The Zentangle® Untangled Blog Hop
This is the 4th day of a 12 day blog hop featured around the book Zentangle Untangled by Kass Hall. Every day or so a member of this hop will share something--a review, artwork or thoughts based around the book.
I've written a review, along with some artwork that uses the tangles included in the book (see below).
Here is a list of the hop member blogs and that dates that each will post.
Monday July 23 - START - Kass Hall
Tuesday July 24 - Jill Berry
Wednesday July 25 - Rachel Grieg
Thursday July 26 - Sandra Strait - You Are Here!
Friday July 27 - Melanie Testa
Saturday July 28 - Ingrid Dijkers
Monday July 30 - Pam Garrison
Tuesday July 31 - Genevieve Crabe
Wednesday August 1 - Traci Bautista
Thursday August 2 - Fran Meneley
Friday August 3 - Jane Davenport
Saturday August 4 - FINISH - Kass Hall (major prize giveaway)
Review of Zentangle Untangled
~a book of Inspiration and Prompts for Meditative Drawing~
Specs
I was sent a review copy, so what I have in hand may differ somewhat from the book that is being sold.
No of Pages: 128 pages
Size: 8.3 x 10.9 inches
Weight: 2 pounds
Look & Feel
The book is a paperback with a cardstock cover. The sections are stitched, but the cover is glued on. The pages have enough spring that you might have trouble keeping the book open. I can't recommend bending the book backwards because the glue could crack. However, I took the chance, opening and bending it in 3 or 4 places toward the center and was able to make the book lie flat. My personal style requires that both my hands are free for drawing, so I need a drawing book to lie flat.
The pages are a heavy, glossy white that might be hard on the eyes, except that the lay-out skillfully uses blue-gray backgrounds and images break-outs to keep that from happening.
The trade-off for those glossy pages is weight. I'll be reading this book at home, but probably won't carry it around with me.
Overview of content
Zentangle generally relies more on images than words to convey meaning. Zentangle Untangled goes into more explanation than other similar books I've read, but not to excess.
While the focus is on Zentangle, the book also explores Color Theory, Art Materials, and Art Journaling.
Images are plentiful, colorful and beautiful.
The book can be read front to back, or browsed at random, though some chapters, such as the one on Color Theory, are more helpful if read beginning to end.
The steps to 12 tangle patterns are found in Chapter Two, and examples of many others are found throughout the book. Kass includes her own tangles, official tangles such as Mooka,and tangle patterns submitted from other tanglers, many of whom you may recognize--CZTs Genevieve Crabe and Sue Clark, just to name a couple.
What does this book have that other Zentangle books do not?
I feel that it has more answers to the question 'What is Zentangle?'. That is not an easy subject to explain, and the book doesn't explain it all, but if you've been tangling for a while, and are still unsure of the answer, you might find it here.
The author discusses her own journey with art and Zentangle giving this book a more personal feeling than many and I think it may appeal to those who are interested in the journey as much as the tangle patterns.
At 128 pages, this is just a longer Zentangle book than most. I don't know that it has anything unique but it takes the time to be more thorough on each subject.
Content
~Part One~
Chapter 1: The Beginning
In the Beginning
History of Zentangle
Traditional Zentangle Materials
Relaxation and Focus
Chapter 2: Tangling
Let's Get Our Tangle On
Cabin Floor
Five-Oh
Starfish
Echo
Bronx Cheer
Cheers
Mooka
Facets
Honeycomb
Frippery
Tripoli
Betweed
Shading Zentangles
Black-and-white Zentangle Gallery
~Part Two~
Chapter 3: Color
Color Me Happy
Basic Color Theory
12-Part Color Wheel
Secondary Color Wheel
Complementary Colors
Analogous Colors
Monochromatic Colors
Chapter 4: Art Materials
Art-Material Intervention
Sakura Pens: Microns, Souffle and Glaze Pens
Colored Pencils
Inks
Liquid Ink and Pen
Watercolor Pencils
Watercolor Paint
Gouache
Acrylic Paint
Chapter 5: Art Journal
Art Journalism
Borders
Titles and Lettering
Zentangle as a Background
Zentangle and Patterned Paper
Page Accents
Rubber Stamps and Zentangle
Creating Shape with Zentangle
Zentangle and Photography
Zentangle Goes Digital
Digital Mysteria
It's That Easy
Zentangle Gallery
Digital Zentangle Gallery
Contributors
Further Reading
Resources
Index
About Kass
Acknowledgements
Artwork created using tangle patterns from the book and ideas from the chapter on Art Journaling.
Did you know that Exaclair, Inc. is the exclusive U.S. distributor of Clairefontaine, Exacompta, Rhodia, Quo Vadis, G. Lalo, Brause, J. Herbin, Mignon and Decopatch products? I've been raving and reviewing about the Rhodia line, with their seductive 'R' pads and awesome dotGrids but today I'm reviewing one of Exaclair's other products--the Quo Vadis Habana Pocket-sized Blank Notebook. As usual, I have lots of photos, so I've broken the review into two parts. Part I covered the look and over-all performance and Part II covers the results I got with various media.
So thanks to Exaclair, you now have a chance to win an Exacompta Basic Pocket Portfolio and a Rhodia DotWebbie. But wait--there's more! I wanted something in the giveaway to come from me, so I'm adding a set of 6 Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. It's the Turquoise set, because I noticed that every time I drew something using these turquoise colors, everyone ooh'd and ah'd. And because turquoise really goes well with the orange dotWebbie cover!
