Wednesday, February 10, 2016

A Hearty Challenge



This week being Valentine's week, the Diva challenges us to create art that is Valentine centered: hearts, red or pink, lacy, etc.

So...at first my heh "heart" wasn't in it, and this is what I made. It is from string 21












TanglePatterns String 021

I used HeartBox, LoLo, Heart Strings, and Kisses.


but they weren't enough...so I put in some hearts of my own, and added those spirals. I actually call this one Ugly Heart Art...It just didn't speak to me...but...

I liked the spiral hearts so much, I made a piece based on it...



Spiral Heart. with a background of Caught...first spotted on Tickled to Tangle, in last week's Wednesday Wisdom Words. and...
...Shading.
Oh, how I love shading!







And, with the monotangle in mind, and having peeked around on Adele's site, I remembered her LG pattern. A new tile, filled up with LG

Some color on this one. Magenta centers, violet shading



The little black dotty hearts to finish. Oh my GOODNESS, the shading!


And so i thought I was finished, until today. I got up to string 32
TanglePatterns String 032    

and when it came right to it, HeartBox called out my name.

I filled up the centers (that four corner area) with HeartBox...except I put the fourth one in a different corner. Put my trademark spirals (hee hee trademark hahaha) in the hearts. Then lines of hearts going up along the legs/arms of the 4

4 of Hearts string 32


It just turned out I put four hearts on each "limb" and that's when I named it. Four of Hearts. Then AND ONLY THEN, did I realize the string itself is a numeral four! ha! And if you're counting, I did put five on that bottom leg of the 4. what was I thinking!

So, Four of Hearts. And yes, the shading makes is SUPER cool.  Turned out to be a fun challenge, after all. 

and with that, I have a few more string tiles


Van Gogh is a Star string 20


  
Party in the Fabric Store string 23


Harmony string 31




Grotto string 26

Looking over my sketchbook, I've come to a conclusion. I like the pieces that use fewer patterns. A good monotangle, wow! And the simplicity of only two or three patterns makes a big difference.

However, if there is a piece that i like, with a lot of patterns, what appeals is a unity within. There should be a shape in common, or some kind of line that goes through the whole piece.

For instance,


this one has lots of patterns. Many more than I usually like. But I like this piece, and when I sat and tried to figure out why, it came to me: unity comes through in the black satiny ribbon that appears in the HeartRope, the Up&Across,  and in Bunzo, and it is there in the ribbons on the very bottom. There is a unity of form in the black perlz, and the heart shape is repeated in HeartRope and Join.

Hypnotic repeats the bunzo curves, and undling takes the repetition to a whole new level. You also see the repeated lines in Meringue.

Hollibaugh, crosscro, and the rivulet pattern (I invented that, but haven't named it yet) provide variety and balance.

Overall, a pleasing piece that could have been overly busy, but unity and balance bring it around.





8 comments:

  1. Wow, what a lot of work, you must be so relaxed with all the zen it provided. Your shading is amazing especially on the spiral heart one. That one looks like the heart is stuck on top, you know like those crafted cards that people make with raised cut outs.

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  2. Wow! Great stuff. I noticed that cool scrolly heart tangle in the first tile and love how you played with it. And your shading is masterful!

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  3. You had me chuckling as I read your post! I do like the spiral addition to the hearts. All your pieces are delightful!

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  4. You are most definitely one of the Queens of Shadow. Your tangles leap off the page. All your tiles are beautiful and brought Leonardo Da Vinci to mind----I'm not exactly sure why, but there he was. Very nice work.

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  5. You were sooooo busy and with lovely results.

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  6. Oh my ... so many lovely pieces to see here! Especially I like the last one. It´s absolutely gorgeous!

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  7. Wow! What a great collection of work. You've been a busy lady;-) I too have this compulsion to include spirals in my hearts, usually including "Marasu". I especially love that last piece too. Lovely work, all of it.

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