Sunday, November 28, 2010

Justine Ashbee's inspiring line art

Justine Ashbee creates large, beautiful, flowing drawings using paint pens. She says, "Much like zen calligraphy, they are improvisational and intuitively composed, where the physicality and the mark making become one."  Does that sound familiar to anyone?
See some of her work here. (Click anywhere on the page to take you into her site.)

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

BOX SPIRALS tangle instructions

If you like angular patterns, this one's for you! You could fill in the background with black for a different effect.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Zentangle is for Everyone




This afternoon I taught a Zentangle Introduction class to 16 people, one of whom was a talented 11-year-old. She got it alright!

We had done Knightsbridge on the first tile. For you zentanglers out there, have a look at what she did in the center of Crescent Moon on her second tile.  :D

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The Color of the Universe

In 2001, Karl Glazebrook and Ivan Baldry, researchers at Johns Hopkins University, gathered light from 200,000 galaxies near and far, out to several billion light years away. Then they processed the light and broke it into various colors, much the way a prism turns white sunlight into a rainbow.

They averaged the color values for all the light and converted them into a color compatible with the perception of the human eye. Their original announcement was that the color of the universe was a pale green, sort of minty or seafoam. Cool!

Then they realized that there were errors in the calculations and re-did the math. In the final analysis, it seems the general color of the universe is… (drum rolllll!) pale beige. Thud. (I'd like to be able to use that upside-down exclamation mark they use in Spanish. ¡Oh, there it is!)

Glazebrook said, “It looks like beige. I don't know what else to call it. I would welcome suggestions.'' It seems that suggestions were forthcoming, a vote was taken and the official color of the universe is Cosmic Latte.  According to Wikipedia, Cappuccino Cosmico received the most votes, but Glazebrook and Baldry preferred Cosmic Latte. My favorite suggestion is Skyvory, although Univeige is pretty good too.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Paradoxical

I really like the tangle Rick's Paradox. I had the idea to use it as the string, sort of, and fill the sections with other tangles.

I did one on a zentangle tile (9 cm. square) and it turned out rather well. I decided to try it in a larger format.



I used Paradox in it's 'traditional' form around the edges. What interests me is that the lovely spiral effect of this tangle is quite lost. It's not what I expected, which is disappointing and thrilling at the same time! Another paradox. I like it anyway.

PARADOXICAL, zentangle-inspired drawing. 20.5 cm.(8") square.
2010 © Margaret Bremner 
P.S. - There is an "error" in this one. Can you see it? (No, it's not teeny tiny; no need to zoom in.)

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Beautifying Brazilian favelas

Painted slums in Santa Marta.
"To prevent kids from getting caught up in the drug trade, the Favela Painting project pays Brazil’s youth to create murals for their communities... The hope is that within the next few years, the entire landscape of favelas will become a massive work of art, drawing attention to the needs of the poor and filling the community with pride.”

See more of the buildings here.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

LOTUS PODS tangle instructions

I try to do yoga and go swimming a couple of times a week, but I'm still not losing any weight :-(
Recently I looked up at the large shower head there and thought it resembled the lotus pods I'd seen in a friend's door wreath years ago.  I designed this tangle based on those.  I trust you'll agree that Lotus Pods is a better name than Shower Heads!

Start with random wobbly circles, touching each other or not. And be sure to do a ring of dots around the edge before filling in the middle. Here's the tangle:

Thursday, November 4, 2010

C & R special zentangle project: Stage 1

My eldest daughter will be getting married in January. I plan to give them one of my paintings or drawings - their choice. I mentioned this to an acquaintance and she immediately said, "That's nice! But you should give them something especially for them too!"

"Hmmm," I thought, "yes I should." I thought some more.

I've always liked illuminated manuscripts, and perhaps I was further inspired by the beautiful calligraphy and illuminated letters created by Maria Thomas, and the special project of the Zentangle seminar in August 2010. No, sadly I wasn't there :-(

I decided to create old-looking-but-on-closer-inspection-kinda-wild-and-contemporary zentangle-inspired initials, "C" and "R". I considered doing the two letters on one piece of paper but there are more hanging options if done separately.

Stage One was to figure out the size and design the letters. I don't want them too big; they'll fit into 12"x16" frames, which I bought. I also bought a sheet of beige (that's the "old-looking" part) Stonehenge paper. It's lovely to draw on, good for both pen and pencil. I plan to use black and brown inks and probably white highlights.

Here's the very begining of the project, on scrap paper. Updates to follow.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Stencil as String

One day I decided to cut a paper stencil and use it as the string for a zentangle-inspired mandala. After tracing the stencil onto the paper I planned to draw on, I crumpled it and threw it in the trash.  A few days later it occured to me that it might be interesting to have a record of that part of the project (I'm a bit slow). I retrieved it from the trash and attempted to flatten it. It had to sit under a pile of papers for several days before it was photoworthy.

Here's the paper stencil I cut:


Then I got out my pens and went at it. At first I wasn't happy that it looked divided in four - rather than the eight I had expected - but now I quite like it. It's different. And now that I look at the stencil again I realize that it IS more of a 'four' division (did I mention I'm a bit slow?).

For some reason it looks sort of Italian to me, so I called it "Italia".  Here it is:

ITALIA - pen and ink on archival paper; 23 cm (9") square.
Copyright 2010 Margaret Bremner.
This was quite fun, and a different approach to the string. I plan to use paper stencils again and see what happens then.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Labyrinths

I enjoy walking labyrinths. For one thing, they’re round and I’ve been creating mandalas for almost 15 years. Usually they’re in a natural environment, which is very pleasant. There is a labyrinth at the Devic Center where we held our all-day zentangle workshop and I think everyone took a stroll through it.
Walking the labyrinth at the Devic Center, October 16 2010.
(Photo courtesy of Patricia Pavey.)
Labyrinths have existed for over 4000 years in cultures as diverse as Viking, Hindu and Navajo. These patterns have been found in basket designs, on ancient coins and jewelry, and carved into cave walls. Many spiritual traditions from North American medicine wheels to Zen Buddhist have a form of walking meditation.  The Roman Catholic saint, Augustine, wrote “Solvitur ambulando” or “It can be solved by walking”.

There is a difference between a labyrinth and a maze. In a maze there are choices, wrong turns, and confusion. A labyrinth is focused; it has one path to the centre and the same path back out. Some see it as a method for problem-solving, a rebirth through meditation.

Thirty of the more than 80 Gothic cathedrals in Europe include a labyrinth. One of the simplest designs is the seven-circuit, or Cretan-style. One of the best-known is the 11-circuit labyrinth in the cathedral in Chartres, France. It is also called a “Road to Jerusalem”. The central rosette symbolizes that city and since most Europeans were unable to travel to the Holy Land they would use the labyrinth as a way of making a pilgrimage.

Walking the paths and turns of a labyrinth allows us to clear and calm the mind, to think more deeply. Some say that the many turns to left and right reinforce the integration of the hemispheres of the brain. As a tool for contemplation a labyrinth lets us access deeper places within ourselves through non-lineal thought processes. It is a sacred place, a spiritual form, and is open to all.

To see if there’s one near you check the world-wide labyrinth locator.