Friday 25 January 2019

listening to echoes

Mostly when I tangle I don't think – my mind pleasantly disconnected from anything other than the flow of ink across paper. But if I do think I think about the tangling, and sometimes I think about what I might say in my next blog post.

This week I thought about repetition. About how I find myself often saying the same things to different people within the tangle community. I don't think this repetition is a bad thing. I often rediscover and repeat the same things to myself on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. This is how they sink in, this is how we learn.

This week I shared the thought that taking part in tangle challenges should never feel like a chore, merely an invitation to inspiration, that we should always feel able to decline without a shadow of guilt. This isn't the first time I've said this, and it won't be the last.

I didn't feel inspired to respond to the invitations that the Diva put out in the first couple of weeks of the year. But this week I did. The opportunity to fill stripes was too good to resist.

Keeko and a Beadlines variation -
ragged in places like a beloved old cardigan

But then a funny thing happened, all of a sudden I felt like doing a tile for the previous week's challenge as well. I explored a new medium by trying out a form of reverse TranZending which I've been watching Anica develop and explore over the last few months.

A rare photo of the works in progress

I used a Posca white pen to lay down a base layer of Baton. The benefit of the Posca pen seems to be that it dries to a permanent finish – which means it doesn't clog your micron when you go over it many times, and it doesn't re-moisten and start to move about. I drew my tile on a Strathmore grey tile - newly recommended to me by tangle friend Jules after I'd admired one of her 'hairy' grey tiles. These come measuring 4x4 but I cut this one down to our more familiar 3.5 x 3.5.  I often tangle on grey toned pastel paper, but these tiles have a smoother surface which seemed better suited to this technique.

Bunzo, Mooka and Tipple - I love how shiny and dark this looks -
like seeing an underwater world trapped beneath ice

Guess what happened then! I fancied doing yet another Diva tile, one for the first challenge of the year. I don't have a spinner machine so I laid down some concentric circles using two shades of grey watercolour brush pen. When I blended these with a water brush a subtle purple started to appear - sometimes an unwelcome side-effect, on this occasion a welcome hint of colour.  Not that I'm missing colour, despite being firmly locked into the blacks and greys of my Winter Inklings project.

CC and a bit of Mintea - and lots of graphite -
ornate cloud banks on a misty day

I politely declined to join the party for the first two weeks of the Diva challenge year, but this week I had a ball doing all three. I feel sure that I wouldn't have created these tiles if I had forced myself last week or the week before. These tiles could only appear when they were ready, when I was ready - I just need to remember over and over again to listen to my instinct.

9 comments:

  1. Loved your "words of wisdom"! Your tiles are all lovely and I love the rich depth that you have achieved.

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  2. Your tiles are so beautiful. My favorite is the reverse-transzending.

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    1. Thank you Jeannine - I think that my favourite too - and I definitely be trying that approach again.

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  3. You are SOOO right!
    Brilliant tangles, as ever.
    Happy Saturday!
    Hugs, Sarn xxx

    PS: Going to my first Zentangle class next Saturday. Whilst I've been tangling for a while, it's always good to learn more and it will be nice to meet some like-minded creative people!

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    1. Thank you Sarn. I'm so excited to hear about your class and to know that you'll be connecting with real life local tanglers. I look forward to hearing how you get on.

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  4. Lots of pretty tiles to look at here! Love how your Keeko looks like a knitted cardigan. I've seen this reverse TranZending too, but haven't tried it yet, so its good to know the tip about the Posca pens. Love this look on the gray! Last, but far from least, I love your concentric overlapping circles!

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    1. Thank you Sue. I really like this reverse TranZending - although really I think it deserves a name of its own. It might work just as well with Gelly rolls - let me know how you get on if you try it.

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