I really like the different patterns, be they linear or colorful, figural or abstract.
I make them mostly in a mixed technique, with watercolor and white and black gel pens. These tools are great for strengthen contours with them and creating a kind of lacy texture.
Unfortunately, the white gel pen runs out of white paint after a few times, so I have to buy a new one at least once a week. It’s at least 52x3 = 156 Euro in a year and it’s just a small part of what I spend on my artistic activity. I would be happy if I could solve this problem with some refillable pen, but I haven’t seen one in shops or online specialty stores yet. And the number of emptied pens is growing, and like felt-tip pens, I can't recycle them.
Dear readers, have you any ideas what to do with empty felt-tip or gel pens? And empty ballpoint pen inserts? If it's impossible to recycle, I’d rather not buy them, but then I have to stop Zentangle drawing.
Millions of these plastic items are sold all over the world, than all of them become unusable and later end up in landfills and contribute to the increase in the amount of microplastics. Unfortunately, microplastics are already in the food chain, and if that were the only problem, it could be a disaster on its own.
I wonder what would be the replacement for these products that are still essential to me? Long ago, I used to buy Rotring tube pens, in horroristic prices, but if I didn’t use them for 1 week, the thinner pens could no longer be cleaned, they could go in the trash. And white ink was not available to them even then.
I’m afraid this is one of my last drawings where I draw thin white lines. Unless something miraculous happens!
Now, let's see the step-by-step process!
Firstly, I sketch the circles with a pencil.
Then I begin to fill them with watercolor paint, using some salt for the texture.
Continuing layer-by-layer.
Contouring with darker paints.
Applying some white watercolor paint (well, they are very far from perfect.)
It's only been half an hour so far! From here, it takes long hours for me to feel ready.
This is the end result and I'm very satisfied. I deliberately did not strive for regularity and symmetry. If I had strived for regularity, I would still be working on it, and the overall impact might have been very forced.
The close-up images show the lines drawn with the gel pen. The many colors harmonize well together.
When you're done, what else can you make of it?
🌟You can frame the picture, hang it on the wall.
🌟You can make a paper box out of it based on a cut pattern.
🌟You can laminate it with a protective film and cut it into strips so you have more bookmarks.
🌟You can stick it on an empty cylindrical box so you have a nice pencil holder.
🌟If you have more than one of these images, you can cut them apart and make a collage of them.
