So long, squiggle. (See it grow: finale)

Having known several writers over the years, I've often thought about editing a piece of writing and how we "edit" in Zentangle art. We don't use erasers, so we might take an "oops" moment and cover it with ink or graphite. We might morph the marks into another pattern. Or we might just leave them, like a loose thread on a Navajo blanket. There is almost always an addition to the mistake, although on rare occasions we might cut the mistake out!

Last week, in my post "Oh, noooooooo!!!!!" I described how I had inadvertently made a squiggle in the white space around the large project I was working on, and panicked for a moment before continuing to work on the rest of the piece. Not sure how I was going to finish it this week, I knew I had to do something. I would not just leave this to the side, unfinished, or throw it away, or cut it!

I took a few days to play with collage. No connection to my Zentangle work, just for relaxation and something different. Then I took a class on creating a gold look with colored pencils. I just needed to clear my mind before going back to the Fragment of Your Imagination Challenge 2023 piece. I'm glad I did.

"A Fragment of My Imagination", 11x15 in.

I'm grateful to 7F5RStudio for the Fragment of Your Imagination Challenge. Grateful to Lindy's Magicals (and the squiggle!) for inspiring me to leave the fragments and see the flowers. Grateful to the Zentangle crew for Project Pack 19 and the courage to think big. And grateful to Rick and Maria for giving me the desire and the means to get reacquainted with my inner artist.

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.

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.

My first gallery piece!

Carrboro , North Carolina, is one of a few places in our state to have a Little Free Art Gallery. Similar to the Little Free Library movement, you can place your art here (or not) and take up to two pieces. A local artist and activist curates the little gallery so that it's frequently refreshed. And this week, I left my first piece there! A few days later, I noticed that the piece had been taken. (You can follow the gallery on instagram @littlefreeartgallerycarrboro.) I'm so grateful for this local expression of community, and for all those who join me in appreciating it! If you're here in the Triangle area, I hope that you'll check out the gallery, and maybe leave a piece of YOUR art!

My Zendala is on the bottom left.

Among my other explorations this week, I tried another tan tile with Lindy's Magicals in "Umbrella Drink Pink". I used a pink Metallic Gelly Roll and a Silver Shadow Gelly Roll.

I also tried a new tangle from @tangledpursuits, or Debbie New, from 7F5R, called "Sing-fanie". It's basically a cursive "s" drawn in 4's or 5's around an orb. She's so clever!

And on Friday, I picked up my new "readers". I've had bifocals for years, and never managed to use the reading lenses to my satisfaction. To compensate, I bought readers from the dollar store. But because my vision is so different in my left and right eyes, I was twisting my head funny! (If you've ever taken a class with me, you've probably noticed!) So I finally decided that I was tired of the "thunk" sound in my neck, and got some single vision glasses for reading/drawing. I literally rushed to my drawing table when I came home to try them out. And everything felt so ... out of focus! Slowly, I'm getting used to them now. This was my first go at drawing with them:

ZTHQ has released Project Pack 18, which teaches us to use a translucent paper with different tools. I followed along with the free video for Day 1, and used the materials I had on hand. Because the paper is translucent, the design appears on both sides. The Silver Shadow pen, whose ink actually separates as it dries, looks silver on one side and purple on the other.

Wishing you exciting explorations this week!

Happy 300th!

300 posts since 2016! Whew! Thank you for all your encouragement and support over the years! I couldn't, wouldn't have come this far with you!

I'll jump right in with a relevant tile from this week, that was not originally intended as a subject for my blog. Serendipity strikes again!

Yes, "Remember how far you've come." This was a meditation one morning this week. I needed a "note to self" to help me to remember to remember. Even though some days require more energy and strength than others, it can help to put them in context with your entire journey. Think of all the rough patches you've been through, of how you've survived challenges and hardships that are just a part of life. Remind yourself of your strength, of what it felt like to move through them into calmer times. What did you do to get through them? Did you call on your friends, your family, your faith, your furry friends? Where did you find resilience? Did you go for walks, do meditation, write in a journal, draw, listen to music, workout? As you remember how far you've come, how can it help you continue your journey?

My week continued with a lovely treat from Lar, through a gift card to Lindy's Gang. New toys, new colors! I've been working on making swatch charts for all the colors I have. (I have way too much fun making these!) To add to my nerdy fun, I bought these little palettes from the Dollar Tree to have the colors at the ready! I'm using my 1-inch hole punch to make the swatches, which I glue onto my spreadsheet. (I'm laughing as I type this!)

I started trying the Lindy's Magicals on Renaissance tiles this week. I had seen examples of this on the 7F5R Studio website, and would never have imagined that they could be so beautiful. The color sinks into that buttery soft tan paper, while the glitter seems to glaze the surface. I'm learning how to work with them. Here is my first go:

I wish you could see the shimmer better. My photo doesn't do it justice.

Here are two white tiles with the Magicals. I used a glaze pen in the first to create a little 3D effect.

Finally, a traditional black and white tile from my journal.

I invite you to remember how far you've come, if you face any difficulties this week. And please remember how much I am thankful your support.

With gratitude and appreciation.

Overcoming overwhelm

Did you know that our brains are programmed to always see the negative so that we are prepared for the worst case scenario?!? I learned this not too long ago, and have appreciated how that fact helps me to overcome anxiety and overwhelm. I can accept the feeling of overwhelm, look at it with understanding, appreciate that I am safe and out of danger, and move on with ease and peace. This feeling of safety helps me take time for creating.

I have continued to find joy in the #SummerFraganic 2022 prompts and my Lindy's Gang pigments.

Day 8, with Yumemi

Day 9, with Pokeroot

 

Day 10, with Dewd

Day 12, with Bronx Cheer (I missed Day 11!)

WingsSwirl, a new pattern from 7F5RStudio

I wish you peace and calm.

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!