Challenge #142 - Outside my comfort zone

Grid-based sort of tangles Zendala (sort of)
Reverse white on black with white gel pen,
and soapstone for shading

Grid-based tangles Zendala - not perfect!
Reverse white on black with white gel pen, metallic gel pens,
and soapstone for shading

The Diva's challenge for week #142 asks us to step out of our comfort zone, stick our toe in the water or do a full jump free-fall. My comfort zone is organic swirly, curvy, non-grid based tangles. Black on white with grey shading is my preference so this week I pushed all the above. Check out all the great solutions for this week's challenge.

I first loosened up my white gel pen on black paper with a free-form Zendala (style) tile, it's wonky and has a few grid-based tangles but then I also incorporated free form fall tangles. I used the new Zentangle soap stone for shading - Love it! If you haven't tried it you should! It's so neat to work with this beautiful stone tool.

Next I drew a circle (using my trusty sip cup) and then divided it up to create sections. I used all grid-based tangles in this Zendala design, they morphed a bit but the end result was pleasing. I also pulled out some fun color Sakura Gel pens to enhance my work. The white was a little overpowering and the metallic elements of color helped break it up. This was a totally different tangling process. I needed to concentrate, take my time and really address each aspect of the grid tangle process. Uncomfortable and unfamiliar but still a great process. I so love the beauty and precision of some grid-based tangles. That's not my typical methodology so I just tried to remember there are no mistakes in Zentangle.

I can't even name the tangles I used fairly because they morphed into other things. I used Dragonair as a ruffle, C-Bun (sort of), Ciceron, Archer (tangelation).

My final version was totally free form using Zenplosion Folds and Flukes. Some of my faves (especially since Zenplosion Folds is mine). It fell free and easy and brought me back to the flow I love in my tangling process. Putting this into reverse was out of my comfort zone. White gel pen, touches of gel metallic gold for accents, and shading with soapstone and the white chalk pencil.

I need to work on this process much more to feel comfortable but that's the name of the game, right? Thanks for another chance to stretch my creative muscles Diva.

I found these images difficult to scan. I couldn't get the essence of the shading and the metallic without lighting my images quite a bit. This made the black paper a little more grey. Ahhh, another learning experience to continue...

Free form - Zenplosion Folds and Flux
Reverse white on black with white gel pen, gold metallic gel pen,
soapstone, and white pencil