Zentangle
Entangled Art WIP
This is a work in progress, and I drew part of it during today’s YouTube Draw With Me ‘tutorial’. It’s another piece of ‘comforting’ art; I drew some Entangled Art yesterday and today to help soothe my ragged emotions and thoughts.
A big dose of Star Wars yesterday afternoon and evening (four films in total!) and some intuitive, entangled drawings seemed to help greatly. And a relatively good night’s sleep was had, too, at last!
The fear and existential dread that had risen up deep in my lower abdomen seem to have been dispelled, and I feel more content and like my usual self.
I am, however, keenly aware of some personal challenges ahead of me in the next weeks and months or more. So, I feel I’m in a sunny, flowery woodland glade, and the monstrous forest lurks around me, waiting for me to rest, recover and be ready to take the next steps on this journey.
And it can wait for a while. It’s been a tough three months or so – injury to ribs, the overwhelming distress during the “holiday season”, the pressure of deadlines once I could work again, and some other revelations. I’d rather like a bit of a break from it all! Oh, and the past week has been very ‘people-y’ – brunch out with a friend, two funerals, a large meeting in person, and a visit from another friend.
This past week pushed me to my limits and drained my emotional, mental and physical energy. But I will recover. “This too shall pass.” And so it has, for a while at least!
It’s so nice to feel contented without intense fear, anxiety, and upset. And it’s nice to feel I can do some art just to enjoy it. That’s something that’s been missing for a couple or even a few weeks.
The trick now is to remember entangled art, and a Star Wars marathon is really good for me! Not always easy when in the grip of a crazy rollercoaster ride of careening emotions and thoughts.
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Abstract Zentangle Inspired Art
Click on this link to watch the accompanying drawing tutorial on YouTube!
Abstract art
This was an interesting experiment. I was inspired by a video tutorial by Ellen Crimi-Trent Artist. In the video, she used a charcoal pencil to create an abstract line design. Next, watercolours were used to fill the spaces. Finally, details were added with pen.
I thought it could be a lot of fun to use this as a way to display some Zentangle style patterns. So I did! However, in true Angela style, I’d first tried not only a charcoal pencil, but a watersoluble graphite pencil, an Inktense pencil and an Inktense Outliner to create the grids on separate pieces of mixed media paper. Then I added watercolour to them to see which method of laying out the main pattern I liked the most.
As it turns out, it was the charcoal! I didn’t expect that!
I filled in the majority of the spaces with tangle patterns. Finally, I used charcoal and white chalk to add shade and highlight to each section of the design. I should say I didn’t do all the sections in the video. Oh, and I added some white highlights/patterns with a white GellyRoll pen.
The intense black of the charcoal really dials up the contrast by quite a few notches! I really did have a lot of fun playing with the illusion of volume in this design.
I’m also glad that I didn’t fill all the sections with pattern; I like that I have some simple, volumised areas whose simplicity contrasts with the complexity of the patterns.
I now have quite a few pieces of coloured, patterned paper to play with in the coming days.
Well and truly people-d out!
It’s true. I’ve not had such an intensely people-y week since well before the pandemic hit. I both feel very much by myself and a little sad about that, but also rather relieved that I get to sigh, relax and breathe for the next couple of days at least.
And with the relaxation may come the introvert hangover or social migraine! Maybe not. I’ll see tomorrow. I know as I take my time to relax, unwind, settle back into my solitary existence I will feel intense tiredness creep over me. Indeed, I can feel it beginning to extend it’s soft cloudy folds and start to enevolop me. I will give in, later. I have a few things to do first! Social media posts, a huge mug of tea, maybe something to eat. And then…I’ll see!
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Zentangle Inspired Art | #DrawWithMe YouTube
Click this link to view the YouTube video tutorial for this design.
Yesterday, I found the oompf at some point to create this small drawing. The colouring looks messier in the photon than it really is, honest! But I don’t mind the grungy messiness at all!
It was an interesting journey with this design. I kept confusing myself about how to draw the main motifs and got in a right dither at some points. Still, I think it worked out fine in the end. I didn’t finish adding colour/shading in the video, but I will do it at some point…probably.
I’m still on a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs. The tiniest perceived rejection or misunderstanding can trigger a sudden tsunami of upset that takes me from quite content to rock bottom in an instant. That touchstone of contentment gets concealed by tenebrous, sharp shards of brokenness, shame, grief, despair, existential dread, loneliness, and more.
It can take me a while to recover from that sudden drop to the depths of emotions. Art helps, or writing, or, surprisingly, a walk around my local cemetery in the sunshine. I try to put a brave, smiley face on for the benefit of others I may meet or talk to. However, I’m afraid some of this inner angst will spill out. The last thing I want to do is create upset in others I care about or come into contact with. I hope those who know me will understand, especially those who know what is happening here.
Oh, all is fine. Really, it is. I’m just having to learn some, well, a lot of things about myself and understand me a bit more. I’ve been hurled a planetary-sized curveball, and it’s knocked me off my balance more than just a tad. I know that at the end of the process, I will have a much better understanding of myself and, hopefully, a better relationship with myself. But it’s going to take some time and a few hoops to jump through yet.
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A clutch of Zentangle inspired designs
Link to #DrawWithMe YouTube Video
A difficult few days for me, but finally settled to do some little little art! Just a few patterns from my oldest Pinterest Tangle board!
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Zentangle Inspired Drawing | Draw With Me Video
This design was inspired by a Zentangle Tile I did in the Tea and Tangle session organised and run by Tracy Hough CZT.
I wanted to do a design that was simple (ish?) and didn’t use too many patterns. This will form a page in my accordion journal.
The paper is Clay toned paper from Fabriano.
The pens I use are an 0.3 Unipin fine liner and a Tombow Fudenosuke.
To add colour, I used some Derwent Drawing Pencils in Chinese White, Pale Cedar and Olive Earth.
White dots were added with a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen.
Gold details added using a gold glitter Unball Signo gel pen.
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Monogram “A” Tag
After a day of focusing on inking in colouring pages, I needed something a little familiar and soothing to calm some overwhelmed emotions. So, I chose to make a little tag for my accordion journal. To decorate the tag, I created a monogram, a Zentangle style embedded letter A.
As I was drawing it, It struck me how much the folded patterns remind me of metamorphic rocks. That made me smile for sure!
I enjoyed the graphic black and white of the finished design, so I chose not to add any shade.
Click on this link to view the Draw With Me video on YouTube.
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Winter wreath
Infinity Card – Part 3
I’m really enjoying adding panels to this infinity card. Each panel is a quick project, with no pressure to be perfect or polished. I’m finding them a fun way to explore patterns that develop from one into another, that share common features in some way, or that spark off an idea for another. It’s always a bit of a mystery trip, never knowing what the destination is, only where the journey began.
Today’s journey started in the bottom right with the Zentangle pattern “TagH”. The plumptious, rounded shapes of each part of Tagh, led me to think of circles with flowers inside, like blooming discs or spheres. That led me to Moonberry by Debbie New CZT at the top right. I used some of my favourite leaves and more TagH to fill in the remaining space.
To add volume, I used some red-grey Ohuhu brush markers. Oh, and to draw the design, I used a black Uni Emott everfine pen.
Oh, you may have noticed the notch at the top left. That shows this is also a pocket!
If you’d like to watch this panel being drawn and some sample shading click on this link to watch on YouTube.
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Entangled Art Infinity Card – Parts 1 and 2
I’ve had some fun with this, and there’s more to come. And a bit of a story to tell first.
I was asked on my YouTube channel how I know which patterns go with each other. That’s not an easy question to answer; experience, experimenting, trusting instincts, and having some patterns or motifs that are your go-to ones.
Then, yesterday morning, as I was slowly coming around from sleep, I watched a video on YouTube at Jen’s Arty Inclinations on how to make a fast and simple infinity card for a junk journal.
Jen recommended going to Lynn at Playing with Paper and Glue to watch her video about making a slightly different infinity card. So I did that.
And as I watched and saw how easy it was to make the infinity card (yes, it really is!), I realised that this would be a lovely and different way to collect together my favourite go-to motifs and patterns. And that thought linked back to the comment on my YouTube channel.
So, I made an infinity card, mucked it up a bit, but learned from that. Then I made a HUGE one, which was ridiculously big! So, I made another one to the sizes Lynn gave, which you can see me doing in part 1. Then, I had to add the first panel on the left of the image above.
I went with variations of pokeroot, pokeleaf and pokepods! I’m not sure there’s a pattern called pokepods, but there is now. I cut a notch out of the card and created a little pocket for a drawing, note, colour palette, or something else to be hidden.
I drew with Copic Multiliner Sp pens (0.5 and 0.25, I think). Colour was added with yellow-grey and neutral-grey Ohuhu markers. A white gel pen was used to add dotty highlights and the pattern to the back.
In the video for part 2, I created the panel to the right. Daisies are always a flower I love to draw; I have many variations of them in my memory hoard. The flowy pattern and Diva Dance are two of my go-to patterns; they share some similarities in my head.
For this panel, I used a Uni Emott 0.4 ever fine pen to draw the design, then green-grey Ohuhu markers to add colour. Then, I used a white gellyroll pen to add the dotty highlights.
I wasn’t sure about the Tim Holtz scrapbook paper I used to make the infinity card, but as I added the panels, it mostly got covered up, just a hint of a background behind the drawings.
It may not be the best choice of paper to make the infinity card from, in terms of colour and pattern. However, as I’ve never done anything like this, it was a sacrifice I was willing to make!
Actually, I wasn’t sure about the entire project. I thought it may be a bit odd, whacky, and weird. But, now two panels are done, I’m looking forward to completing the infinity card.
I will be adding more pocketses, possibly even panels that open out to reveal more. There are, possibly, 32 panels to be done, though I’m not sure as I keep losing count! But it’s a longer-term project.
Having said that, the panels are small. Cute even. Perfect for when I have just a little time to draw.
Angela Porter 