My Turquoise Stone Ebook is Here!

Learn how to draw stunning turquoise stones just like these to add to your doodle and tangle art. They really do enhance your work.

Oh, so excited! I have been busy creating an ebook Turquoise stone tutorial. It is now live on my etsy page - Wholehearted Etsy shop - and, for a limited time, it will be come with a free practice sheet. I have hand drawn two designs on A4 size paper, giving you two different  A5 designs with lots of spaces to practice your turquoise gems. 



I absolutely love turquoise stones - there are so many types and shades that they cover the whole colour spectrum. I would very much suggest you have a look at the real gems - get an idea about all the different hues, from very dark to very pale. There are also many variations in the make up of turquoise - some have stripes, others have very pronounced markings,  some are a fairly uniform colour. And then there's the veins that run through the stone - sometimes black, sometimes shimmering gold and copper.

Turquoise was among the first gems to be mined, and many historic sites have been depleted, though some are still worked to this day. These are all small-scale operations, often seasonal owing to the limited scope and remoteness of the deposits. Most are worked by hand with little or no mechanization.

An absolutely stunning turquoise specimen from Los Cerrillos, New Mexico at the Smithsonian. Cerrillos turquoise was widely used by Native Americans prior to the Spanish 
conquest.










I have been asked many times about drawing gems, especially turquoise, so I decided it was time to upgrade the very basic handwritten tutorial I wrote a while ago. The main thing I'm asked is about how to get all the different colours in the drawing. This ebook explains the processes to get the magical blends of blues into your gem.


To learn more and get this ebook, please visit this page...
Wholehearted Shop

Snowflakes and Hot Toddies

It's been quite a long week and I'm slowly recovering from a nasty chest infection - the obligatory back to school cold passed on to me by my daughter! So, I haven't done much tangling - I managed a few drawings whilst on the sofa with a blanket and hot toddy.

I am particularly excited about Eni Oken's Glow on the Dark technique. It's a completely different way of tangling and shading - white on black. It does seems like there's nowhere to hide with the style and that imperfections leap of the page. BUT...we know that Zentangle should be all about the Zen. There are no mistakes in this art form. All of your lines are utterly unique - no one would be able to recreate your style of drawing.

These are my first attempts at white on black using this technique.


The top right design is by far my most favourite. The thing that really makes the technique so effective are the patterns inside.



 Here's one with a gemstone.  





This is my pattern Oringel with colour. I use Derwent Coloursoft, which give brilliant vibrant colours.

The second thing I have tried this week is Fassett and Phroz. I generally choose organic and flows patterns, but these have straight lines through and through. I was looking at patterns I might use for Christmas cards and these really remind me of snowflakes.

Can anyone think of any other patterns that would work well on Christmas cards?

Why Nuns are Good for My Soul

There are so many design influences if you look around and see objects, plants, buildings, even animals and people. I have been drawing this pattern for sometime now and it always reminds me of a nun with their habits and veils. So I decided to call it BeNunTweed. 
 

It's full of lovely overlapping and seems similar to Ellish, which is also based on Betweed. It has a 'waist' and a face and also space for the veil. I can spend hours doing these kinds of patterns, building layers and layers, leaving lots of nooks and crannies to shade. Plenty of time to really get into that mindful zen place, with a little help from the nuns! 

I have scoured the pattern sites that we all use and can't find anything the same or with the same name. (Please let me know if you recognise this as already done.)

So here's the step out. It is a little tricky, but, once you know the steps, it's fairly easy to keep building. And then the shading helps show all the layers and depth. 

Below are progress pictures of BeNunTweed. You can see the progression of shading and how dark I have made it in the centre triangles. 

Here I have joined the Nuns with a gemstone and used Quandu and my pattern Oringel. The Nuns have got different 'crowns' on on this tile and as the last. 

I would love to see your versions of BeNunTweed. And if anyone actually thinks it looks like a nun?