It’s the first Monday in September, so Happy Labor Day to those of us in the USA and Happy Labour Day to our friends and rellies in Canada!
Yes, I realize it’s the unofficial end to summer but I’ve been enjoying a lovely long weekend and I hope you have too.
Since today is a holiday, I thought we’d share something a little different for a change of pace. Sakura of America just released this fun video with CZT Sam Taylor where she combines Zentangle® and watercolor to create an abstract galaxy scene. You may recall Sam shared her popular Narwal tangle with us quite some time ago.
In this short video (3:48) “Constellations and Tangelations” (that should be tangleations for those of us who notice these things) Sam shares an easy technique for creating an unusual Zentangle-inspired abstract that’s full of possibilities and variations.
Sam begins with a pre-primed canvas and layers random watercolor washes from a Sakura Koi Assorted Watercolors Field Sketch Set. An area is left blank for the tangles to be added at the end to finish off the piece.
If you are unsure of what colors to use, Sam suggests browsing the images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. I’m very familiar with many of these images because Robert uses a selection of them for his computer’s desktop. They are awe-inspiring.
When the watercolor layers are thoroughly dry, she uses ink from an opaque white Sakura Pen-Touch Paint Marker spread on a toothbrush to spatter clusters of “stars” across her galaxy. Once they are completely dry, Sam goes back in with the paint marker to create larger stars.
Now comes the Zentangle-inspired part. Sam uses a Sakura Pigma Micron 02 to tangle “that void you left” where the canvas is still white.
Finally she shades her tangles with a graphite pencil and blends with a tortillion, just as you do on your Zentangle tiles.
I was surprised to see a Sakura Micron being used on the canvas and I inquired at Sakura about the canvas used. They reminded me that we should always test our media for compatibility before working on any project.
“Many canvases come already primed so that they’re ready to accept all kinds of paint, ink, etc. media. We don’t believe people should have an issue, but it’s always best to test before starting a large project. There are so many primers and types of canvas we aren’t able to guarantee the types of results people might get in every case.”
Summary of tools and supplies for this Zentangle Galaxy project:
- a pre-primed canvas
- Sakura Koi Assorted Watercolors Field Sketch Set, comes with its own refillable waterbrush
- Sakura Pen-Touch Paint Marker – Opaque White
- Toothbrush
- Sakura Pigma Micron 02
- Pencil
- Tortillion
- hairdryer – optional, but speeds up the drying process between steps
As Sam says, “Give it a try. And maybe you’ll want to paint a series of them.”
Hope you enjoyed this easy project and we’ll see you back here on Wednesday with another great tangle!
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September 5, 2016 | 
More like this: 
Wow! This gives me goosebumps! I know I have some small canvasses that would be perfect for this. Thanks for posting this, Linda!
What a cool project – thanks so much for sharing.
The concept is awesome and so is her design.
Ooh love this.Now to get some canvas
What fun! This looks like a great idea.
This is really great, thanks for sharing!!
I don’t know why one has to use a canvas for this. I did it on Canson Cold press 140 lb. watercolor paper and it worked just fine.
Good one Debbi, I think I’d prefer that surface myself. Although canvas has the advantage of not buckling with the watercolor …
Can’t wait to try this! The video was very helpful,
The canvas can be made super smooth if one wants to put in the time and effort. I suggest adding another coat of gesso onto the canvas. Let it dry thoroughly, then sand lightly to further even out the surface. Dust thoroughly.
If this is repeated enough times, the surface of the canvas can be transformed into a smooth as glass feel, and you will preserve the tips of your Microns. Raw-ish canvas is murder on those littlest nibs.
So inspiring! Thank you 🙂
I really like this idea of using watercolor. I decided to try it on the Diva Challenge this week. But since I’m not at home for a few weeks and have just a few drawing supplies with me I decided to use my Derwent Inktense pencils and a little paint brush with water in a little container I saved from a take-out salad dressing. Then I used Gelly Roll pens in Black (for the Center Square) and White, Gold, and Silver for the stars and DL Nebula. I used one of the 6″ Strathmore Watercolor tiles that I have with me. It did curl a bit, but I put it under some heavy books for the night and that helped a bit. All in all it came out okay. I posted it on Laura’s “I Am The Diva” blog for her challenge, or you can see it at my Flickr site. It’s not perfect by any means, and I have used the watercolor aspect of these pencils only a time or 2. A great learning experience.
Thank you Linda for giving us such great ideas to try out.
Wow! This is fantastic. I am introducing colour in my class next month and this will be a great way to demonstrate how to incorporate colour with zentangles. Thank you so much for sharing this video. It has me inspired.
love it …
Oooh! colors. Beautifully illustrated. The tangles look so pretty against the background colors. I am going to give it a try Thank you for sharing.
What a beautiful idea Sam, thank you for sharing. I am sure it would make for a great class too!
Great, thanks a lot for the inspiration.
Wonderfully creative. I’m thinking of using this on Opus tiles from Zentangle.com. Already have their frame to fit.
loved it,thank you