Oh, nooooooo! (See it grow: Week 4)

"Oh, nooooooo!" I cried out from my studio. After 28 days of working on my fan piece, I had done the unexpected, the unthinkable.

This is my 325th blog post. If you've been with me for a while, you know that one of the pillars of the Zentangle Method is "No mistakes". You know that I make mistakes, and I work around, over, under them and it's okay. But this mistake....

I stared at the ink squiggle in the white space of my art, and then, wiped my hand over it--as if to brush it off!--and smeared it. Yes. For some reason, I had continued the inking on my small drawing table rather than the card table I've been using. I mistook that white surface for the blotter paper that covers the small surface and gives me a place to clean my pen. I cleaned my pen on the artwork. And then smeared it.

The scene of the crime

The victim (The squiggle is in the upper right hand corner.)

The fragments (A Fragment of Your Imagination Challenge, 2023)

This mishap has certainly not bolstered my confidence. I have no idea where we'll go from here. But after it happened, I pulled out my colored pencils and started bringing those pansy blooms and peonies I see to life. For now, I'll stay on that path, cajoling things out of the background, sculpting with my pen and pencils. When the time comes, we'll get to the squiggle and see how it all fits in.

Here are some other, less scary, tiles from this week:

This was fun!

A tealight for a dear friend

What horrors have befallen you in your art? How did you deal with it? What would you do with the squiggle?

Uncharted Waters (See it grow: Week 3)

In one of my favorite TV episodes, Wally, the older brother of Beaver, explains to his perplexed parents who are seeking his input about the young sibling, something like, "Gee, Mom. How would I know? Beaver's never been this age before." Ah, the Wisdom of Wally! Lately, in my morning meditations, I've often seen words about the power of not knowing, learning to accept the "uncharted territory" in our lives, letting go of our "Expert Mode" of thinking and acting. So many crossroads that we have yet to come to. As I read somewhere "You've never been this old before, and you'll never be this young again." Sobering thoughts! But they remind me that every moment is new, that we are constantly challenged with learning and exploring. 

In week 3 of the Fragment of Your Imagination Challenge, this feels particularly relevant. Looking at the remaining inches of the design that remain, I have, in all honesty, started to get a little nervous. How am I going to respond to this space with honor and courage, and even humility? I imagine different options. I think, "But I don't really know how to do that?" Shading, the sixth step of the Zentangle Method, is often my favorite. But with this piece, I'm hearing that critical voice: "If you ruin it, you won't be able to correct it!" Ugh. The power of not knowing? I have 10 more days to draw. As I advance through them, I will see things a little differently, learning and exploring as I go. And then we'll see!

For now, here's what we have:

End of week 3

Week 3 Fragments

Other tiles from this week:

For a friend

Just for kicks

A gentle reminder

Are you in some uncharted waters? What are you exploring now?

Have a wonderful week, and Happy Lunar New Year! 🐇

How did that happen? (See it grow: Week 2)

I just came back from an awe-inspiring weekend at Lake Mattamuskeet, NC, watching waterfowl, in particular, tundra swans. Thousands of giant white birds, with 6-foot wingspans, "snowbirding", as it were, in the balmy--to them--waters of North Carolina's largest natural lake. They had come from the Arctic Circle to feed and pass the winter. Even with the 25-mph winds and the subfreezing temperatures, Lar and I couldn't take ourselves away from them. 

What's this got to do with my art? Nothing, and everything. I've written many times about how nature is a constant source of inspiration. This time, I didn't have my hand-made journal to document patterns. I wasn't even looking for them, if I'm being perfectly honest with you! I was just swept away in the moment, many of them, admiring the swans' beauty and grace and humor. And this morning, when I started thinking about my blog, I had totally lost track of time. Somehow, I was about to post week 3 of my "See it grow" series. But when I looked at my art, I realized I hadn't done week 3. Oh, no! Was I a week behind? With a full schedule ahead of me, I started to panic. "I'll never have time to do the art and the post." I started planning my work out. After at least 10 minutes, I realized I was due to post week 2, not 3. Everything was in place and ready to go. Time to put aside my memories of the weekend and be here now. How did that happen? Nature had gotten in my head, and I liked it!

Here's week 2 of "A Fragment of Your Imagination":

The Fragments

A few new friends

When have you lost track of time at the sight of something wonderful?

Trust the Process and See it Grow: Week 1

Inspired by last month's large piece for the 12 Days of Zentangle Project, I've embarked on an 11 x 15 inch project using the prompts from the Fragment of Your Imagination Challenge 2023.  (There is a lovely FREE handout that you can download. Thanks to Debbie New in Singapore and Ildica Boyd in New Zealand for so generously putting this together for the Zentangle community.) Every day, there is a new little fragment to use, like little tesserae in Roman mosaics, but in ink! We are using square shapes, orbs, triangles and seed shapes. I'm not using all the suggested fragments, and I'm going out of order, but it's Zentangle, right? No mistakes. Here's my work in progress for this week:

The beginning of my fan

Day 2

Day 3

As you can see, after three days, I had covered a good bit of space. Rather than continue, I chose to put it aside for a week to come back to it with fresh eyes. Wanting to continue with the fragments, I found other uses.

These are all the Week 1 fragments in my sketchbook with

the names of their origins.

I used three of the triangular fragments for this week's 

cards for our friends at Meals on Wheels.

As with any of my art, I don't have a plan, other than filling in a fan shape with these fragments. Check back next week for a look at what has transpired!

 

The last piece for 2022: The 12 Days of Zentangle

I hope you all ended 2022 with joyous festivities! I wanted to briefly share my finished "12 Days of Zentangle" project, along with photos of the beginning, middle and end. This  year-end project challenged us all to trust the process, by working big and with several new tangles. Although frustrated at times, mostly by not having a large enough table for a screen and the 14.5 x 19.5 inch paper, I am happy with what I did, and how I handled the challenge. I, like many others, felt "like an artist" while doing this project. (Usually, the 12 Days of Zentangle is a series of 12 individual projects at the end of the year, each one on a small surface.) 

Around day 3

Around day 8, I still had lots of gaps.

Day 10, with most of the shading

Finished piece, detail of left side

Finished piece, detail center

Finished piece, detail right side

With the 12 Days project behind me, I'm looking forward to beginning another "large" piece. Did you finish any projects for the end of the year? What projects are you looking forward to?