Noom, or Noom Repus, is a lovely interlinked tangle, a chain, leaves, or shells if you will. It is a tangle that vexed me until I saw a tutorial video a long while ago, and suddenly the pieces fell into place.
I have to say, it’s not a tangle pattern that I’ve used often in my work, but after playing around with it in this video, I’ll try to use it more often!
I tried out some variations with Noom and found that it does lend itself quite well to embellishments, particularly in ‘auras’ around it. Adding colour to create shade and light does bring out the curvy nature of each part of this design.
Of course, this is for my sketchbook, so it’s not finished. It really was just working with the pattern to see what I could do. And of course, that sparks off lots of ideas for other variations further down the line.
Although not all the ‘hats’ worked out well, they were still fun to explore as possibilities. As this is a sketchbook page, the permission to experiment, explore, and try things out is implicit. A sketchbook is a place to do all these things and more. You can finish a piece of art or not. You can show people or not.
A safe place to be artful, that’s how I think of my sketchbooks more and more. I put too much pressure on myself to always finish a drawing, to have it polished and “imperfectly perfect”. If I don’t finish something, I can beat myself up. But I’m learning that in a sketchbook, I can do all I need to learn, grow, and develop. And sometimes that includes knowing when enough has been done!
It may take me a long while to be able to set aside my perfectionism to fully embrace this, but like everything in life, it is a work in progress!
After losing this morning’s video (or so I thought – more later!), I decided to have another go at Finery and record it.
I started with an A6-sized piece of mixed media paper and used the black side of a piece of Cut’n’Dry foam to add Distress Inks – Seedless Preserves, Dusty Concord, Saltwater Taffy and Spiced Marmalade. These colours gave a warm, almost autumnal feel to the paper, a contrast to the grey-green paper I’m using for my Inktober Tangles sampler.
Next, it was time to tackle Finery for the second time today. This wasn’t without some trepidation. I know how this tangle vexes me. I decided to use a plumptious Sumu motif for the finery grow from. After drawing that, I added the veins of the Finery. A happy accident led to the multiple leafy stoppers on these.
Then, it was the tricksy bit, adding the lines to create some Finery.
And would you believe it, I actually did it as the pattern was intended! I was shocked but pleased.
I used Inktense pencils (Thistle, Sienna Gold and Dusky Purple) to add the shadows. Finer 01 and 03 Unipin pens allowed me to add the filler patterns into the reticular (grids) of the Finery. Finally, a white 05 Gelly roll let me add subtle highlights, which make a difference.
I’m actually pleased with the outcome. This made a nice change from the Inktober Tangle sampler and from some other art I’ve been playing around with lately.
The curious case of the self-deleting file…
The mystery of the deleted video file has been solved! I saved this file and couldn’t find it. Then, I remembered I’d updated the video editing software I use and hadn’t changed where I, not the software, wanted the videos saved.
So, I went on a hunt to seemingly the most arcane regions of my computer’s hard drive. I couldn’t find anything. And then I was struck with a flash of inspiration – open the app in the software for recording from cameras and see where it’s saving it!
Ta-da! I found not only this video but the one I thought I’d deleted by mistake! I chose to go with this video for a bit of a change from the Inktober Tangles sampler.
FluxEcho, a lovely floral tangle pattern by Lynn Mead CZT, was a delight to draw this morning. you can see my variations of the pattern to the centre-left.
I had decided to stick to a monochrome colour scheme for my Inktober Tangles, but today I decided to go a bit analogous! I’ve added some purple and blue to the design. Analogous colours are next to each other on the colour wheel – so green, blue and purple work well together. Even more so as the background is a grey-green colour.
Something had to be done about the hand-lettered panel. I’d added some colour with Inktense pencils and a water brush, but I wasn’t happy with the finish. So, I filled the panel with black ink and added the hand lettering using a white gel pen. I’m happier with this.
It’s Inktober! The annual month of ink drawing and other challenges of an arty crafty kind!
Last year, I did the #InktoberTangles2021 challenge. I explored each day’s pattern, often with an accompanying YouTube video. This year, however, I’m adopting a different approach. I’ve decided to look at each pattern and combine them into one big design!
The first three tangle patterns are Rain, from Zentangle Inc, Delwhy by Stephanie Jennifer CZT and Isea-u by Dory Peeters CZT. You can see my attempts at them from left to right.
Angela Porter 