Showing posts with label puzzle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label puzzle. Show all posts

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Zentangle Philharmonic

Zentangle Ensembles are groups of Zentangle tiles (usually four or six) with a string drawn across the tiles while they were arranged in a square, allowing them to fit together like a puzzle. See the Zentangle blog's Ensemble post.

I started a four tile ensemble over a year ago, completed one tile, and never went back to it. As I organized my tangling supplies last week I found the tiles already strung for an ensemble and decided to get back to it. I completed one tile yesterday, so that leaves two to tangle. 

According to dictionary.com

Ensemble - the united performance of an entire group of singers, musicians, etc.


I like this musical definition of ensemble. If done solo, an ensemble is the united performance of a group of tiles, tangles, and, most simply, lines. I've also seen ensembles where each tile is done by a different artist, and in that case the performance is actually by a group of tanglers, coming together to symphonize with the instruments of pen and pencil. Instead of sending sound waves through air, they utilize light waves in their orchestration.

Here's the one I did yesterday.
I love the itty-bitty Paradox on the corner of Auraknot.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Altered Puzzle Part 1: The Beginning




The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity - Douglas Horton

I love altered art. Books, clocks, Rolodexes (Rolodice...Rolodeces...Rolodexes?), and now puzzles. Inspired by a pin on Pinterest, I picked up a cheap three-pack of puzzles from the Dollar Store. I bet those cute, unassuming puzzles never saw this coming! I'm treating each piece as a seperate canvas, which is one of the features I really enjoyed from my inspiration.

I've only completed the two pieces you see above so far, though I'm starting on a third. I wanted a driving force behind the entire puzzle (which will have thirty pieces), and I again took inspiration from a pin I found on Pinterest. Using this site, which is geared toward journal writers, I'm using a writing prompt from the random prompt generator as the basis of each piece. The first prompt asked me to describe the first thing I thought of when I woke up. The day I started creating the piece, the song "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold." came into my head right after the alarm went off. Random, no? With two illustrations (one from an old Alice in Wonderland book and one from a children's encyclopedia), some scrapbook paper, black Stazon ink, and cut out letters, the top piece in these pictures is a loose interpretation of that song. For the second piece the prompt was "List your hobbies", so I chose one, Zentangle, and illustrated the piece with patterns. Two down, twenty eight to go!

I'll post an update on this project when I complete more puzzle pieces.