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?

Happy Hanukkah! Merry Christmas!

Welcome (back, if you're a returning reader)! I hope you've had a peaceful, fulfilling week as the holiday season comes to its climax for many.

My week was great since I had my husband at home. The downside was that he had the flu. We have had every possible vaccine they offer, but he still got sick. (Luckily, I seem to have come through it unscathed.) And once the flu had run its course, a sinus infection set in. My week wasn't really great, and his was definitely not fun. But we made it through, grateful that it wasn't worse. He's headed back to work tomorrow.

Because I spent most of my week care-giving, I didn't make any art, apart from food made with love and healthy choices. When yesterday came round, I realized that I still had to make my cards for our Meals on Wheels friends. I'll share my wish for them with all of you:

I wish you

all things happy,

all things bright, all things good for you

in the New Year, 

and through the holidays.

Though I'll be cooking for our Christmas guests all week, I do intend to make time for finishing our 12 Days of Christmas Project Pack 19. I look forward to showing it to you soon!

Life in the interstices

Interstices (in-TER-stih-sees): Intervening spaces, especially small ones.

I first heard this term used in Zentangle to describe those small spaces in patterns between leaves or petals or orbs. I wasn't very comfortable with it, especially with the pronunciation! However, I've gotten more used to it, and actually thought of another application for it during this hectic week.

I woke up one morning thinking of everything I had to do. My "monkey brain" was chattering away with a million items to put on my list. (Monkey brain is what I call my brain when it's swinging from one thing to another, out of control.) I hadn't even had a sip of coffee, and yet I was headed toward that feeling of being behind and overwhelmed. I managed to get a brain dump on paper to at least clear some head space, and then started about my day. Then, the unexpected started happening. My husband was sick and needed some attention. I dropped my list and went to help. My day went back and forth between him and my list, but I soon realized that I was calm. I even took some time to sit on the porch and watch the birds. I went for a walk in the forest. I spent time sky gazing. I started to realize that the interstices of this day, the in-between moments, were as important and fulfilling as the rest. Since they were moments to pause, I had been able to go peacefully and intentionally through the day, crossing off everything on my list. This felt so refreshing and new!

I mention this because I used interstices as a theme for some of my art this week. What lies in between what we focus on? 

A sunset over the mountains behind a screen at the Alhambra?

Actually the back of one drawing (the Alhambra grid) and the front of another (texturing, color).

Project Pack 19 / The 12 Days of Zentangle dropped this week. You can see the videos on YouTube. I didn't purchase the pack of supplies, so I spent Day 1 creating my template.

Then I did the watercolor wash. Today I finally started to draw. I hope to add something every day. I'll show you the results next week. For now, here's what I have:

What do you notice about your in-between moments? What lies behind what you see?

Tangles from the other side

In the Zentangle community, we lovingly refer to patterns as "tangles". This weekend I started thinking about the negative meaning of "tangle": a confused mass of something twisted together, snarl, mass, knot, disorder. I've had some real tangles in the past two years in my relationship with a member of my family. I have felt confused, twisted, uncertain and disordered. Yesterday I received a letter from a dear friend with a prayer to Mary, the Mother who untangles knots. (I had never heard of this particular devotion, but trusted my friend.) As I read, I remembered how I had often untangled knots for my daughter and for kids at school. I also thought back to the frustration of being a kid who hadn't yet acquired the fine motor skills or the patience or perhaps the sense of depth to untangle my knots. Even the Christmas lights last weekend seemed to take forever to untangle. Untangling requires us to see behind, under, through, around.

This led me to try something on a transparent paper. What if I made a design of tangled filaments? I began drawing with a neurographic technique where you place a coin on your paper and, with a pencil, push it across the paper as you try to keep the coin centered on the pencil point. Then you trace over the lines with a pen, thickening some places to form more rounded shapes. (Interestingly, the side I had chosen for the front became the back.)

Here are some other examples of drawing on transparent paper. These all followed the instructions in Project Pack 18.

With a backlight

I'll keep thinking about changing my perspective in order to untangle this relationship.

What might you look at differently in your life?

Creativity and gratitude in all things

What is creativity to you? I wonder if you cooked for the holidays, and thought about what you were creating, not just what you were cooking. Or maybe you set a beautiful table. Or created a welcoming space. Or made a great playlist of holiday songs. I love how creativity and gratitude abound this time of year. What a gift they are, not just now, but, potentially in every day we live.

I thought about this while preparing for our Thanksgiving meal this week. I felt frustrated at first. Oh, no! I didn't do any art today! But quickly I saw that these days were packed with creative acts that empowered me as an artist. A pinch of this, a dash of that. This color next to that color. And I really didn't make anything fancy. But I was mindful about what I did make. That felt wonderful and transformed the work from a necessary chore to a creative joy which, as in our Zentangle practice, always began with gratitude for the ingredients and tools and people connected with them, and appreciation.

For this, I am grateful.

I did enjoy making these distress ink tiles at the beginning of the week.

I also completed another faux eco-dyed tile.

Yesterday, I relaxed with a YouTube video from lovelygiraffetangle, who calls this "Fragments Building".  I needed a long, high-focus lesson. It took me about 4 hours to finish it, but the repetitive and grid-like structure made for a lesson that was easy to follow. I may try to create a fragment building of my own!

How's your creativity doing?

The all important first step: Gratitude

Everything begins with gratitude and appreciation in the Zentangle Practice. Gratitude gives us a chance to focus on what we have, rather than what we don't have. Our breath, our paper, our hands, our supplies. This week, as we in the US prepare for Thanksgiving, I wanted to share a tile and a story about someone many of us are grateful for.

Crazy Alan's Emporium is the largest pen retailer in the US, and, lucky for me, located only a mile from my house. I am so grateful for this "artist's candy shop", and for its delightful proprietor, "Crazy" Alan. In his 27-year run, he has provided our community with an abundance of wonderful art and office supplies at a reasonable cost, and if you're a connoisseur of fine fountain pens, he can't be beat. But nothing blooms forever, and Alan has decided to close the store in August 2023. (I can hear former students collectively moaning, "Nooooooooooooo!")

Joni Mitchell warned us: "You don't know what you got till it's gone."

Just this morning, while journaling, my fountain pen ran dry. I got another cartridge, when it hit me. Where am I going to get Pilot cartridges? Sumo pencil lead in .9 mm? Individual colored pencils in the greatest colors? And where, most importantly, will I ever find someone who pulls up YouTube videos of "What's My Line?" or appreciates the old Perry Mason episodes? who doesn't just ring up customers, but has conversations with them? who ribs us and makes us laugh?

Crazy, this tile's for you:

"Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: 

It must be produced and discharged and used up 

in order 

to exist at all."  

~William Faulkner

Who are you grateful for?

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.