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Sunday, February 17, 2013

Weekly Challenge #106: "The Year of the Snake"

I've been missing the weekly challenge lately, but hey, my house is clean and I'm almost caught up on laundry! Laura's Diva challenge this week is to use a serpentine string (or tangles) to mark the arrival of the year of the snake on the Chinese calendar. Couldn't pass that one up! I was born the year of the rabbit. And my husband is a rat. *snicker* (Not really... he's actually very nice.)



This is my first tangle on Strathmore's gray-toned drawing paper. It's not bad... although I wish it was a better shade of gray, my ink didn't bleed and my lines stayed crisp. I still prefer the texture and cushiness of the thicker Fabriano Tiepolo paper (the Zentangle standard), but this was an interesting change. When drawing on white paper, there are only lines and shadows to draw... but with midtone paper, you get to play with the balance between shadows AND highlights. It's a different experience. 

You can click here to find out what your Chinese Zodiac sign is.
(This is just for funsies, folks... entertainment only.)



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11 comments:

  1. UnknownFebruary 17, 2013 4:00 PM

    Okay, I love this one! My fav.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AliceFebruary 17, 2013 5:36 PM

    haha! looks just like a snake skin :) and i just bought a pad of that paper this afternoon. how true are your colors?

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    Replies
    1. Sandy HunterFebruary 17, 2013 6:39 PM

      hmm...I can only tell you the colors are pretty accurate on my screen. The paper's a warm gray with beige-ish undertones.

      Delete
  3. Graciela BotellaFebruary 17, 2013 8:47 PM

    Uau, I loved your art, the shapes, the colors, everything!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anne's tangle blogFebruary 18, 2013 1:06 AM

    A beautiful zia! I especially love the highlights. By the way: I'm a rat too :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ginny StilesFebruary 18, 2013 5:12 PM

    Paper...I have switched over to Canson Montval 140# watercolor paper. I like it better than Tiepolo and it's half the price! Have you tried it? I am looking for black paper to tangle on. Could you recommend?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sandy HunterFebruary 18, 2013 7:02 PM

      Nope, I haven't tried that. You can get Tiepolo for under $5 a sheet from danielsmith.com if you don't mind cutting it down yourself. The experience loses a little oomph without the friendly diecut edges and the printing on the back of the official Zentangle tiles, but if you don't mind that it's a good way to save some money and still use good paper. If I'm not using that, I'm usually using Arches watercolor blocks. The last black paper I used was from Zentangle, but I don't know what kind of paper that is. I only know that white gelly roll pens are not something I would recommend. I think the white gel pen I liked was a Signo pen... I'll have to check.

      Delete
    2. Ethyl Formate, AKA http://thelma.smugmug.com/February 19, 2013 1:00 PM

      I really like this tangle; the colors are great and the shading is complex. It's a great inspiration.

      Just a little tip from a cheapskate not-so-good tangler: I cut my own papers and trim the corners with one of those corner punches used by scrapbookers. Makes my hand-cut squares a bit nicer.

      Thank you for your great postings! Always makes me feel like taking on a challenge!

      Delete
    3. Sandy HunterFebruary 19, 2013 1:50 PM

      Thank you for the comment, Ethyl/Thelma! Corners=me too!

      Delete

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