Simple schoolgrade watercolor

aren't as bad as I thought.

Last time I tried them I was in school class 11, so its was 14 years ago. (Class 12 and 13 I was at an art class and had to use more artistlike watercolor). The watercolors commonly used in german schools are a lot like pan-gouache. They are more or less opaque but not as richly pigmented as true artists gouache. But they aren't that bad.

Why I say this? Because I tried them again yesterday (I finished the painting past midnight, so the date on the pic says today *laugh*).
I wanted to do something in gouache, but I love pans more then tubes, so I thought I would give them a try. I have to practice more, using this colors, because I think I'm to used to my artist grade watercolor. I tend to do lighter washes for lighter colors but I should use white paint to mix it.

I used a box with 12 pans and a tube of white for mixing paler colors to paint this small study. Its based on a photograph taken by "Viacheslav" on pmp-art.com and painted in a selfmade sketchbook. Maybe you like it although its not a zentangle.


Ps.: I'm sorry that I could not post a zentangle tile for last week. I failed my challange because I had a bad cold. I wanted to do the tile on sunday, but I was only awake for 3 hours that day :(

Zentangle with Ballpoint-Pen

This week it was difficult for me to do art. I wasn't inspired. I sat there and looked at the blank paper/tile and there was nothing. And today it was similar. But I wanted to do my weekly tile because I didn't want to fail this "challange" so fast. So I sat down and picked a little challange from the "Shading Zentangle" Facebook-Group: do a Tile in Ballpoint-pen only.

It was recommended to do some organic shapes because it should be easier to shade them with ballpoint-pens. So I chosed a organic shaped string and startet with Abundies. But then the string didn't seem to fit anymore so I ignored it and and drew the little rose-like forms (the tangle is called abeko) and the willow-catkin like stems.

And somehow I like the result a little bit. Its not perfect, but it was finished fast, I used tangles I never used before (Abundies & Abeko) and I did not fail my personal challenge.

And because it is in ballpoint too, I would like to share one of my very first tiles today. Its about four years old (I dont know exactly because its not dated) and I know, I did it with ballpoint pen because I only had some blank index-cards and this ballpoint pen and no fineliners. I had chosen the patterns on that tile because I worked at a fabric store that time and the zangles reminded me to that (knitting-loops, ribbon or lace and some woven fabric)

Paradox Diva-Dance

I had a bit more trouble this week than usual, so it was really difficult for me to settle down and draw a tile. But I said I would do one tile a week... so I had to! And I did it *tschaka*!

Because it was difficult for me I thought I would do one of the many challenges out there. And I tried the Diva Challange #301. But I failed a little bit. The task was really simple: create a duotangle with "Ricks Paradox" and "Diva Dance". And I did this, but it looked unfinished to me. So I thought to add more diva-dance but I thought it would look too busy, so I added Tipple to balance the tile out.

Its not my favourite tile, maybe a second one with the same tangles would be "better" but I'm not in the mood to do another tile now.