Z is for Zentangle

As I mentioned yesterday, I was at a loss for a Z idea. Zugzwang anyone? Zebra? Zebra put me in mind of lines. Thinking about lines, I remembered that I when I posted a line drawing earlier in the alphabet, someone commented that it looked like Zentangles. I never heard of them, so I looked them up.

As stated on the website, "Zentangle is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns." Its like the official version of what I like to do ... something that combines design, doodling and finding shapes and worlds within shapes. Only who knew?

Immediately I watched a YouTube video, and understood that there are thousands of patterns and methods - all at a tap of my keyboard. They are incredibly beautiful - like fonts - each expressing a style or feeling. And, like fonts, combined to make words and convey ideas. COOOOOOOLLLLL.

So I have been looking and reading and admiring all day. I drew several patterns into my sketchbook. Looking for a clean page, it opened to a drawing I had begun last year - combining mandala and pattern of lines. I had colored different sections with soft pastel. I saw those empty shapes and I thought, Zentangle sampler. While looking through patterns on line, I tried them out on the spaces in the drawing. I drew with fine point colored markers that coordinated with the undercolor.

I feel as if I stumbled onto exactly the concept that my ideas have been waiting for. I am already well into another drawing and can't wait to see where this discovery of beautiful pattern ideas will take me.

Today's creative leap is the reason I do this challenge. By combining the inspiration and input from other participants, the push of daily practice, and constant attention to the art I will make next, I occasionally come to a place where I feel a have taken a leap. Today was like that.

Bb is for Bright and Bold

I have been trying for days to bring a mandala pattern that I drew into Photoshop so that I could work with it. The problems with this include (but are not limited to) capturing the image with my camera so that it is not warped, getting rid of the shadows on the page so that Photoshop does not see the darker areas as shapes, ensuring that the lines are dark enough to be read by Photoshop as complete lines, and that the shapes remain individual so they can be filled with color. Nothing really worked well enough - maybe I lack the skill to do it right.

So, when all else kept failing, I used Adobe Illustrator to create the basic template for this, and then brought it into Photoshop to color and work with effects. I probably could have done it all in Illustrator, but I am more familiar with Photoshop. I love the results, but more than that, I love the feeling of having figured out the solution to this problem.

V is for Endless Variations

The next class in the free mandala class series was posted yesterday, and inspired me to try the technique again. One of the key points of yesterday's lesson, made so clear when I look at the work posted on the site, is that mandalas, even those based on identical patterns, offer endless opportunities for variation - in color, in intensity, outline, feeling and emphasis. Once you begin to vary the geometry - the possibilities are infinite - and fun. For today's image, I laid out the design on heavy watercolor paper, and used high quality color pencils. Still, though I layered color on, there is not enough punch. I once again used Photoshop to tweak the image and add the green background.

Clearly, I have not yet found the combination of paper and color materials that will work to create the intensity I desire - but I will keep on trying - I am thinking about pens for the next variation - whatever I choose to try - I am sure it will be fun to discover what appears.

O is for Online Learning

One of the many benefits of this Art Everyday for a Month Challenge has been the opportunity to spend time on other people's blogs - looking at their work, reading their posts, and sometimes, following through on their suggestions and recommendations.

Today's art is the result of a link I found on an AEDM  blog (I am sorry I don't recall which) for a free online class   "The Mandala Free Class, A class to introduce and teach you how to do great Mandalas from a simple template."

The class is taught by Guadalupe Brizuela Cabal.

I love mandalas, and I love to take classes, and I love to learn online. Most of all, I love something FREE. So,  I clicked through, signed up, and waited until the class was scheduled to begin - this morning.

On the site, as promised was a terrific video, as well as a materials list, templates I could use, and a discussion group. Who could ask for more? I learned so much from watching the first lesson that I did not even need to use a template. I dug out my excellent compass, ruler and triangle and drew a very light square on a sheet of drawing paper and designed a mandala following the directions I had just watched.

Gualalupe suggests coloring with watercolor pencils. I have a fine, and underused set I bought in Paris, and though I love them, I do not think they gave enough visual punch. Since it is suggested that we post images of the mandalas we create to share in the class discussion, and anyway, since this was going to be posted here too, I took a digital pic and brought it into Photoshop where I really went to town trying out lots of effects to strengthen the image. These are the results.

There are several more lessons still to come online - and others are invited to log in and join the class, here is the link again 

 I recommend the class, and I believe that online learning is ideal for visual thinkers - so check it out, sign up, and if you create anything, post a link here too.

Art Every Day: Q is for Quiet

Day 17

I am a writer. I make my living with my words. I play word games, solve word puzzles, read read and read, and I talk. What this means is that there is usually a lot of noise and conversation in my head. Grabber headlines, witty closings, captions, rhyme schemes, paragraphs and voices wake me up at night.

Not when I am drawing. One of the things I noticed, almost from the beginning is how quiet my inner world becomes when the colors come out. All I get are some occasional (and very polite) directions - a little darker here, the edge is a beautiful curve, more blue under the red. This is a place I want to be more and more often.

I have really been enjoying looking at the work of other artists in this challenge. I have noticed that some people are creating mandalas. I have done a few in the past, as part of lessons I teach combining art and math and technology. I think that a mandala is a fine reflection of the idea of a quiet space.

I found this orchid image I drew from a lesson in a colored pencil book years ago. I brought this into Photoshop and turned it (literally) into a mandala.