Waiting

Waiting takes up a lot of time, doesn't it? I know this year we are all waiting to see when the pandemic will end. We're waiting for things to get back to "normal". We're waiting for the year to be over. (Remember how we all wanted 2020 to be over?)

I've been waiting to get over a virus this week, and waiting to be tested tomorrow, to be sure it's not COVID-19. Then, there will be some more waiting for the results. I'm not anxious, thankfully. And I've used this waiting time to do some tangling.

After our Christmas gathering on Sunday,I revisited the 12 Days of Zentangle. I did these in my journal, and wished I had done them on tiles! (I don't enjoy drawing in my journal and find it awkward.) 

Day 1

Day 2

I decided to get some color and large nibs back onto my drawing table! I watched a fun lesson from 7F5R Studio on youtube using the Flameflower tangle, by Debbie Bowyer. I enjoyed it so much that I did two tiles.

After seeing a post on the Zentangle Mosaic app today, I tried a lesson from the #toyoutangle classes on June 19, 2021, called "Nature's Light". This was very relaxing, too!

I like the stained glass look.

Wishing you patience in your time spent waiting....

Look, Ma! No drawing!

Have you seen the Zentangle 12 Days of Christmas videos? We're up to day 8, and the projects all involve creating dimension in one's tile to make it 3D! Not just through extreme shading and highlighting, but dry embossing, folding and more!

I haven't been able to follow along as faithfully as I usually would, and that's okay. But I did want to share a few of my creations, and hope that they, in turn, might inspire you.

First, a dry embossed card for my sweetie. (This was day 3 of the 12 Days of Zentangle.) I followed the basic idea, and then added some color. The texture that you see was created with an embossing tool, by "carving" the design into the paper. I would love to do more of these. If you don't have the tool, you can use a ball point pen that is out of ink, or a mechanical pencil with no lead.

We have a new Christmas tree that is quite a bit smaller than what we usually have. I needed some more decorations, so I decided to make a garland with folded tiles. (I had seen this years ago on the Zentangle blog.) I used some distress ink and pigment dyed papers for most of the 2-inch tiles. I made a template with Flux on a regular sheet of copy paper so I didn't need to draw the individual patterned tiles. I

cut them out, and folded all these 2-inch squares. (Parallel folds spaced 1/2 inch apart.) Then I glued two sides to make the triangular prism shape. Tips: I used a scoring tool before folding, and double-sided tape to assemble them. I strung them together on some 1/8 inch satin ribbon that I had. I think it would be interesting to put them on a wider ribbon, too.

My other project was an ornament that Rick made on day 8, using 4 Bijou tiles. I chose to use more dyed paper for these.

Even though I haven't been able to draw along with the ZT crew, I have enjoyed finding inspiration to create decorations for our little tree.

My New Year's cards for Meals on Wheels featured a quote about new beginnings.

May you find magic in every new beginning!

The 3 R's of Resilience

Do you remember the 3 R's of education? Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic. This week, I finally made a tile that was taught in a Tangle for Solidarity lesson from June 2021. (This is a free class offered by 7F5R in Singapore. I highly recommend it.) As I drew along during this meditation, I realized that we are heading into our third year of the pandemic. What a sobering thought. I began to think about how we've all changed, and how, hopefully, that includes some positive personal growth. (Yes, it's drawn on the back of a Zentangle tile.)

Later in the week, I read an article about coping skills that West Point cadets learn that can help us deal with the pandemic. I had to find a way to summarize this important lesson, and create a "note to self"! I call this "The 3 Rs of Resilience".

Other goings on...

Sand Swirl Tree, on youtube

Blattwerk, Dealys and Yerba

What resilience skills have you learned during the pandemic?

Time to Slow Down

In this morning's meditation, I read a blog post from The Tapping Solution: 10 Mantras to Bring Intention and Positive Purpose to Your Day. I chose to focus on "I have time to slow down." 

Sometimes I forget that I'm retired. I chose to retire early in 2015 so that I could have time to be. To read, study, write, draw, serve, and generally take time to create the life that I felt was meaningful for me. In that mix, the latter sometimes gets pushed to the side, so I was glad to see this reminder.  I have time to slow down. That can seem like a luxury in our hurried world, but I believe that you don't have to be retired to slow down. Being mindful, of our breathing, of our food, our coffee (see last post!), of those around us, of the sky--involves  s l o w i n g     d o w n.  In the Zentangle Method, we slow down to practice gratitude and appreciation in step 1. 

Here's my "slow down" tile from this morning:

The tangles are Patakon and Bluster.

And an act of relaxation last night:

Dirdam was so relaxing to draw.

How do you take time to slow down?

Don't Miss It!

My last post, Inviting Inspiration, seems to have gone unheeded in my creative life!

Maybe I forgot to invite her. Maybe she was busy. Maybe I was too busy to answer the door....

Whatever the reason, I've been through something of a dry stretch in the past few weeks. This morning, I had an "aha" moment. I realized I had drunk more than half of my coffee without really enjoying it. (NB: My morning coffee is one of the many highlights of my day!) Worse yet, I realized I had less than half of it left to enjoy. I had been scrolling on my phone, and fallen into a rabbit hole, albeit a lovely Zentangle one.

To the drawing table for another "Note to Self" tile! Luckily, the "note" was already on my desk. "Be happy in this moment. This moment is your life."

I used my new gray Micron pens. I had an unexpected

opportunity when the pen picked up some pigment and

made a pink mark. I added more colored

 strokes to the background to make it blend in :)

Other goings on:

Some notes on Mucha elements

A journal page that began with some 

slow painting and ended up with tangling.

Inspired by 7F5R. I wanted to explore personalized 

tiles for Christmas gifts. The green and blue tile

 was too dark, so I tried another one in white.

 When I came to the center square, I made

 it a window that looks into the sky.

 (I love looking out the window 

in my studio to see the sky. 

It's right up there with my morning coffee!)

Life is moments. I hope that we'll all be more mindful. Have you missed any today?