something spiky

It's been a very long time since I posted here, and just as long since I shared a new tangle. Despite appearances I haven't fallen away from Zentangle, I still love it as much as ever, although life doesn't allow me to spend quite as many hours with tile and pen these days. Any tangle time and energy I have I use to make art, rather than writing about making art.

Over the years I've gathered lots of scraps of paper with ideas for potential tangles. Some I revisit, play with and put aside as something isn't quite working. Sometimes I return to them and discover what was missing. Last year a tangle originally conceived at the end of 2018 fully came to life – and that tangle was Blap.

I submitted Blap to Conzentric's Step-Out of the Month and they shared it with the world last November. You can sign up to their monthly mailing here – you will receive an exclusive new tangle on the first of every month. You can also see the list of previously featured tangles here.

As I said in the text accompanying my step-out –

"Blap began as a simple ribbon tangle... recently I noticed how Blap's potential could be extended if I considered one section and used it almost like a fragment. From there it's easy to adapt it to a grid tangle, or a circular design.

Drawn entirely using C curves it clearly shares DNA with tangles like Zenith, Goldhan and Double Double and no doubt others.

My top tip is to always draw the inset curved V shape first, as it's far easier to fit the next parallel V inside than it is to draw it outside!"

Each month Conzentric invites tanglers to share their explorations of the monthly tangle in a dedicated Facebook group. It's always an honour and a thrill to see people using a tangle you created, and it inspired me to work further with Blap.

Blap can take on a new look if you make the V shapes U's instead.  An orb to aim for might help.
My blue bijou with 4 Blap fragments was duplicated in collage software.

Recently I gave Blap a couple more outings, with some satisfying results. The first takes on a more ornate style - with detail lines, Beadlines, Mooka, and other bits and bobs.

Tangled in black on an ATC coloured with Eau de Nil ink by Diamine.

The second shows another way to use Blap in a circular design, but with a less spiky appearance than the one featured on the step-out image. The difference on this tan pastel tile is down to the orientation of the Blap fragment.

Before and after shading - proving once again how much it adds to your work!
There were different ways I could have shaded this,
but I opted for block shading to create a puffy appearance. 

 
I like a tangle with plenty of potential for variation and I certainly think Blap has that. I'm looking forward to seeing what more it has in store for me – and I'd love to see what you do with it too.

gathering dust

My 'newest' tangle has had a strange evolution - born in disregard and rapidly abandoned to the care of others, I felt it was time to welcome it home and show it some love.  

For the first half of 2020 I worked on Alice Hendon's Zen-Untangled project, working through the entire collection of 'official' Zentangle tangles. I drew mine onto ATCs which I keep in a small tin. It's become a handy resource I dip into whenever I need inspiration.

On one card, created in early July
I tangled a variation of Static
(alongside Jonqual and Orlique)

My good friends Debbie and Stephanie from 7F5R enthused about my tile, particularly my version of Static. They encouraged me to name and claim the tangle as my own. I was stubborn and reluctant, insisting it was merely a tangleation and sure that others were already using it. No amount of cajoling would encourage me to draw a step out and share it at that time, however I gave them my blessing for them to share it, which they did. You can see Stephanie's step out for Ecstatic, her example, not to mention her perspective on my reluctance here!

I'm thrilled to learn that Ecstatic will be featured in Stephanie's selection of tangles for this year's Inktober. In honour of this I thought I would spend a little time getting to know my orphaned tangle. This time with my heart and mind a little more open to its potential.

The evolution of Ecstatic

Static was one of the very first tangles I learned, but I've never particularly enjoyed using it. Those zigzags rapidly start to round beneath my pen and it only ever becomes background patterning rather than anything particularly exciting in itself.  However in my 2018 sketchbook you can see that I started to play around with a variation, which appeared again when I was practicing tangling using purple ink on the back of a tile.

The key difference between Static and Ecstatic is that you don't draw every line of the zigzag, some are cut short.

My stepout differs slightly from the way that Stephanie drew hers, both work equally well and you may have one you prefer.  As I've worked more with Ecstatic a number of variations have appeared. Extra interest can be added to the tangle by rounding, or blacking out sections of the rows after drawing them.  The lines themselves can be thick or thin, or even a mixture of the two, and can be kept sharp or more rounded. Shading can be done in blocks like we do with Static, or each row shaded individually to give a sense of texture.

 

Because Ecstatic grows one row at a time it allows you to tuck in other tangles as it builds. I like this as I'm always looking for easy ways to get my tangles to meld with one another.

Ecstatic running sideways for a change - joined by
Rumpus, Pokeleaf and Damsel Leaf on a Kraft tile.

Another simple way to bring additional drama and layers is to tangle your Ecstatic first, and then go in afterwards with your black pen (maybe a thicker one if you're impatient) and adding solid black tangling or ribbons. The following progression shows how this tile came to be and also demonstrates how forgiving this tangle can be – the original lines are pretty wobbly in places but that soon gets lost when more tangles, rounding, shading and highlighting added.

An intense Brusho coloured tile.
First add Ecstatic, then pen in some additions.
Darken them, and add highlights, texture the background.
Shade and add more tiny highlights.

A year on from casting this little tangle into the hands of others I've learnt a lot. About being willing to come back to an idea and look at it again with fresh eyes and a less jaded heart. Not to mention the importance of listening to friends when they tell you something has merit! Thank you Debbie, thank you Steph – there would have been no Ecstatic without you!

I hope fellow tanglers enjoy using Ecstatic - I'd love to know how you get on with it!

out of the darkness

Despite my love of all things dark and dingy I really struggle to find pleasure when working on black tiles. The white gel pen feels too thick, the extreme of white on black too harsh, and the shading effortful and hard to control. And that's just the basics - introducing colour onto black tiles becomes even more baffling to me. I don't want my tangling to feel like a chore. So I was quite excited when I stumbled across this technique towards the end of last year.

I discovered by accident that when you use white gel over certain colour the colour is taken on by the white, and something almost magical occurs. I've been refining the technique ever since and am pleased to share ZenAurora with you. I named it after the aurora (borealis and australis) - the elusive night-sky phenomenon that few are lucky enough to see.

The technique is simple to achieve – three steps is all it takes. Everything you need to know is contained in the following image. However I wouldn't be me if I didn't go into greater detail about my experiments and findings!

A black ATC gains colour in 3 easy steps!

The first step involves getting the colour onto your black tile. I've only tested this using the watercolour pens I have on hand. I have a few Ecoline pens, a few Tombows and some Sai brush pens but mostly I've used Zig Clean Color brush pens. I usually pick two or three colours and take turns to lay the colour down covering the whole tile. Sometimes I do stripes, or arcs, or blobs, or patches. You might worry about not being able to see where you've coloured, but some shades lightly tint the paper, and also while the colour is still wet you can see it. It doesn't matter if your colours overlap, and it doesn't matter if you miss parts, as these will appear as pops of bright whiteness.

I discovered that not all colours work equally. Some change colour quite radically, while others fade to insignificance (as can be seen clearly on the chart below). I've also found that intensity differs depending on the paper used - it's more muted on the official Zentangle tiles - possibly because of their rougher and more absorbent surface. On smoother paper (Clairefontaine PaintOn, and Stonehenge Aqua Black) the colours were more vivid. You might prefer it one way or the other. Leave your tiles to dry after colouring. I often prepare a bunch and then tuck them away ready for when I want them.

See how some colours change and some lose their intensity

The second step is where the surprises really happen. Grab a pre-coloured tile and a white gel pen. I've used Gelly Roll in all my examples but I tested a couple of other brands and they worked pretty much the same. Remember that you can use different widths of Gelly Roll which will give you different looks to your lines. Simply tangle across your tile and your lines will magically pick up the colour that you pass over, shifting as you move from one patch to another. Fun right? Once you've finished tangling allow your white ink to dry.

On the left a tile with no shading - on the right black coloured pencil shading

For the final step you can shade if you choose to. I prefer not to add white highlights but to darken areas of overlap instead – and for this I use a black coloured pencil as to me it looks better on the black tile than the shine left by graphite pencil. If you're wary of shading I think there's enough interest just from the tangles and shifting colours themselves. Certain colours of watercolour pen leave a noticeable colour on the tile. Mostly this will be covered by your tangling, but if any remains and it bothers you, you can calm it down by going over that area with your black coloured pencil. I also sometimes use my black ink pen to really darken some areas or add perfs or tiny detail lines.

An array of ZenAurora tiles.  Different colours, different tangles, same magic!

Remember that ZenAurora is not an exact science. You will have unexpected results, some might be disappointing, but many will be wonderful – and I think it's worth the risk.

An insight into my experiments.

I trialled many little scraps and Bijou tiles while getting to know this technique. I found colour combinations that I loved, and many that didn't appeal to me quite so much. I also found tangles that worked better than others – but you may be drawn in entirely different directions. Floral and organic tangles seemed particularly successful - my personal preference was for tangles with lots of detail lines and repetition. You might like to test out some combinations before you start on full-size tiles. Or you might prefer the thrill of just jumping in and seeing what happens!

My favourite tiles -
cool and calming and celebrating the balance between darkness and colour

Ultimately ZenAurora is about having fun - watch as your humble white pen shifts through the spectrum, illuminating your tile as if it were the night sky. I hope you have fun with this technique and I'd love to know how you get on.

***

I was almost finished preparing this post when I learned that Apple Lim had shared a video on her YouTube channel demonstrating the same technique. With many miles between us we had no idea that we were working on the same thing, at exactly the same time. Apple has graciously encouraged me to share my explorations with you, so please do take a look at her video which ably demonstrates her process.

I've also just learned that queen of colour Heidi Kay uses this technique in a number of exciting ways.  She has classes for bringing wild amounts of colour onto your black or white tiles.

Thanks also to Anica (Zen Linea) for encouraging me from the earliest stages of this idea. She does some truly stunning work on black tiles - please take a look at her examples and classes.

taking flight

The global pandemic has made vast and small changes to most people's lives. Personally I've found that I prefer to largely withdraw from the world, limiting communications and connections, focusing on mindful concrete activities to get me through my days. As such I haven't blogged in many months, but that doesn't mean I haven't been tangling.

There was a patch near the start where I felt too anxious and unsettled to pick up a pen, and then when I did I felt uninspired and lacking in ideas as to what to do with my urge to tangle. Thankfully I had the perfect project still on the go – the one I started at the very beginning of the year when few of us could imagine how this year would unfold.

Week after week, month after month I've been adding to my stack of ATC cards. On each appears one or more of the core Zentangle official tangles. The project is the brainchild of Alice Hendon, and she's led us through it lovingly for the past 25 weeks! And through 170 tangles. Which I've inked onto 65 cards and placed into my little tin which is now threatening to burst!

It's been a pleasure to meet tangles I love, tangles I really don't care for, tangles I use often, and many I've overlooked. I've liked noting their similarities, and encouraging them to play nicely with one another. I've moved back and forward between the surprise of colour and the elegance of black and white. And in the process I've realised how far I've come in my Zentangle journey - revisiting tangles that I first learnt perhaps eight years ago. Tangles which were hard to control or unfathomable to recreate now come with relative ease as my penmanship and understanding of patterns has become stronger and more instinctive.

My little tin has become a precious receptacle of tangle wonders – a great resource that I can dip into time and again whenever I'm stuck for what tangle to use next.

With this project complete I'm ready now to let myself drift into uncharted waters, following where my pen will lead me. I've got e-books, swap tiles, and simple scraps of paper with rumoured ideas - plenty to keep me occupied in the months ahead. Who knows how long it will be till I visit here again – but in the meantime listen to the right people, stay safe and take care of yourself and those you love.

a handful of tangles

I was captured by Alice Hendon's Zen-untangled idea as soon as I saw it.  I knew there was something precious and important about spending time with the core Zentangle patterns - once I'd found a way that would work for me.  I've embraced each and every card, even the challenging ones, and I'm gaining so much on the way. 

I'm getting to know new tangles I've never met before.  Some of them are a lot less elaborate than those we are used to seeing from ZTHQ these days - but each has a certain charm and potential once you start to work with them.  It's also comforting to know that even Rick and Maria started somewhere quite basic!

I'm revisiting old tangles that I used to struggle with, that I can now tangle with ease - which is a comfort and reminder that we all develop and improve the more we do something, even if we don't always notice.  I'm also re-discovering tangles that I love, that I'd forgotten, and have been inspired to use more.  In addition, needing to fit a few onto an ATC often provides a great way to encourage tangles to play together.

There's a bit of a backlog to catch up with, as I've been preoccupied with Valentangle - but here are my last 3 weeks worth of cards.

A handful of organic tangles Fescu, Springkle, Zinger -
filling spaces defined by Doodah.  On a Distress Inked tile.

Marvellous Mooka - tangled in the styles I favour.  As a border, with
Melting Mooka and Easy Mooka - on a dark grey tile.

Hollis cups Moonpie, and sprouts from Tagh
clustered corners.  Watercolour and graphite on white.

Similar tangles share space on this Distress Inked
tile - Drupe and Fracas with a Dyon background.

A speckled grey background and a bit of imagination
helped 3 initially uninspiring tangles to enjoy their
moment in the spotlight - Ibex, Facade and Xircus

Beautiful basics - Crescent Moon and Knightsbridge -
I bought in white and subtle colour to this tan tile.

I've never been a fan of Enyshou - but omitting
the 'hat' and having it sprout from Festune made
me like it a lot more!  With a band of Hibred on
a gently watercoloured tile.

Huggins meets W2 - passing through a Crazy Huggins
stage on the way.  Sometimes this kind of woven tangle
is a delight to work with.  On a very orange tile for me!

That's me caught up to date so far.  46 of the 170 official tangles worked into 19 ATCs!  It's going to be a delightful deck to shuffle through one day, but making each card is an exciting creative oppurtunity in itself.

Gallery #1

In my last post I talked about changing things a little on my blog.  As well as posts where I explore a theme or style or technique I want to have posts where I simply share the pieces I've worked on recently, with minimal commentary (by my standards)!  A guided tour through my tangle gallery if you like - and this is the first of those posts.

I'm in an opinionated mood today, so bear with me, and just enjoy the pictures if you don't like what I have to say.

Time to say goodbye -
(Arukas, Mooka and Fescu )
Pigment ink and graphite on a Distress Ink coloured and stenciled tile

I tangled this tile today - the day that the United Kingdom leaves the European Union. This is not something I wanted, not something I voted for. But I understand, with a heavy-heart, that I have to accept the workings of democracy, and the so-called 'will of the people' - even when I think their choice is short-sighted and will leave our country poorer in so many, many ways. I feel sad today, and scared about what lies ahead. I want to reach out to my European tangle friends and tell them I'm not letting go.

I'd rarely choose to work on a such a bright blue tile and with yellow stars too - but sometimes how things look isn't as important as what they represent!

AusTangles Part I
(S-Vine, Veezy, Gottago, Leaflet, Remo, Sevy)
Pigment ink and graphite on a watercoloured postcard - 6x4 inches

Over the past 2 weeks I've joined in with Austangles, hosted on Facebook by Yvette Campbell. She picked a daily tangle by an Australian tangler and invited us to join in however we wanted to. It was great to work with some new and old tangles and I had fun weaving them all together on a pair of postcards - one to represent the warmth and richness of Australia's natural habitat and culture, the other for the cooling waters that surround it.

AusTangles Part II
(Trimonds, Appease, Mak-Rah-Mee, Swimz, Oddballz, Brax)
Pigment ink and graphite on a watercoloured postcard - 6x4 inches

Australia has been suffering in recent months with devastating wildfires causing significant death and destruction. It's hard to know how to help when you're many miles away. I don't personally believe in prayers for rain, but I do believe in what we can do as individuals. I can donate to charities that are helping those affected. I can read to stay informed and educate myself about what's happening and why - which is undeniably related to the worsening state of our climate. I can make sensible and necessary lifestyle choices that might limit my negative impact on our climate. And I can vote for those who properly respect our world and are willing to do what needs to be done.  I can also spend time reflecting on these things as I tangle using along with others all around the world, and hope that a little connection can go a long, long way.

Lastly and with no agenda whatsoever -
these are the next 3 tiles for my Zen-untangled tin (a project to explore the full set of Zentangle official tangles).
On the first - Molygon, Nipa and Bumper
On the second - Verdigogh, Locar and Pepper
On the third - just Ellish

I'm about to dive into this year's ValenTangle - a two week celebration of connection and love, carefully designed and hosted by Marguerite Samama.  I had a wonderful time last year, and came a long way towards conquering my dislike of drawing hearts.  Join us if you'd like to, and I'll be back in a couple of weeks to share my results.

getting to grips with a new year

At the start of a new year I like to take a little time to reflect on where I've been in the past year, to better know where I might want to go this year. In terms of tangling I like to look through the tiles I created and pick out some of my favourites.

Last year I worked on a year long project to tangle according to the seasons. At times it felt challenging, but I feel a great sense of satisfaction having done it and it's wonderful to flick through my album and see the colours fading through the spectrum in tune with the seasons.

12 of the best from 2019
Admittedly my favourite pieces come from a fairly limited part of the year's palette!

This year I want to do things differently - I want more freedom. I have a long list of things I want to do. Some are new things I've never tried, techniques I've read about but put aside for the time being. I have e-books (speaking of which) I want to work through, devoting the time and focus they deserve. I also have a long list of things I want to revisit - things I enjoyed but want to spend more time with, to dig deeper thereby getting more from them. I also want to linger over the things I love doing often and regularly. I want to strengthen my weaknesses and have wild times with the things I feel I'm good at.

I want to spend more time doing and less time reading and thinking and talking about Zentangle. I blogged 42 times last year. I might blog less this year, or the same, probably not more. But the style of my posts might change a little. There will still be themed posts where I share a cohesive body of pieces and talks about the techniques I used. But there might also be simpler gallery type posts where I share a snapshot of the things I've been working on, without as much wordy padding! Hopefully my blog will still remain interesting and attractive!

________________

To start this year I've joined in with Zen-untangled which is the latest collaborative project from Alice Hendon. She talks about it on her blog as well as uniting many fellow tanglers who are doing it on her Facebook group Tangle All Around. Simply put, Alice is inviting us to get to know the 170 Zentangle core tangles. She encourages participants to create a book, including step-outs and examples, which will become a wonderful offline resource for your own tangling and to pass on to others.

I was taken by the idea as soon as I heard about it, mostly because I love the official tangles - well, most of them anyway! But it's important to know and acknowledge what will work for you. And what won't!  I knew I wouldn't like doing Zen-untangled in the exact way Alice suggests. I don't like working in books on a regular basis and I knew I wouldn't enjoy drawing step-outs for every tangle either.  I'd rapidly fall behind and abandon the whole thing.  Thankfully Alice encourages us to join in whatever way we prefer.

At the moment I'm storing black cards and finished cards in the tin -
but I when I finish I think the stack of tiles will probably be too big,
so I might clip them together with a binder ring unless I have a better idea!

A bit of pondering and a dose of luck and I've struck on a way that works for me. My partner gave me this little tin for Christmas, and it's a perfect fit for ATCs, which is a tile shape I'm liking a lot these days. So I'm doing my Zen-untangled on ATCs.

On the left - Eye-Wa and Florz
On the right - Dex and Hurry

On the left - IX
On the right - Avreal, Ahh, Snail, Therefore and Tipple

On the left - Centipede, Ynix and Frondous
On the right - Echoism

On the left - Cubine and Ixorus
On the right - Flux and Hollibaugh

As you can see, on some days there's just one tangle on the tile, some days 2, other days more. I like the way I get to see how the tangles play together, I get to draw a simple version and some variations if I want to. I get to use colour in large or small amounts or just celebrate the beauty of black and white. And when it's finished I'll have a lovely deck of cards to shuffle through for pure Zentangle inspiration.

the patience of a leaf

Autumn strikes me as a season that won't be hurried.  In its own time it carries the natural world from the warmth of summer through to winter's cold.  Leaves steadily change colour, setting their own pace, deepening and darkening until they eventually drop.  Each leaf will only fall when it's ready - and I like to imagine it's that waiting that allows those leaves to paint themselves in such stunning colours. 

I like to time my time over the things I enjoy - and so it was with this two tile piece.  The tangling and shading took me a couple of hours.  Steady progress - adding ink, then stopping at look at my tile, then adding a little more.  The same with the shading and the highlights.  Pausing often to look and ponder my tile helps me to appreciate the process as well as tweaking my tangling here and there to make it look the best it can.  My tangling won't be rushed any more that the littlest leaf!

Rich and warming - Ginili, Yuma and a Pokeleaf variation.
Pigment ink, graphite, white pencil and Ivory Posca paint pen highlights.
Three shades of Brusho powders created the background - Sandstone, Terracotta and Burnt Sienna.

I've made Persian Mosaics for Winter, Spring and Summer as well as exploring them in the original colours schemes suggested by Marguerite Samama.  Every time I work on these connecting triangles they take me somewhere new and remind me that there is endless variety and pleasure (not to mention value for money) to be had from Marguerite's carefully crafted kits.

dipping autumn's inkwell

There is no unifying theme to the pieces I'm sharing today other than their warming autumnal tones and the fact that I've worked on them all within the last week.

Inktober is underway once again. Last year I only made it to Day 3 before getting hopelessly waylaid by the lovely Ginili. This year I'm doing better - and I've made it to Day 9 so far! I'll hopefully blog about the whole month once it's done, and share all my tiles and process then - but in the meantime a couple of images to show what I've been up to, especially to those of you who are not seeing my tiles every few days in the Facebook group.

A work in progress photo – real inks in real pens, slightly scary but fun too

Nine days, nine tangles, three tiles

I've also had fun exploring some new tangles recently. Sometimes the best way to get to know a tangle is to simply fill an entire tile with it. Drawing repetitively helps cement the shape in your mind and hand, as well as allowing you to see how it fits together.

Singapore tangler Debbie New recently shared the heart-warming story behind her newest tangle, Wingfrond. I held the connections and friendships that grow from this shared passion tightly in mind and heart as I drew her tangle over and over again. I decided to use a slightly larger piece of paper, to allow the tangle to dance as freely as it chose to, and I like extravagance of the result, but I am curious next time to try and pack Wingfrond more tightly to see how that looks.

Wonderful Wingfrond – pigment ink and graphite on a 12x12cm piece of Medioevalis paper.

Autumnal colour was added in places by blending two Clean Color Brush Pens.

UK based Lucy Farran had a new tangle published recently on Tangle Patterns. Apparently Swooshi came about by replacing the C strokes of Molygon with an S stroke instead. Lucy admits that the tangle doesn't fit together quite as neatly as Molygon but it has a lively look – somewhere between floral and fiery. As with Molygon the trick to drawing this is to relax a little and allow yourself to get into the rhythm of the strokes.

Sensational Swooshi – pigment ink, graphite, watercolour brush pens.

This tangle has vast potential for fills and quite by accident I found
that little blocks of darkness between each piece looked quite appealing.

Hanny Nura just started a new month of her Full Moon Mosaic. She invited us to work this time within a suggested string on a Renaissance tile, with one section coloured. She also introduced a new Zentangle official tangle, called Hollis, which was recently shared at the recent Asian zenAgain event. 

October Moon – featuring Hollis, Bunzo, Cresent Moon, Tipple, Mooka - on a tan Zendala, coloured with Terracotta Brusho, and shaded using black micron, white gel, white and red chalk, graphite

 

I rarely work on the official Renaissance tiles – their colour is wonderful, but I find the surface so delicate for my rather heavy-handed approach! However I worked slowly and carefully, building up my colour and smoothing my white and graphite shading without totally destroying the paper. Tentative and at times mildly terrifying, but mindful and satisfying too.

concentrically yours

Sometimes an idea catches hold of me and won't let me go - and that's what happened recently. Hanny Nura shares monthly prompts, and for the September Full Moon Mosaic she invited us to draw concentric rings on a round tile, colour each a different colour, tangle the bands and border with gold. People share their results and a wonderful collaboration arises – each person bringing their own interpretation to the theme.  I shared the following tile in the Full Moon Mosaic Facebook group.

My contribution to the September Mosaic -
for the outer ring I used Eni Oken's version of my Divi tangle.
And moving inwards - Kaboom, Pixiose and Gelijoy.

However, I didn't feel like I finished with the idea. So I prepared four more backgrounds with variations on the idea of concentric rings. I coloured these using just three Ecoline markers - although with greater and lesser intensity, and more blending on some pieces than others.

Broken rings - filled with a rough Ratoon, with Bunzo between -
black beads and shading almost managed to hide the gaps between my rings!

Zem Button style shading brought this simple piece to life -
rings of Marasu and Doodah with a Printemps middle.

On these last two tiles I found myself drifting away from using 'proper' tangles. Instead I was just drawing lines in repetitive ways, but that repetition in itself is very close to the notion of tangling. When I first started my Zentangle journey this would happen sometimes, but as I've got more used to the practice it happens less - and perhaps that's a sad thing to have lost? Following the pen with no destination in mind is sometimes just what you need to do.

I started by drawing an ogee shape mandala flower - filling each section in the same way.
Without intention shapes that resemble familiar tangles start to appear -
relatives of Antidots, Fescu and Msst hide in this glowing bloom.

On this postcard I placed my colour in segments rather than rings - in a faintly
pencilled grid I tangled leaf shapes with tiny Tipple to cover those wobbly edges!

After recent rains gave way to sun the temperature has suddenly plummeted. Autumn can no longer be denied, summer slammed the door on her way out. Not many leaves have fallen yet in our garden, but they're getting ready – their colours are changing, and any day now they'll start to let go. We have evergreens to tide us through the colourless winter months, ivy and laurel - but the green on these tiles will be the last I use this year.