This is by far the biggest murals I've done:

~ 3 walls 3 x 4 meters and 9 x 4 meters in size

~ 20 hours of drawing time

~ Scaffolding maneuvering!

~ Almost 20 POSCA pens used

I will be posting the time lapse videos for this project and others on my site soon. Fun to watch and a reminder of the efforts put in.

If you are interested to have such a mural done for your office, home or church. Feel free to email me for a quote on hello@talitaolivier.com

These are one of my favourite tangles. It is called Bales. See how to draw it here.

I love the results. From different angles the silver either 'shines' or have a 'matt' look. The pen drew very easily on the wood surface. A nice idea for revamping some old furniture?

Enjoy!

This year (my first) the project was to enhance the halls of the Children's wing in the Karl Bremer Hospital in Parow. There were so many people involved from artists to crafters to artsy hands to food providers! All working together in a common goal to "paint forward" the gifts we receive to others.

And what a fantastic experience. We were painting and drawing for 2 solid days! The end results are fun and a wonderful uplifting effect in the Ward.

Thank you for letting me be a part of it! By clicking the link above you can join us for the next project.

The reason I twisted Mom and Dad's arm to draw on their walls is a future invitation to a project called "Painting it Forward". The project involves arty volunteers to paint on the walls of the Children's Ward in the Karl Bremer Hospital. I was invited because of my Zentangling and I needed a dress rehearsal!

Not only was this the first wall I drew on I also used the now famous "POSCA Acrylic Paint Markers" for the first time. What a joy by the way. I used a Black POSCA PC 5m bullet shaped pen. The tangle pattern is one of my favourites, but unfortunately I do not know it's name.

I drew a very light pencil 'string' (guideline) in order to gauge the size of the tangle. I normally work with much smaller scales so adapting to the wall sized tangle did take a bit of additional thinking.

Interesting things I learned:

1 - I LOVE Posca pens! My favourite and most trusted supplier is Decle Edge in Woodstock. (www.decleedge.co.za)

2 - Make sure the wall is clean. Wipe it with a clean damp cloth and let it get completely dry.

3 - Learn about how to take good time lapse videos on your mobile. iPhone is fantastic and there are some excellent YouTube vid's on this. See: How to take amazing iPhone time lapse videos

4 - This project took me approx 25 minutes per wall (drawing time)

Mom and Dad love their tangled wall and I must say I absolutely loved drawing it. Soon to come the time lapse videos of the drawing.

I am deep into prep for my fist market! Still a bit unbelievable but I'm excited and thankful for this opportunity.

Come support me and my art at the Protea Heights Dare to Care Winter Market.

I will be selling my art plus a few new items I made exclusively for this market. All items are hand drawn by me.

Photo frames, lovely cushions and of course the tangles for sale.

See you there!

Thank you Betsie Drost and enjoy it.

Friederich Nietzsche said: "The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude."

This is why I tangle. I feel the gratitude towards God for all His mercies and blessings so much more deeply when I am in a creative state. It is this gratitude that led me to all kinds of new ideas and influences from others for my art in 2016.

It started last week, with a revamp of the gallery art photo session at my house. Exciting stuff! Suki from Jagged Daisy, (www.jaggeddaisy.co.za) visited and we had so much fun taking life style pics of my art. Soon you will be able to browse through these beautiful pictures on my site. Thank you Suki:)

I am also very excited to announce a new product launch very soon! Keep your eyes open for that.

If you have any questions about my art please feel free to contact me on:

If I had to describe myself as a 'Tangler', I'd say "old school". I like the 'rules' around tangling … white tiles, black pen. My art reflects that as well. I'm the traditionalist, I guess. Do it the way it is supposed to be done - not to point fingers to the wonderful Zentangle Inspired Art (ZIA) that people do. There are some that I really, really love. When I draw I enjoy the process of the abstract. Just creating, not necessarily creating something…

I loved to colour as a kid. Even growing up as a teenager you would always find all the colour pens in my pencil case. And with the recent BLOOM of colouring books for adults, I've been wondering if I should not try it again … but then I think: "No I’d rather draw tangles in that time :)"

So a few days ago I was rehearsing a lot of music … it is that time of the year and after singing "Blou" from Laurika Rauch about a million times, the colour blue kind of wanted to come out.

So I grabbed one of my sketch books and just started with a pattern I've always wanted to try - in blue!

I kind of liked the result. I will keep on experimenting, but I thought I'd ask what you think of it? Maybe try it on a tile?

A happy colourful day to you all:)

Like any art form the use of the right materials are essential! And in Zentangle® it is no different. Here are my weapons of choice:

A quality paper is key - I like the Zentangle® 3.5" square tiles. They are die-cut from mould-made, acid free 100% cotton, heavy-weight fine artists' paper with a vellum surface finish. I buy these from the Zentangle® website (www.zentangle.com).

I do use some A5, A4 and A3 paper as well. My favourite is the "Amedeo - mixed media pad, 200gsm" and is available from most art shops and PNA.

The Zentangle® favourite is the Sakura Pigma Micron® 01 and I agree this is the way to go. The pen will last long and keep it's color. The ink is waterproof, chemical proof and fade resistant. The pen is designed to create a .25mm wide line. In the Western Cape you can find Microns® of any width and color at most PNA and art shops. My favourite shop to get them cheapest is the Crafters Inn in Somerset West.

A good substitute are the Uni Pin Fine Liners. I normally have a set to back up my Microns® because when I practice I don’t use my good pens:) I also like the Unit Pin Fine Line 0.8 because it makes nice thick line and colors accurately.

Pencil - A soft pencil is best for drawing strings and shading. Not to dark, but experiment with the darker shades as well, its fun! I still use my Zentangle® pencil because it is a short one. And the hand position is important … not like you would normally use it …

Tortillion - A tortillion or a smudge stick is a small rolled paper tool to get into those fine corners which are too small to smudge with your finger tip.

I tried to find good tortillions in South Africa but the long and short is, you need to get them from overseas. I order mine from the Zentangle® website (www.zentangle.com). You use a tortillion for shading, to 'distribute' the graphite of the pencil you used for shading.

Nice tip to keep your tortillion sharp? Use an "emery" board.

Happy tangling!