The Awesome Art of Aura

In the Zentangle® Method, aura is one of the most fascinating tangle enhancers.  It transforms a pattern and morphs the space around it into something unexpectedly beautiful.

In Rick Robert's and Maria Thomas' latest book, The Zentangle® Primer Vol. 1, they describe aura as: "A line drawn equidistant next to another line or tangle, that follows the shape of the existing line or tangle - like a halo or a ripple in a pond." (p.143)

Aura usually follows in an equidistant manner to existing lines, but as with all things in the Zentangle Method, there is encouragement for creativity and exploration.

Most of us were introduced to the concept of aura in association with Crescent Moon.  In my example below, Crescent Moon is aura-ed as the definition above describes:

Notice that each aura is drawn at about the same distance from an existing line.

Side notes:  When using aura, as with all tangles, keep in mind that the whole is very much the sum of its parts.  Focus on the outcome, not on one particular line that may not have - at first - gone in the manner you intended.
When I teach this concept, I always interject that I am a "reformed perfectionist."  In the past, a line that may have strayed a bit, become wobbly, or fallen short of the intended mark, would have unsettled me, perhaps even driven me to begin again (gasp).  That there are "no mistakes", only creative opportunities, that there is no backspace button when tangling, and that the idea (a great metaphor for life) is to always move forward, has released me of those tendencies to strive for perfection.
Only God is perfect, so the pressure is off the rest of us!

Now, taking the same Crescent Moon example, I'll add aura again, but this time use one continuous line as I work toward the center:

The look is similar, yet has its own nuances .

Let's explore one more option using Crescent Moon.  After the initial aura, I'll add subsequent aura and each time return to the points of the first aura line:

Again, similar strokes, yet the look is much different from the first.

Here they are side-by-side for easier comparison:

This leads me to one more type of aura that has fascinated me from the time I learned of it through Yamit Fridman's Z-Trick pattern.  In her step out, Yamit adds inner aura to Z-Trick's triangles by beginning and ending at the same point.

I often refer to this technique as "Z-Trick" aura.
Let's do a little experiment by adding aura to triangles in three different ways:  
     *equidistant and individual aura
     * equidistant and single line aura, and
     *in Z-Trick fashion ~

Ahh, the endless possibilities of tangling...


The continuous move of the pen that Yamit used in Z-Trick inspired two of my patterns: Pauline's Pigtail and Uncorked.  Both of these tangles begin and end at the same point and include that pleasing, continuous movement.

Here is a monotangle that features Pauline's Pigtail ~

Paulines' Pigtail Tile by Adele Bruno, CZT

And here is a Zendala that features Uncorked in the center ~

Zendala by Adele Bruno, CZT
Uncorked, Cat-Kin, Zinger, and Ahh

I hope this inspires you to explore even more aura in your tangling.

ENJOY!

*Sparkle* and Shine and Many Thanks to Sue

Recently, an avid tangler (who is mostly self-taught), wrote to ask me about the term "sparkle".  She had read about it, particularly on my Tuesday posts, but was not quite sure of what it was all about.  By definition,

Sparkle is the deliberate skip in a line to add highlight to a tangle pattern.

Sparkle is a tangle enhancer.  That is, it is a special little extra added to a tangle pattern to make it - in the case of sparkle - shine!

For more fabulous information on the subject, I turned to Sue Agnew.  Sue has been a regular contributor to my "It's a String Thing" challenges since they began last fall.  I've affectionately crowned Sue "Queen of Sparkle" because of her signature style of tangling.  I appreciate her love of adding sparkle to most every tangle she draws.

 She was happy to explain how she came to be such an avid sparkler -

I have always greatly admired Maria's [Thomas'] work, and noticed right off that she used the sparkle technique (not knowing what it was called) to highlight certain areas. I know it is very un-Zentangle to compare yourself to someone else, particularly if they are a professional calligrapher and artist -- but anyway I could never get the sparkle technique to work for me. Also at the time I was getting frustrated because I would do a tile and like everything about it except one tangle or another, particularly if it was a new tangle ... so I decided it was "OK" to practice tangles before using them in a combination work. And I started practicing adding sparkle to everything. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. But I'm probably comfortable with it now because of that time spent in total immersion or one might say total obsession.
Anything with parallel repetitive lines can be "sparkled". It's easiest when they are straight or nearly straight lines. The main "tip" I would have is to be sure the stop and re-start are all in the same line (the sparkle is just a break). I particularly had (and still have) trouble with Printemps because with curved lines it's difficult to break and re-start the line without hooking the ends.

Sue graciously sent five scans of her work along with brief notes on which tangles work well with sparkle. She said,"Until I started doing your challenge I used Aquabee Super Deluxe 4 x 6 inch sketch pads for my tangles ... I still do, and then for the challenge I tear out a page and cut it to 3.5 x 3.5 inches."

Here is the first of her pages -

Study in Sparkle by Sue Agnew

She was pleased with sparkle on Puf and Chaining - Meer as well, but "not nuts" about Warble.

Sue followed with this picture along with her observations about how sparkle behaved with the tangles -

Sparkle Study by Sue Agnew

Beelight -- OK (that's one of those hard ones with curved lines -- you can see how the ends sometimes "hook" instead of continuing smoothly); Footlites -- curved part OK, rays what's the point; Avreal -- OK; Ixorus -- not so much.

Sparkle Study by Sue Agnew

And more wonderful commentary -

Snood -- love, love, love; Inapod -- one of my favorite tangles and the sparkle works on the "pod" but on the inside it looks creepily like an eyeball; Bucky -- why (I love to draw Bucky but the sparkle doesn't do anything); Tuftid, not so much; Cockles & Mussels -- I like it but it's hard because of that curved line thing and the lines really need to be closer together I think.

Sparkle Study by Sue Agnew

Of the picture above, she noted that W2 works OK, Pea-Knuckle is well suited to sparkle while Ixorus is not.

And her notes about the following picture speak better than I could recreate -

Socc -- yes; crescent moon -- OK; Bucky -- nah; Avreal -- OK; Nekton -- nah; can't remember what I outlined the string with but it works fine; Cadent mashed up with Afterglo -- yes .

Sparkle Study by Sue Agnew

What a treasure of information and inspiration - and a rare treat at that.  It is a  privilege to be privy to Sue's learning process, to walk through her discoveries, and to view her notebook pages.

Many, many thanks to Sue, "Queen of Sparkle", for the special treat and for enLIGHTening us!