full to the brim

This week I've been talking to my blog friend Sarn about the benefits of looking back at our early tiles, to see what's changed, and to notice how far we've come. As I prepared this weeks blog post, in which I'm going to share my most recent sketchbook pages with you, I thought I'd glance back at my old sketchbooks too. And I was quite stunned by what I found.

I knew that I filled books far less rapidly than I used to - I've been working in my current book since 2016 - whereas I used to fill about one a year. Look at a snapshot - five pages taken from the start of the years I've been tangling. Look at how spaced out, small and tentative my tangling was where in those early days. On one hand my pages look cluttered and messy now, but also far more sure of themselves. In the early days I was trying as carefully as I could to copy down tangles exactly as the rules defined them. Every tangle I used I practised first. Now my sketchbook is a place to try out things I want to explore further, it's experimental.  I note down tangles as I discover or rediscover them, as I know it's impossible to try and hold them in mind alone now that I'm familiar with so many. My sketchbook becomes a prompt and inspiration in itself - I can open a page and find an idea to play with. Start with a blank tile and any random page and use only the tangles on it and suddenly another layer of decision-making has been removed. The evolution in my pages is startlingly apparent - I wonder how they'll change in another five years time?

Five pages from the start of my tangling years - 2014 through to 2018.
Ability to see close up detail doesn't matter here - the point is look at how my pages have changed!

I haven't shared recent sketchbook pages with you since last August, a time which seems a distant memory now. We were locked in the grip of a heatwave, whereas today every window is wearing thousands of raindrops.

Points of interest - revisiting Static and loving it.
A trio of treats from Helen Williams.
And noting down a couple of ingenious variations of my Kitl tangle
spotted on a recent IAST challenge.

Points of interest - the organic delight of Easy Mooka and Iza
Playing with Molygon and loving it more each time.
Sharp pleasures from Shiraz and A-Frame.

Points of interest - playing with my initial as a fragment.
XLNT makes a really exciting centrepiece.
IAST#269 introduced the idea of filling a field with diminishing tangles.
To play with at greater length - F2F.

Points of interest - new tricky official tangle, Ratoon.
A couple of Tomas Padros quirky treasures - Love Handles and Helix.
The delightful Sistar and Q-Mi deserve much more of my time.

I'm heading back now to the wonderful world of ValenTangle, where am finding myself less resistant to hearts with every passing day!  I'll share the results of my adventures in my next post!