Thursday, June 17, 2010

Tangled up in Hues


I wanted to see what the Zentangles® would look like using color, so I started "tangling" in an art journal where I had already created backgrounds. The journal is a recycled publisher's catalog -- one of those thin ones with very shiny, slick pages. I gessoed first, then added color with water soluble pastel crayons, blended using baby wipes. I used the shapes on the page as the "strings" or guidelines. It was great fun to do and I'm liking the look of the color in the background.

There still wasn't enough tooth to the surface, so I scanned the tangles and altered them digitally to bring out the shading and sharpen the lines.

Here's a completely different page, one where I kept some of the printing that was in the catalog:


This one was digitally altered, too. I'm still pretty rough at this, but am I ever having fun!

7 comments:

Mary Ann Dames - Reading, Writing, and Recipes said...

As the top image downloaded, I saw the womanly shape of someone in a corset emerging on the right side. Okay, so it wasn't but it sure took me to the conflicted messages we get as women.

Julie Williams said...

I love it when something emerges like that. Very cool!

Marilyn said...

I like both of these very much and have to resist running for my pens and paper. These are so inviting.
Thanks again for the introduction!

Julie Williams said...

Have fun! My pens are all running out of ink . . . ahhh, a trip to the art supply store is in order. :-)

Linda Townsdin said...

These are so great!

Anamarie Dwyer said...

Hola Julie -- It's Anamarie. I've been following your blog for a while now . . shyly in the background. Your art work is incredibly authentic and so aesthetically provocative! It seems that you are in your element location-wise and artist-wise. My heart is happy for you. I took up running with scissors and paper and glue about 3 years ago. Not sure where I'm going and many times I fall down and nick myself, but I get up (after a while) and limp, trot or run off again. I haven't found myself yet, but I keep looking. Blessings to you, Julie. Adelante -- Anamarie!

Christina Rodriguez said...

Hi Julie, I had no idea you could blend pastel crayons with baby wipes! You've taught me something today!