Zentangle style – Page 2 – The Accidental Embroiderer

The third zentangle animal

8 May 2011MiaZentangle styleLeave a comment

And here is the third of the zentangle animals, a green Aries ram.

Aries the Ram in a zentangle style

I will mount him together with the other two Zodiac animals to make a triptych of zentangle art, to show at a local exhibition here in September. With hindsight I think they would have looked better if I'd reversed them, so they all looked to the right. However this will just about do.

The zentangle zodiac triptych (mocked up on the computer)

And now I think I’ll give the zentangle style a rest for a while. I still like it, but the drawing, digitising and stitching out of these complicated designs takes a lot of time, and really the style is rather limited in what you can do with it. After a while, it all begins to look the same

Another zentangle animal

24 April 2011MiaFabric painting / Zentangle styleLeave a comment

Here’s the second in the series of zentangle animals of the Zodiac: a yellow Taurus to go with the blue Capricorn. I’m currently working on a green Aries which with luck should be finished later this week

The zentangle bull

As usual, I've painted both the background and the applique fabric. The background motifs are stitched in thread that closely matches the background colour, so that the designs appear contoured rather than embroidered. The body is done in stronger colours to contrast with the background

The zentangle goat, part two

2 April 2011MiaZentangle styleLeave a comment

I was so interested in the zentangle goat drawing that I went ahead and digitised it straightaway. It took a VERY long time and was technically very challenging, but I eventually got it finished.

It was clear that the stitch-out would need some thought. The design was so complex that if the wrong colours were used, the whole thing would just turn into an unintelligible mess. I sent the file to Cherri and we each did our own version of the design. I have to say that I love both of them

Cherri’s zentangle goat: the bold version

My zentangle goat: the understated version

I really like these unusual images and am currently working on some more zentangle animals. Because of the slightly mystic nature of the zentangle approach, I’m doing (among other things) a bull and a ram, to complete a triad of zentangle zodiac animals

The Zentangle Goat (or antelope?)

15 March 2011MiaSketches of new ideas / Zentangle style1 Comment

As I’m still without a machine I’m spending a lot of time drawing, and have come across the idea of “zentangles”, which are basically just formalised and structured doodles. There are lots of websites and blogs devoted to “zentangles” which you can find via Google, but here are a couple to start with.

http://www.zentangle.com/index.php

http://tanglepatterns.com/

Of course the idea of filling space on drawings with abstract patterns isn’t new. Many styles of art use abstract motifs as space-fillers in large, complex designs – you can find examples in Celtic art, Pacific tapa paintings and many others

A Celtic zentangle?

A zentangle from the South Pacific?

As far as the “zentangle” idea goes, I don’t like the psychobabble luggage that sometimes comes with it, and I also don’t like the idea of copyrighting something as basic and universal as a doodled pattern. On the other hand, some “zentangles” can be very beautiful, and anything that encourages people to draw, and to have faith in their ability to draw, has got to be a good thing

So I’ve been playing around with using zentangle-like motifs as decorative elements in a few drawings which I’ll eventually digitise. This one started out as a goat but ended up more like an antelope. I like the intricacy of the abstract patterns, and I will digitise it as a simple appliqué of the animal's body on a contrasting background. This is going to take a long time to digitise, but it will help pass the time until I can use the machine again

Sketch for a zentangle goat embroidery (or maybe a zentangle antelope)