Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Tuesday Tangle


This is the sad tale of a tangle gone wrong. This weeks challenge over at I am the Diva, uses a  tangle pattern from  the Zentangle Newsletter called IXORUS. It's kind of a complicated tangle but pretty cool. Laura did say that sometimes she needs get comfortable with a new tangle pattern by having a few goes at it. That makes a lot of sense.


So I made this little practice tangle. I'm not even sure that I got this right. But I do sort of like the way it looks. Then I got this brilliant idea. Which turns out not to be so brilliant and in many ways defeats the whole purpose of doing a tangle.


You see I've been having owls on my mind lately. So I thought to myself that this new pattern might look kind of cool on an owl wing. So I made myself a little pencil sketch of a pretty funky looking owl. In zen tangle terms, he's my string. Yes, I am nearly certain that the gender of this owl is male.


And then I proceeded to put patterns into the sketch, starting with IXORUS on the wing. Oops, there are some lines missing. It's a tangle gone wrong. Not horribly wrong. But a little wrong. But once again, I come away from doing this feeling just fine because it really isn't about making a perfect owl or even a perfect IXORUS. It's a little play time and this was a bit like colouring outside the lines.  And look. I even managed to leave some white space.

You should head over to Laura's blog and see her IXORUS. There are links there to see what other people have done as well. Even if you don't want to see her IXORUS, you should go look at the tangles she did on her babies leg casts. He's got a foot condition that has required a couple surgeries and he's in his last set of casts. These casts are incredibly smart looking. In fact I wouldn't mind having some leggins that look just like this. But I'm not really as cute and adorable as this little guy is so maybe that's not a great idea.

7 comments:

TesoriTrovati said...

Charming! That is exactly the idea that I had using my stylized birds from Week 2 of my drawing lab. I found a UK print artist named Alice Melvin who had some great patterning in her drawings. I want to do that too! This is spectacular for a first try. And I think that little things like a missed line make it more charming. It is supposed to be organic and fun.
Thanks for sharing.
Enjoy the day!
Erin

Judy said...

Very nice! The owl is great! I see a great etched piece, just saying!

Pretty Things said...

I thought Zentangles were supposed to be ... zen, and not stress you out, LOL! But they stress me out now that I've seen so many awesome ones. (I've only done one. I'm chicken to continue.)

I like yours -- not sure what you think is wrong with it!

Those casts are sweet. I had a cast when I was a year old and could have used some prettiness like that!

Marsha of Marsha Neal Studio said...

As I was tangling with my drawing last night (very late - yawn!) I could hear an owl outside of my window… Very magical - and kinda weird that you were tangling an owl when I was hearing one… (lol). I too have a page full of practice tangles to get the rhythm of IXORUS.

My brain likes looking at pictures to get it kick started. Very visual I guess…

I also tried to not look at others work before I submitted mine. Which in turn, makes me think - oops - where did my brain go with that one? All is right though - with whatever decides to show up on the paper...

Unknown said...

I love the tangle! I didn't know there are guideline...that's not relaxing and not as fun. Your owl is beautiful!

stregata said...

I think your owl is wonderful - who cares about lines or missing lines? Maybe I don't understand the idea behind the zentangles - I thought it was about relaxing the mind and being creative. And I think you have!

Melinda Orr - BANDANA GIRL said...

I wouldn't change a thing! Love the open space with your sweet owl!