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Saturday, August 10, 2013

Circling a Square

Maria writes:

Hi all you passionate tanglers out there!

Today I want to talk about our "canvas" of Zentangle art.

A square tile is wonderful to tangle. It's so, so . . . even and straight and predictable and, well, square. It is such a great way to start to tangle. No up and down. No worries. Not too big, no overwhelming time frames, and . . . square.

But along comes this new gal in town. She's a little more sophisticated. A lot more curvy and voluptuous. Something you could really settle down with, be comfortable with. (Some background music, please.) They call her "Zendala." I like to think of her as another "canvas," not a replacement for our beloved square, but a nice complement to its straight edges and right-angled corners. Maybe we should think of them as a "couple" and leave it at that.

Rick adds:

The outside measurement of our square 3.5 inch tile is 14 inches. The outside measurement (circumference) of our Zendala tiles is just a bit more than 14.5 inches - not much difference - less than 4% longer.

However . . . while the area of a square tile is 12.25 square inches, the area of a Zendala is 16.8 square inches - more than 37% larger! A square tile has more sides than a Zendala, but it only has four symmetrical rotations, while a Zendala with its one "side" (or is that an infinite number of "sides"?) has an infinite number of symmetrical rotations. Square tiles can create a mosaic with no spaces, but a mosaic of Zendalas always has space, even when they are all touching.

I'm sure there are some great metaphors to be had in all of that!

Maria continues:

I love our pre-strung Zendalas, but when I pick up a blank one, I tend to use it like a square . . . with a kind of random string and a bit more white space (usually).

On this one . . .


. . . I had some fun with tracing the shapes of square tiles and them tangled them. It was a fun exercise. I tangled black on white then colored in the surrounding edge tiles in black and tangled them in white!


I also love using the Fabrico gray marker to add another dimension to the black and white. Please feel free to try this, we welcome others using our ideas. In fact, this sharing of ideas and inspirations is a wonderful characteristic throughout this Zentangle community.

So, how do you go about tangling your Zendalas??

Our random picker chose "Kathy" (blog- Penstrokes) to win a tile from us. Congrats. Kathy, please send us your snail mail address to zentangle (at) gmail (dot)com.

Click Zendalas to enjoy even larger Zendalas!

15 comments:

Ellen said...

I love how you draw the square tiles on the round one. Have done it the other way around but not this way...yet!Great inspiration. Thank you

Debby said...

I haven't yet tried the blank Zendalas; your work is always so inspiring, I need to pull some out and get started.

Margaret Bremner, Artist said...

I just lo-o-ove the round tile with the square 'tiles' on it! I recently did a round tile with quite square-ish divisions; it's quite a different look. I'll post it later.

Anonymous said...

More ideas! I know what I'm doing this evening. Thanks for the continued inspiration!

Cathy said...

I have got to try the round zendala with the square tiles. How beautiful!!

Marcia Campbell said...

I almost exclusively use pre-strung zendalas, but after seeing these inspirational pieces - well, you know I'll be trying something WAY not pre-strung. My favorite is the square tiles on the zendala too! Thanks for sharing these with us Maria,

Shelly Beauch said...

Splendid ideas, Thank you for sharing so much, I just tangled squares on a zendala and a circle on a square for The Diva's dex challenge.

Unknown said...

It's been a year since I've been tangling and I have yet to try a round tile. But I'm ready now. With the freedom to not be symmetrical,I'm excited to try this new canvas. Thanks for your beautiful work and ideas, Rick and Maria and Happy Birthday to Maria!!!!!

Unknown said...

It doesn't seem possible that a year has gone by since Maria was blowing out her cupcake candles on August 15 which was the last day of Seminar IX and Maria's birthday. Many happy returns, Maria!

Genevieve said...

I love the first tile, those square tiles casually "stacked", it's brilliant...Maria, I'll be away from the computer on Thursday, setting up my booth at ArtWaves, so I want to wish you a wonderful birthday! <3

Linda said...

Rick and Maria!
I love the outlining of a regular tile on the zendala tile! Beautiful!
All of your creations are so inspiring!

Happy Birthday Maria!!!

:~)
Linda

Anonymous said...

I love the new ideas to try! Thinking a lot about how fun and mind blowing Seminar IX was. Happy Birthday Maria!

Anne's tangle blog said...

Your zendala with the tiles on it it STUNNING!!
Most of the time I do 'no'rmal' zentangles but now and then I pick a (pre strung or blank) zendala. Just this week I was doing a pre strung one. I like this, because the repeating tangles make sure there is a lot of zen. At least, rhat what it brings me.

Unknown said...

Squares on the round and rounds on the squares! Wonderful! You two always amaze and delight with your inspiration and imagination, leaving ME wondering, why didn't I think of that! :-))

Endment said...

Ditto on the square tiles on the round one.
Great inspirations