Artist Spotlight: Seb Barnett

It's been a while since my last post. One thing or another took my focus this past few weeks.

Today I learned some terrible news that a beautiful soul lost the battle with depression and took their own life. Seb Barnett was an incredible artist who inspired me and encouraged me. I wish I'd known you better when I had the chance. The world is less bright without you in it.

Blodeuwedd by Seb Barnett

I remember that Seb often railed against the idea of artistic "talent" as something you either had or you didn't. Instead Seb championed the notion that accomplished artists were the ones who put years and years of work into honing their craft.

So here I am, back at it with blogging my progress, still at the beginning of my journey, trying to follow your lead and put the work in.

Diva Challenge #287

I started with a watercolor background, created the design using Staedtler fineliner pens, and then I deepened the color shading with Neocolor II watersoluble crayons and Prismacolor colored pencils. I learned a valuable lesson about the way that finely sharpened colored pencils can sometimes scratch through the softer, more fibrous watercolor paper I was using for this piece. You might notice that one of the abstract orb shapes looks a bit more like a pearl than the others. That one got a bit of Liquid Pearls paint to cover the damaged paper.

Windsor & Newton watercolor in
Transparent Yellow and Quinacridone Magenta

Work in progress, after inking the design I
added shading with watersoluble crayon and colored pencil

Diva Challenge #287 on watercolor tile
Dreamcatcher, Nebel, Yincut, and Sandswirl

Daniel Lamothe's Dreamcatcher pattern is quite stunning all on it's own. Here I let it take center stage with a mandala-like circular symmetry. I used a Uniball Signo white ink pen and a white chalk pastel pencil on coal black Strathmore sketch paper. I was inspired to try my hand at the convergent shading technique shared by Lynn Mead.

Diva Challenge #287 on black tile

This post is for you, Seb. You are missed.

Glow on the Dark

I learned an awesome new technique from artist and instructor Eni Oken. It's called Glow on the Dark and it focuses of making 3D Zentangles shine with a metallic gleam and an effect of soft, glowy backlighting.

I spent a whole weekend pouring over her ebook and trying out the techniques, learning how to make my ordinary white ink on black tiles into the realm of "Ooh, shiny!"

initial experiments 3.5" x 3.5"
with Eni Oken's Glow on the Dark technique
tangles: Zing Zing variation and Raindotty

I don't want to give away too much of Eni's technique because I hope you will go visit her blog to find out more! So for now, just more pics from me. Enjoy!

testing my materials and practicing
Eni Oken's technique Glow on the Dark
tangles: African Artist and Teenos

monochrome experiments with Glow on the Dark
tangles: Zander and Kaurikunda variation

Glow on the Dark with color
tangles: Zing Zing and African Artist

Then when this week's It's a String Thing Challenge #151 included a tangle that reminds me of fireworks, right before we in the USA celebrate our Independence Day, it seemed like a good fit to apply this new technique to the challenge. Happy 4th of July to all who celebrate!

Floatfest and Ahh!
for IAST #151

Elements of Art: 2D Shape to 3D Form

I've had a Strathmore Coal Black Drawing Pad in my stash for a while now and using it is a really different experience than drawing with dark mark-making tools (pen, graphite, charcoal) on white paper. Recently I tried my hand at tangling with white gel pen and white pastel pencil on this black paper as a way to overcome artist block and it worked.

But one drawing only gets me so far. That's just the first pancake. You know, the tester pancake that gets a little overdone on one side but is still gooey in the middle as you fine-tune the temperature of the griddle and the thickness of the batter. That first pancake is usually edible but it's far from the fluffy, golden brown flapjack you were envisioning.

If my goal is learning more, making better and more meaningful art, I can't stop there. I need to keep making more pancakes.

One way to dig deeper is to do some (kind! compassionate!) self-critique to assess how well I've been handling the elements of art and the principles of design. For this post I'll stick to the elements of art which are the visual building blocks used by an artist: line, shape, color, value, form, texture, space.





Up until recently, my approach to tangling on black paper relied heavily on the art elements of line, shape, value, and texture (through pattern).

Abstract black and white drawing created through intuitive composition
and the meditative application of repeated line, shape, and pattern.
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

Drawings like this one can be fun to create and interesting to look at because of the varied and complex patterns arranged in whimsical ways. I notice though, that it is missing the representation of dimension (form) and depth (space) that I've been learning to add with graphite shading to my drawings that start with a light background. Artist and instructor Eni Oken calls it "shading fearlessly" and her instructional materials and mentorship has influenced a huge improvement in my work.

Drawing of a sphere wrapped in ribbons
on tile-patterned background.
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

Unlike Zentangle, which relies heavily on outlines, classical drawing techniques use changes in value and negative space to indicate the edges of an object and to render the illusion of a 3D form, like this sphere.

High contrast drawing of a sphere showing a three-
dimensional form with bright light and dark shadows.
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

So my challenge for myself over the next few weeks is to figure out how I can marry the two approaches together to create lively, three-dimensional drawings in the Zentangle style on dark paper. What are you going to challenge yourself to do art-wise this week?

My advice to myself, and to you, is to try something new and then try it again and again.

Make more pancakes!