Storytelling and traveling tangles

In my last post, I mentioned my recent obsession with the beach and trying to recreate the beaches of my life. Once I let go of any plan, the tangles and memories started flowing out of my pen, and I found myself back among waves, shells and beach umbrellas.

This morning, I grabbed my pen to practice the tangles for today's Zoom class: 'Brella, Oybay, Dragonair and 1-2-3 O'Leary. I already had my demo tile, so I just wanted to practice the tangles. Since they are all border tangles, I began with a Dragonair border. I continued with 1-2-3 O'Leary, Surf's Up, Oybay and finished with a piece of Brella. I had chosen a tan tile, just to do something different. But I was enjoying the tangles so much I forgot to use my brown pen, only black. Hmm. I went for the colored pencils. And while I was coloring, I remembered more details about Biarritz, my favorite beach. The turquoise water that became deep green. The white sails bobbing along during regattas. The golden sand and pebble beaches. (Not so many shells here, but shell pieces.) And those beautiful striped cabanas. When I finished, I realized that the colors I had used brought back more memories, of my favorite building in Biarritz, the Casino. I could see the vivid colors of the rugs and tapestries and arm chairs of this amazing Art Deco interior, with its floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Atlantic and the Grande Plage.

Maybe not museum worthy, maybe not the "best" I've ever draw, this tile will always manage to take me back to a favorite place and time, with a beach umbrella to lounge under.

I invite you to explore traveling with your tangles. If you're on a trip, take time to really see the colors, shapes and patterns around you and make some notes. (Photographs, which we take so easily and then often forget, don't hold the same power, at least for me, as drawing your  own images.) If you're not traveling, but staying home, revisit a special trip through drawing. What images, colors, feelings emerge as you close your eyes and go back in time? Is there a story you want to tell?

Never, ever, ever give up

I have begun following Mindful Art Studio's Friday Art Parties, on Facebook. Amy, the instructor, is an art therapist and her free hour-long classes with lots of breathing exercises and mindful stroke-making are always a delightful way to end the week. She has us come to class with small rectangles of watercolor paper, sometimes only 2 inches wide, and we may use several of these during the hour. "When you're done, put it aside and start another one." No looking back. Always moving forward and making more marks. For those who hear the inner critic saying, "That's ugly", she says, "Are you doing this to sell it to a museum or to make some art and have fun?" One day she quipped, "You gotta make a lot of junk before you start making something pleasing."

That message kept coming back to me this week. My staycation has my mind wandering to the beaches of my life, and I've been trying to re-create them in my tangles. I want to draw shells, seaweed, waves, sea oats, sail boats, regattas, beach umbrellas, starfish, sooooo badly! (I've often tangled in my travel notes over the years, with visual souvenirs of where I've been. Nothing museum worthy, of course! Just fun, inside jokes and reminders that only I understand.) All week, I kept struggling, looking through hundreds of tangles, trying to find a composition, until finally I realized that I wasn't practicing the Zentangle Method. I was trying to represent my visual memories. And I was making a lot of junk!!!

I picked up a watercolor wash that I had done after one of the Art Parties. Once I started stroking the ink on the page, things changed. My inner critic shut up. I started to see beauty and get excited about where my pen was taking me! And before I knew it, it had taken me to the beach! The next morning, I picked up my pen, too sleepy to have a "plan" for it, and off we went! As I drew, a story developed about a day at the beach...

Featuring Konk, Funf and Trigue

Featuring Konk, 'Brella, Clamz, Funf and Surf'sUp

Don't be afraid to make junk. But don't be afraid to let your pen lead the way. And "Bon voyage".