Tangle Pattern: Whistler

As promised, here are the steps to my newest tangle Whistler.  This is really quite similar to other patterns out there.  Whistler is really easy.  I just sort of scribble in the oval shapes in the squares but if you are so inclined, you can always draw in your shape and then fill it in.

I named this for James Whistler, the artist of the Peacock Room.  This room is chock a-block full of patterns.  This little detail was on one of the book shelves, carved into the wood. 

I hope that you like this one.  I think that it will be a great one for a background or to fill a larger space. 

A Study in Purple

This week the Diva gave us the challenge to use purple in our tangle.  I went on and used all purple in this one.  I have several purple pens and wanted to explore with those a bit.  I used a purple Micron size 01, a Pentel Sunburst metallic gel pen and a Bic Mark It ultra fine point marker.  The micron works the same and as well as the black pens that we all use.  The ink is dark though.  You know it's purple, but I think I would like a lighter color if I was going to use it a lot.  The Pentel is a nice pen.  The point is not fine, it's medium.  The sparkle of the metallic is nice and I hope that you'll be able to see it in the photos.  The Bic was just used a little as it bleeds a bit.  I used a note card for this challenge.  It started as a trial and I just went with it.

This challenge became a chance for me to explore the ink more than the color.  I wanted to see how the inks behaved and worked together.  I really ended up exploring patterns as well.  The light purple is the Pentel and the Bic is in the lower left corner with the Pentel over the top.

There in the lower center is a new tangle that I've decided to call Whistler after James Whistler.  I saw this pattern in the Peacock room.  The peace sign looking one is another new one that has no name yet.  I'm working it out and once I think of a name I'll get the steps done and posted along with Whistler.  Any suggestions on a name?


This was a fun challenge.  I think the purple and the different pens allowed me to be a bit more free than I usually am.

Hope you enjoy!

The Peacock Room - Beautiful and Inspiring

The south wall and large mural.

Today my family and I traveled down to the Washington, DC area to attend a birthday party.  Knowing that we'd be so close to Washington, we planned in a trip to The Freer and Sackler Galleries on the National Mall.  These museums focus on Asian art. My main reason to visit was to see the Peacock room in person.  I had seen photos on-line, but I wanted to get my eyes and camera in there to see up close (or as close as I could get) and soak in all the wonderful detail there in the room.  I must say, I was not disappointed.

The room was designed by James Abbott McNeil Whistler for an Englishman named Leyland and later bought from Leyland's heirs by Charles Lang Freer.  I'll save you all the history as you can click the links and read more for yourselves should you want to know more.

This room however is not only an inspiration of decorative mural art, but it is chock full of pattern.  A zentangle enthusiast's dream!  There is so much depth and pattern that everywhere you look, you'd like to sit and figure out each pattern right there.  As I was with my children (4 and 10) I was not able to just sit.  I took as many photos as I thought I needed though.  The security guard in the room was really nice and chatted with my 4 year old but I knew that conversation would only interest the guard for so long. :)

Sideboard (?) under the large mural.  I want one just like this.

Now that I'm home, I realize that I failed to take a photo of one wall and an over all photo of the ceiling.  The ceiling is as amazing as the rest of the room.  I wonder if when I go back, they'll mind too much if I lie on the floor and get a better image.  I should have whipped out my iPod and used Photosynth to capture a 360 view of the room.  Sigh, next time I will do just that. (I just checked the Freer and Sackler website and there is a great panorama you can view.)





I will be trying to turn a few of these into patterns for zentangle use but I'm not sure if I'll get them all figured out.  We shall see..

Shutters along one wall.





Door on east wall.

Ceiling detail.  See why I need a better photo?