Posts in 2024
Casablanca in Pink

During my last cruise we stopped briefly in Casablanca, Morocco. I took tons of pictures of historic buildings and this one detail caught my eye, I adapted it as string for this piece. Tangled and shaded with Inktense pencils and Pitt Artist brush pens.

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Project Pack 25 Day 1 and 2

Zentangle’s Project Pack 25 covers a topic that is dear to my heart: drawing behind. I decided to use some older papers I had prepared with watercolor blotches and scratches, to add an extra layer of difficulty. The first day covers tangles Doodah and Umble, and Day 2 covered a beautiful Fengle. Shaded with an Oak color inktense pencil, which gives just a hint of dark green.

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Bali Whimsy

Back in 1998 I went to Bali and it was an enchanting place for someone who enjoys ornament and patterns. I extracted the outline of a photo I took back then and used it as a string for this piece. Turned out a little whimsical, almost Seussian. You can see a couple of critters happily playing here and there.

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Fragments from Barcelona

Another sketch with fragments captured from the world, this one from the hotel we stayed in Barcelona for a night before embarking on our long cruise. It’s funny how you can find fragments even in the smallest details of the wallpaper!

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2024Eni Oken
Fragments from Brazil

During the last part of my recent trip in Brazil I did not have time to work on a proper project. So I started to capture very quickly some of the fragments I saw around me using a brown pen. Whenever I had the time, I would refine these fragments. It occurred to me that it was like an irregular tapestry made of fragments that you capture around you.

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Tenerife Pink

This is a picture that I created while aboard my last cruise crossing the Atlantic. Before crossing westbound we visited Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Tenerife Islands, and I captured some of the details of the beautiful Parish of St. Francisco de Asís. I have to confess that this picture feels a bit “too pink” for my taste!

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2024Eni Okencoloring, historic, gothic
Gothic Design Cruising

I've been MIA for over 20 days for a good reason: my husband and I went on a month-long adventure which included crossing the Atlantic on a cruise from Europe to Brasil, with some dear friends. Before leaving I selected some pictures to work on while aboard: this one is based on a Gothic artifact found in the John Leighton’s Suggestion of Designs (1880) found in archive dot org. Inktense pencils and Pitt Brush pens with a waterbrush.

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2024Eni Okencoloring, historic, gothic
Greek Design and Gaut

This picture contains a small greek artifact found in the John Leighton’s Suggestion of Designs (1880). The design is described as being a Lotus or Lily, and I made it upside-down. I also included the beautiful braided tangle Gaut (Sandra Strait). Inktense pencils and Pitt Brush pens with a waterbrush.

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2024Eni Okenhistoric
Amplion French Coffer

Another picture with tangle Amplion (Nina Dreher-Goddertz). I also included a historic fragment taken from Herbert Cole’s Heraldry and Floral forms (1922, found on archive dot org). It's a beautiful design of a 15th century French coffer. Tangled and shaded using Inktense pencils and Pitt Brush pens with a waterbrush.

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Paper Flowers

Every once in a while I like to take a break and try something different than drawing. A couple of weeks ago I watched a several videos on how to make crepe paper flowers and even made a few! It was a fun week! From dying the paper to shaping the petals and making the core, it was a fun activity. But don't worry, the fad didn't last too long and I’m back to tangling now., just didn't have the time to post these here.

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Heart Nouveau and SBahn

My second picture inspired by Inktober Tangles 2024 including Heart Nouveau (Romi Marks), Feist (Stephanie Jennifer) and half of an S Bahn (Midori Furuhashi). I’m REALLY in love with this picture, still using Inktense pencils and Pitt Brush pens with a waterbrush. When I participate in Inktober, I tend to do it a little erratically, picking the tangles I like instead of going in order.

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Amplion Heart Nouveau

The name of this picture should be “do as I say, don’t do as I do”. I often tell my students “don’t outline your work otherwise it looks cartoony”. And my hand did just that! Here I have two tangles from Inktober Tangles 2024: Amplion by Nina Dreher-Goeddertz and Heart Nouveau by Romi Marks. Drawn using Inktense paint pads and Pitt brush pens with a waterbrush.

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Zentangle Matchmaking Video Lesson

Finally available to the public, this is probably one of my most important classes regarding how to create your own work with intuitive classic Zentangle. It has a whooping 10 hours of recorded videos, and covers a TON of material on how to deal with the biggest question of all: how to combine tangles with strings (and make it your own). You can learn a lot more about it at https://enioken.teachable.com/p/zentanglematchmaking

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2024Eni Okenztmatchmaking
Celtic Manuscript Miniature

This picture is an adaptation of a design found in a book by Augusto Garneri (1921) at archive dot org and is described as taken from a Celtic Anglo Saxon manuscript miniature. Looking at other ornament books I found similar designs, so it was probably popular motif in Celtic manuscript illumination. I mixed some techniques there and it took me forever to complete! Tangled with inktense pencils, brown micron and Pitt brush artist pens.

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Sunbelt Deco

I'm in love with all the Art Deco architectural jewels of Los Angeles. The Pantages is one of my favorites, and here you see a small fragment from that magnificent theater, combined with Sunbelt, a tangle by Jody Genovese. Drawn using Inktense paint pads and Pitt brush pens with a waterbrush. I'm very happy with the dramatic results!

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Santa Monica Revival Romanesque

Another picture based on a historic photo I took in Santa Monica, CA, 1999. Unfortunately I did not register exactly where it was taken. It seems to have a Romanesque feeling - obviously as a revival, since that style appeared around 11th century. I did not try to reproduce the picture accurately, but instead used as inspiration for a stylized version. Drawn using Inktense paint pencils and Pitt brush pens with a waterbrush.

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Santa Monica 1999

Going through my old photographs and I found some historic ornament that I took in Santa Monica, CA in 1999, wow! I had just moved to Los Angeles a few years before and I was using my faithful Nikon FM camera to take pictures of historic ornament wherever I could. This picture is inspired in one of those close-ups, probably from the Santa Monica Professional Building. Drawn using Inktense paint pads and Pitt brush pens with a waterbrush.

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