zentangle inspired

Zentangle and Early Celtic Art Inspired Drawing

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Click on this link to view this design’s Draw With Me YouTube video.

I very much enjoyed drawing this design. It all began with a bit of chance. I grabbed my notebook full of motifs and patterns and opened it randomly. On the pages were some Early Celtic Art patterns dating back to the Iron Age. So, I started at the top left with one of these and let the rest of the design flow intuitively. Some patterns and practices were inspired by Zentangle principles. Oh, I did include some motifs inspired by the work of Yellena James.

I love Early Celtic (La Tene) art. It’s full of swirls and spirals and asymmetry too. It just intrigues me so much. Of course, I really enjoy drawing these kinds of non-representational designs very much.

Next, this design will need colour/shade/highlight somehow. I don’t know whether to use Inktense pencils or chalk pastel pencils. Either would work on the paper I used – ClaireFontaine’s PaintON mixed media paper.

I used 0.5 and 0.3 Unipin Fine Line pens from Uniball. The paper measures approx 4″ x 5.5″ (10cm x 14cm).

#Inktober #InktoberTangles2022, Day 9 “Sumu”

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Click on this link to watch the accompanying YouTube drawing tutorial for ‘Sumu’.

Suma (to the bottom and left of the drawing) is a lovely, lovely pattern, deconstructed by Lin Chiu CZT. It very much reminds me of Medieval manuscripts and architectural sculpture. So, it was a given that I’d love it, just like TomĂ s PadrĂłs’ “Snack” in Day 8 of the Inktober Tangles 2022 challenge.

Although Lin Chiu has given many possible variations, just as TomĂ s did for Snack, I kept it simple, repeating the basic form around the bottom and left of the Heartfully ‘rug’. It also had to have that architectural, sculptured, carved ‘feel’ to it. Not sure I’ve quite managed it, but it’ll do!

My design is looking a bit higgledy-piggledy at the moment; I’m just going to trust the process and see how it works out at the end of Inktober.

Inktober Tangles 2022 – Day 8 – “Snack” by TomĂ s PadrĂłs CZT

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Please click on the “Watch on YouTube” button.

Snack is a lovely pattern and TomĂ s PadrĂłs CZT has created a great step out for it, which includes lots of suggestions and variations.

I have to say, it is a motif I’m familiar with, probably early Celtic art or architecture. It was great fun for me to draw, and in keeping with my rather higgldy-piggldy arrangement I chose to use it in that way. As a nod to the architectural origins of this pattern, to me anyway, I’ve worked with shadow and highlight to practically ‘scuplt each ‘snack’ element. I particularly like the ‘half snack’ versions; again, they are familiar to me but not connected to Zentangle, and there’s nowt wrong with that at all!

#Inktober Tangles 2022, Day 7 “FluxEcho”

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Click on this link to view the accompanying #DrawWithMe video tutorial on YouTube.

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.

Inktober Tangles 2022 – Days 4 to 6 – Souk, Molygon and Heartfully

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Click on this link ot see the accompanying draw with me video on YouTube.

I’ve added the next three tangles in the #InktoberTangles2022 challenge to my drawing. I’m fairly happy with how it’s looking, but not too chuffed with my photography/scanning skills! I seem to be able to do a fairly good job when it comes to steam locomotives, but when it’s my artwork… *rolls eyes*. But I’m sure you get the idea!

Here’s the list of tangles added in today’s video:

Day 4 – Souk by Steph Kiefhaber CZT

Day 5 – Molygon by Zentangle Inc

Day 6 – Heartfully by Helen Willams CZT

These are all lovely tangles. Souk caused me some problems and with them an unexpected variation. Molygon I’ve not been able to draw successfully before. Heartfully is a lovely tangle, but not as easy to draw as it seems!

I’ve added a lot of white highlights with either a Sakura SoufflĂ© pen or an 05 Gelly Roll. I like the way the white seems to glow against the grey-green colour of the paper I’m working on (it’s not the pale green it appears in the scan above!). Also, I’m so glad I’m sticking to a colour palette of greens with a blue-green aquamarine.

I wish I hadn’t added colour to the title label, however. For some reason it’s really patchy. I’ll work out how to improve it, eventually.

I’m going to add background shadows/highlights when the whole page is complete. But I have added a background pattern to a couple of areas at the top of the design.

Inktober Tangles 2022, Days 1 to 3

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Click on this link to view the accompanying tutorial video in YouTube

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.

Coloring Page – 29 Sept ’22

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I drew this colouring page for Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans Facebook group this morning. It definitely has a fair few autumnal motifs; however, any kind of colours could be used!

I’ve partly added colour to the design, mainly to highlight some trickier areas with lots of detail.

A tiny Zentangle Inpsired Tile

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Please click on the link to watch it on youtube 🙂

I really enjoyed drawing this tiny tile this morning. I love the soft, muted green tones of the paper and the the way the Inktense pencils I used to add colour, shade and light work so well with it. The bright white touches of a Sakura Soufflé pen shine so bright against everything else.

The paper is a 6cm x 6cm (approx. 2.4″ x 2.4″) piece of grey-green ClaireFontaine PaintON mixed media paper.

My first step was to draw a single cell, or fragment, of the Zentangle pattern Well. and I added a variation to that pattern. To fill in the sections created, I used the tangle patterns Purk and B’tweed.

This will eventually be one of my little Random Acts of Kindness cards, once I work out what message to put on the back and whether I’m going to hand letter it or print it out. I have not practiced my hand lettering much lately, and I think it shows. But maybe I’m just being overly harsh on myself, I don’t know for sure. What I do know is that I love creating these tiny drawings as much as I do my larger ones. I love the cuteness of the size very much.

Just for fun! A short stop-motion drawing.

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I was at a loss as to what to do in terms of art today. Inspiration was lacking. But a sudden thought came into my noggin and I though, “I could do a small drawing, stop-motion”. So that’s what I did!

It’s only short – 58 seconds to be precise, or is it 57 seconds? Either way, it’s short. And I make absolutely no apology for the silly music! I needed a smile today and I hope that this little video will bring a smile to others.

I have a lot to learn about stop motion, especially sorting out lighting. But it’s always been fun to to do, and so I will again at some point in the future.