Happy Hanukkah! Merry Christmas!

Welcome (back, if you're a returning reader)! I hope you've had a peaceful, fulfilling week as the holiday season comes to its climax for many.

My week was great since I had my husband at home. The downside was that he had the flu. We have had every possible vaccine they offer, but he still got sick. (Luckily, I seem to have come through it unscathed.) And once the flu had run its course, a sinus infection set in. My week wasn't really great, and his was definitely not fun. But we made it through, grateful that it wasn't worse. He's headed back to work tomorrow.

Because I spent most of my week care-giving, I didn't make any art, apart from food made with love and healthy choices. When yesterday came round, I realized that I still had to make my cards for our Meals on Wheels friends. I'll share my wish for them with all of you:

I wish you

all things happy,

all things bright, all things good for you

in the New Year, 

and through the holidays.

Though I'll be cooking for our Christmas guests all week, I do intend to make time for finishing our 12 Days of Christmas Project Pack 19. I look forward to showing it to you soon!

Life in the interstices

Interstices (in-TER-stih-sees): Intervening spaces, especially small ones.

I first heard this term used in Zentangle to describe those small spaces in patterns between leaves or petals or orbs. I wasn't very comfortable with it, especially with the pronunciation! However, I've gotten more used to it, and actually thought of another application for it during this hectic week.

I woke up one morning thinking of everything I had to do. My "monkey brain" was chattering away with a million items to put on my list. (Monkey brain is what I call my brain when it's swinging from one thing to another, out of control.) I hadn't even had a sip of coffee, and yet I was headed toward that feeling of being behind and overwhelmed. I managed to get a brain dump on paper to at least clear some head space, and then started about my day. Then, the unexpected started happening. My husband was sick and needed some attention. I dropped my list and went to help. My day went back and forth between him and my list, but I soon realized that I was calm. I even took some time to sit on the porch and watch the birds. I went for a walk in the forest. I spent time sky gazing. I started to realize that the interstices of this day, the in-between moments, were as important and fulfilling as the rest. Since they were moments to pause, I had been able to go peacefully and intentionally through the day, crossing off everything on my list. This felt so refreshing and new!

I mention this because I used interstices as a theme for some of my art this week. What lies in between what we focus on? 

A sunset over the mountains behind a screen at the Alhambra?

Actually the back of one drawing (the Alhambra grid) and the front of another (texturing, color).

Project Pack 19 / The 12 Days of Zentangle dropped this week. You can see the videos on YouTube. I didn't purchase the pack of supplies, so I spent Day 1 creating my template.

Then I did the watercolor wash. Today I finally started to draw. I hope to add something every day. I'll show you the results next week. For now, here's what I have:

What do you notice about your in-between moments? What lies behind what you see?

Tangles from the other side

In the Zentangle community, we lovingly refer to patterns as "tangles". This weekend I started thinking about the negative meaning of "tangle": a confused mass of something twisted together, snarl, mass, knot, disorder. I've had some real tangles in the past two years in my relationship with a member of my family. I have felt confused, twisted, uncertain and disordered. Yesterday I received a letter from a dear friend with a prayer to Mary, the Mother who untangles knots. (I had never heard of this particular devotion, but trusted my friend.) As I read, I remembered how I had often untangled knots for my daughter and for kids at school. I also thought back to the frustration of being a kid who hadn't yet acquired the fine motor skills or the patience or perhaps the sense of depth to untangle my knots. Even the Christmas lights last weekend seemed to take forever to untangle. Untangling requires us to see behind, under, through, around.

This led me to try something on a transparent paper. What if I made a design of tangled filaments? I began drawing with a neurographic technique where you place a coin on your paper and, with a pencil, push it across the paper as you try to keep the coin centered on the pencil point. Then you trace over the lines with a pen, thickening some places to form more rounded shapes. (Interestingly, the side I had chosen for the front became the back.)

Here are some other examples of drawing on transparent paper. These all followed the instructions in Project Pack 18.

With a backlight

I'll keep thinking about changing my perspective in order to untangle this relationship.

What might you look at differently in your life?

Creativity and gratitude in all things

What is creativity to you? I wonder if you cooked for the holidays, and thought about what you were creating, not just what you were cooking. Or maybe you set a beautiful table. Or created a welcoming space. Or made a great playlist of holiday songs. I love how creativity and gratitude abound this time of year. What a gift they are, not just now, but, potentially in every day we live.

I thought about this while preparing for our Thanksgiving meal this week. I felt frustrated at first. Oh, no! I didn't do any art today! But quickly I saw that these days were packed with creative acts that empowered me as an artist. A pinch of this, a dash of that. This color next to that color. And I really didn't make anything fancy. But I was mindful about what I did make. That felt wonderful and transformed the work from a necessary chore to a creative joy which, as in our Zentangle practice, always began with gratitude for the ingredients and tools and people connected with them, and appreciation.

For this, I am grateful.

I did enjoy making these distress ink tiles at the beginning of the week.

I also completed another faux eco-dyed tile.

Yesterday, I relaxed with a YouTube video from lovelygiraffetangle, who calls this "Fragments Building".  I needed a long, high-focus lesson. It took me about 4 hours to finish it, but the repetitive and grid-like structure made for a lesson that was easy to follow. I may try to create a fragment building of my own!

How's your creativity doing?

The all important first step: Gratitude

Everything begins with gratitude and appreciation in the Zentangle Practice. Gratitude gives us a chance to focus on what we have, rather than what we don't have. Our breath, our paper, our hands, our supplies. This week, as we in the US prepare for Thanksgiving, I wanted to share a tile and a story about someone many of us are grateful for.

Crazy Alan's Emporium is the largest pen retailer in the US, and, lucky for me, located only a mile from my house. I am so grateful for this "artist's candy shop", and for its delightful proprietor, "Crazy" Alan. In his 27-year run, he has provided our community with an abundance of wonderful art and office supplies at a reasonable cost, and if you're a connoisseur of fine fountain pens, he can't be beat. But nothing blooms forever, and Alan has decided to close the store in August 2023. (I can hear former students collectively moaning, "Nooooooooooooo!")

Joni Mitchell warned us: "You don't know what you got till it's gone."

Just this morning, while journaling, my fountain pen ran dry. I got another cartridge, when it hit me. Where am I going to get Pilot cartridges? Sumo pencil lead in .9 mm? Individual colored pencils in the greatest colors? And where, most importantly, will I ever find someone who pulls up YouTube videos of "What's My Line?" or appreciates the old Perry Mason episodes? who doesn't just ring up customers, but has conversations with them? who ribs us and makes us laugh?

Crazy, this tile's for you:

"Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: 

It must be produced and discharged and used up 

in order 

to exist at all."  

~William Faulkner

Who are you grateful for?

I'm so excited!

Christmas came early this week! New techniques! New tangles! New explorations!

Zentangle HQ released 7 new tangles--and zen some!-- to celebrate the ZenAgain 2022 reunion for CZTs. Once the step-outs come out--probably in the Project Pack 19/12 Days of Zentangle release in a few weeks--everyone can enjoy them together! I'm still "unpacking" them, but will share some in a future blog post.

I took Eni Oken's "Eco-dyed Tangling" class online. (You can purchase it in her shop.) This was a totally new and exciting and messy experience, aka fun! The class addresses using eco-dyed papers, which have been prepared and dyed with flowers and leaves. However, Eni also teaches us how to make faux eco-dyed papers with distress inks and watercolors. Warning: I'm hooked! If you've followed my work for a while, you know how colored backgrounds are my favorites to work with--distress inks, watercolors, pigments. These faux eco-dyed papers go there, and beyond, as they use my other favorite element, leaves. Who could ask for more? Here are some pictures of my playtime:

Supplies. Notice paper towels, wipes, and hair dryer!

My first press with leaves and distress ink

The tan tiles on the right are the first press with leaves and distress inks.

The remaining tiles have some watercolor added.

The completed "eco-dye" effect

The next step almost lost me. Eni's tiles looked so different from mine. She started tangling. I thought, "This just doesn't work with what mine look like!" I tried to follow along, but decided to go with what felt right. I wanted the leaf shapes to stand out. Here's what happened:

My favorite. By now, I was gaining confidence.

This lesson put me in a beginner mode. Every morning, I try to remind myself of a favorite Meister Eckhart quote: "Be willing to be a beginner every single morning." Being a beginner can be messy and uncomfortable. My inner critic shook her head and muttered, "You should have watched the whole video before you started!" (Smacks her teeth!) But, if I had, I might not have discovered what was in ME. And I think that's what this art thing is all about.

Finally, I close with my finished Zenbirds for Ukraine piece, taken from a lesson by Lynn Mead.

Wishing you happy beginnings.

Inspired by Nature

Lar and I managed to get away to the beach for 4 days to celebrate our 25th anniversary.  I took some previously dyed tiles that seemed appropriate for the setting.

On our arrival, we took a relaxed stroll around the island of Wrightsville Beach after dinner. We discovered a public bench overlooking the Intercoastal Waterway. The words on the bench struck both of us as important to remember: Enjoy the rhythm of life. The dance of life has different movements, some slower, some faster. This reminder to pay attention to the rhythm allows us to slow down when it's time to, and speed up when the rhythm accelerates. When we do this, we organically find a balance, much like the balance of the seasons. Rest and activity. Night and day. Winter and spring/summer. Even though we may feel overwhelmed by particularly busy times (holidays, perhaps?), life always gives us an opportunity to slow down and rest. It's up to us to recognize it and seize it.

The following morning, I took another tile that I was really scared to start. I loved the color splashes so much, and didn't want to cover them up. As I listened to and watched the waves from our room, I knew I had to honor them through this piece. After taking a moment for gratitude and appreciation, I slowly started making wavy lines. Listening, I heard the familiar mantra for calming my breath. "Arise (on the inhale). Subside (on the exhale)." I listened to the swells build, or arise in the ocean, and crash, or subside on the beach. I started to synchronize my breathing to them. And then I let go of any tension that remained. The next day, I picked up the unfinished tile and heard the mantra again. I began filling the reticula with "arise" and "subside".  I moved slowly from one cell to the next. I finished it on the third day.

Back in Chapel Hill, I was glad to see the trees and fall foliage again. I'd been thinking about matching pigments to the colors I saw outside my window. I prepared this tile, but, again, started to freeze up at how I would tangle it! Here's what finally happened:

Not at all what I was expecting! But I like the white textures on top of the deep fall colors. I would like to try another one, with sepia ink.

Stay tuned for more art inspired by nature! What things in nature have inspired you to make art?

InkTober 22: Week 5

Ta-da!

The finished piece, 10.5 x 10.5 inches, with

Lindy's gang pigments, distress ink, watercolor 

pencils, white chalk, Microns and white GellyRoll

Here are last week's and this week's patterns:

Many thanks to Stephanie Jennifer at 7F5RStudio for her challenge and all the helpful links to step-outs.

I had lots of fun learning new-to-me tangles and look forward to using them again soon!

 

InkTober Week 4: The shortest post ever!

Flash post! Lar and I are celebrating our 25 years of marriage, and the festivities are about to begin! But I wanted to share my InkTober week 4. (I'm afraid I don't have the pictures of the individual tangles, but they will appear on next week's post.)

Have a lovely week!

InkTober 22: Week 3

My friend Rhonda had a birthday last week, and we celebrated it this week. I wanted to make something to honor her joyful spirit, with her favorite color, purple. I remembered a series of Phi tiles on the 7F5RStudio site that celebrated friends. I used the string.

Rhonda: joy, kindness, laughter, energy

I wanted to do more cards for Meals on Wheels, but my neck and shoulders were not in agreement! So I pulled out a design I had done last year using Gourdgeous, and spiffed it up a bit. I was really pleased with the colors. I used Prismacolors and mineral spirits to blend them. They are quite vibrant! What do you do when life gives you pumpkins (like a stiff neck)? Make pie!

InkTober came next. Here are the tangles:

And the overall piece:

Here's to wonderful fall days!

InkTober 2022: Week 2

I mistakenly felt like I hadn't done any art this week, at least nothing on paper. I spent hours in the garden cleaning up Hurricane Ian's debris (still) and hours inside working on decluttering my studio and art closet. Those hours would definitely contribute to improving the flow of energy, and consequently, creativity. When I began gathering photos for the blog, I realized I had done more than I remembered. That felt good!

Two important birthdays in one week: my niece, Gala, and my friend, Rhonda. I really enjoyed making their cards. Gala's card used the autumn leaves piece from last week.

Here's Rhonda's:

Moving on to InkTober, I enjoyed a morning--yes!--shading what I had drawn and posted last week.

Before

After

The week's tangles

While waiting for Lar to come home, I gave my "friend" Narfello a go. 

Aargh. I always struggle with this one! I finally got it, in pencil, and inked over it. One day...!

Yesterday I enjoyed a class with Lynn Meade, CZT, on Escher-inspired tessellations of birds. The proceeds from this class went to SOS Children's Village, for relief in Ukraine. I haven't quite finished the whole piece, which is 7 inches in diameter, but I wanted you to see the birds. (They kind of remind me of Narfello!) I'll post the final result next week.

Solidarity with Ukrainian children

This workshop was yet another example of the talent and generosity that grace our Zentangle world. Beate Winkler, CZT in Germany, is teaching Zentangle to 60 some Ukrainian refugees in her area. There is also a FaceBook group called Zen Bird Club that has already had 4 Zen Bird classes, and plans to have 4 more. (The next one will probably be held on December 4th. If you're interested, check out #zenbirdclub , #zenbird5 , #zenbirdescherstyle.

Wishing you fun explorations!

InkTober 2022: Week 1

 Are you familiar with InkTober? Originally created by Jake Parker "in 2009 as a way to improve his inking skills and develop positive drawing habits", it has become a worldwide event. Stephanie Jennifer, of 7F5RStudio, has made this challenge easier for tanglers by providing tangle prompts to use. You can find the tangles and stepouts for it here.

For this year's InkTober piece, I decided to use a distress ink background with some Autumn Leaves Magicals. Starting a few days late, I decided to go with the flow rather than limiting myself to one prompt a day. First, a page in my sketchbook to show you the isolated patterns for the first 7 days.

Here's how they look so far, without any shading, and with some others thrown in just for fun. (Rule follower that I am, I just felt like jumping around this time and that feels good.)

I'll be featuring an update every week here.

Wanting to focus on the gorgeous foliage colors and transitions I spoke of last week, I did this piece. And I did some more. Done. And I did some more. There. Finished! (I realized that sometimes I stop when I'm done, but before the piece is finished. Something to be aware of.)

I hope you can join me for InkTober, whether it's for a day, a week, or the whole month!

Transitions in the Dance

Autumn. New colors. New temperatures. New patterns in our daily routine. New light. So many people say it's their favorite season, including myself. But it represents a transition to shorter days, longer nights, and that can be challenging.

As my body tried to alert me to changing barometric pressure, changing light and changing temperatures this week, I thought, "It needs to learn about the weather app and leave me alone." But that's part of my life, with its thunky stiff joints. This too shall pass. In addition to the autumn changes, we had Hurricane Ian sweeping through. (We are safe and warm and dry and grateful for this good fortune that many cannot claim.) And this intense weather had me looking out the windows, watching the swirling treetops and intermittent moments of calm and marveling at nature's power. "Sometimes storms come through to clear the air." Usually after a hurricane, our skies are a perfect azure blue. For now they are still grayish white. But the sun is popping through, and we know that blue skies lay ahead.

Inspiration came from those hours in front of the windows, and from a birthday gift of more Lindy's Magicals. (Thank you, Lar.) The Autumn Leaves set showed up at the perfect time. After making some distress ink backgrounds in Walnut and Vintage photo, I made some swatches with the pigments and a background.

More to come...

And other stuff, before the pigments came.

Illern, by Annett Rumpler

Colors from "Prairies Meadows" set. They stole the show!

An ugly duckling tile. Yuck. 

But when I painted the Ukrainian inspired "Kivka" pattern on top,

 it suddenly transformed. So glad I didn't give up.

Inspired by Debbie New (7F5RStudio). I don't think it's a pattern

in the middle, intersecting BeadLinz with auras?

In this time of transitions, may our dance move freely, smoothly and with gratitude and appreciation.