colours of the week

  Let's kick off this week's post with some tiles from Travelling Tangles Project...

  Firstly, here's a tile from Janet Shillam-Day sent to me in October 2017. She drew the tangles in white: Abundies, My Swing, and N’zeppel.

  I played around with the idea of extending N’zeppel to other areas of the tile, but ended up doing a watercolour wash of blue and then adding Fassett to the area. Shading was added using Derwent’s Coloursoft coloured pencils.

  Here’s a 3Z tile from Lin Laidler. I tried to make my Diva Dance sort of weave in and out between the other tangles.

Before....

  And here's the after. No matter how many 3Z tiles I complete, I’m always so surprised by how small they really are. They get completed so quickly!

This was a tile from Barb Mavraganis sent to me in APRIL LAST YEAR (!) How quickly time flies. Yesterday morning, it spoke to me and I finally got around to completing it. It's the orange tile in this picture.

I added extra colours using Derwent’s Art Bar, and Coloursoft coloured pencils. The white is from a Uni-Ball Signo Broad pen.

  Onwards, here are my tiles for this week's weekly challenges. Diva's challenge for Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day, featuring the colour purple.

  And a tile for Joey's challenge, featuring String #165 and the tangle Exeter.

  And a couple more tiles, just for fun. I found a new way to use Inktense blocks and Art Bars, so I'll probably be making a video tutorial soon. :)

Featuring Mooka, and my tangle, Naida.

Paradox-y thing, with Flux.

And to finish the week off, a tile featuring my simplified version of Diva Dance.

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

back-dated post

  For some reason, this post was hanging out in my draft box and was never posted. (Oops.) But in any case, I thought you'd like to see the nice things I created.

Flukes and Hamadox. Simple yet so elegant.

If you look closely on the bottom left side of the tile, you'd see that I had tried adding dots using a white pen but ended up not liking it...

  Luv-a and Diva Dance Waltz.

A variation of Shattuck and Florz, with a rainbow background done using Derwent's Coloursoft.

  This one is Bales with watercolours.

  And another with watercolours featuring Diva Dance Waltz with Paradox.

  Thanks for looking!

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~

The tangles sure have travelled.

  It's a busy, busy week for me this week. But I'd just like to show you what Joni and I have been up to for the Travelling Tangles project...

Sandhya Manne with Joni Toh

Nancy Dawes with Joni Toh

Sandhya Manne with Stephanie Jennifer

Barb Hoopterp with Stephanie Jennifer

Nancy Dawes with Stephanie Jennifer

  Wonderful, aren't they? If you'd like to join this collaborative world-wide Zentangle project, do join us over on the Travelling Tangles Facebook page.

  And here are two coloured tiles... I'm still working through the Canson papers that I bought. (I have a review of Canson sketchbooks and papers right here. There's a giveaway at the end of that post too!)

Tripoli monotangle. I was noodling around with having beads in each of the Tripolis.

And a Paradox monotangle.

  Finally, I'd like to briefly mention that I've started to draw Zendalas. In the past, I used to use them like regular tiles- not caring about making them look symmetrical, or even filling the entire tile... However, I thought that it was about time I tried my hand at making something like those beautiful tiles I've seen other Zentangle artists do. Here's my first of many:

Striping on Paradox... Shattuck... African Artist...
Reminds me of an atom.

   And that's all I have for you. I don't think I'll be joining any of the weekly challenges. I am trying to make a flip-through video of the Derwent colouring book that is being sold at Art Friend... I am planning a new tutorial... And I am soon completing my Tiga sketchbook, and I'd like to do a tour of it after I'm done. So look out for those new posts coming to you soon. Until then.. Keep tangling! ^-^

the start of something new

  As always, I've been creating lots in the past week.   ^-^

My version of Mooka. You can view my step-outs to it via this link.
Initially, I wanted to add Tipple or SharlaRella to the background, but I settled on keeping it really simple.

Moving on to something more complex.
Abundies, Fleavy, Printemps, SharlaRella, and Mooka (at the top left corner).

I used lots of SharlaRella this week, didn't I?
Paired with Zengems and my very own tangle, Singapore Sling. You can see step-outs to Singapore Sling via this link.

  Unfortunately, I didn't take part in many challenges because none of them really spoke to me. I did, however, participate in Adele's "It's a String Thing #128". Here's my submission for the challenge:

We used String #129, with Paradox and Hypnotic.
I decided to do a monotangle. I love the string, though, and I had so many ideas that I wanted to try... Definitely going to use the string again soon.

I have trypophobia- the fear of holes, and this tile triggered it a little... I had to set it aside once or twice when I would overthink things.... I'm happy with how it turned out, though.

More Zengems! Paired it with Flux and Crescent Moon.

With this one, I was trying out Chainging. Did the gem in the centre, and then thought a simple background would look better.

  Here's the something new that I mentioned in the title of this post:

  I'm starting a tangle-a-day project. I know that Carole Ohl sells her own tangle-a-day calendar, but I was looking for something smaller... Just a small square for each day that I could complete within ten minutes as a warm up. I created this calendar that is printable in A4 format and I'm sharing the template with all of you for your own personal use. I also give permission to all CZTs to share this with their students in class. Please do not sell the template, or upload it elsewhere. You can download the calendar page from this link. I hope you have fun with it, and enjoy using it as much as I have had so far. I'll also be uploading February's calendar a few days before the month starts. So look out for that in a future post. :)

  Class things:

Kristen, a student of mine, brought in her daughter, Bella, for a class. I had to think of a way to introduce the Zentangle method to Bella whilst still teaching Kristen new patterns. I think the class went superbly well because Bella has decided to join future classes. Woohoo!

Here's a white tile that I messed up and painted over with black acrylic.
I love the tile now. And it's not a mistake if no one sees it, right? The Zentangle idea of "No mistakes; only opportunities." is very very true here. hehehe

Finally, an original tile with another pretty gem on it.
I like how the yellow and green leaves look neon in colour.

  That's about all I have for this week. I hope I've inspired you to try something new. Don't forget to try the tangle-a-day calendar. I love all the comments all of you leave, and I'm thankful for each and every one of them. Until next week, keep tangling~

and so the fox fell in love with the rabbit

  a continuation of this week's tiles...

Starting off with a very cute Bijou tile.
Done with Derwent's Coloursoft pencils.

Here's another.
All the jewels I draw will have mod podge over them to make them more three-dimensional.
You can find a tutorial of how to do it if you click this link.

   Now for some Zendalas:

Amber jewel?

Cute little red heart in this one.

Here's my tile for Joey's Challenge. "Retro" with "Heartswell".
"Retro" is such a delicate tangle. Reminds me of Victorian style gates.

Here's "Paradox" with a jewel in the middle.
Haven't added mod podge, shading, and some small details to it yet.

Lastly, a drawing from my sketchbook.
I have a friend who calls me "Bunny", so he must be the fox.
My mum said that rabbits and foxes can't be friends, and I told her that is what makes this drawing charming.

  Now, close your eyes and make a wish. I'm hoping next week will bring just as much creativity as the last week did. ^-^