Tangled Up

A colleague recently introduced me to the wonderful world of the Zentangle....3....2....1....and it doesn't take much encouragement for me to really get into a new form of art. After a bit of browsing research, I came across Tangle Patterns ( www.tangle-patterns.com). After trying out a few of the many, many pattern tutorials and signing up to their newsletter, I decided to make a tangle birthday card for an artistic friend. 

I would just like to say that I am just a beginner with this. The card is not strictly Zentangle, but thus inspired, using established Tangle patterns. It is considered good form to mention the designers of each pattern, but I forgot to make note of each per design, so, many apologies and I will give credit in future posts.

Here is the beginning of the card front:

I'm not very good at shading, so I coloured some areas in to particularly highlight some of the pattern detail. Here is the end result of the card:

The card took me a week to complete using a Pilot P-500 Extra Fine 0.5 black pen. It's a wonderful pen to draw with. Some of the concentration involved with executing the repetitive detail of some of these patterns nearly sent me cross eyed though! Incredibly relaxing but tiring on the eyes (unless you listen when they begin protesting, which I did not. - Shame on me, given my day job!).

Another project I've been working on is a postcard swap with two friends. I liked the idea of the project that I read about on www.sundaypostcardart.wordpress.com. However, when confined to artistic deadlines I'm no good. I was talking about the  project to my friend and colleague, Karen (scrapbook crazy), and she suggested we do our own version. Wahay! I also got another friend involved, Sam, who is trying to find her lost creation inspirative. I thought the idea of this postcard swap on a theme, little pieces of art, would get her going again. 

The rules are to fill a blank postcard with art on a theme using any medium you like or have available. We each have one week to complete the theme and post it to the recipient.  Since I'm actually doing this with 2 unrelated and geographically challenged friends, I am posting to both Karen and Sam. Whereas, Sam is posting to me, as is Karen, but, if we get going with this, perhaps we can mix it up a bit....I'm also thinking that my Mum might be interested in this. She is a very creative lady.

The first theme of the swap is 'Magic'. Karen got really excited and created hers right away. I've been a little slower, and I've not received anything from Sam yet. This is the postcard Karen sent to me. It is SO beautiful:

The writing is a quote by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe. It says 'Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen'.

Thinking upon the 'Magic' theme, I couldn't get Harry Potter out of my mind. Karen is a huge Harry Potter fan, so after a bit of a browse I found some of the HP spells online (www.pojo.com/harrypotter/spelist.shtml). For Karen, 'Avis!', causing birds to appear out of the wand:

For Sam, to cheer her up, I chose 'Orchideus!', conjuring a bunch of flowers from one's wand:

I am quite pleased with how they turned out. Hopefully I will improve over time. The next theme between Karen and I is 'Steampunk'.

Other News

I heard at the weekend that Harris and his owner are moving house at the end of the month. Very sad news for me. I just adore that cat.

I found out that that helpful chap from Blackwell's art department in Newcastle Upon Tyne, is called Paul. He's very knowledgeable, so if you are wanting art material advice, be sure to strike up a chat with him. I've also gotten him into tangle patterns.... and my friend, Cat, the receiver of the birthday card, is now also a tangle addict.

That's all for now. Have a pleasant week. Until next time...