My final tangle pattern inspired on a recent trip to the USA is based on upholstery fabric on one of the chairs in the Gold Floor Lounge in the rather fantastic Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel in Boston. We were so glad to have upgraded our room as I came down with a stinking cold while we were there. It was lovely to be able to feel grotty in an executive lounge with refreshments on tap rather than a small bedroom!
Walking around the Rockefeller Center in New York, it’s easy to be distracted, especially at Christmas, by things like the enormous Christmas tree, the musical light show on the front of Saks Fifth Avenue and the large skyscraper. But take a moment to look down, and you’ll find brass tree surrounds set into the sidewalk. Here’s a tangle pattern based on just one of those. Next week: Fairmont CP.
Continue reading
It’s been a long while since I last published a tangle pattern that I’ve developed. Well, followers of zentangle inspired art (ZIA) will be delighted to know that I have written three step-by-steps for new patterns inspired by a recent holiday to New York.
The first is inspired by the doorway of 636 Fifth Avenue, part of the art deco Rockefeller Center. Same time next week: Deco Sidewalk – based on a brass tree surround very close to the same doorway.
Continue reading
Well this layout has taken pretty much all day, aside from occasional breaks to make tea for the landscape gardeners laying my greenhouse base. I had this background waiting for something over the top – in fact since I printed it using this technique in 2011. I’d also blended a thin layer of Dylusions Paint over the top to help seal it. A new set of alphabet stencils also arrived yesterday afternoon, so that’s where the zen started, continued with the hand-drawn flowers (following some of the examples in the FloraBunda book), and then coloured with glazes.
I’m prepping for a presentation on Tuesday (hopefully more news on this later) and have been working on a couple of art journal layouts. I thought I’d play a little more with polystyrene printing and zentangling/Florabunda (above) and elements of stencil and pen work stippling (below). Pretty pleased with the colour choices and how each page turned out.
As well as the journal pages, I’ve also spent some time doing some tangles to fit my lokta paper wallet. I remember how therapeutic tangling can be! Each tile can be done in around 20 minutes (they’re 2 inches square), and quicker if I use a thicker pen 😉
This week, I had a day off and using a special offer voucher I took myself off to Liverpool for a day trip – just because I could. Over the day, I walked 15 miles around the city, took in both cathedrals, a couple of art galleries, had a pint in The Cavern Club and spent a lot of time looking up, and down alleys, enjoying the varied architecture and juxtaposition of money versus old dock buildings, and old versus new.
Ever on the lookout for new patterns, I came across this stone carving above an access archway aside 25 Castle Street – which appeared to be a mercantile area back in the day with fabulous mosaic building titles and fancy copper roofs.
It’s been a little while since I’ve done a step-by-step for a border pattern, so I thought I’d add to my art nouveau inspired tangle patterns. Use as a corner piece or expand the leaves and tendrils to increase the border length, throwing in the odd flower for interest and break up the lines.
Another tangle pattern, this time drawing on Gothic architecture for the inspiration. The stippling can be either very annoying or very therapeutic depending on what sort of pen you’re using! I recommend a soft tip on a stack of paper if you value peace and quiet, or a hard ballpoint nib straight to the paper on a hard surface if you’re dead set on annoying someone in the vicinity…
This second vaguely festive tangle pattern was fairly tricky to break down. It’s based on an ancient Greek stone carved border with a few adaptations to make the continuous pattern. In step 2, try to keep the lines flowing as you weave in and out round the circles.
Now I have stopped making items for sale at the Christmas Fayre, I’ve turned my relatively idle hands to working out a few more step-by-step tangle patterns. Inspired by various designs, this is the first of several to come. I love how the repeated geometric pattern forms a bauble shape in the negative space – hence the name.