More Inspiration

Maria writes: 

I have found, in passing, not to be surprised by what can inspire a tangle. I would think it would be a pattern in something, but it seems to be the really "out there" sort of things that have grabbed me lately.

For instance, I had been staring at this pretty set of dessert plates with lovely pen drawings of fruits and veggies on the border. The back says "Fine Staffordshire Ware" but does not name the artist. I was particularly attracted to the onion shaped pattern and the "weighting" on the lines. So I started playing with simple shapes that use this technique, rather like an old engraving.
 

I think you could add interest to almost any tangle by rhythmically "weighting" some of the components. Try it on some tangles, particularly tangles that haven't "grabbed" you yet.

This next one was another unexpected inspiration. Indiana (Molly's daughter) was playing with one of Rick's learning toys (of which he has many). I started to see patterns as she was manipulating the sides in and out. . . and this is what resulted:

Like a regimented hollibaugh . . . Fun!


The label on this wine bottle was just beautiful. It sort of reminded me of the tangle cirquital. But I went ahead with it anyway.

These next two, as you can more than likely tell, were inspired by looking at a bicycle wheel. I call it unspoken. Here you see two variations and there is another in our book, The Book of Zentangle, on page 76.

The center of that last Zendala Zentangle tile was "breathed into me" from one of Rick's tiles that was on my desk. (Why it was on my desk, I have no idea . . . except probably to inspire me!)

Rick adds:
That tile is a version of cadent. After I tangled the orbs and the connecting "S" shapes, I drew straight lines from the center of each "S" shape to the center of each adjacent "S" shape. That's what created those triangles and squares. Then I used a version of aura-ing to echo those "S" shapes in a hollibaugh fashion and "drew behind" those triangles and squares. Then I put a large dot in almost all the circles . . . just because!

If you'd like to go on a cadent journey, please take a look at Margaret Bremner's recent blog post, Cadent and Then Some. When she says, "and then some," she means it!

Coincidentally, Margaret also won the tile from our last blog post, Inspiration.

Double congrats, Margaret!

We look forward to reading more of your comments about what inspires you.

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