Hi and welcome back to the Chrissie Murphy Designs Blog. Today I am going to share my 12 Days of Zentangling from AusTangles 2022 and my thoughts on this awesome event. Let’s get into it.
AusTangles 2022 an Annual Event
The AusTangles Facebook Group (hosted by Yvette Campbell, CZT) says that “AusTangles is a celebration of the Zentangle method (see zentangle.com) using tangles created by Australian CZT’s and/ or Australian Zentangle Artists.”
The group invites the rest of the world to tangle alongside them annually for 12 days. Those that participate are encouraged to feature the AusTangle of the Day in their tangling. A new AusTangle and Artist brief is issued each day of the event.
The annual AusTangles event has been going since 2018, but this was the first time I’ve participated in it and I loved it!
Daily Artist and Tangle Features
Yvette arranged for there to be many ways of being able to access the daily tangle features. They were posted in the AusTangles Facebook Group. They were also posted on Instagram (I took advantage of Instagram’s new Favourites feature and added Yvette to my favourites so I always saw them). And you could sign up for them to be emailed.
Each day Yvette would share the AusTangle to be featured along with a brief about the tangle and the Australian Artist who deconstructed it. A Step Out of the featured tangle was also made available.
Let’s look at the 12 days
My 12 Days of AusTangle
Day 1
In Day 1 we were prompted to use Brayd by Michele Beauchamp, CZT.
I thought it would be a perfect frame for the turquoise gem I had grounding my piece. I fell in love with Michele’s tangling very early in my journey as a Zentangle Artist. She is an artist I admire greatly.
One of my most favourite zentangle moments ever has been tangling alongside Michele at the Yintangles Zentangle Seminar 2021. I was star struck!
Day 2
In Day 2 we were prompted to use Caro-Mingle by Carolyn Lally. For AusTangkes 2022, I knew I was going to take the same approach as Inktober 2021, but I wanted to use Renaissance colours (sepia, black and white inks) for it. So Caro-Mingle presented my first opportunity to change inks.
Day 3
For Day 3 we used CoMack by Sue Zanker. I was so happy to be using this tangle. I had met Sue at the Yintangles Zentangle Seminar last year and she is such an inspiring woman. Her calligraphy and zentangle history was fascinating to listen to, and I have treasured our time together very much. It was wonderful to be including one of her tangles in this piece.
Day 4
In Day 4 we used Sails by Helen Williams. This is a grid based fragment that provided me with a great opportunity for contrast. I loved being able to use it as a border.
Day 5
For Day 5 we worked with Desert Flower by Sue Bailey, CZT. Desert Flower enabled me to move past the almost straight edges I’d been previously working with, and add some botanical elements.
Day 6
In Day 6 we used Sunflower by Anne Marks. I was thrilled to be able to use another botanical type tangle and really mix up the lines of this piece.
Day 7
In Day 7 we worked with Essalot by Michelle Dugdale, CZT. This botanical type pattern completed my next round of sepia inking. I love that there were three botanical type patterns in a row. It helped me to play with contrast, linework and density. Michelle’s pattern was so versatile in this regard.
Day 8
For Day 8 we used Jocund by Lianne Woods, CZT. I wasn’t sure how I was going to use Jocund, but ended up loving the way it was incorporated. This is such a versatile pattern too with heaps of opportunity for Tangleations.
Day 9
In Day 9 we used Dooleedo by Ksenija Vojisavljevic. This was such an interesting tangle as it’s completed using a single line. It look me a few practice go’s to get the rhythm of it, but once I had, it was no problems.
Day 10
For Day 10 we returned to a straight edge tangle with Dado by Yvette Campbell, CZT. This is one very versatile tangle! I deliberately kept mine like the deconstructed step out, but loved seeing Yvette use hers as a string. It was fantastic and shows the enormous potential in this pattern.
Day 11
In Day 11 we focused on Nouvelle by Tracy Ann Wilkinson. The tops of my Jocund seemed perfect to build Nouvelle from, so I morphed the tangles together. I loved the results here.
Day 12
For the last day we used Strata by Jane Monk. I loved having a freeform filler as the last pattern to work with, it was the perfect border for my AusTangles 2022 piece. It also gave me the opportunity to add some little turquoise gems to completely ground the piece.
To the big question…. Where to next?
Sadly, nowhere exciting…. I plan to have a bit of a rest in May and just concentrate on working my way through the Zentangle Primer.
The last few months have been full on and I am starting to sense some signs of burn-out within myself. It’s important to listen to signs like these and ease up on things when they’re present.
Longevity depends upon it.
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Until next time, listen to your heart and sharpen your coloured pencils. A masterpiece awaits!
Bless you my friend
Chrissie xx
