Artist Statements and Fraternal-Twin Tangles

Way back in the day--I think it was my junior year of high school--I took a sculpture class and had to write my first (and last) artist's statement for one of the projects.

From what I remember of it, my statement went over much better than my sculpture.  (The sculptures had to be made from things found in the woods around our school, plus two "less natural" supplies.  I think I used rubber bands and paper clips.)  I walked away from that project thinking, "Well, I may not be much of a sculptor, but I can sure BS like a pro."  Pretty sure that's not what my teacher intended!

In hindsight, I think what made me uncomfortable (and therefore ready to call it "BS") about the statement is that when we're being creative, we're busy using a different part of the brain than the part that sits down and tries to write a coherent statement.  For me, it's easier to say, "I don't know why I did that.  It just seemed right," than to try to capture whatever was going through my head at the time.  Sometimes I really don't know what I was thinking, but other times, I'm just too embarrassed to admit that "Oh, I was thinking about sticky little ants."

I suspect that I really need to get over that embarrassment in order to grow as an artist.  So... there will be more about ants in a moment.

I recently hosted a Fraternal Twins Tangle Swap on Swap-bot.  The idea was that each of us would start two identical tiles.  We would complete one of the tiles and send both to our partner, so that she could complete the other (without peeking at the first twin until both were finished).

Fraternal Twins swap - Step 1 by Cristin91, on Flickr

I was lucky that the partner sending to me was my friend, Jo.  She sent me a string that had one section filled in with Bales.  I was happy to see Bales and seriously considered a monotangle... except I thought it wanted some Mooka, too.

Fraternal Twins - Step 2 - Adding Mooka

I had been reading some older posts at A Little Lime that day, and there was one where Helen talked about how the bottoms of Mooka sometimes turn out too clunky. I agree, and I loved her solution to the problem.  I like how sleek these Mooka are at the bottom and how closely they follow the string line.

(Please pardon the stray cat hair in the corner of that photo.)

Fraternal Twins - Step 3 - A bit of Onamato

I had been thinking that there would simply be variations of Bales behind the Mooka, but the lines of the stems reminded me of Onamato. I drew a variation of it, and then kept adding little black beads along the one side.  

Now, I'd like to say that I'm not sure what's happening with those beads.  But I know, that without ever consciously thinking "Hey, I'm drawing ants!" that I was drawing ants.  Because I look at this photo and see a checkered tablecloth, some blades of grass, and a happy little line of ants invading a picnic.  I'm pretty sure that if I see that now, I was sensing it then.

Fraternal Twins - Step 4 - Bales to StarBarz to...

I was now seeing part of the tangle as something like a hankie or a picnic cloth.  I thought it would be more fun to fill the cloth with tangles similar to Bales, instead of variations on Bales.  I started adding StarBarz, using a variation mentioned by Linda Farmer, and that lead to a little game of Tic-Tac-Toe in the corner.

Fraternal Twins - Step 5 - Starting to add Hopscotch

Once there was an O in the corner, it had to become a hole. And once there's a hole, don't you have to thread something through it?

It was after this point that things started to go wild. I was having too much fun to stop, and the scene from Disney's Cinderella with the birds and mice working to decorate the dress was in my head.  They were busy flying around, adding beads and and lace to the "hankie."

The Wild Twin completed

For a while, after I'd added the first of the Inapods on the left, I thought I had gone too far and ruined the balance of the tile.  But when I added filled-in sections to the Crescent Moons on the right, and then added some Bunzo too, I couldn't have been happier with it.  I haven't been tangling long, but I think this was the most fun I've had with a tangle so far.

Fraternal Twins Tangles by Cristin and LizzyJo

Then I got to unveil Jo's tangle, and I was delighted with it.  They're a handsome pair, and I like how I see lots of family similarities:

• The Beadlines and the Mookas. 
• The resemblance of the Bunzo shapes and the Antidots. 
• How the edge that changes from Crescent Moons to Inapods in mine echos the Eye-Wa shapes in hers.
• I also think there's some echos in the Knightsbridge and the Hopscotch sections.

(Tangles used-my tile: Bales, Beadlines, Bunzo, Crescent Moon, Hopscotch, Inapod, Mooka, Onamato, StarBarz.  Tangles used-LizzyJo's tile: Angel Fish, Antidots, Bales, Beadlines, Dugwud, Eye-Wa, Flux, Keeko/Basketweave, Knightsbridge, Mooka, Shattuck)

Take a break and listen

Sometimes when I'm chatting with one of my friends on Facebook, I have to tell her, "Oops, sorry.  Kitty alarm."  She's heard it often enough to know that the "kitty alarm" is when the cat is walking on the keyboard.  It's when I need to stop and focus on something else for awhile.

The Kitty Alarm at Work

When I'm crafting, the kitty alarm is when there's suddenly a cat on my paper or a fluffy tail whisking collage elements off the table with one elegant swoosh.  I could get mad, but it's better to take a break.

The kitty alarm is fairly reliable in the evening, but less so during the day.  (She's too busy watching birds between intense bouts of napping.)  When she won't do it for me, I still need to remember to take breaks and to pay attention to what other things are telling me.

My take on Zendala Dare #9

On Tuesday, I worked on a Zendala from about 4 AM to 11 AM.  There were a few breaks in there, but by the end, my hands were cramping and my thumb was tingling with pain.  What was I thinking?  There's nothing zen about working on a Zentangle until it hurts!  I do find tangling to be very meditative, but I feel like I did myself a great disservice there.

I also wonder, as much as I liked the finished project, would I have liked it even more if I'd been more mindful in my pacing?  During one of my few breaks, my eyes fell upon an altered Rolodex card by Vanne Paris and it helped me figure out how I wanted to draw one of the tangles.  What other inspiration did I miss?

Inspiration to make the Pais tangles more like cords

(Tangle info: Used the full-sized template from Zendala Dare #9 - at The Bright Owl.  Tangles used: Cruffle, C-scape, Featherfall, Floatfest, and Pais.)