Monday, January 11, 2016

Zentangle® Basics, Henna Drum, and an Inchie

Such a refreshing challenge over at I am the Diva. Let's get back to basics. I know that I always start out teaching Zentangle the traditional way; however, it seems that many people want to expand into ZIA (Zentangle Inspired Art). Yes, it is a lot of fun to use tangle patterns in other ways, but it sure was nice to do a traditional tangle and not have that added "stress" of choosing colors, paper sizes, and all of that. I happened to have Linda Farmer's new PDF of the Tangle Guide for 2016 open on my desktop, so I decided to pick 3 tangles from my open page that I had never done before. I selected Coral Seeds by Suzanne McNeillCZT, Croon by Margaret Bremner CZT, and Coil by Sue Jacobs CZT.
Square One's focus tangle on Facebook this week is Henna Drum by Jane McKugler, CZT. I LOVE Henna Drum. If you are a regular visitor, you know how I like to play with tangles. This is what I came up with.
And, finally, Every Inchie Monday's prompt was Sun. I am fascinated by the photos that my friend sends me from Canada of Sun Dogs. I have never seen one in person, but I sure would love to.

Thank you for stopping by. I love reading your comments. I do have comments on "moderation" since I have one persistent spammer that I don't want to subject my kind readers to. So, not to worry if you don't see your post immediately. I do check often and post your comments as soon as I can.


60 comments:

  1. both of your Zentangletiles are nice, but the second one is really gordgeous

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    1. Thank you, Ria. I like Henna Drum so much and I think that there would be lots more ways to vary it.

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  2. Very nice tile, dear Jean! You chose great tangles!
    I have also downloaded Linda Farmers Tangle Guide yesterday and I am looking forward to try some new tangles now!This is such a great source of inspiration!

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    1. Thanks, Simone. I do love how you can get right to the stepouts from your computer/iPad/phone anytime you need a bit of inspiration with Linda's guide.

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  3. Wonderful "pure" tile for the Diva's "back to basics" challenge. I love the tangleations you did with coil. I'm not familiar with the other two tangles yet, but one is reminiscent of webbed feet. Just ducky! (Ouch).

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    1. LOL! I always love what you "see" in tangles, Suzanne. Webbed feet. I'm sure Suzanne McNeill would get a chuckle out of that one :)

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  4. Both are beautiful and artistic. Henna Drum is amazing this way.

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    1. Thank you, Carmela. I'm looking forward to playing more with Henna Drum.

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  5. Great tiles, beautifully drawn. I like your variation on Henna Drum how clever to think of it.

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    1. I love seeing how far a tangle can be pushed, YT. Think of Henna Drum with squares or triangles for centers, or maybe Mooka as the petals. What fun!

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  6. I like all three pictures but the little one, the Inchie, is marvelous!

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    1. Wouldn't it be so wonderful to be able to see a real Sun Dog, Kritzel?

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  7. Your artwork is just stunning and the inchie is amazing

    Love Chrissie xx

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    1. You are always so very sweet, Chrissie. Thank you :)

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  8. I've never seen sundogs even though I live in Canada - but I live in the city. Would like to see them. Thanks for always introducing something different we can learn from.

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    1. My friends live in Winnipeg, Kia, but from what I read, they can show up anywhere. I really think it would be wonderful to see that and I would also love to see an auora borealis too.

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  9. Your shading is great - and I've been wanting to try Coral Seeds. Thanks for providing an example! Debbie Butterfield, CZT 19

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    1. I'd never used it before, Elianna, and it is an easy one to do. Again, I see great possibilities for variations.

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  10. The zentangles are awesome! and I have never heard of a sundog so I love the inchie. Always nice to learn something new

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    1. That's the fun part of the inchies for me, Freebird. Trying to find something a bit different. I can't always, but I do try. Thanks :)

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  11. Wow, Jean, I love, love and love the first one. Keep looking at it.

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    1. Thank you, Anne. I think it might be because of the use of black. It seems to make tangles more dramatic.

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  12. I love your take on henna drum :)and I have never noticed coral seeds before. They do look like some weird and wonderful sea creatures feet!.

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    1. Thanks, Joanne. There are just so many different tangles out there. I think it is fun to just randomly pick tangles sometimes just to see what's out there. I really like the Coil too and will have to explore its potential as well.

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  13. A pair of fun tiles and some "new" patterns. Your version of Coil is very nice and the Henna Drum has a New York look to it, if you see what I mean.

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    1. Humm, the Statue of Liberty maybe? I grew up in NJ right across from NYC. We took lots of class trips to the city, but I never got to go to the Statue of Liberty. Sad. I now live in AZ and hear all the time of people who live here and have never gone to see the Grand Canyon. What's with that? LOL!

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  14. Fun to try new tangles and I love your tangleation of Henna Drum. It's just beautiful. Have seen the Sun Doggies, and your inchie captures it perfectly!

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    1. How lucky you are, Kate. Did you take any photos? I would love to see them sometime if you did.

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  15. UUUGGHHH!!! I LOVE how your coil balls are popping out of the coil and floating above! Wondeful!

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    1. Thank you, Sheila. I also think it is fun to try to get tangles to slide in and out of each other. Strings tend to get in my way sometimes LOL!

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  16. What wonderful tiles & im very intrigued by your sun dogs so I'm off to investigate!

    Sally

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    1. There are some really beautiful photos out there, Sally. I do like the ones from my friends because I know they are not altered in any way.

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  17. These are GORGEOUS! Your shading really enhances everything. Love the flow of your tangles.

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  18. Beautiful work! I love that inchie;-)

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  19. Beautiful tiles! And a clever and nice sun. Love your work as always. Coming over to the tag challenge or what? I told you I'll be coming by to tempt you :D

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    1. Ah, Zoe, I do love making tags too. Last year, I couldn't keep up with the art journal groups that I joined. I really don't like to make commitments I can't keep. So, I guess I just have to say no at this time. Maybe when I retire from being retired LOL!

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  20. Oh Jean, I love your Diva Challenge tile! I haven't used any of those patterns either, and that was a great idea to skip the overthinking of choosing patterns and pick them off of one page. Clever girl! Your Henna Drum is the best I have seen! What a unique take on that "almost too pretty" pattern. Yours has life and style and spice. I LOVE it! Your Inchie is very cool - I don't even know what Sun Dogs are, but now I must learn!

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    1. Thank you, Antoinine. Especially for your positive comment on the Henna Drum. I'm not very good at "pretty", so I usually need to come up with something unique instead. Did you read where this actually frightened someone of Facebook LOL! I didn't know about sun dogs before my friend sent me some pictures just about a year ago!

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  21. Love both your tiles and your EIM is so cute!

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  22. All are wonderful! Especially I like your unique variation of Henna Drum!

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    1. Thank you, Annette. I kind of like where that one went myself :)

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  23. I'm back, at least for this week. Kind of like a bad penny! I like both of your tiles. I do not think that I have used any of these tangles. It is a nice composition. I also like Henna Drum. This is an interesting tangleation and really makes the tangle unique. I also like to get people to do this in my Beyond the Basics classes. I also appreciated and enjoyed this challenge. I have been doing so much ZIA work that the simplicity was great. Doing it on my own is much different then when I demonstrate in a class.

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    1. How nice to see you back, Donald. I've missed you. Thank you for the kind comments. I just gave a class today where we took some tangles and pushed them a bit. So much fun! These were not beginners though. Beginners get the "real" thing Zentangle :)

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  24. Fabulous tangles and inchie, just love the tangles this week. Note to self-- I must try them again, if I can find the time Being retired is exhausting.

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    1. LOL, Wendy. Isn't it the truth? I am busy every minute of the day!

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  25. Spectacular tiles! What a great selection of tangles!

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    1. Thank you, Donna. I love to pick random tangles sometimes.

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  26. Both tiles are stunning! I would be hard pressed to choose a favorite because I like them both for different reasons. Very nicely done, Jean!

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    1. Thanks, Lezli, and thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. It's always nice to see that people are actually looking at the things that I do. And, I love to chat LOL!

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