Month: December 2016

Stella – Square One Focus

This week’s Square One (TM) Purely Zentangle focus tangle is Stella by Jana Pharmer (formerly Jana Roberts). Stepouts for Stella can be found here.

I started out this week drawing Stella in my sketchbook. Here is my first attempt. Stella is a fairly straight forward tangle that uses the elemental C stroke. It’s the same shape around the figure but every other one alternates direction.

As I drew this first version I began to see that one could expand it out through several rings like this:

Here, I’ve indicated the Stella in red so you can see it better. the Stella shape changes orientation as it’s drawn on each ring, sometimes up, sometimes down, sometimes on it’s side. The key is to align it to the shapes in the previous ring.

I then added some enhancements (tanglenhancers).

I finally added shading. I intended to do the background all black but got half way through and it seemed like I should stop.

It didn’t seem quite finished though so I added a little more shading around the edge on the light side of the tile. That provided the finishing touch for me.

Next I thought about trying Stella as a six armed figure instead of eight. When I tried it I realized that by making it a six armed figure I could turn it into a tesselated Reticulum (that’s a fancy name for a framework). Each shape was exactly the same so I could fit them together like a puzzle. The next pictures show the six armed figure I started with in red and then the finished tile.

Rick and Maria introduced “Reticula and Fragments” in their Zentangle Primer – Volume 1. Check here for more information about the book.

This weeks tangle really stimulated my tangler’s mind. I hope my examples stimulated yours.

As always if you see something in this post you’d like to try in your own work please feel free to do so.

Blessings,

Lynn

Introducing the first TangleLace kit: WinterLace

In November I was blessed to be asked to teach several classes to a wonderful group of Certified Zentangle Teachers at a retreat in Maine. Two of the classes were a series. In the first class I taught the Lace and Convergent Shading techniques. The second class was a project that was inspired by the tangled drawings I had seen posted that had been done on paper doillies. I had paper laser cut with a simplified lace design and used the Lace and Comvergent Shading techniques to create the following winter inspired design. I call it WinterLace.

The project uses metalic gold and clear stardust (sparkles) Gelly Roll pens which are difficult to photograph. However, this photo is a pretty good example of the finished product.

These two classes were very well received and as a result, in partnership with Acadia Laser Creations, I decided to make it into a kit.

The kit contains instructions for both classes (a 2-fer) and all the materials and supplies you need to create your own WinterLace project.

The Kit materials include a laser-cut pattern on dark blue paper, a light blue background sheet, a white mat with foam core backing and protective sleeve, 3 gel pens, 2 colored pencils, a royal blue Micron and 2 tortillons.

“But wait … there’s more!”

My fellow CZT, Jenny Perruzzi, suggested I should include a stencil that would allow you to draw the same lace shapes that are laser-cut in the kit. I rarely encourage the use of stencils in Zentagle as I feel they can too easily become a crutch and support that inner critic that says “I can’t draw” (therefore I need a stencil). Well she cut one for me anyway and I had a lot of fun with it. I realized that this project is actually considered Zentangle Inspired Art (ZIA) so playing is OK, and the stencil actually reinforces some of the concepts taught in the Lace technique.

So included in the kit is a 3-in-1 stencil to play with and create endless designs. There are 3 sizes on the stencil: Small (Zendala size), Medium (same size as project piece – a zendala tile fits in the center) and Large (Opus size). The overall stencil measures 10.5″x10.5″. See photo below.

Here are some sample pieces I created using the stencil.

This piece was drawn on a 10.5 x 10.5 Opus tile and
uses the large size stencil.

This piece was drawn on a 4-5/8″ Zendala size tile and
uses the small size stencil

This piece was drawn on an 8″ square and
uses the medium size stencil.

This example also uses the medium size stencil but
shows the use of a separate Zendala placed in the center.

So you can see, once you learn the techniques there is no end to what you can create.

Here’s what other Tanglers are saying about the kit…

“Lynn takes intimidation out of the drawing equation. What might appear to be a complex drawing becomes a simple step-by-step process with Lynn’s clear and easy instruction.”

“Lynn’s project is awesome! I was overwhelmed by the artistry of the finished product.”

“Lynn’s easy step-by-step instructions will put you right at ease and have you feeling like a pro in no time! Not to mention feeling like a creative genius with the beautiful end product you will create with this amazing kit!”

“Lynn’s unique perspective on the world translates into easy to follow design techniques so that anyone can create beautiful art work.”

The WinterLace kits are now available on Etsy for an introductory price of $65.00 through the Winter Solstice, Dec. 21.
https://www.etsy.com/…/498115…/the-tanglelace-winterlace-kit

I’m very excited to reach a larger audience with the classes contained in this kit.

Blessings,

Lynn

Tiny Tangle Deck is here!

We went BIG with the original Tangle Decks 1 & 2
Now we’re going TINY!!!

Introducing…Tiny Tangle Deck – On Sale Now

 

Tiny Tangle Deck may be only 2” x 2” but it’s big on content. It contains all 100 tangles from the original Tangle Decks 1 & 2 and it’s printed on the same durable coated card stock.

Each card contains:

  • the basic drawing of each tangle
  • the tangle name and creator
  • the elemental strokes used to draw the tangle

Each tangle card is color coded so you know which original deck to look in for the step-outs, red for Deck 1 and blue for Deck 2.

Even more portable than the original Tangle  Decks, it comes in its own metal tin.

On Sale Now for the introductory price of $16

or

Get the Tangle Deck Family (Tangle Deck 1, Tangle Deck 2, AND Tiny Tangle Deck) for $80

Click Here to Purchase