It’s the Vernal Equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere – Autumnal Equinox to those of you south of the equator, so hello autumn to you!
And, typically of me, my arty offering today isn’t really all that springline, apart from the nesting birdies that is!
Some more Zentangle cartouches have been done by me. The central images are all from packs of Tim Holtz’s ephemera – Field Notes or Botanicals. I gave these a bit of a shiny glaze with some gloss medium; it helps to bring out the colours.
I’ve used a variety of media and paper for these. The squares are either 3.75″ x3.75″ or 4″ x 4″ in size. The rectangular cartouche is 3.3″ x 5.2″ in size.
I quite like all of them, though part of me is irked by the lopsided box around the beetle!
These take a surprisingly long amount of time to complete. It’s very pleasurable time, especially as I lose myself in the process.
Over the past two or so days, I’ve not been feeling quite right. I’ve spent a lot of time cwtched up in bed, and about the only art I’ve felt like doing is small projects that I don’t feel overwhelmed by.
Zentangle Cartouches
I saw the idea of zentangle cartouches on the Zentangle YouTube channel a little while back and wanted to give them a go. I’d done one a little while ago where I’d used some vintage rose ephemera from a set of Tim Holtz’s Field Notes ephemera on a piece of natural coloured mixed media paper. I wasn’t at all sure with what I’d ended up with. However, I did want to revisit this idea once again.
So, I decided to explore the idea of cartouches once again. This time, I used smaller pieces of creamy Fabriano Medioevalis paper, which comes sized to 3.3″ x 5.2″ (85mm x 132mm), with lovely rough edges. This is really soft paper, the surface is easily damaged by using a tortillon too roughly.
I added the focal points, again from the Field Notes ephemera by Tim Holtz, along with some little quotes. The quotes are from the sets of ‘chit chat’ stickers, again by Tim Holtz. These items are in my stash from the days I messed around with mixed media, before I realised it really wasn’t quite for me. I admire what people can do with mixed media, but I just never seem to have found my way with it in a way that I’m happy with. I’m much happier wielding a pen (on paper or digitally) with love and a creative heart, than getting rather messy and frustrated with mixed media.
My Reflections on these Cartouches
Anyways, I’ve had mixed results with these experiments in cartouches. My favourite is ‘trust your crazy ideas’, closely followed by ‘be you, bravely’, then ‘treasure. ‘stay curious’ and ‘don’t forget to fly’ are very close to these in how much I like them.
‘trust your crazy ideas’ just seems to have colours and patterns that work harmoniously both with each other and with the mushrooms. Perhaps I got a little close to the motif with the pen work, something for me to consider with future projects of this ilk.
‘trust your crazy ideas and ‘be you, bravely’ are both designs that have a small number of different patterns on them.
‘treasure’ is similar in that respect, but it feels unbalanced. I think I need to consider where I put the central motif; more centrally may work in my favour. ‘stay curious’ is a much more balanced design than ‘treasure’, because I consciously decided to mirror the patterns used, even though the motif was not placed centrally.
‘don’t forget to fly’ is just not a coherent design at all. I like the borders and the seed pods around the motif, but then it all goes weird.
However, I’m really not at all pleased with ‘live gently upon this earth’. It’s incoherent, too many colours, and the words and motif are just not balanced at all. I would’ve been better with not adding the words to this one in the first place.
Actually. It may be that I don’t add the words until the design is finished, at the bottom as a kind of plaque or border, or floating over an area of the cartouche with a border around them, or just not use them at all. I need to experiment with these.
My own ephemera designs?
I also know I’m quite capable, I think, of drawing my own ‘epehemera’ to add as focal points. However, as I tend to draw at a much bigger scale, I’d either need to scan my drawing in, or draw digitally, and reduce the scale before printing them out. At this time, I have a laser printer, which is great for printing documents and so on but not so much for artwork. It changes the surface properties of the paper used. Also, I can’t use specialist art paper with the printer. If I’m going to go down this route of arty expression I think I need to consider changing this printer for an inkjet printer again, especially one that has waterproof, or at least water resistant, ink.
What to do with my artwork?
My home is increasingly becoming filled with my artwork. Most of it I have digital versions of them – either scans or photographs. I do need to decide what to do with my artwork as I really do need to let it go to new homes. Any suggestions, drop me a comment!
Also, I have a problem with putting a price on my artwork, if I were to sell it. I have absolutely no idea of what it’s value could be to other people, or even if anyone would want to purchase it. Again, any suggestions, drop me a comment! Any help or advice would be much appreciated.
Two drawings today, both done over the night as I couldn’t sleep as I really wasn’t at all well.
The larger one is a Zentangle ‘cartouche’. The central floral image is from one of Tim Holtz’s Ephemera packs. The paper is natural coloured mixed media paper by ClaireFontaine. I used a mixture of black, gold and rusty-red pens to draw the frame around the image. To add colour and shadow I used a mixture of pastel and graphite pencils, along with some tortillons. The design is approx. 12.5cm x 16cm (approx 3″ x 5″).
The smaller design is approx. 13cm x 8.5cm (3.3″ x 5.2″) in size. The paper is a piece of Medioevalis paper by Fabriano. This is lovely soft, gently textured paper that has a high cotton content. It’s easily damaged by the use of tortillons, however. So, I did add some shadows with a graphite pencil, but then added colour with Inktense pencils, brush and water. The paper really works well with wet media it seems. To draw the design I used a black fineliner, a brush pen and white and gold gelly roll pens.
I saw the ideas of cartouches, as a decorative frame around writing or image, and Zentangle designs on a youtube video and wanted to try it out. I decided to do that in the dark depths of the night when I wasn’t able to sleep. I may very well experiment with this idea as time goes on – particularly using drawings of my own as the focal point. I’ll see how it goes.
Another abstract drawing that is a work in progress. This time, the drawing is done, but I’m working on adding colour to it.
To draw this one, I used a hard Tombow fudenosuke pen with natural coloured mixed media paper. I enjoyed working with the broader lines in contrast to the fine line work of the previous abstract entanglement drawing.
I have made the background darker than the original paper, and I do intend to leave areas in this colour. For now, I’m working with colour to develop a sense of dimension. Of course, I’m adding colour digitally. Every now and then, I circle back to traditional media, and I think that diversion serves to remind me of how much I prefer to add colour digitally.
I keep circling around this. I like to draw designs with pen on paper. I get a much better sense of the flow of the design that way. But I like to add colour digitally. And so, it’s time for me to do what I can to accept this is how it is meant to be for me. I may dabble with traditional media from time to time, but digital art, at least as far as adding colour is concerned, is where I love to bring my drawings to life.
So it seems to be that from time to time I need that diversion to remind me of what really makes my artsy heart happy. A diversion or a break from the usual? Either, neither, both I suppose.
I do love the richness of these rather vintage, steampunk-ish colours against the warm, tan background.
The tall, thin one is approx 10.5 cm x 29.7 cm in size – a piece of smooth, heavyweight cartridge paper. Colour has been added with a mixture of fineliner pens and graphitint pencils with a damp brush.
The smaller tile is 4″ x 4″ (10cm x 10cm) piece of the same paper. Again, I’ve used graphitint pencils and a damp brush to add colour. A white gelly roll pen has been used to add highlights to the image.
Both drawings have also had shadow added with a graphite pencil and paper tortillon.
I love the graphic nature of a pure black and white drawing. However, there is something almost magical in the way that colour and shadow/highlights can bring a drawing to a lucious 3-D appearing work of art.
I’m also loving the softer tones of the graphitint pencils with a damp brush. The water activates the colour a little and allows me to drag it out to create a gradation of colour, along with a darker, shadowed area.
The cartridge paper is not the best for using damp brushes on, but the texture that results actually isn’t all that bad.
My mind is wandering to the square tile, and wondering if I could create it in polymer clay … a thought to try out at a later time, maybe.
One drawing I’m working on and three Zentangle tiles that are complete.
TheA4 drawing is very much full of contrast and drama, very ‘graphic’ in nature. It’s not finished yet, but I’ll get there with it for sure.
The smaller tiles are rather geometric in nature with repeating patterns. I find drawing this kind of art soothing and pleasing too. I also enjoy the combination of the vintage brown tones with the black and grey. They just seem to work so well together.
I turned to work on the smaller ’tiles’ as I was feeling a tad overwhelmed last night. I really do find smaller pieces of art help me to settle back down. The repetitive nature of the patterns is soothing in itself.
I seem to be constantly circling around and returning to Zentangle – watching YouTube videos, looking at artwork online, and creating my own. I’ve been thinking about becoming a CZT – a certified zentangle teacher. I’m dithering about it, and I don’t know why that is. It’ll sort itself out I’m sure.
It is almost finished too. I’m dithering about the un-shaded arcs, and whether gold and /or white gel pens need to be used to add small accents and highlights. I can also see places where colour/shading is needed. However, there is no rush for it to be done!
The paper is 12″ x 9″, so I can’t scan it in one image. It’s Daler-Rowney Murano paper for chalk pastels and coloured pencils. So, as well as having fun just filling the page with shapes and patterns, I took the opportunity to try different kinds of pencils to add colour, shadow and highlight. I certainly enjoyed experimenting with gel pens and various kinds of pencils to create this drawing.
It looks a lot better in the photo than in real life, even with the weird banded light on the photo.
Oh, the things I do when I wake up in the middle of the night. Fully alert and unable to get back to sleep for a couple of hours.
I just drew a pattern of curves and arches on the page of grey-ish pastel paper and started to fill the sections in with various patterns, zentangle and otherwise. I’ve used chalk pastel pencils to add colour and shading to some areas.
A total work in progress, for no other reason than because I couldn’t sleep.
Yet again, a lovely way to start a Monday. Mandalas are always a pleasure to draw/paint/create. I particularly love creating them digitally for many reasons, not least is the opportunity to experiment and learn new skills. It removes the worry of making a ‘mistake’ on paper and either having to start again or try to make that ‘mistake’ a part of the work. Often, that ‘mistake’ will be worked into the drawing, but not always and if I know it’s there, it bothers me, even if no one else can see it. The perfectionist in me gets a tad upset at it.
Having said that, there are a couple of things I’m not happy with in this mandala, but I can live with them.
One thing I do like is the colour palette of copper/bronze colours and that steely blue-grey. Vintage colours seem to be my thing at the moment for sure.
Art is the Adventure 