Amanda’s Gem step outs
It’s finally here! It’s celtic knot Friday and my collaboration series with Rose Rambo at vitruvianart can be found here on YouTube! Thanks so much to Rose for her support and the feature in her video!
Part one is my star knot tutorial :
Part 2 is Amanda’s amazing gem tutorial:
Hi everyone! Welcome to The Tireless Tangler! This week is crazy busy preparing for challenges and with this week’s final video in the March Celtic Knot Series! I have something really exciting for you this week! You may have seen my posts on extraordinary gem artist, Amanda Rose Rambo, and her techniques for creating realistic and fantastic gems using colored pencils or watercolor. This week we are meshing my Celtic Knots with Amanda’s amazing gems for a video collaboration.
Three weeks ago, I sent Amanda a copy of my heart knot video so she could give me some feedback. She came back excited, saying she’d never been able to draw knotwork and was intimdated by them, but she thought she could do the knot. A few minutes later she sent me this beauty!
For me, this is why I am making the videos. To see my tutorials used to demystify the knot process is so fulfilling for me!
That’s why, for this week’s video, Amanda and I have done a video collaboration for the gem enthusiasts out there! Part one is a new knot video. We’ll be doing a star shaped knot. Part 2 will be Amanda’s gem tutorial. I can’t wait to bring Knots to her audience and her amazing gems to mine! Be sure to come back tomorrow for our videos!
Also this week, I’m preparing to join the #100daysproject! This project is meant to inspire and strengthen creativity by committing to 10 to 15 minutes a day of focused creativity. I’ve wanted to participle for a couple of years now but worry about my staying power! For this year’s project I’m planning a knot based idea I saw on pinterest. I’m planning to create a knot with 100 sections filling them in with different tangles each day. The goal being to become more familiar with existing tangles as well as learning new ones. I am hoping to involve those of you who’d like to follow along! I’ll have another post and video coming out Sunday and the project will begin on Monday, April 1, 2019. No fooling! 😀 look for the hashtag #100daysproject, #100daysofzentangle. See you on Friday for the knot/collaboration!
Welcome everyone! It’s been 2 weeks since my last post. Unfortunately, I’m struggling hard with depression. I’ve been drawing and creating but unable to write. Last week’s challenge sat unfinished and I was never able to complete it. So, I was determined to finish this week and hit back. Thank goodness for tangling!
This week’s challenge was a mix of struggle and sublime as we were given a grid pattern, Flog, by Angie Gittles, CZT, and the organic Konk, by Lori Manoogian, CZT. Naturally, given my affinity for the organic, I loved Konk and struggled with Flog. I decided to incorporate Flog into the embellishments and voilà! I used a technique from gem queen, Amanda Rose Rambo, @vitruvianart, with the orbs incorporating Derwent Inktense for the dappled effects. Then, because of Lori Manoogian’s explanation published on TanglePatterns.com, with a picture of a Conch shell, I had beaches on the mind and gave the background a golden brown sand color. Strange how the mind translates input! As always, you can join the challenge at Adele Bruno’s blog, Tickledtotangle.blogspot.com. Here’s my tile!
I am forced to share now that I don’t believe I will achieve my financial goal in time to attend CZT 32 in October. The deadline for my final payment is August 26th, just 2 weeks away. To say I’m discouraged is a huge understatement. I’ll be contacting Zentangle ®, Inc this week about what options I might have for next year. I will also be contacting my donors individually with an update. I cannot express my gratitude for all who offered either financial or emotional support! I am so close but I don’t have the ability to make up the balance. It’s a frustrating situation but I will come through stronger than ever. The campaign will run up to August 25th.
https://www.gofundme.com/Send-me-to-CZT32?pc=ot_co_dashboard_a&rcid=c55e866fda7d40f182c4b9b08d7871b7
Welcome back everyone! It has been a really difficult week this week as my tangling was interrupted when I filmed my video on Sunday morning. I didn’t realize the effect that the sun shining on my shoulder meant the sun was also shining on the surface of the iPad. So, of course being the smart thing it is, it turned itself off! Unfortunately, that made editing very difficult because I couldn’t complete it on one device! IPads and androids are not good friends! So this week I have been working between my small phone and my barely working iPad to get this long video edited. It’s been edited by two different devices and that is making everything choppy. I apologize in advance for the poor quality! The sound is up and down but it is also captioned!
But you are not here for my video! you are here for the diva challenge. This week’s diva challenge number 361, is an Earth Day theme, as it has the last two years, and we tangled on the back of boxes i.e. cereal boxes pizza boxes etc. the ones that have the nice brown back. I have to say I love this challenge! Nothing gets my creativity rolling like tangling on cardboard. I made three tiles but I’m only going to share my last one. There are many tangles included here.
Joki, bales, purk, sandswirl, fassett, flux, Printemps, shattuck, fife, p’kok and my new obsession, circe!
This is the project in the tutorial this week. It is done on a black Zentangle Zendala tile. If anyone gives it a try, please tag me in it on Instagram or Facebook @thetirelesstangler or else where #thetirelesstangler
Lastly, i started a new artistic endeavor for dear friend Amanda Rose Rambo at #vitruvianart! She was looking for Colorists for her coloring books and I thought I’d give it a try if I can block in the time for it! Here’s my first try from Amanda’s coloring book Gemstones volume 4 found here at Amazon!
It’s a great new year! I’ve had a lot happening behind the scenes and time off with my family. First and most importantly for me was the gracious gift from the incredible digital artist Christel Foncke, allowing me to use one of her beautiful pieces of art to brand this website and all it’s social media sites. This incredible piece of art is just a hint of what Christel can do with her Apple Pencil! I will have her Artist Focus soon! Thank you, Christel! I can stop worrying about it now and I love it as much today as I did the day I added it! Follow Christel at @Christeldraws on Instagram.
I have been in “school” at the YouTube Creator’s Academy because I’m slowly changing the format for this blog to include video. The more artists I focus on, the more I want to spotlight their work using video. Since my next artist in focus will be the incredibly talented Tomàs Padrós, I wanted to be sure I spent time learning to edit video, add audio and learn about copyright laws. I’ve been absorbing a lot of information and I needed to practice. This move was much more complex and involved much more time studying and practicing than I anticipated! I practiced by FINALLY doing the Inktense Pencil gem tutorial for which I’ve been trying to find the time about 6 months! So, I present my Derwent Inktense Gem Tutorial Part 1, which involves laying down and activating the Inktense bottom layer as well as 6 of my favorite color combinations. It features a traveling tangle tile with Amanda Rose Rambo, the “Gem Queen”, and myself. She has a great YouTube channel at Vitruvianart. Her content on creating gems is outstanding! So check her out! I’ve done two posts on her work if you’re interested (ZenGems: Meet Amanda Rose Rambo!, and Amanda Rose Rambo, Faceted Gem Master Class)
When I finished the first video, I uploaded it to “Gem Ho’s” the FaceBook group for Amanda’s VitruvianArt. They gave me some great feedback which I then used to make a part 1.5 which includes a complete gem using the new highlight technique I developed based on the feedback of the group. I would very much appreciate any feedback, positive or not. If you like the video please remember to like or comment and subscribe to my channel! It is pretty empty now but I have plans for it! I will be remaking the artist focus videos (with their permission) and uploading them both here and YouTube. I’ll be adding my pattern videos and anything else that seems interesting. My goal is to make each one better than the last! I need your help my friends! Give me honest feedback and comments. I can work on my accent if it’s too annoying but not if you don’t tell me it’s making you crazy! Thank you so much for all your support last year and Happy 2018!
Please remember to like, comment and subscribe!
This week I am honored to focus again on the Gem Queen, and my friend, Amanda Rose Rambo! This artist never stops producing quality products for teaching gem art. The above gem was done with watercolor! It’s one of the loveliest gem renderings I’ve seen done free hand.
In the artist focus I did on her a few months ago, I learned she had a Facebook group dedicated to those passionate about gem drawing. I immediately joined because well, her art is amazing. She frequently adds video tutorials and exclusive content just for her “Gem Ho’s”, and I am happy to be one. Amanda’s new Gem Coloring Book is getting ready for publication, and we’re currently having an exclusive coloring contest, the winner of which will have their art published on the cover, runner-up may be featured on the back cover. I’m totally focusing on gems for the next week!
In this post, I wanted to highlight her Faceted Gems, Master Class. It’s on etsy.com here. Amanda graciously allowed me participate in the master class and it is terrific! Below, find the art, both before the class and after, of several of Amanda’s “gem ho’s”, including myself!
Amanda’s Faceted Gems Master Class is a 3 part series of videos accompanied by a short ebook that includes links to the videos and material lists, as well as some really great coloring pages for practice. Amanda takes you through 3 different gems types using her technique for faceted gems.
I found the first video the most important as to the techniques used. I’ll admit, my first try was disappointing but, practice makes everything better and after the 3rd try they started to improve. The 2nd and 3rd parts talk about shading and highlighting incorporating different shapes, colors and facet configurations. These are my weakest areas for sure and I feel it’s intimidating to most people. Amanda and I have agreed to disagree about which pencils rule! I am a Prismacolor Premier Soft-core pencil lover (but I own both) and she swears by Faber-Castell’s Polychromos oil-based colored pencils. Amanda recently borrowed a full set of Prismacolors and used them exclusively for a month, so i can’t truly complain about her preference. For me, my Prismacolors are soft and smooth on like silk. Using odorless mineral spirits helps to dissolve the binding agents (here it would be wax or oil) and unlock the pigments on both but the Prismacolors seem much richer pigmented to me. This is an ongoing disagreement among colored pencil artists and one that wont be solved today! Here’s an example of both pencils in similar colors blended with odorless mineral spirits.
Here is my practice page for the gems covered in class. By the time I did the last green, I felt I was getting the hang of it. It’s not very good but given it’s copy paper (the cheap kind) which limits the amount of layering it would accept from the pencils, maybe you can understand.
Once I finished the videos and practice sheet I was ready for something more challenging. Here’s my work in progress on one of the contest pages. There is a huge difference in my confidence and understanding of how faceted gems are drawn. They attracted me but intimidated as well. I have put off learning this for some time and now wish I’d done it much sooner! Of course, now I want to learn the watercolor gem at the top!
I love Amanda’s tutorials because her presence is so relaxed it reminds me to have fun and take my time. I’m pretty pleased with this one, though the white lines are a true challenge for my shaky hands.
This next art is by colorist Sonya Griffin, also in Amanda’s Facebook group.
This last one will be stunning when finished! I love the ice blue gem!
Next is colorist Kim Henderson. She is really good at these!
Lastly, we have colorist Mara Lula, who definitely has a talent for these gems!
Thanks to all the artists in the Gem Ho’s Facebook group who allowed me to share their art with you! Amanda’s Faceted Gems Master Class is a perfect course for the gem enthusiast!
Being in Amanda’s Facebook group is a great way to get advice, see exclusive content and videos and even receive discounts on her merchandise. I was also was given a sneak peek at some of the coloring pages from Amanda Rose Rambo’s newest book, Color a Creation, Gemstones Volume 5 being released soon at Amazon.com. These pages have an elegant look and lots of creative room to explore.
Here is a preview of some of the pages.
You can find Amanda Rose Rambo on facebook at facebook.com/vitruvianart
On Youtube at http://youtube.com/c/vitruvianart
On Etsy at etsy.com/shop/vitruvianart
Now newly on Patreon/vitruvianart
And on Instagram @vitruvianart
Dont forget to come back to see the contest entries!
Welcome to thetirelesstangler.com! It’s time for Adele Bruno’s It’s a String Thing challenge for this past week. This week we were given a simple string, seen here, and then a single tangle to use. This week’s tangle was Fassett by Lynn Mead, CZT.
I love doing monotangles (simply using one tangle) because it removes some anxiety about how to combine the tangles and helps me to focus on pen strokes and zen, which is the point right?
This week’s string:
And here is my IAST 213 entry!
If you are interested in joining Adele’s It’s a String Thing challenge, and would like to participate then visit Adele’s site, Tickledtotangle.blogspot.com, click on the It’s a String Thing button on my website which will take you there!
Stay in touch as I’ve got a wonderful post coming up next week featuring our friend and “resident gem queen”, Amanda Rose Rambo! She has some spectacular faceted gems to show, as well as featuring some before and after pictures of her student’s work. You dont want to miss it!
The Tireless Tangler 