As if that wasn’t enough… some typography & chalkboards

Posted on 26th November 2015 by perfectly4med

There’s just one day left before the Christmas Fayre (in case I hadn’t mentioned it recently). Though I have more items than I can fit on even a large table, the inspiration hasn’t stopped. I thought I would have a go at some mounted typography, so designed, cut out (ok, the Cameo did that bit), stuck together and mounted these two examples – which happened to be two verses from Sunday’s morning services (see the sermon sketchnote).

Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, I’m finishing off some MDF chalkboards – three down (one featured here), three almost done. The first is covered in old dictionary pages, and aged with a ‘dirty wash’ – a drop of DecoArt Media Raw Umber and a drop of Quinacridone Gold watered down, brushed over and splattered with water before drying and sealing with DecoArt Media Ultra Matte Varnish. The second started with squidged Distress Paints, sprayed with water, then dried and I used DecoArt Media Phthalo Blue as my dirty wash, before glazing with a watered down metallic blue acrylic paint. I then sealed with a gloss varnish with a bit of DecoArt Media Interference Blue mixed in. And the last – I’ve tangled it in Sakura Micron 08 black pigment ink over Dylusions Linen White paint (which when completely dry doesn’t clog the nib), sealed with DecoArt Media Ultra Matte Varnish.

[Disclaimer: as part of the DecoArts Helping Artists Program,
I have been provided with samples of their products to use for projects]

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Icthus: a tangle pattern

Posted on 20th September 2015 by perfectly4med

Another church inspired pattern… this time I was playing around with the Christian ‘fish’ symbol whilst trying out different church logo designs. By organising a shoal of the symbols, a pattern can be built up – and you can see that there are possibly quicker ways of drawing the base pattern by the time you see it in step 2. I think the directional lines make this a more complex looking pattern.

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Dicentra: a tangle pattern

Posted on 13th September 2015 by perfectly4med

This was inspired by the art nouveau tiles in the Royal Arcade in Norwich. I had a play about with the pattern, and once I’d turned it upside down, the name came easily. I think the swags make the hearts look as if they’re dipping into a quilt – adding shading to this one would make quite a difference to the pattern. Note the offset in step two when you’re doing the zigzag lines.

Don’t forget to leave a comment on my book review if you want a chance to win a copy of Suzanne McNeill’s new FloraBunda Style book before it gets in the shops! (Draw closes 18th September 2015).

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Lovely Blooms: a tangle pattern

Posted on 6th September 2015 by perfectly4med

This is another pattern that develops as you block it together. And it’s also a pattern that has several ways to draw it – this is how it developed from my inspiration photo of the stonework above another niche tomb in Norwich Cathedral. I removed some of the vertical lines to create the heart, and simplified other bits to the small flower circle. Zentangle and stone masonry? Perhaps not so much zen with the noise?

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Grille: a tangle pattern

Posted on 30th August 2015 by perfectly4med

This pattern is an adaptation of the wrought iron gates that are at the entrance to St Saviour’s Chapel in Norwich Cathedral. I have added the heart, but otherwise it’s pretty much the same design. I’ve drawn several iterations of the design together – it’s another of those patterns that develop something more when blocked as a group.

If you’re into zentangling natural forms, you might like to check out this book review and have the chance to win a copy before it’s in the shops.

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Sardines: a tangle pattern

Posted on 23rd August 2015 by perfectly4med

Ok, so may be they don’t look exactly like sardines, but I thought the carrot or dibber shapes were packed in like sardines! This is another pattern based on the ceiling stonework in another of the niche tombs in Norwich Cathedral. As you can see from the inspiration photo below, the pattern can be mirrored along the top horizontal axis. That said, there are lots of ways to break this one apart to get different variations.

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Book Review: FloraBunda Style by Suzanne McNeill

Posted on 21st August 2015 by perfectly4med

I’ve been asked to review this book by the publishers, Design Originals, and have been provided with a preview copy. Other than that, this review is independent and I haven’t been paid for it.

Florabunda Style is billed as the next generation of zentangle, and the author should know, as she has written more than 200 craft and hobby books including the popular Zentangle series. With the rapid rise in popularity of colouring books for adults, this book seems ideal for those that are looking to create their own illustrations to colour and benefit from the relaxation that that affords.

The FloraBunda aesthetic is based on simple nature inspired doodles. The book is printed on high quality artist paper, and readers are actively encouraged to draw in the book with plenty of white space to practice in around the examples. The paper is of a sufficient quality to decorate with markers, pens, coloured pencils, watercolours and more. As well as providing more than 200 different designs the book also includes a selection of craft projects with step-by-step instructions. The reader is actively encouraged to experiment, have some fun, be eclectic, be whimsical and above all have some fun.

The book opens with a chapter on the various tools that you can use to draw the elements as well as colour them in. The following chapters follow a similar pattern, opening with a preview of all the designs, step-by-step instructions to draw them and examples of finished artwork by other zentangling experts. There’s a basic guide to plant anatomy, and every element of a typical plant is included, including stems, vines, tendrils, flowers and seed heads. There are tips and tricks scattered throughout the text, as well as snippets of encouragement to develop your own style and creativity. The book finishes with both a visual and written index of all the designs and projects. The author has a chatty style of writing, and even if you don’t dare draw in it, the book is well worth the read in it’s own right.

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Cathedral: a tangle pattern

Posted on 16th August 2015 by perfectly4med

It’s been six months since I last sat and designed some tangle patterns… but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about them! I went to visit Norwich Cathedral in May, and took plenty of pictures of the interior patterns ready to work them into step-by-step tangle patterns. Here’s the first – lots of teardrops, with mirrored Ss in step 3. There’ll be another next week. I think it will go well with Liberty. The carving was on the ceiling in one of the tomb niches on the side of the nave:

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Zenspired Monograms

Posted on 14th August 2015 by perfectly4med

At the beginning of the year I decided to join in one of these ‘pay it forward’ type of messages that flew round Facebook during January. I don’t know if any of the five that are about to receive the actual versions of the following works follow my blog – if they do, their surprise will be lessened, but hopefully the anticipation heightened! I’ve spent roughly 2-3 hours on each of the Strathmore Tiles 4″X4″(Toned Gray), drawing each with Pigma Micron pens, Signo white gel pens and shading with Stabilo Aquarellable white and black pencils. The style was inspired by the book, Zenspirations by Joanne Fink.

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Tiling a tangled pattern

Posted on 25th June 2015 by perfectly4med

Ever had one of those moments where you’re half way through a project and wondering why on earth you started at the scale/level of detail/size of page that you did? This one is a case in point. I have wanted to have a personalised pattern on the background of my blog page for some time now, and decided to draw one in pen and ink. I wanted it to tile perfectly so that it would scroll with the page, and I did it the old fashioned way

Take a sheet of paper, and start your pattern, drawing to the edge of the sheet, but not over it. Then slice it into quarters. Eeek.

Rotate each quarter so that the inside corner now points to the outside, and stick back together on the underside. I used 160gsm card to help with the lining up, but as you can see, my cutting wasn’t all that accurate… it still worked out though.

Fill in the rest of the page, again not allowing any new drawing to go over the edges. This piece is 21cm square in real life, and drawn with a Lamy Safari fountain pen with extra fine nib using Noodler’s Bulletproof Black Ink. It took around 6 hours to do.

I then scanned in the image at high resolution, tidied up the image in Photoshop a little (mainly removing evidence of the cut edges) and it was all done. The final ’tile’ looks like this:

And just to prove it tiles nicely, here’s a sample roughly 5 wide and 2 tall…