Zentangled livingroom?!

Zentangle designs add lots of interest

This Zentangle was so much fun.  My husband said that it sort of looks like a 1970's era living room?  Which doesn't surprise me that my imagination would create something resembling the '70s-'80s?  I am still an '80s kid at heart.  I always will be.  I love everything '70s-'80s!

I started out this Zentangle tile with adding a touch of yellow distress ink through a honeycomb stencil by Tim Holtz.  Most of my background papers are already premade and ready for when inspiration strikes.  I knew I wanted something without too much color.  I am always fond of yellow with black and white Zentangles.  If you are afraid of adding color to your Zentangles, in my opinion you can't go wrong with a hint of yellow. 

I couldn't stop with yellow though of course. lol

A work in progress picture of my Zentangle

I wanted to show that I decided to add a pop of green to my Zentangle and I think it worked well.  I used watercolor pencils to achieve this.  As you can see the watercolor added a bit more interest to my Zentangle artwork.  Now looking at this as I blog about it, I feel like perhaps I should have added a little more color to the bottom "floor" as well?  What do you think?

Zentangle Houses with a Twist!

Zentangle Houses in Color!

Step 1:  Distress Ink and Stencils

I first started on a piece of aquamarine cardstock (which I bought from Michaels Craft Store).  I went through my stash and found a bunch of Tim Holtz stencils and a few other miscellaneous stencils. I used Tim Holtz Distress ink in a variety of colors.  ( I've listed a lot of my stencils and ink in my recommended art supply list - see link in the sidebar to the right on this blog). 

2. Prismacolor Pencils for highlights

Here's a close up of how I added a little bit of white Prismacolor pencil to add a highlight to some of my Zentangles.

3. Did I Stencil Myself into a Corner?

At this point I let the drawing sit for about a day or so.  I wasn't sure what I was going to put in the rest of the landscape.  More houses?  Some trees?  The purple-colored stencil was very busy and I wasn't sure if it was going to look too busy if I add another house on top it.

4. Zentangle Houses it is!

I decided to go ahead and add more Zentangle houses.  I made sure to not add any Zentangle patterns to the stenciled areas so it wouldn't end up looking too busy.  You can also see that I added a little extra flair with orange and yellow Gelly Roll Pens. (one of my favorite art supplies!!)

5. My little Zentangle community is finished!

I hope you liked this blog post.  I want to make more Zentangle houses but my next artwork is something totally different! Stay tuned! :)

Zentangle Houses in Black and White

I thought I'd show some progress shots as I drew this Zentangle.  As you can see I don't follow any rhyme or reason.  (and yes I  often use a pencil to sketch the design first)  What I like about making these Zentangle houses is that I can pick and choose a bunch of different Zentangle patterns for the roofs and landscape.  Sometimes I just make up my own patterns as I go along.

I also have a ton of drawing videos on my Youtube channel here if you haven't checked them out yet.

I knew I wanted to keep the sun (or moon?) very circular in shape without extending the 'rays' too far.  Then it dawned on me that making the sun a flower shape/pattern would give it a neat twist.  That's what's so fun about Zentangle, your imagination is the limit!

 

At this point I knew I was getting close to being finished.  This is the part I don't like - being not completely finished, but already ready to move on to the next Zentangle drawing. lol

Finished! :)

I have so many drawing ideas, but I'm really hooked on making these Zentangle houses right now. I've already started on a new Zentangle house drawing with a little bit of a different twist that I will be blogging about in my next post.

Zentangle Houses!

Zentangle Landscape and Whimsical Houses

I had a lot of fun drawing this Zentangle.  I like to use easy Zentangle patterns on the roofs and landscape.  It's a great way to use those filler Zentangles or grid Zentangles.  Margaret Bremmer has some really cute Zentangle examples of houses and landscapes on her blog. Her work is phenomenal, you can check out her work here.

What are some of the art supplies that I used?

I used Sakura Micron Pens in this drawing because they are waterproof and I like to add fine details (like the trim around the doorway for example) with watercolor pencils.  You can find Staedtler watercolor pencils on Amazon by clicking here.

I also used Jane Davenport Inkredible ink for the gorgeous main neon green color in this piece.  Her art supplies are so delicious!  I love using color in my Zentangles and Jane Davenport's art supplies are one of my favs.  You can click here to check out this Inkredible ink, or you can also find most of Jane Davenport's art supply collection at Michael's craft store.