Quadrifoglio Zendala

Hello everyone!  Happy New Year!  I hope that the holidays were good and restful to you all.  Things were pretty busy for me up until Christmas but after the 25th, things got back to normal and I could relax a bit.

In the middle of all the Christmas preparations, I found a note in my sons backpack asking for silent auction donations for his school.  I love his school for many reasons.  One is that they do a fantastic job teaching and nurturing the children.  The other is that they don't do fund raisers.  I hate fundraisers.  I know that they can be a necessary evil but they can be a drag.  That look in your coworkers eye when you approach them with a sign up sheet often resembles a deer caught in the head lights.  The school has found many creative ways to raise money for the school and I love them for it.  This year the head of the PTA is going to try out a silent auction at the yearly spaghetti dinner.  When I got the note, I wondered what we could do to help.  Naturally I thought of making a zentangle or zentangle inspired art right away.  A few emails later, and I was officially making art for the auction.

At first I had thought that I would make a Valentine's Day inspired piece as the auction is just a few days before.  After talking it out and thinking it over, I was concerned that Valentine's Day theme might limit interest.  I have been interested in zendalas lately so I figured that I would give one a try.

In looking for a pattern to use I came across Laser Forge Designs and their beautiful designs. I ended up using the Quadrifoglio pattern for my starting place.  After staring at the traced out design for a while, I decided to just pick a pattern and get started. 

Approximately 7" on watercolor paper using 0.1 and .005 Micron pens with pencil shading.

I wasn't sure at first how many patterns I should use as I didn't want to get too busy.  I kept Cadent and Bales basic to start.  I figured that I could always go back and add some variation once I was done.  I was doodling a copy of the pattern and found that Shattuck made a nice pattern when done "in the round" as it were.  After that I looked for other patterns that would come out the same.  Purk was a natural for the shape and Sanibelle is just beautiful here (I think.)  The fourth presented a problem so I kind of made up a design.  I added Arc Flower, Tipple, and Scoodle to the little sections at the edge.  After I got the shading done, the whole piece felt unfinished so I went back and added variations to Bales and Cadent.  I also thickened up a few lines to make them pop out more.

I have it all framed up and will deliver it soon.  Here is the piece framed.  Sorry that the photo is a little awkward but photographing the stuff framed is not easy.

12X12" framed with 8X8" opening.