I always look forward to a project pack when it is released by Zentangle™ Inc. This project pack was particularly fun because it introduced the concept of genus of tangles of a botanical nature.
Inktober 2023 Review
Participating in Inktober Tangles has become a welcome fall tradition in my house. I look forward every year to the handout that Stephanie Jennifer creates with her lovely artwork and tangle oriented prompts. Stephanie is a Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT) from seminar 21 who lives in Singapore. You may have seen or heard about her company, Seven Forests Five Rivers LLP.
Inktober 2022 Review
For several years I have been participating in the Inktoker artist challenge. Inktober originated as an “all” art challenge and in 2015 Stephanie Jennifer adapted it for our beloved Zentangle practice.
Following along with prompts throughout the month helps me maintain my drawing skills and facilitates my daily practice. I like to follow the prompts supplied in the handout from 7F5R.com because I don’t need to think about what tangle to draw next. That decision has been made for all who participate.
Project Pack 14 Review
This wonderful project pack was released in May 2021, during Mental Health Awareness month in the US. The Zentangle Headquarters team brought us a spirited series of classes developing the artist we often hide within ourselves. They were able to highlight a greater awareness of our own mental health and how our art contributes to positive feelings, reduction of stress, and a general increase in confidence. I personally have experienced these amazing outcomes.
Project Pack 12 Review
Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas along with their illustrious team at Zentangle headquarters, create wonderful Zentangle art packs several times per year. Project Pack 12 was originally released in December 2020. I was super busy at the end of 2020 and did not have time to work through the creative process presented in this renaissance art pack. So here we are at the end of 2021 and I have finally finished creating the amazing art tiles.
Review of Inktober Tangles 2021
I Enjoy Tangle Challenges
I really enjoy participating in various challenges around the Zentangle community, and Inkober is one of my favorites. I look forward to the prompts from Seven Forests Five Rivers, Stephanie Jennifer. She curates a nice list of tangles with old favorites and plenty of new tangles to grow my repertoire.
Valentangle 2019
Valentangle 2018 Review
I just experienced a wonderful Zentangle related Valentines season through the Valentangle 2018 challenge sponsored by Marguerite Samama, CZT 16. Her mission was "to take two weeks to discover how we can put hearts into our tangles and let the tangles flow back into our hearts. We do this by appreciating making a small work of art, nourishing creativity and connecting to each other."
Tangle Exploration - Showgirl
Exploring Tangles
Exploring new tangles is a great adventure. You never quite know where you will end up and the journey is tremendously enjoyable.
Over the last month or so I have been exploring the tangle Showgirl by Vicky Bassett. It is a wonderful loopy, flowery tangle that can fill any space or shape of your string. It happily takes on the shape of its limitation. Limitations is a fun concept to explore in the Zentangle method.
First Attempts
My first attempt at Showgirl was not bad. I added watercolor to a tile in light pinks and purple then drew a light string. I added Showgirl and Footlites as my main tangles in the colored areas trying to leave a bit of white space.
I ended up adding a strip of Dragonair and then filling in with Printemps to complete drawing in the pink/purple areas. After shading and adding a bit of added purple with colored pencil I called it done.
Learning Opportunities
Then came a wonderful learning opportunity from Eni Oken when she published her lesson on transforming Showgirl. This amazing video and written lesson really enhanced my thinking about drawing and embellishing this beautiful tangle. I used Nouvart by Ria Matheussen to connect the two sides of the tile.
Eni talks a lot about adding weighted lines and drawing layers which you can see here. I also added extra hatching in the crevices between the Showgirl rounds. There are several extra aura's around Showgirl that I will further embellish later.
I used Inketnse watercolour pencils to begin adding colour. Black was used to darken the layers and add depth to Showgirl and the purple acted as my fill-in colour. A great thing to know about Inktense is that they are permanent after the ink dries and does not reactivate no matter how much water you add. As a result, I ended up with less layers than I was going for, but it still worked out fine.
I love the technique of treating the Showgirl petals like we do for Aquafleur, blackening selected petals and leaving a nice highlight area. You can also see the "skirt" or ribbon penned in the centre aura around Showgirl. Eni emphasis this technique in her video.
More Examples
My next tile included Nzepple and lots of pink! I also played with the shape of Showgirl trying one that looks more like a bud that is just opening. Inktense provided the color and a burgundy Micron was used to add layers of hatching.
Adding just a bit of water transforms Inktense into my pillow shading on the Nzepple.
Shaping and Transforming
This final 3Z tile shows how I squeezed Showgirl even more to make it fit into the bottom section of the tile. This is actually my favorite of the set.
I encourage you to try playing with a tangle to see where it leads you. You will be surprised at how repitition enhances your skills and allows you to see new possibilities.
Happy Tangling!