 The Magical Stars Project, Day 7 (a project from Sandhya Manne CZT in India, see previous posts for more info on this). Tangles: ICanToo, Gourdgeous, Shattuck, Orbs, and a few random lines. Microns 01 and 08 on a white Zendala tile. Colored pencils, white chalk pencil, white gellyroll pen. Ah yes, Daylight Saving Time started last night and I got approximately 3 hours of sleep. I probably should never have tried tanglng today, and this was the result. Not my best, but it 'still counts as practice, so I'm happy. And now for some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... More from that amazing exhibit at the Clark Institute.  Neiges (The Snows), a tapestry which includes a poem. See below for more details and the translation of the poem.   Woman With Lute, from a painting by Henri Matisse, and adapted by Matisse for the medium of tapestry. You can see the original painting below and compare the two. I think this was my favorite piece in the exhibit!   White mandala tile, black Microns 01 and 08, watercolor, colored pencil, gold and white gellyroll pens, graphite. Tangles are: Elegans, Crescent Moon, Romanancy, Printemps, and Fragment E15. Still thinking that less would be more with each of these...however, i am enjoying drawing and painting them. And I am keeping my practice up, which is the important thing. This is part of the Magical Stars project designed by Sandyha Manne, CZT (scroll back a few days to Day One for more info on the Project). Continuing to post tapestries from part of the exhibit at the Clark Institute recently. Feast your eyes on this one (for info about the designer (alas, the dyers and the weaver are not identified), see the info card below).  And here is a closeup of just the Moon section:    Tangles are: Phicops, Printemps, Crescent Moon, Fragments K12 and E4. Watercolor, Colored Pencil, White Gellyroll. I'm still feeling like this is "way too much of a good thing," but despite how busy it is, I had fun drawing and painting it. If you didn't catch the origin of this project, scroll back to the Day One post on February 23 and 24, in which I name the project creator, Sandhya Manne, CZT and how to find more information about it. For quick contrast, here's a small picture of yesterday's tile BEFORE I added color:  I think the color did what I wanted--calmed down some of the way-too-busy effect by emphasizing some things and causing other things to recede. This linework can be seen larger in yesterday's post.  Here is the linework only for Day Five of the Magical Stars Project. I am not enamored of this so far--too many patterns and too fussy looking. I wonder if I can improve it with color tomorrow (making some things recede and others more prominent may tone it down). I love doing this project but as I work my way through it I am certainly inclined to think that less is more--this is NOT an example of that idea.  8 pointed star on a white zendala. Watercolor, colored pencil, gold and white gellyroll pen, white chalk pencil, black Microns 01 and 08. Tangles are: Henna Drum, Spoken, Zenith, Fragments (J14, W7, G16 and T7)   As you can see, this exhibit at The Clark is not built on the traditional, medieval-style tapestries one usually sees by Gobelin. Instead it focuses on 20th century work. I enjoyed this one both for the graphic design qualities and the words. It even reminds me of a tarot card. There was another one by the same designer but somehow I didn't get a photo of that. I may have to go back. (Not a problem. I would love to go back.)
Yesterday I was at the Clark Institute in Williamstown, MA to see a mind-boggling exhibit of modern French tapestry from the Mobilier National in France. I took lots of photos and thought I'd post one every day because they are truly remarkable. If you are in the area and have a chance to go, go NOW before it closes in a bit less than a week. I might just have to go again, and plenty of folks who've seen this exhibit have been twice. They are just incredible, spanning the time between around 1940-ish (mostly just before or after the war) up to the 80s and I think even into this century. Here is the first one, by Jean Lurcat, "The Forest." Weaver unknown (a crime!), woven around 1950. A closeup is also posted below.   Here is the promised closeup. This tapestry is gigantic--so specs were given but I'm guessing it was around ten feet by 8 feet or so. It covered an entire wall. No small feat to do the weaving in one year, not to mention the pre-work of warping the loom, dyeing the wool yarns, etc. A real stunner. The more you look, the more you see.   This is the same image as yesterday's post (Magical Stars, Day 2), but I added color with Generals Chalk Pencils. Interesting to see how color can change the dynamic of what is moved to the forefront and background, making certain things more distinct.  Magical Stars Project (from Sandhya Manne, CZT), Day Two. Black Micron and graphite on a white Zendala tile. Tangles are: Diva Dance, Orbs, Flux, La Floro, Fragments N5 and B12, Pea-Fea. There is, in fact, a six-pointed star here but I tangled right over some of it so it's hard to see. This is the black and white version--just linework-- and I'll post the version after adding color and shading as soon as I'm done. Who knows if I can keep up with this project (for details of what the project is, see the previous post) but so far it's been incredibly involving and very calming. It's hard to think about anything else when drawing, just the repetitive line after line after line. And given what is going on all around us, that's helpful.  Day Three of this project: 7 pointed star on a Zendala. Watercolor, Chalk pencils, graphite, black Microns 01 and 08. Tangles are: Corsace, Delys, Cirque, Diva Dance, Tipple, Orbs & Lines, Fragment D11.  See yesterday's post for info about this piece. Materials used: White Zendala, watercolors, colored pencils, gold and white gellyroll pens. Tangles are: Hollis, Hamadox, Tipple, Florz, Mooka. Yesterday's post showed the linework for this. I drew it from the first video in Sandhya Manne's video series, Magical Stars. Click on her name for the link to her website and more information. I modified the drawing very slightly and also added colored pencil to my watercolors. I love using both media in one piece--it's one of my favorite ways to color things.
I'm keeping in mind the following quote here: “Start copying what you love. Copy copy copy copy. At the end of the copy you will find your self.” ― Austin Kleon. from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative Thank you, Sandhya, for offering your work to the rest of us to use for practice and learning! At this (temporary) point in time when I don't have time for my own art, learning from folks like you is a treasure. Also, that Kleon book I referenced above is terrific.  Just line work using a Micron 01 in Black on a white Zendala tile. No shading. This is a "Magical Stars" string (the star) using most of the tangles suggested by Sandhya Manne, CZT, from India in her Magical Stars Project from a couple of years ago.
I drew it this afternoon and made some (very) minor modifications to what she did. I plan to add color tomorrow. If this project interests you, google "Magical Stars" on youtube. I'm not a major fan of continually doing only what other people have already done, rather than doing my own original tangle work. But it has its uses. Working from videos are about all I can manage just now, and Sandhya is yet another truly talented Zentangle® teacher. Given that I'm totally preoccupied with this 10-month, unrelated-to-art teacher training--very intense--I have had to let any kind of drawing go. And so, I am more and more out of practice. To keep my hand in, videos are temporarily the way for me to go. I can watch, emulate, not expend too much brain power, and stay in practice. It seems I'm always saying this. "No time to draw." When this course ends in July, I hope I have managed to do enough "copy-drawing" via video in this interim to begin work on my own art without being irretrievably rusty. Learning from other artists is always a smart way to sharpen skills and keep training. So thank you, Sandhya, and all the other teachers whose videos I've been using. I plan to do more of these. (Now, let's see if I can pull this plan off!)
Yup, this is what comes of not having time to practice. I am way, way too rusty. This is the first tangle I've done since last year. It's been far too long.
And likely to be longer; I've just finished the first semester of a ten-month course and the next one is starting right up, so I may be slow-as-molasses about posting until July. (Does anyone even use molasses anymore?) Second Tries, squared! I first did this tile last December I think, but didn't post it. Today I gave it another try. The reason this is "squared" is because I thought I was done, but then the more I looked at it I realized I wanted to shade it darker and also darken some lines, so I gave my second annual version of this tile a second try (= "second try squared") and like it even better now. What fun to be tangling again after a long hiatus.  Tangles are: Sandswirl and CalligraV. This is my 2nd try on this 2nd version of the tile.  Same tile before I added the heavier shading and heavier lines. Why my fingers hurt:  Wool, valdani thread, fusible interfacing, wooden or stone beads, and a fair amount of cursing at the end as my fingers got progressively more sore. I just finished making 14 of these wooly pots for an upcoming event as give-aways.
Mind you, I have no idea how many people will attend, but I am all tapped out so only the first 14 will get gifts from me. Every one of my fingers is sore. But these sure are cute. Rug hookers/punchers love these for dumping the little wool ends trimmed off as we hook. I'll add some chocolates in each pot. And now, back to other projects. Happy New Year Everyone!  Herringbone border on a punched chairpad, 2024. Pattern is from the Oxford Rug Hooking School,using scrap yarns from my stash with a #9 regular Oxford Punch. See my previous post for why I decided to do this quick project and to contrast the finished piece with the way it looked without the border. It was great fun to learn how to do a herringbone border.  A woolly pot I made this morning. I'll use it to hold scrap yarns and wool that I trim off when I'm punching or rug hooking. It worked up fast and was hugely fun to make. I've got other uses for these cuties also so will make more for sure. Instructions and even a short video HERE. Wool, quarter-inch wooden beads, Valdani thread, fusible interfacing, and a charm.  A chair pad I just punched. It's "in progress," because I'll be taking a class later this week to learn a special edge binding technique. Punching doesn't require a binding, but this technique is decorative and I'm curious to learn it.
The pattern is an old one from the Oxford Rug Hooking School; it's not my style and I always thought I'd flip it over and draw my own design on the back to punch, but I needed to produce "something round" really fast for this class, so I opted for quickly completing this and have something with an edge to work on during class. It's on monks cloth, using a #9 Oxford Punch needle and an assortment of rug yarn scraps, some of which are from other rug projects and some of which (the dark brown) I dyed myself way back in 2016.  Black Micron 01, graphite on a background of blotchy Ecoline watercolor inks. Zzzzzz. That's about all I can say at the moment. Just zzzzzz...
 So foggy out today, and that's also how I'm feeling on next-to-no-sleep. The Tangle here is called "Beelight" and it's one I've never really gotten the hang of. This is probably the best result I've ever had from it. I've notice that I don't do well with "grid tangles" and prefer the more organic shapes. Which is funny, since when I'm hooking a rug I often prefer geometric patterns based on grids with strong graphical elements. I may never figure that one out!  This is the same tile before I tangled it. Obviously this was taken in different light. I've tried to adjust it as much as possible without hopelessly overexposing it.  Here's another photo from the junk journal. I have a lot of blank pages left in this journal so won't be posting any more of it until I work in them. In retrospect, while I totally enjoyed this day and experimenting was fun, I doubt I'll continue along in this vein as I'm more interested in drawing than I am in collaging or constructing a book.
‘When you’re experimenting you have to try so many things before you choose what you want, and you may go days getting nothing but exhaustion.’ --Fred Astaire  Finished. Tangled with Arukas using black Micron 01, graphite, white chalk pencil and a bit of white gellyroll pen. Whoops, a little side-step (away from showing the junk-journal-related work I did last Saturday) into the wonderful world of maptangling. I got distracted by hearing about a new method of preparing the tiles for this, much easier and faster than my old methods, so took time out to do this one. You can see the original tile after I prepped it but before I drew on it, below.  The tile I prepped before tangling, using Ecoline inks.  Two more tiles with their "maps" prepped onto them. Every year I try to enroll in the online course called Sketchbook Revival. So this year it's called Sketchbook Revival 2024. It's run by Karen Abend and is lots of fun--unless you stress yourself out trying to keep up. This year I noticed that an amazing Zentangle® teacher named Anica Gabrovec, a CZT from Croatia who goes by the name of ZenLinea online, was teaching. The moment I saw her name I looked up her class and it was on one of my favorite drawing techniques, Maptangling. She had a much faster technique than I've seen before for creating the map, and that's what I'll be using from now on. Here's another page from the junk journal from last Saturday:  Honestly, this page doesn't do much for me. It's just not that interesting.
You can see some tissue-paper dyeing at the top edge and peeking out from the bottom; some of it is covered by torn wrapping paper I glued down in the center (and tangled on a bit), and the tangle around the edges is called Scrolz. My response to this page is "meh." And yet, anything that gets me drawing and/or creating is bound to result in some form of serious contentment, even if the result is mediocre. I'm always amazed at the way time spent on art improves my mood.  From the same workshop I mentioned in yesterday's post. One of the things we did was to decorate a junk journal (defined as, "a handmade book filled with personal and recycled materials to store memories and ideas"). Our leader for this section of the workshop was Jill Dailey, a CZT from Connecticut. She had made each of us a plain vanilla journal in advance (because of time constraints) and therefore we had the fun of just decorating them, not having to make one first. (She sent each of us a video on how to make one for those of us who want to continue making them ourselves) I used a decorative paper and that black-and-gold washi tape on the front of mine, and we did some very fun "bleeding tissue paper" dyeing on the edges and added the coordinating button. I'll show some of the work we did in our journals in subsequent posts. Jill was unbelievably generous with the amount of materials she put in our kits and even had boxes of extras for us to play in and take home. Enormous fun.  Curvy Baton, a new-to-me tangle. Graphite and black Micron 05. A new one on me: the tangle "Curvy Baton," from Cheryl Cianci, CZT. Carol Ohl, another CZT, created the tangle "Baton" years ago and Cheryl used that as a base but curved all the lines. Wow is this ever fun to draw. This is my first try from yesterday--I learned it from Cheryl at an annual Zentangle Retreat in Connecticut where I had an incredibly fun day of drawing and reconnecting with old friends. |
ABOUT ME I'm a textile artist (traditional rug hooking, punch needle rug hooking, and other textile arts), a long-time meditator, a certified meditation teacher and coach, and focused on learning about the interplay of art, creativity, and mindfulness every day. 
Certified, 2021
Certified Unified Mindfulness Coach Level I, 2024
Certified Zentangle® Teacher, 2013
Certified by AmyOxford.com at The Oxford Rug Hooking School, 2016
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