A little Colour

I thought you might like to see this ... it is easy to add some colour to your life and tangles ... I have made this little bookmark using Derwent Inktense coloured pencils and water - and had a lot of fun!

Tangle with Crayons & Zest It Pencil Blend

 My finished piece.

 I used Caran de'Ache watersoluable painting crayons and laid down three areas of colour - very lightly.

 I then used the Zest It Pencil Blend on the wide part of a blending stump and blended the individual areas - starting with the lighter yellow first.  Unfortunately my photos do not show the real picture - the blending was quite smooth to look at in person.

 I then drew some of my favourite tangle patterns, including one of my own - "Wiggle" (making it's debut here)

 I then added "bubbles" with my Prismacolor Verithin pencils - I love these as they keep a really nice fine point when sharpened.

 I then coloured in more of the actual tangle patterns  and the finished Tangle is at the very top of this posting .... this took me tops 15 minutes to do and I loved the colour play.  

 I thought I would do a quick visual guide for some of my pencils and how they work with the Zest It.

This one is my General's Sketch & Wash graphite pencil ... I first laid down a very quick graduated area of graphite, then used the Zest It Pencil Blend on the bottom half - the water soluable graphite has some really really good possibilities when shading some of my larger, more complex drawings.

You can see here I have done the same as the graphite but have used some of my colour pencils and crayons.   Click on the image to get a better view.

Now I have worked out how to do quick little videos ... I will work on one over this next weekend on blending with pencils and Zest It.  I can't wait to have an interrupted day of playing with my pens and pencils.

I hope you have enjoyed this rather long post ... see you next week with another video.

Happy Tangling for now ... Jane x

Tutorial for Blending Coloured Pencil with Zest It

 As promised - here is my tutorial on how to use Zest It to blend with coloured pencil - Zentangle style!

Start with a drawing ... of course I couldn't go past Mooka Pods.   You will see that I have only done the line drawings with the Pigma pen - no patterns inside yet.

 Lay your colour onto the drawing.   I have used Prismacolor Verithin pencils here.

You can see you only need a light covering.

 Next colour - pink

 Add some green into the stems

 Darker green into the stems and the frills on the pods.

None of these have been "blended" yet.

With a paper stump, dip it into the Zest-It and use small circular motions to blend coloured pencil.  Starting from the lighter colours first, then into the darker ones.

See the second pod from the left, I have blended that with a paper stump and some Zest It.  Be sure to add only enough Zest It to dampen your stump, don't have it dripping wet.

The difference in colour is quite pronounced and you can see that the colour is blended quite smoothly.

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 Next I have done the green frill in the centre of the same pod (second from left)

 I have started the main pod here ... can you see where I have blended so far?

 The purple of the largest pod is now blended.

 Here I have blended all the pods and their green centres as well as all the stems and little mooka pods.

 Next I add in more inkwork with the Pigma Micron pen.

 I decided to colour the "peas" in the pods and have blended them as well.

 Don't forget to sign and date your art.

 Finished piece ... I have laid a light colouring of purple over the background but have not blended it with the Zest It.

This is the Blending Kit I sell in my store - janemonkstudio.com

The kit contains a 125ml bottle of Zest It Pencil Blend, a Micron 01 Pigma pen in black, a double ended paper stump, 5 Zentangle tiles and a kneadable eraser - all for $28.00

You can also use the Zest It Pencil Blend with Derwent Inktense pencils for a wonderful effect, as well as your normal watercolour pencils.

Have fun Tangling some Colour ... Jane x

Added Note:  To those of you who want to purchase Zest It outside Australia ... it is a product from the UK ... this may assist in your finding it online.  And Lori has added a link in the comments to help - thanks Lori.

I would also like to add that if you are a serious pencil artist or want to pursue more detailed pencil work,  you can use the Zest It Pencil Blend to smooth out your under layer of colour pencil and add more details on top when this has dried ... very much like using a liquid marker ... a great way to get colour backgrounds for Zentangle Inspired Art.  I hope this helps and I would love to see your pencil coloured art if you would share it with me here at Jane Monk Studio!   Cheers for now, Jane x

Bookplates and some colour

 There are lots of things you can do with Zentangle drawings ... this one is destined to be a Book Plate for the front of my books I think ... it has some of my favourite Zentangle patterns ... I especially love Marasu (my variation of it because I add those tendrils so it looks like a sea creature).  Oh and 'Nzeppel ... you can get some really great curves out of that pattern, and of course there is "Zinger" down in the right hand corner ... I use this one a fair bit too.

And here is Marasu again ... about 4 weeks ago I was lucky enough to get a whole set of Derwent pencils in a beautiful wooden case and had been playing with them.

In this drawing I have used Derwent pencils to colour the background squares, used Staedtler Triplus fineliners to draw Zentangles in them with matching colours, used a beautiful Matisse Ink to paint the background of the Marasu pattern (those three Zentangles) and then a Pigma Micron to draw in the Zentangles.   Lots of mediums here ... then one of my friends directed me to this web site where Australian artist Loretta  Grayson does the most amazing art work ... I'm not even sure she knows about Zentangle ... but wow - worth checking it out....http://rettg.blogspot.com/ ... sigh ... mine pales in comparison really.   I need some more vibrancy in the colours, so I think I will get the Derwent Inktense pencils out and give them a workout soon.  I really like the idea of her methods, using pastels and marking the texture in with a stylus...definately food for thought there.

Okay hope you all have  a great tangling weekend ... I'm going to be out of blogland for a few days while I prepare for my three workshops in Sydney ... I can't believe they are next week ... time has snuck up on me once again.    Happy Tangling ... Jane x

Taming Tangles with Colour

 Adding colour is something that I love to do.  It gives those tangles more dimension, a playful feel if you will.

I started with "J"

Then came R ... I love how my pattern "Swirly Blossom" looks coloured in with the background of  "Printemps", add in a few "Zingers", "Nouveau", "Tadpegs" and it is done.  Then I thought about just using colour to do the tangles ... so A appeared from the end of my pencils. I used "Tadpegs", "Fern", "Nerfy", "Finery", "Verdigogh" and "Sedgling".  A mix of my own patterns and the official Zentangle patterns.

In these three drawings I have used  Black 005 and 01 Pigma pens, Staedtler Triplus Fineliners and Prismacolor Pencils.  I am still a bit miffed that my box of Prismacolor Pencils have lots of broken lead in them - this is the second box - I figure the postage process must not be very good for them!

Then an "R" with both graphite and colour shading.  I have also used a Black 01 Pigma pen and a pale grey Staedtler Triplus Fineliner with a touch of Blue Prismacolour pencil.

I do love the colour, but I like the simplicity of B&W tangles. 

Happy Tangling everyone ... have a nice weekend ... Jane x

Zentangle With Colour

I love Black & White but I love colour too!
I also have a few different types of coloured pencils as I used to do a lot of drawing in this medium....

Today I have used Derwent Metallic pencils ... a nice sheen.   I did two Zentangle Tiles - one I coloured.

What do you think?   Have you tried to add some colour?

Happy Tangling for now ... Jane x
And thank you to everyone who comments on my blog ...I appreciate the time you take to "talk" to me after looking at my art. Smile:)