couple have found their way into a drawing I was working on as today’s video was uploading and processing.
Talking of today’s video … Here it is!
Art is the Adventure 