West Coast Zentangles

This week's challenge, picked by me, was to do a Zentangle. What's a zentangle you ask? Here's a link - it's all the rage these days. Beautiful, delicate, rhythmic designs made with fine-tipped black pens on lovely paper. Sometimes, embellished with color. Ok, I knew the drill, but despite the best of intentions, my zentangle was a giant fail! Not for lack of trying.


I was so excited to take some postcards that are going to go into a collection at Art in Action for their multi-year fundraiser (Atelier d'Artistes) they are calling Visions: Art Tells a Story. I'm the chair for this year's Atlier, and wanted to make a nice card. My thought was that I could combine my zentangle challenge with making something for the Atelier event.

The problem was that the paper they chose for the postcards isn't the best surface to receive pen, ink, watercolor etc. I kinda figured that when I saw the cards. They are beautiful postcard stock but not what the Zentangle experts recommend.


So I decided to use a sharpie to make the outlines with the thought that I would spray over it all with a fixative before adding the color. That's where things went south, to my horror. 


The fixative I used (tried and true Aqua-Net hairspray), made my outlines run like a crying baby's tears. I decided to just keep going with it - in the spirit of Bad Art Night - which is where I was making this piece. I laid in blue, red and purple watercolors and added the postage stamp at up in the corner.

I love it, but it is far from the zentangles you see in the books. A zentangle pattern? Yes. Neat lines and shading, gradations, and color? Not so much.

With this challenge we have completed a month of Laura McHugh Squared.

Happy January to Laura McHugh East, my partner in this wonderful year-long art challenge. 

Next month's topic is Love/Amor/Amour, por supuesto.