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more mobile, I needed something more flexible. On chance a few years ago, I bought a set of watercolor pans at an art store in New York. They have changed my life. They are easy to carry and provide vibrant color. The ones I bought were less than twenty dollars for a set of thirty-six colors, student-grade pans. I’ve since invested in expensive, artist-grade pans and, if you can keep a secret, I much prefer my cheap ones! They are wonderful proof that you do not need to spend a lot of money to get great results.
    The big advantage of watercolors with Zentangle is their ability to cover large areas or provide minute details. The Sakura Pigma Micron pens are waterproof, so you can either put pen to paper first and then add watercolor, or put your color down first and then add pen (make sure your paint is completely dry first to avoid pen-bleed).
    Many people love watercolor paint in tubes and enjoy mixing the water themselves. Tube colors can often be more pigmented and brighter, but they don’t provide the flexibility of pans, particularly if you are on the road. Whatever suits you is great—there are no rules!

    SEZ
    Sakura Pigma Micron pen, graphite pencil

    WHO SEZ?
    watercolor pan paint Sez
    The tangle
Sez
appealed to me at first sight. Its retro look is so much fun.
    I decided to paint this tangle without the pen, using the various colors instead to create the rings. This approach is an effective alternative to drawing the tangles first and brings a new method to your Zentangle art.
    Part of the retro fun of
Sez
is when color is added. The concept of
Sez
is quite simple, but instead of using pen to create lines, I chose to let the color of the paint create the lines. It was painstaking work to create (I used analogous colors violet, red and blue in various shades) and then I created the “linking circles” in orange (which continued the analogous theme). Playing with color can be an effective and simple way to create a point of difference without actually doing something differently than first taught.

    CYME
    Sakura Pigma Micron pen

    THE SUMMER GARDEN
    watercolor, watercolor paper
    This is possibly my favorite ever Zentangle creation. It uses the official tangle
Cyme
and a tanglation of the pattern
Pokeleaf
.
    Cyme
is a “go-to” tangle for me. It pops up in my Zentangle and art journaling work regularly. It is an organic, flower-based tangle. When I created
The Summer Garden
, I started with several smaller flowers at various places on the page and then gradually built them out until they connected. This wasn’t deliberate—I just let the pen take me where it needed to go. Once the pen work was finished, I chose my color palette and tried to mix it up as much as possible. I then added the leaf tangelation of
Pokeleaf
. Finally, I felt that the whole page needed a background color and the blue was a perfect complement to the summer, citrus palette of the flowers.
    I started with the center petals on all five blooms, and then I gradually built them up until they met. As they met, I used the “drawing behind” method so they appeared to layer over each other. I then chose various shades of pink, red, orange and yellow for the petals on a blue background. The blue watercolor is not consistent, but that is what I love best—the various water levels add organic markings, giving some dimension and character.

Gouache
    Gouache is a type of watercolor paint that was traditionally used by graphic designers before the arrival of computer design technology. It is an opaque paint that is activated by water and dries to a matte finish. Many designers still use gouache, as do illustrators, but it does takes some practice. Gouache looks fantastic on printmaking and watercolor papers.
    Take a squirt of gouache from your tube and add water. I do this one drop at a time because if it becomes too watered-down, gouache becomes more transparent. It is important that you mix enough and use your paint in one sitting; it will stay