Zentangles

     

         I've been sitting in a chair a lot as if there is nothing else to do.  It's not warm enough outside for me to garden and I've been having enough back and sciatica pain that I've resorted to using a walker almost all the time for the last week. Well, sometimes I can step away from it in the kitchen. Anywhoo, I've looked for easy things to do.  My last two posts showed that I've been drawing faces.  I thought they looked pretty good at the time but now I'm seeing lots of areas to improve on.  That sort of turned me off for drawing faces right now.  I seem to toss my hands up pretty easily these days. Then a few days ago I got out my Zentangle supplies.

       A purist Zentangle creator will insist all you need is a small permanent black pen and a 3 by 3 card. I'm not a purist. I have a small canvas bag full of Zentangle supplies. It includes Micron pens in assorted sizes, a couple pencils including a .5 mechanical pencil which has a small eraser, an extra soft eraser, and a tortillon which is French for "a rolled up piece of paper" and we typically call it a stump blender. A bunch of Zentangle books teaching how to create a variety of designs of course make it a heavy bag. Oh, and don't forget paper. I have a sketch book, and a "Bristol Smooth" notebook, but I prefer "Artist Tiles." The tiles are stiff and come in squares of 3 and 6 inches and I used the 6 inch squares clipped to a small clipboard for the ones I'm showing here.

       If you don't recognize the term "Zentangle" I will explain. It is simply glorified doodling. I remember doodling in high school waiting for other kids to finish their tests. But Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas decided that putting multiple doodling designs together was very relaxing and that's where the Zen comes in. The "Tangles" are the doodles themselves. So she labeled them "Zentangles" and has made a fortune writing books teaching technics and teaching classes where she certified other people to teach the "glorified doodles." I must say my hat is off to them. They came up with a brilliant product and reminder that we should all find time to relax and sit and doodle now and then. 15 minutes doing Zentangles will no doubt reduce your stress and maybe even lower your blood pressure a bit.

       So, now that you know what this is all about I will tell you that 15 minutes is not enough for me.  I spent hours and hours drawing the tiny designs in pencil then again in ink and then I erased the pencil marks. Then I took a 2B pencil and added shading. I had to wash the graphite off the part of my hand that slides over the page a few times as I worked.  I used my extra soft eraser to clean up messy and graphite smeared edges of the tile and then I used my mechanical pencil eraser to clean up small areas and called the piece done.  It's usually not really done because I typically think of another tiny detail to add a couple more times. So, I hope you like my Zentangles. 

       Oh, and a final thought: should wish to join the world of us who tangle all you need is a permanent pen and a piece of paper. You can find everything you need for free on line, but the books on Amazon are great, too. Watch out.  It's addicting!

       

Face Markers

       I buy these really cool pen/ pencil binders from Dick Blick called "Global Classic Leather Pencil Case."  I prefer the smooth black that holds 120 Pencils.  They retail at $34.14. I try to only buy them when there is a really big deal or coupon. When I started buying them they were $25.  That was probably 20 years ago. The binders were especially great when I was traveling and teaching. The core of a pencil is a bit delicate and if the pencil is dropped on a hard surface, like the floor, the inside may break which makes the lead fall out, especially while sharpening.  So I got all my supplies in one binder to create doll faces and as obessive/ compulsive as I am the colors are in Roy G. Biv color order.  For the non artist friends, that means Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. Like a rainbow. You can see the elastic strip with little divided spaces that can hold 3 pencils or typically 2 pens in the pic above. So while teaching I could always find the specific pen/ pencil I needed right away. I have quite a few pencil binders. I seem to have an obsession with buying pens and pencils and putting them in order. A BIG obsession.  And I always buy the 120 pencil size because sooner or later I always fill them.
       The binders are great for holding just what you need. I already have several for Prismacolor Pencils (2), Watercolor Pencils, Inktense Pencils, Pastel Pencils, Gel Pens, Micron pens (not just color variations but sizes as well), Pitt Pens also including various sizes and colors, Calligraphy Pens, Tom Bow Brush Tip Pens, other brush tip Pens, Zig and Paint Pens and there is one off the shelf and I can't remember what it is. Like I said, a BIG obsession. Oh, and I have a display stand for my Sharpies (I think I have 72).  

       So I recently added Arteza skin tone markers to my collection of markers.  I bought a set of 24 Arteza markers and had a few Copic markers in flesh tones so I decided to put them together in my Copic marker binder since I didn't want to fork out $35 just at the moment. The pens are all squarish so they fit there nicely. I initially thought I would buy more Copic pens that I have so far but they are expensive compared to my other writing instruments and since the Arteza pens are similar in shape I rearranged a few pens and now have a section for just flesh tone pens.

        Of course, the pens needed to be in color order. Organizing flesh colors is not as easy as Roy G. Biv. I cut little pieces of paper from a sketch pad and on each one made a color swatch, listed if it was Arteza or Copic, added the coded number and then the name the company issued that specific color.  I then shuffled the little cards around until I felt the color order was from light to dark and listed the info on a piece of paper.  Of course, there were 2 more pens than there were lines on the paper so it's not "perfect."  If the OCD gets to me I will redo the list to fix that.  Fortunately that doesn't bother me enough to keep me from making a blog post or fixing dinner since my 32 year old son is looking at me with hungry eyes.  Not the love song Hungry Eyes but the "I worked hard all day and now I'll just disintegrate and die if there isn't food coming soon" eyes.  Actually, he doesn't pester me for food, but he is really good with his expressions so it's all in good fun.

       So. Now that the pens are all in order, I wonder if I'll get busy on drawing and coloring faces on watercolor paper tomorrow. I've been watching some Karen Campbell videos lately and that's why I wanted the alcohol inks.  Copic and Arteza are both alcohol inks and they have an alcohol blending pen. I bought some other brand of pens and they blend with water but the variety of colors isn't very good.  I never found a pale enough color to satisfy me as a base skin tone.  I like pale since that's basically me, since I avoid the sun like the plague.

       So, will I get busy and see the difference between markers or finish that project I promised for Christmas?  Time will tell.  Meanwhile, I'll most likely be playing Candy Crush.