throwback to then

  For this week's of Diva's Challenge, we were asked to go back into our stash of tiles and remake one of our favourites. I happened to have spring-cleaned my house and have recently found the sketchbook that was given to me at my CZT seminar. In it, I found this drawing:

Featuring N'zeppel and a pink marker.

  Keeping in mind that was three years ago....

  I re-did it in this way:

This time, I used watercolours and coloured pencils, plus white charcoal for the highlights.

  Keeping to the spirit of re-doing tiles, I did the same for Joey's challenge, which asked us to use Cadent. Here's a tile in my three year old sketchbook that featured Cadent...

  And here's what I created using the tangles Cadent, Crescent Moon, and Printemps. The background is watercolour. The shading is Polychromos coloured pencils. One of my students drew Printemps squished up into an oval shape, with the spirals being very close to one another... I thought it looked lovely. Like the rings of a tree. So that's the idea I tried to re-create in this tile.

  I'm currently 33 weeks pregnant! Can you believe it? I certainly can't.

  There's been a bit of water-retention and sore feet. But other than that, I don't have any other complaints. It's been a very easy pregnancy for me, and I hope my delivery will be the same. I'll be holding my baby shower in three weeks' time. How exciting.

  Even though I was down with the flu earlier this week, I created a Draw With Me tutorial video on how to draw a simplified version of "Oof". Perhaps you'd be interested in it:



  Lastly, here's a tile I completed, just for fun. It was sent to me by Beth Detzler for the Travelling Tangles Project. Here's what she did....

  And here's how I completed it...

Featuring Garlic Cloves.

  Thanks for popping by. I'll see y'all next week!

Inktober Tangles Week One

Here's a tile I did for Travelling Tangles Project. It was sent to me from Laura van Erp. She did the two little Paradox-Cadents. (If you'd like to learn how to draw them, you can watch this video.) I added Diva Dance Waltz and Hollibaugh, then used watercolours to complete the background, and finally, added some Printemps using a white Uni-ball Signo pen.

  Here's my seventh tile for Joey's challenge. Featuring the lovely Printemps.

  A little Bijou in my sketchbook for Diva's challenge.

  And here are my first three tiles for Inktober Tangles. Bunzo, Dicso, and....

... Feeling Knotty. I really liked exploring the different ways I could draw Feeling Knotty. If you'd like to find the prompts to the Zentangle version of Inktober, you can visit this link.

burst of colours

  This week's challenge from the Diva was to use the tangle "Drawings" (pronounced "Draw Wings"). I added my simplified version of Diva Dance Rock and Roll (step-outs to it can be found here), and some shading with coloured pencils.

I used a wonderful ATC-sized tile sent to me from Anne Marks as part of the Travelling Tangles Project. She did the background using watercolours.

  Anne Marks also sent me another ATC tile, but this time, with a beautiful red background. I added Cadent using a Uni-ball Signo white pen.I also added shading to it using coloured pencils on the outside edges of the Cadent.

  You should definitely join the fun over on the Travelling Tangles Project's Facebook page. You'll get to swap tiles with people from all around the globe.

I see your true colours...

  I've been working on my tiles for various weekly Zentangle challenges. They're all being done in my sketchbook. But I've been so busy for the past week that I've not gotten around to completing them. I'm so sorry I haven't been posting here, either... 

  Here are some tiles from the Travelling Tangles Project that I've been working on...

  Sandy Kelley-Jones did the start to this wonderful tile. The obvious choice would be to have complete the Huggins, but I refused to take the easy route. Instead, I added a curvy version of Floatfest, plus Cadent and then went super crazy with Striping it. (That's why it took a while for me to complete the tile....) The original Huggins then became a sort of river. This was fun!

  Here's another one from Kat van Rooyen.

  I secretly hate working on black Zentangle® tiles because of how much they absorb the ink from my white pen.... And so it takes a while to get my lines to look as opaque as I want them to be. But I still had fun with it. I added some gems, and then made everything look like a bracelet.

Pretty tassels.

  Also notice how I'm toying with the idea of changing my initial? It's a triangle with a dot in the middle in the last two tiles... But I'm still reverting back to my cursive "s" initial, so I'm not sure yet... Here's a tile from Sabrina Kirjavainen.

  And here's my finish. I'm teaching that fan-shaped looking pattern in my classes this month. ^-^

  And one last one. This one is from the Diva herself, Laura Harms.

  And here's what I did with it.

  If you didn't know yet, I also cut my hair!

  And here's just one last tile that I did for fun. I've sent it off to one of my best friends who currently lives in London. It's the same tile; the one on the left side is just the line art, the one on the right is after I added colours with Peerless watercolours, and shading with a grey Fabrico marker.

Shading with markers is tough, but I think I did a good job.

  I hope you enjoyed seeing what pretty things I've created in the past week. I've been working on other things, too. It's just that they're not completed yet so I didn't want to show you yet. Until next week.... Keep tangling!

the best birthday

  Last week was a great week. Just yesterday, I had the best birthday that I've had in quite a while. My friends have made me feel very loved by gifting me nice art supplies that I wanted... I had a wonderful lunch with someone who I hope will turn into a sort of mentor in the future... I bought some nice mooncakes in lieu of a chocolate cake because I had a craving for mooncakes. hehehe. And today, I spent some time at the Night Festival with a new friend, and it was wonderful. And of course, I've been busy with artsy things as well.

  Let's start things off with a simple Bijou tile, featuring Cadent.

I'm teaching Cadent to my students at the moment. And before this, I had completely forgotten how much I love Cadent. So many possibilities with it! This tile was real fun to do.

  My sketchbook page for Diva's ("Ing") and Joey's ("Finish My Tile #2) challenges.

There's Meer wrapped around the border of the top tile; Aquafleur is featured in the Bijou; Cadent is featured in the lower tile; and there is a couple of Springkles on the lower left of the page. I hope that helps if you'd like to find any step-outs to the tangles I've drawn.

Some Travelling Tangles tiles...

  Don't forget that you can join the fun over at the Travelling Tangles Project's Facebook page.

  And here are two tiles completed by my mum, Joni Toh. Send her some love. :)

Featuring "Singapore Sling", one of my own patterns.
You can find step-outs to it via this link.

50:39, our first Olympic gold

  I did my entries for this week's Joey and Diva challenge in my sketchbook. 

  The top tile is for Joey's challenge, featuring Paradox and using a similar idea to the Travelling Tangles Project. I've also been hooked on Starcrossed and will probably teach it in future classes. I'd wanted to add Paradox in grey ink to the background but that just seems like too much work now that the Starcrossed is so...... crossed.

  The bottom tile is for Diva's challenge. Singapore has a new celebrity. Our very own Joseph Schooling won our country's first ever gold medal in the Olympics. He competed in the Men's 100 metre butterfly and made an Olympics record of 50.39 seconds, beating joint second Michael Phelps, Chad Le Clos, and László Cseh by 0.75 seconds. Needless to say, he's a celebrity now that he's back in the country and we're all very proud of him.

I should've used inks for the Olympic rings to boost their colour saturation. Also, I'm not quite sure whether the Crescent Moon is working out on the Diva tile.... So...

  Here's another page from my sketchbook that's pretty too:

  Featuring Yuma in the top tile. I love this shading. Heartswell is beside it. And then below, I'm going back to my drama tiles with Cadent as the star. There's also a Bijou that's still empty. Haven't thought of what to put in it yet. Perhaps you'll have a tangle in mind that would look nice in it? Let me know in the comments section. :)

blessings counted

  What's happened in the past week? I've been busy teaching Zentangle classes. My work schedule is a hot mess and every single day starts and ends at very different timings. However, it's been extremely fulfilling, very rewarding, and I am constantly reminded about how lucky I am to be able to do what I love for a living.

  I had a workshop at Marina Square on the 18th/19th... Here's a selfies I took whilst waiting for my mum to grab coffee before we set up for the event:

You can view pictures of the actual event (plus what the participants created) by clicking this link.

  And because I've been so busy sharing the Zentangle method with others, the time I have to create things has dramatically been reduced. But when there's a will, there's a way.

Cadent-Paradox hybrid thingie with Zonked as the background.
You can find out how to draw that Cadent-Pardox tangle by watching this video.

I taught "Featherfall" in one of my classes.
Here's what one of my students did.

  And I liked that class so much that I created an ATC with Featherfall. I'll be sending it to my godmother who's living half-way round' the world in New York.

  I completed this tile with Muniza Askari for the Travelling Tangles Project.

She did the pink and black Yuma. I added the "Breathe" typography" and shading with coloured pencils. It's been a while since I last worked with coloured pencils, so this was good fun.

  More tiles from Travelling Tangles. The ones featuring Singapore Sling are from Kim Arts. The middle one is completed and only needs shading. The tile on the right is a present for a friend who is currently living in London. It still needs some work, plus shading. :)

  And lastly, a page from my sketchbook.

I always start things in my sketchbook and never get around to completing them.
But because I've been out of the house a lot these past few weeks, I've managed to complete more drawings in my sketchbook. Drawing on the train is challenging but fun.
Here, you see Citrus, Cruffle, Salo, Printemps, and lots of Tipple.

  And that's about all I've got for this week. I've been *trying* to participate in weekly Zentangle challenges, but never get around to finishing them in time. However, I think I make up for it by all the other pretty things I do manage to complete. :) I hope you've been inspired. Till' next week. Keep tangling!

Draw With Me: Cadent and Paradox

As a lead up to my new "Draw With Me" video, I made three other "How to draw (this tangle)" videos. The first was how to draw "Cadent":

  The second was a slight variation of Cadent. How to draw triangular-Cadent:

  The last was how to draw "Paradox":

  And if you know how to do all of that, you can then be confident that you will understand this Draw With Me video:

  It's a lot more advanced than the other Draw With Me videos that I've done in the past, but I think it's great to push your comfort zone every now and then. If you attempt to re-create the Cadent-Paradox pattern, I'd love to see it. Leave a link in the comments section below that links to your Instagram/Facebook/blog post that features it.

  I teach Zentangle classes in Singapore. Want to find out more? Click here.

the muse is fickle

  I'll be honest and say that in the last few weeks, I've been feeling a little "off" with my drawing skills. I think it's because I've been trying to push boundaries in my artistic talents, and I hadn't quite felt satisfied with what I'd created. It's only been in the last week or so that I've shaken that weird feeling off, and I'm pleased to say that I'm now feeling super inspired. This is just in time for Singapore's June school holidays, which is like America's summer break, but only lasts one month long. We have another month long school holiday in December. I get more sign-ups for Zentangle classes during the school holidays and I'm excited for the wonderful students I'll meet over the coming month. ^-^

  Onto my tiles for this week!

  A collaboration tile I did with Midori Okasako for Travelling Tangles Project:

I made a "Draw With Me" video of me drawing my half of this tile.
You can watch it by clicking this link.

  Another tile for Travelling Tangles. This one was done with Anoeska Waardenburg. 

I am very pleased with how it turned out.

  Here's my submission for Joey's challenge:

There's an XIII string on this tile.
I used Verdigogh, Ipso, and Garlic Cloves. I really like how Garlic Cloves looks like. It looks like a mixture of Socc and Munchin. Such a lovely tangle.

  And here's my submission for Diva's Challenge:

I tried drawing a water droplet on the top left hand corner of the tile. Let me know in the comments section whether it looks convincing enough.

  It's almost midnight here in Singapore. But I had lots of fun completing the above tile. I'm off to sleep now. Thank you so much for popping by to look at the pretty things I created this week. Until next time. ^-^ Keep tangling~

How to Draw: Cadent

  Cadent is such a pretty tangle and you can do so many things with it... However, in this video, I focus on just teaching the steps to draw the tangle, and varying the "S"-curves of the tangle.

  You can, of course, vary the spheres, vary the grid, vary the size of different elements in the tangle, and also add different patterns inside Cadent. It's so versatile!

  I'll be posting another video of how to draw a triangular Cadent next. Why so much Cadent? Because I wanted to post a new "Draw With Me" video, but then realised that it was a little too advanced for beginners to understand on the get-go. So this video, and the triangular Cadent video will be stepping stones to my next "Draw With Me" video. Excited yet? I know I am. ;)

  Until then, keep tangling!

You'll See 3,600 Sunsets Each Decade...

Here's my entry for this week's Diva challenge:

Featuring Artoo and Boo-Kee. With Diva Dance in the background.

A tile for fun. Background done with Derwent Inktense on Canson paper.
(view my review of Canson papers/sketchbooks here.)

  And some tiles done during classes:

Creative tile featuring "W2".

And here's one featuring Bales, Cadent, and Fassett.

  Travelling Tangles is a collaborative project that aims to show how the Zentangle® method can bring people from around the world closer to one another. The idea is that you will draw on an original Zentangle tile but only finish the drawing half-way. Then you will send it off to another person for him/her to complete it. In exchange, they too will half finish a tile and send it to you for you to complete. Both you and the other person will then each have a tile to keep.

  If that sounds like something you'd like to be a part of, join the Travelling Tangles' Facebook group via this link. Here's a tile that I'm sending to Staub Korn:

  Lastly, my mum and I decided we need uniforms for when we hold our Zentangle classes. So we bought matching coloured aprons, and she hand-sewed the Zentangle® logo onto them. 

Progress picture... I'll post an update once they come out of the laundry.

  Thanks for reading! ^-^