in the shadow of the sun

It's getting hot here in the UK, and while blue skies and sunshine hold a certain appeal I find myself growing sluggish.  I have limited focus and energy, but at the same time I find many ideas flitting through my mind.  I have inklings - to start some kind of larger project, maybe just for myself, maybe including others - maybe both.  The idea keeps shifting and evolving.  Who knows if it will see the light of day, but if it does it won't be today.  For today I'll share a few recent tiles I've completed in those rare moments where inspiration and execution met.    

I drew this black tile a couple of weeks ago.  I'm determined to keep working on black tiles, as I love the look, but need to fully embrace the differences from tangling on white.  I used to think black tile work was quicker than white.  But now I know that's not the case.  I need to work just as slowly, and carefully consider the tile at each stage, turning and working out where more is needed, so as to build up something pleasing.  On this one I used Mooka in a Paradox kind of way and then filled it with Printemps.

This next tile was my contribution to Adele Bruno's recent challenge (#248), where she invited us to work with the lovely Drupe.  I started with every intention of sending it to her, but it took me too long.  Here she shares the tiles she did receive - and what a wonderful bunch they are!  I tangled on a tile I'd made a long time ago when I first got my Distress Inks - complete with a strange stain!  I tangled in dark red and popped an extra bump into each Drupe section - which made the shading extra fun.  My tangling completely ignored the string, but I popped it back in afterwards!  The finish tiles reminds me of laying under parasols on sunny days, or perhaps the big top tent at the circus.

 

 

I recently bought myself a whole box of 3Z tiles to play with and I started this week by grabbing one and tangling this.  I had no plan and just used whatever tangles came to mind and fit the space - Mooka, Nik, Arukas and Hollibaugh all appear in small amounts.  I love the way these tiles encourage a 3 sided symmetry, and I'm excited to see where playing with them will take me.

And lastly this tile, which I tangled yesterday.  I grabbed a tile from my stash that I had coloured with Brusho powder - I'm experimenting to find ways to tame these powders so that they show what they're made of without being so overpowering that the tangling has to fight to compete.  It was an increasingly hot day and my tangling seems to reflect that - 2 bands of Sling-Slang, and a middle section using the Lisbon fragment - which was all the rage last summer and is demonstrated to admirable effect by Margaret Bremner.  It was slow work, but absolutely what I needed.