Flip It!

I've been wanting to draw with no text, just draw for the pleasure of drawing. Today, after my morning walk, when I admired some scrollwork on a neighbor's fence, I came home, picked up a tile, and tried to recreate the design I had seen. Then, I modified it a bit in each of the four corners. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Then I remembered seeing a post on the Mosaic app about using Instagram Layout to create mosaics with your tiles. You can flip and mirror! And in just a few seconds, I have 4 times as much art :) (There are different layouts with many more possibilities, too!)

Here are some more examples. I used the letter "J" from a lesson in Project Pack 15.

My original

If you haven't already, give it a try! I think you'll be entertained!

Note(s) to self

Our Meals on Wheels clients will soon receive their Thanksgiving cards--gasp! Given my continued "micro-bursts" of creativity and joy, I designed these six models for the 60 cards I wanted to contribute. Ever since Project Pack 15 and its focus on letters, I've enjoyed using more text in my art. 

With InkTober behind us, I was thinking about a new project and remembered that I had another mini-journal to work in. I had made the background for the cover, and pulled out my Moonlight pens. (Uh-oh. She's pulling out colored pens again!) I had recently seen the newly published step-outs for Vipson, and had a fun 30 minutes of tangling. After a break, I came back and pulled out my colored pencils and maybe some other pens to finish up. When I opened the journal to inaugurate it, I saw I had already used about half of it for notes on Mindful Art Studio's Slow Drawing and Painting class! No mistakes, only surprises!!!

I took advantage of my "misstart" to review LunarFlux, from the first day of InkTober. I had misunderstood the step-out, and wanted to get this lovely tangle under my belt.

As I drew this soothing LunarFlux tile, a favorite quote from Kurt Vonnegut came to mind:

"When things are going sweetly and peacefully, please pause a moment, and then say out loud, 'If this isn't nice, what is?'"

This morning's meditation focused on gratitude for the mundane, and this phrase rang out:

Savor the preciousness of life.

InkTober!

Happy November! We are having a glorious fall here in North Carolina, and the gratitude for the beauty of the sky, the leaves, the birdsong, is palpable!

This unassuming seedling stops me in my tracks every morning, as I admire the light passing through its leaves.

I finished my InkTober pages in my journal. As I mentioned earlier, knowing how to choose colors and then shade appropriately, was a challenge in itself. Several days, I thought, "I totally understand why we use black ink on a white background." I had a full bag of pens, pencils, and markers on my table. The color palette kept growing, as the tools cried out, "Pick me! Pick me!" Whew! Such a challenge:)

Ta-da!

My overflowing tool bag, with its "cast of thousands"

I made a "note to self" relating to last week's post on gratitude. I enjoy making and then seeing these around me as I wake up in the morning, enjoy my coffee, and think about the day ahead.

My beloved Lar and I celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary on November 1. Our plans--seeing the Mucha exhibition at the NCMA and the documentary on Jacques Cousteau--had to change. In typical JL fashion, we adapted and simply enjoyed the time we had together. I believe, like our initials, we are a good fit.

Settling into Gratitude

This morning's meditation included a powerful affirmation:

In this moment, I choose to settle into a space of peaceful gratitude.

What particularly struck me was "settle". Like the Monarch butterflies that graced my garden this week, I flit and flutter about sometimes. I go from one bloom of activity to another, and forget to

I even noticed a few days ago that my InkTober practice had been all about "getting it done".I was forgetting Step 1 of the Zentangle Method: Gratitude and Appreciation. My drawing, not for the first time, was about cranking it out. This had happened before with my cards for our Meals on Wheels friends as well as for my class preparation.

This week's Meals on Wheels cards

I felt a powerful reminder as I drew the first tile and a rainbow appeared on it!

That never happened before!

I hope to remember to take a moment, or several, to feel gratitude this week before picking up my tools. I miss that deliberate moment that we always take at the beginning of our classes. I invite you to remember, too, if you sometimes forget.

I invite you to "settle into a space of peaceful gratitude" and to take time to wonder. It's the seed, in my view, of all beauty and creativity.

Remember: Even butterflies stop and enjoy!

Note(s) to Self

I love quotes and proverbs. (I recently learned the word for a collection of proverbs: a paremiography.) During this time of healing my back, I have restructured my day into "micro-bursts" of joy. These are 20-25 minute periods for gardening (without bending!!!), walking outside, making cards for our Meals on Wheels friends, tangling, reading, writing. I try to alternate between the sedentary and the standing, and then throw in foam rolling, yoga and tai chi. Most of the drawing has been for InkTober. I'm so grateful for this tangle-a-day format to complete a brightly colored 2-page spread in my art journal. Put on your sunglasses. Here's the first page:

I'm pleased, and surprised, with how I've used so many colors! 

You can see a bit of the distress ink background on the right.

I've also done some calligraphy pieces on distress ink backgrounds. These go pretty quickly and serve a purpose. They remind me of the things I'm learning during this slow life time. They bring me joy and a sense of accomplishment. Even though my time and productivity look different these days, I can still do something I find beautiful and worthwhile.

Finally, my end of summer tribute to the lovely purple cone flowers we had in abundance this year. 

Effie

Wishing you a bright and colorful week!

Oops! I did it again!

Once again, I've left my post unattended! Once again, I've overdone the drawing, hiking, reading, and gardening and had to  s l o w  down! I'm now on a "baby steps" approach to my activities, since sitting around idle doesn't seem to work for me! Small spurts of all the things I mentioned above allow me to stay sane. Sadly, I haven't found a way to teach in small spurts, so I have put my classes on hold for now. I am grateful for my students' thoughtfulness, support, and understanding.

And in that mindset, I am also grateful for Mindful Arts Studio, and the 12-day Inchie Challenge I undertook in August. Every day brought a new prompt.  Once I had my coffee and supplies set up,I set my 5-minute timer and began to make art. I especially appreciated having a small travel box of watercolors to work with, and find that I enjoy using these now on a regular basis. A new tool! As you can see, most of my inchies incorporate some Zentangle. (If you're not familiar with inchies, they are simply a small square. Mine were 2 x 2 inches.) Thanks, Amy, for inspiring me to grow and try new things! I thoroughly enjoyed this project!  And for those of you who are always looking for a new rabbit hole, I highly recommend Amy's Slow Drawing and Painting Parties! You will give yourself a relaxing hour of art exploration in a judgement-free zone. What could be better?

How about you? Have you had any "micro-bursts" of creative joy?

I am enough

In the past few months, I've been exploring some past wounds and learning to heal. These wounds all resulted in feeling inadequate, which led to lots of anxiety and worry, even sadness. One piece of my artwork captures the statement that has opened the door to healing and strengthening, moving on*. 

 2.5 inch x 3.75 inch distressed tile. I am enough.

I believe that so many of us suffer from anxiety due to feelings of incompetence or inadequacy in our lives, particularly in our artwork. In Zentangle, we practice "No mistakes", and face unexpected turns in our drawing as new opportunities. We work through, around and even over these missteps with no eraser. This is one of Zentangle's life lessons. 

Picasso said, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." We experience disappointment--frequently due to comparing ourselves to others--and continue to hear the disparaging voices of family, teachers, friends, coworkers, bosses as the years go by. Much like my distressed tile, our self-image and confidence lose their luster, and gain some nicks and scratches. Our task is to quiet those voices, so that we may hear the small voice inside that says, "I am enough." I am definitely not perfect, but the imperfection in me leads me to discover strengths and possibilities that I hadn't seen before, and that are most likely unique to me. We learn to create, to hone our unique capabilities and become who we really are, as opposed to who others expect us to be. That, I believe, is the ultimate creation of a lifetime!

***

The Tapping Solution is a holistic technique based on Chinese acupressure points and modern psychology. It is designed to resolve a range of issues that cause distress. Tapping on meridian endpoints, while addressing the distress, sends a calming signal to the brain and allows you to feel relaxed and in control. This is a free and self-administered therapy that you might find useful.

Trust the Process

Since my last post 5 months ago, I've found another avenue for using Zentangle in the community. A few months ago, one of my Zentangle friends, Melissa, invited our class to create cards for the local Meals on Wheels recipients. As she mentioned, we often make these tiles and then think, "What am I going to do with these?" Several of us are now making tiles with messages of support and encouragement on the back. Today I listened to a recording of one of the recipients talking about how much she appreciates her cards, and how they transform her entry way. It is wonderful to think that we have been welcomed into homes across Orange County! 

There are 175 folks who receive the cards every week. I usually make 20 cards each week. Sometimes I find a new pattern I want to practice, with variations. Sometimes I use a simple reticula and fragments. Sometimes I use class demo tiles. Sometimes I take old tiles and give them a new life! I've even done very minimalist monotangles with no shading in case people like to color.

Exploring different, new-to-me tangles

Using new colors

A hodge-podge of old and new

Many variations on "Oof", with an invitation to add color!

This project has encouraged me to scout out new tangles, and actually use them! I had a considerable collection of tangles I liked but never really used. Now is the time! And when I find one I really enjoy, I also teach it in our weekly Zoom class.

Between teaching and making cards, I've also been learning, since my gardening has mostly come to an end now. Here are a few pages from a handmade watercolor journal I made:

I also enjoyed learning how to create tan tiles and souvenir pages, through classes with Eni Oken.

I really love this piece.

A card for R

Remembering our trip to Asheville last year

I feel like I have gained confidence in using color and working on mid-tone papers. The 12 Days of Zentangle helped me slow down and focus on building beautiful layers of ink, chalk and graphite. Here are all my tiles:

This week I took another Eni Oken class on distress ink tiles. I think it has challenged me more than anything I've ever done! A good follow-up to the Renaissance tiles we used in Project Pack 12, these tiles also have layers (and layers!) of gorgeous, saturated color. Here's my first go, with an important reminder:

Thanks for sticking with me through this long post. Now, exhale...inhale. And trust the process as you enter this new year. May it bring us all health, hope and peace.

Storytelling and traveling tangles

In my last post, I mentioned my recent obsession with the beach and trying to recreate the beaches of my life. Once I let go of any plan, the tangles and memories started flowing out of my pen, and I found myself back among waves, shells and beach umbrellas.

This morning, I grabbed my pen to practice the tangles for today's Zoom class: 'Brella, Oybay, Dragonair and 1-2-3 O'Leary. I already had my demo tile, so I just wanted to practice the tangles. Since they are all border tangles, I began with a Dragonair border. I continued with 1-2-3 O'Leary, Surf's Up, Oybay and finished with a piece of Brella. I had chosen a tan tile, just to do something different. But I was enjoying the tangles so much I forgot to use my brown pen, only black. Hmm. I went for the colored pencils. And while I was coloring, I remembered more details about Biarritz, my favorite beach. The turquoise water that became deep green. The white sails bobbing along during regattas. The golden sand and pebble beaches. (Not so many shells here, but shell pieces.) And those beautiful striped cabanas. When I finished, I realized that the colors I had used brought back more memories, of my favorite building in Biarritz, the Casino. I could see the vivid colors of the rugs and tapestries and arm chairs of this amazing Art Deco interior, with its floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Atlantic and the Grande Plage.

Maybe not museum worthy, maybe not the "best" I've ever draw, this tile will always manage to take me back to a favorite place and time, with a beach umbrella to lounge under.

I invite you to explore traveling with your tangles. If you're on a trip, take time to really see the colors, shapes and patterns around you and make some notes. (Photographs, which we take so easily and then often forget, don't hold the same power, at least for me, as drawing your  own images.) If you're not traveling, but staying home, revisit a special trip through drawing. What images, colors, feelings emerge as you close your eyes and go back in time? Is there a story you want to tell?

Never, ever, ever give up

I have begun following Mindful Art Studio's Friday Art Parties, on Facebook. Amy, the instructor, is an art therapist and her free hour-long classes with lots of breathing exercises and mindful stroke-making are always a delightful way to end the week. She has us come to class with small rectangles of watercolor paper, sometimes only 2 inches wide, and we may use several of these during the hour. "When you're done, put it aside and start another one." No looking back. Always moving forward and making more marks. For those who hear the inner critic saying, "That's ugly", she says, "Are you doing this to sell it to a museum or to make some art and have fun?" One day she quipped, "You gotta make a lot of junk before you start making something pleasing."

That message kept coming back to me this week. My staycation has my mind wandering to the beaches of my life, and I've been trying to re-create them in my tangles. I want to draw shells, seaweed, waves, sea oats, sail boats, regattas, beach umbrellas, starfish, sooooo badly! (I've often tangled in my travel notes over the years, with visual souvenirs of where I've been. Nothing museum worthy, of course! Just fun, inside jokes and reminders that only I understand.) All week, I kept struggling, looking through hundreds of tangles, trying to find a composition, until finally I realized that I wasn't practicing the Zentangle Method. I was trying to represent my visual memories. And I was making a lot of junk!!!

I picked up a watercolor wash that I had done after one of the Art Parties. Once I started stroking the ink on the page, things changed. My inner critic shut up. I started to see beauty and get excited about where my pen was taking me! And before I knew it, it had taken me to the beach! The next morning, I picked up my pen, too sleepy to have a "plan" for it, and off we went! As I drew, a story developed about a day at the beach...

Featuring Konk, Funf and Trigue

Featuring Konk, 'Brella, Clamz, Funf and Surf'sUp

Don't be afraid to make junk. But don't be afraid to let your pen lead the way. And "Bon voyage".