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.

The heat goes on....

In previous posts, I've mentioned using Zentangle to remember a favorite place or experience. During the summer of 2020, I chose patterns that reminded me of the beach, or the ocean, or seashells to take me away from the monotony of the pandemic. And it worked beautifully!

This week, with the continuing heat, I chose cool blues and greens for my cards for our friends at Meals on Wheels. I tried tangling with watercolor brush pens, then repeating the lines with a fine-tipped Sharpie. I really enjoyed the blurry, underwater look that it created. So much so that I made 55 of them!

In my journal, I continued this color scheme.

This distress ink background became more gray than green, so I added pink and purple :)

Have a great week! (And a Happy 4th to those who celebrate it!)

Hodgepodge of Happiness

This week's art focused on pleasure! What would feel good right now? Here's the resulting hodgepodge of happiness.

Distress ink and Magicals backgrounds on some small scraps

 A relaxing YouTube video from LovelyGiraffe

A Distress Ink background and an Eva Wu video for inspiration

A Magical background with CrossUrHeart tangle

May your tangling bring you happiness!

With a little help from my friends

With immense gratitude for friends, I'll do a short post today to share how I got through this week. Many of these tiles were inspired by friends and members of our wonderful Zentangle community.

 

From a composition I admired on 7F5RStudio's website.

Alhambra String stencil by Marieke on Etsy

From Eni Oken's blog on Gothic Tracery

A "What If?" tile that began with one I made last week.

A morning meditation: No regrets. No resistance. No anticipation.

"Take Heart" pattern. #tanglingforukraine

Please take a moment to be grateful for your friends. Where would we be without each other?

Inviting inspiration to come and play

 Where do you find inspiration? Maybe it's in nature, in biographical work, in science, in math, in language... There's so much to be found in the most unexpected places!

This morning my meditation included a phrase that resounded with me: Invite inspiration to play. Several things struck me. First, the idea of making time and space to welcome inspiration, just as you would a guest in your home. I clear a space--physical and mental!-- for inspiration, for gratitude, for creativity. Second, the idea of play, and how it opens our imagination to endless possibilities. I remember as a child, how the neighborhood kids would invite each other over to play. Once I had another kid around, there were twice as many ways of imagining what to do!

Often, I find inspiration in seeing other Zentangle artists' work on the Mosaic App or through a challenge, such as InkTober. 

Fluxecho, inspired by the Art Raffle app

Very often, I find it in nature, during a walk or working in the garden.

Fluxecho, with autumn colors

Nehphi tangle, inspired by a magnolia seed pod

Sometimes, I venture out to a museum, as I did yesterday to see the Alphonse Mucha exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of Art. I came home and started drawing some notes and sketches of things I wanted to play with.

Where will I find inspiration next? I will clear some space, and see what happens!