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.

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!)

Happy Summer!

No doubt. Summer's here. Rain is not. I began my watering tasks this week, for the flowers, birds and other critters. I am very frugal with water. You won't find a sprinkler in my yard, although I would like to run through one!

With my time in the garden increasing, my time inside is down, and with it, tangling time. I still tangle every day, after realizing how important it is for my mental wellness. I've almost filled my journal that I made for June travels.

Featuring a variation of the Bekk tangle

The colors of morning on the porch

Featuring the new tangle Haeckel, kind of

I made some new background paper with distress inks in cool colors for my Meals on Wheels cards. I hated to waste the tiny scraps, so I put them to good use in journal.

With LaMar tangle

Pia

Scarabou

How do you handle heatwaves?

My neighbor, unlike me, loves the heat. I have always withered in the heat and humidity of North Carolina, and, in the 50 years I've lived here, I've never acclimated. Mosquitoes adore me. And I'm at the age where I've finally come to understand what happens to my skin in the sun. So when it's hot, as it has been this past week, I get out early and try to get back in before 11.

Tangling inside has been a great escape! I pulled out some previously colored tiles, from April 2020, when I scratched my cornea and couldn't see well enough to tangle. "Dropping" watercolors and pigments became a favorite stress reliever. I used my Alhambra string stencil for the last two tiles.

In my small journal, I played with using color with white space. (I tend to overdo it sometimes with the color!)

The drawing practically fell out of my pen, and then stopped, so I picked up my paintbrush and continued from there! 

Thinking about borders, I first applied the pigments, then tangled, using the color as my string.

Needs three little birds.

Happy Father's Day, and happy summer solstice!

 

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.

Mental "Well"ness Month

Zentangle is proposing a series of short videos for the month of May, which is Mental Health Awareness Month. They are available on YouTube and involve using the tangle "Well".  I've enjoyed the first two.

Week 1

 

Week 2

I've been on the road a bit lately, and just enjoying getting out of my bubble for the first time since the pandemic started. Lar and I ventured out as far east as Interstate 40 would take us this past weekend, to the Atlantic ocean. We both experienced awe and wonder at seeing the waves "breathe" after a five-year absence. Sunday night, the moon treated us to a spectacular full lunar eclipse, with an extraordinary orange super moon. (So serendipitous, as we didn't plan this. In our wooded neighborhood, it would have been impossible to experience.) The sun never settles for second best, and we marveled at the colorful sunsets over the Intracoastal Waterway and the sunrises over the ocean. It was all a lovely reminder of how important it is for our mental and physical well-being to give ourselves time to rest, to wonder, to experience awe.

With my road trips, the #SummerFraganic2022 prompts have helped me to continue tangling with fewer supplies, time, space. (I pull random tiles out of my pre-dyed tile stash and throw them in my tiny kit.)

Day 5, with Ginilli

Day 6, with Chainging

Day 7, with Marasu

Please give yourself time to care for your mental health, in whatever way you can. We live in difficult times, and need to pile good experiences on our plate! If we're depleted, we can't look out for each other!

Life is like a kaleidoscope

 "Life is like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope. A slight change, and all patterns alter."

-Sharon Salzberg

It's been two weeks since my last post, and the kaleidoscope of my life has gone through major, major changes. But, thankfully, I've had this quote that opened the Zentangle Project Pack 17, to consider. 

This Project Pack includes 24 triangular (3Z) tiles. Each kaleidoscope consists of 6 tiles that all use the same string and 4 tangles.  When I started working on it, I was minimally motivated. "What am I going to do with all these tiles?" I had a LOT of trouble focusing and had to begin over several times. I was not enjoying the experience at all. It became another piece in the increasing frustration and failure that I was already feeling.

Another project, doing an interview for a documentary about Zentangle, came to the rescue. Although preparing for this project initially felt like another "thing on my plate", I realized that I was reviewing the basics of Zentangle that are so important when we practice the method. Everything begins and ends with gratitude and appreciation. Life doesn't give us an eraser. Make every stroke as beautiful and deliberate as possible, and if it comes out different from what you intended, work through it, work around it, work over it, but keep going. Silence the inner critic so that the inner creator can move the pen. Anything is possible, one stroke at a time. Breathe. Be patient.

Repeating these mantras has brought me through these 2 weeks. Although I still have 2 more kaleidoscopes to complete for the Project Pack, I share with you what I have so far. Each piece measures 7 inches across.

With gratitude and appreciation, I wish you a week of wonder and new understanding.

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?