Diva Challenge #123

A challenge has been given to us this week by guest blogger Maria Vennekens CZT. It is a challenge we have not done before, so made for interesting creativity. "Can you do a Zentangle without  using existing patterns or tangeleations of them? And what are your experiences while doing so? "

In my first attempt I tried to create shapes derived from realistic things. I was watching a program on the Barrier Reef, so thought there would be good ideas to glean from it. But I disliked the result so much I wouldn't even post it.

I turned the tile over and did a purely abstract design, "one stroke at a time" (Zentangle). How can you let go of something that really works??  I let it just 'develop', as I often do with any of my designs and drawings. I quite liked the simple black and white, but a few parts shouted out for some primary colours, (does your work speak to you?). In my mind I could see the red, yellow and blue making a statement, but then I kept going. The blue (Ultramarine) was too dark and killed the black, so I allowed some tertiary colours wend their way in. I did leave a bit of white as it was there to provide a nice contrast to the vividness of the rest. I first used micron #6 to colour but it was too streaky, then went to Inktense pencils, but they left bits of the paper showing through the colour. Hooray for Prismacolour to the rescue, as I was able to achieve the heavy flat colour I wanted. Mind you, it doesnt look so flat on the screen. Guess I would have to paint in gouache to achieve the proper coverage.