I have been so honored to create two pieces of Zentangle art for local nonprofit organizations in the last couple months.
The first was an “Entering Worcester” sign. There were 50 artists given the same blank sign and we were invited to “go to town” (get it?) on the sign. They were all auctioned off to go toward art education in Worcester.
The board is made of a composite plastic, which actually made it quite unusual to draw on. It was almost slippery to draw on with my Sakura Micron pens. It measured appx 16″ x 12″ (from what I can remember).
I primed the sign with white gesso first. After it dried, I drew a very faint string to divide the space into manageable sections. I took my Sakura Microns and Faber-Castell Pitt pens and got ready to tangle.
Other than setting up some focal points, I didn’t have a plan. That’s the whole point of Zentangle: there is no plan and no desired outcome. However, what was different from any other time that I’ve tangled, I knew that this piece DID have an outcome, and that outcome was for it to be publicly displayed and sold!
Regardless, Zentangle is Zentangle and to me, it’s unplanned. Using my intuition in my artwork is essential. This was going to be no different for me.
One of the challenges was in running into some spots where I had missed with the gesso. Because the gesso is white and the sign was white, I couldn’t tell if I’d missed a spot until I did. That just made the pens slide, the ink not stick and for the sign to basically “eat” the pen. I DID use up a bunch of Microns in this process.
For the shading, I used a grey Fabrico marker.
Here’s the sign’s progress in photo montage:
On the September night of the “artraiser,” I enjoyed every moment of sharing my piece with the public. The silent auction bidding started at $150. The final bid was $320!
Give a little smile
The next piece I created was for The Harvey Ball, an event celebrating the life of Worcester native Harvey Ball, who is credited with the creation of the iconic smiley face. The money raised goes to the Worcester Historical Museum.
This piece was also made of the same composite plastic board and spanned about 14″ in diameter.
For the smiley, I mixed yellow acrylic paint and clear gesso to create the yellow base that allowed me to tangle on it.
This time, I used not only black but brown Sakura Micron pens and white Sakura Gelly Roll pens. I shaded with Fabrico marker again.
I wasn’t able to attend the Harvey Ball, but I heard that the silent auction bidding started at $175. My smiley went for the “Buy it now” price of $640!
I really enjoy tangling on these types of signs. It’s a fun expression of the expected matched with the unexpected!
Again, I’m honored to have been able to create art (and love doing it!) to raise money for great causes!