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!

 

More Postcards to Myself

When I was on vacation, I didn't have time to complete all my drawings. I would take pictures of things that I found inspiring, and when I got back home (to the hotel), I chose one and did an ink drawing. If time permitted, I pulled out my pocket watercolors set and water brush pen and added color. If not, I waited until there was time. This week, I finished two more entries.

I saw two new tangles and added them to my new journal, before thinking, "This should just be for travel tangles." Oh, well! I like using the small journal during the summer, when I spend less time inside drawing.

Bitona, on tanglepatterns.com, is easy and fun to draw!

Well-T, also on tanglepatterns.com, is a high-focus tangle, but enchanting!

I did a couple of pre-dyed tiles before vacation that I hadn't posted.

A morning on the porch

A new tangle, "Maggie May"

Finally, two of my cards for our Meals on Wheels friends this week:

"Bluster" and "Flamed Flower" tangles

Postcards to Myself

Catching up on Lar's vacation time, we took off to the southwestern mountains of North Carolina last week. We explored mountains and waterfalls, and admired the natural beauty and wonder. Asheville seduced us again, and revealed its hipper district with thrift shops and used bookshops aplenty.

After our previous trip to Asheville, prepandemic, I purchased an Eni Oken lesson "Souvenir Samplers", about using images from one's travels to make a small collage. I liked the project, but found that the tiny tangles were restrictive, so I took the concept and altered it. I made a new 3.5 inch square journal with an inspiring travel quote on the cover.

My 2019 "Souvenir Sampler", 6x6 inches

My new journal

Each day, in the beauty around us, I looked for images that I thought I might be able to deconstruct. I didn't always use proper tangles in my artwork,but focused on patterns.

"Crizzy" is a tangle reminiscent of the zinnias in front of this restaurant

Beautifully carved butcher tables from France in the lobby

Msst, for the waterfalls, with some ash and locust leaves

The lily pad pond at the entrance to the hotel,

drawn with Margaret Bremner's Lilypads tangle, of course!

I still have a couple more to finish, so stay tuned.

Have you ever used your vacation images as inspiration for your tangles?

A special post: ONE STROKE AT A TIME

 Back in March, Kim Best, a local retired journalist and documentary filmmaker, contacted me about being in a video to spread the word about the Zentangle Method. I wanted to share it with you, and to give her a shout out for her excellent and amazing work! Her patience, skill at interviewing and fine-tuned editing were amazing to me. She created a capsule with the essence of Zentangle so that anyone can get a feel for what we do! I hope that you enjoy, and will take a moment to leave her some positive feedback, and pass it on!  

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!

Summer Fraganic Prompts

This week I discovered @jenicekhh on FaceBook through her delightful and satisfying "Summer Fraganic" prompts. In these prompts, she suggests a fragment and an organic tangle. We figure out the rest. This has always been one of my favorite combos, since it repeats a frequent pattern in structured gardens: a plant and some sort of support or patterned pathway. These prompts give me the feeling of working in the garden. I'm enjoying them so much, and since they come out every other day, I don't feel pressured or overwhelmed. She even posts her lessons for them on her YouTube channel. I strongly encourage you to try one! Here's what I've done so far. Please note that the fragments aren't identified, just the patterns. You will see the fragments on the list of prompts.

Day 1:  Hollis

Day 2: Hirari

Day 3: Toodles

Day 4: Inaflux

I hope you can take time this week to appreciate whatever organics come into your life!

With gratitude and appreciation.

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!

Earth Day 2022

 With gratitude to and appreciation for our extraordinary Mother, Earth.

When you feel overwhelmed by everything that needs to happen to change the world and respect our planet, remember that it's all of our baby steps, our little things, our small sacrifices, that will eventually bend the arc.

"Never doubt that a small group

 of thoughtful, committed citizens

 can change

the world;

indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

Margaret Meade

More Mesmerizing Magicals

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was learning to use the Lindy's Gang Magicals thanks to a workshop with 7F5RStudio, Mesmerizing Magicals. I've always enjoyed their beautiful backgrounds and jumped on the chance to benefit from their experience. The Magicals are finely ground pigments that are activated with water to produce deep, vibrant colors. Many of them include micah, which gives a subtle shimmer. You can even purchase the "shimmers"--gold, copper, silver, rose gold and pure shimmer--for more dramatic effects.

These tiles are from the workshop:

And these were extracurricular :)

#tanglingforukraine

More powders arrived yesterday, so stay tuned!