In my mail today was a small flat envelope with the return address of a place from which I could not remember having ordered a thing.  Huh??? 

I puzzled over it, put the mail down to do a few other things, and didn't open it until just now.

This cracked me up!  I had recently sent a donation to the Insight Meditation Society, or "IMS," in Barre, MA, and in response they sent a lovely thanks and included these three masks.  A total surprise!

IMS is renowned for their meditation instruction, and with good reason.  In times when Covid-19 isn't interfering, it's a tremendous place to go for a weekend program or on a meditation retreat.  As you might imagine, they are offering a full slate of programs online at the moment to keep people safe during the pandemic.  These messages of lovingkindness really made me smile.

Here is the start of a mandala, just the beginning linework. 

I drew this last night while studying one of Romi Marks' videos.  I screwed up the center--but luckily, there are "no mistakes!" in Zentangle® and so I just kept going and did my own thing in the center.  And I like the way that came out.  I also changed a few things in the next layer.

This is one major thing I learned about drawing since I've begun to draw regularly.  In fact once I began drawing in the Zentangle® tradition it was resoundingly, repeatedly, and overtly reinforced.:  There are no mistakes--keep going and see what you can make of what is in front of you.  90-95% of the time, not only can you work through whatever is there but you can actually surprise yourself with a good result. 

It's the same in meditation.  And, I believe, in much of life in general.  What about that other 5-10%?  Anywhere from "meh, or disappointing," to a genuine catastrophe.  But still, those odds sound pretty good to me.

See the final finished tile below.  I'm glad I stuck with it.

Above you see one classic type of pretzel knot.  On the left, when you think of it, is another type.  Those are washed and dried worsted weight yarn skeins from my wildly successful bargain hunting the other day--twisted into the kind of gentle "knotty looping" that is useful when storing yarn.

I drew the tangled piece as a bookmark for a friend having a birthday next week.  It's inspired by one of Sadelle Wiltshire's very nice freehand-knotting videos and this is what fell out of my pen.  Perhaps I should do a Celtic Knot punchneedle piece with that yarn.  These knots are very relaxing to draw. 
And given the knotty problems facing us all right now, with the pandemic and a planet dealing the climate change, political messes and human rights issues, I seem to have knots on the brain.

With a bit more time now, I'm back into mindful drawing techniques.  This is based on one of Sadelle Wiltshire's classes.  More of this to come.  Very easy, very mindful.  And very small, hence the title of today's post.

I don't normally enjoy putting rugs on the wall--I prefer to walk on them.  But the colors in this one are so subtle I finally decided the wall would be safer.  It's all scrap wool that I had lying around.

I've also run out of room for rugs at the moment and may have to put a few more of my patiently-waiting rolled-up rugs on walls around the house.

Less than 3 minutes was all it took to hang this, once I had some assistance.  A very small amount of time (title of today's post), and something I've wanted to do for weeks.

Today I made it (with mask on my face of course) to a new shop called Swanson's Fabrics in Western Massachusetts.  I'd heard about it but hadn't gone until today.  It was large enough to feel safe inside.  Part of the time it was just me and the owner, and there were never more than 2-3 others at any one time, all distanced.
But oh, the treasures!  Kathryn Swanson, the owner, has more than fabrics; she also has yarns, threads, sewing notions, and braiding equipment. 

NOTE:  All her fabrics are $4/yard.  No matter what they are made of.  Seriously!  Cottons, upholstery and lots of other fabrics, and even wool yardage (the wools go out the door nearly as soon as they arrive--I grabbed 1.5 yards of the light colored wool you see above on the right, for $6 total).

And I'm pretty certain she mail-orders, so feel free to contact her and ask.

All of her fabrics, yarns, and notions are rescued from people's basements or from fabric stores or yarn stores that have gone out of business.  You could go one day and find nothing, and go back the next day and find tons of wonderful new rescued goods.

When you click the link to her website above, be sure to go to her "About" tab and read her mission statement.  I'm in awe.

I also got seventeen 100-gram skeins of off-white, 100% wool yarns, very high quality if a bit grubby from being stored for quite a while.  I'm pretty sure they were originally from Sweden.  Some are worsted weight and some are DK.  I can overdye them all.  Very exciting.  I cleared her out of these, however, so you'll have to find your own treasures some other day.

This was a Big Find, and therefore doesn't fit the title of today's post.  But I didn't think any of you would mind...

I did this last night just before I went to sleep.
My thought in this moment, this morning:
The Wheel of Change rolls on, every moment of every day. 
Let's roll.

Although it's too bad they are necessary (although they certainly are necessary!), a kind friend just sent me 3 masks that didn't fit her but will fit me.  Recognize the the fabrics?  Designer:  William Morris.  (A.K.A. "That wallpaper guy," as a good friend calls him, which cracks me up)  I adore Morris and will be so happy to wear these.

As mentioned in yesterday's entry, I went to a meeting with CZT Tomomi Galeano where she had us practicing the tangle Waybop.  Many people find it hard to do.  I knew it would be a fun practice.  We all just used scrap paper, and I used cheapo printer paper--in fact, I did this on the back of a bill, or what I thought was a bill, that I was planning on recycling. 

Tomomi just did this as a free meeting for anyone who wanted to come.  Another kind friend.  I feel very fortunate with the number of kind people in my life.

Want to see the plain unvarnished first version?  It's in yesterday's post.

The misshapen exterior is caused by my just cutting out the paper around the tangle.  I did this exercise as pure practice and you can tell by the wobbly lines I was making decisions as I went along.  I didn't expect any result, but was sort of charmed by it when it was done.

I finished it with some shading and color this morning.  It turned out to be a good day for Waybop, or "bopping around."  Suits my mood.  Of course we still have turmoil ahead, but I believe we are up to the task.  And today's weather where I am:  absolutely exquisite.  Warm but not hot, unexpectedly. 

Similar to meditation, where some days are a slog, and others are just full of unexpected delights.  Today is one of the latter.

Then, to my astonishment, when I finally flipped over the cheap paper, I realized I hadn't done it on a bill.  I'd done it on the back of an email a friend sent me with a list of Peace Songs we would be singing together (on Zoom, of course).  Interesting "coincidence" with the news today.  May we all find peace in the years ahead.

It's a day for relief, and delight.

Above is yet another tangle I have never particularly liked:  Rain (it's the outside tangle on that tile).  And yet I am surprised at how much I like the way it works as a border.  Challenging myself to use it was a good idea.

After trying that, I decided to try the tangle Waybop on a piece of scrap paper, so I stuck this on the back of a bill I had paid, and which I'd already tossed in my recycling bin.  It's on cheap copy paper and isn't even shaded.  Perhaps if I do shade it and the appearance changes dramatically, I'll repost the update on another day.  I had fun experimenting.

"Try things against your grain to find out just what your grain really is."
--Irwin Greenberg

We have no choice but to start from wherever we are, yes?  I've finally had the time to start tangling again, but my recent lack of practice means I've gotten very rusty.  No matter.  It's just where I am in this moment.  The tile at left is not one of my favorites but it's the truth of things.

The tangle is Auraknot, one that I've never quite "gotten," always making mistakes.  In the past its' been frustrating!  This time I finally got it, and did it successfully.  One time as the frame, and then five additional times inside the frame.  I was excited and pleased for myself!

But here's the thing:  I'll probably never like this tangle.  Even now that I know what I'm doing with it, it's just not that attractive to me.  Maybe with more practice?  We'll see. 

It does make me think of the old saying from the I Ching, however:  "Perseverance furthers."  It was so satisfying to figure out how I'd been going off-course and correct myself.  Now this tangle comes easily to me.

Many lessons for me here.  We really can only begin anything from right where we are in that moment.  And repetition can really pay off--in daily life and in formal meditation.  Finally, we each have our preferences, and it's important to notice them.

With all that is going on externally in this country, tangling provides such a lovely respite and rest.  And the more I do it, the more begins to come back to me.  I'm working my way through Gratitangles2020 and I'm way ahead in the month already because I'm enjoying the process so much.  At this rate I'll be done early.  Here are two more tangles.

Ah, here it is.  The prime example of Don't-know Mind, that shocking moment of extreme uncertainty.  I write this the day after the election, during a time when we still don't know the results. 

Here we sit. 

It's not comfortable.  But that is the truth of this moment. 

Even once a decision is clear, we still will not know what happens next.  In fact, we never can know what happens next.  We are always in Don't-know Mind; it's simply more obvious today than usual.  Since we are wired to prefer certainty, it's so much more convenient to ignore the reality that Don't-know Mind is our continuous state. 

Another thing I don't know :  who stained or painted the small square of watercolor paper I used to tangle on last night.  To whomever you are:  thank you.  The staining was faint but spread in lovely fashion across the paper and provided a wonderful smear-y background for linework and bits of color that I added.  I like the way the original background spreads out beyond the border here.

I rarely do either of these tangles, so every line on this square is a product of Don't-know Mind.

Thank goodness for Zentangle®, which is amazingly relaxing, even in the most uncertain times.

It's Election Day here in the USA and the voting is hot and heavy.  Last night I did another mandala, above.  I'm reminded of how the Wheel of Life is ever-turning, ever changing, and today will prove that to be true.  No matter who wins this election, my country has changed dramatically over the last four years, and it will continue to change during the next four.  Inevitably.  May we know peaceful change; may we grow into kindness and peace each day, and may we trace our roots to the Tree of Peace.

The tradition of the Tree of Peace was especially honored by the indigenous peoples of this country.  There are many beautiful renditions of Native Peoples view of the Tree of Peace but I didn't want to use any of those out of copyright concerns.  Below is an image from Wikimedia, used with permission.  This image comes from Slovenia.  Many world religions also speak of and value a Tree of Peace.

With apologies for the blurry second photo.  Just experimenting on my new rug here.  Nothing is decided yet.  Just sitting with all this, trying various approaches.

And I don't know who did make it, but I love it.  Someone showed me this sign today.

A sentence to live by, on so many levels.

After yesterday's crazy busy-ness I thought I'd post something super-simple today.  This is the tangle Dragonair, which is part of the Inktober 2020 challenge and is completely new to me.  In fact, this is my first attempt, dashed off on a lavender-colored post-it note to see if I could figure it out.  I did this before putting it into the journal page before yesterday's post, but today I added the white chalk pencil and graphite.  A new favorite.

My goodness, isn't that a busy page!  Yikes.  But the Inktober challenge is meant to be an annual sampling of a wide variety of tangles, so unless I do each one on its own tile, it's always going to be an "eye-crossing" visual experience.  And this one is certainly no exception.

The process is really fun, though.  I get to sample things I might not have considered otherwise. 

A few of these have become new loves; a few really left me cold. 
A few that I've always had trouble drawing just smoothed right out and were easy. 
And a few that I know very well somehow turned into hot messes on the page as I ran into unexpected trouble with them!

Sort of like the experience of a daily meditation practice.  Or to quote Forrest Gump, "...you never know what you're going to get."

Meanwhile, our fall foliage season is rapidly winding down, but for some reason, this sugar maple didn't get that memo and is just getting started.  Sooooo pretty.

The start of any creative project requires something called Beginner's Mind, or Don't-Know Mind, which is also an ideal state for meditation.  Since every meditation is different, using Don't-Know Mind is the best way to approach each one. 

Just as with wool work, holding expectations at bay until I find out how things actually look and what actually comes up in this moment always works best for me.  I learn this lesson repeatedly.  Next time you see rug photos, the work will look different.  Next time I meditate will be different as well.

Below is a new frame I was lucky enough to have delivered today.  It turns so easily.  As I said, I have two rugs underway right now.  The one above is traditionally hooked and the one below is punch hooked.

                                       Frame is available from Notforgotten Farm.

Yup, I'm starting another rug.  This (below) is the first throw-down of possible colors.  Who knows how many will be used?  The design is  a "challenge" my local rug hooking group is taking on--we are all hooking one particular pattern in our own way.  Some members are already done; I haven't even begun mine yet but hope to get it underway tomorrow or later this week.  I'm getting excited.

I actually introduced the pattern to the group in February and everyone wanted to try it.

The entire phase of beginning a rug reminds me of meditation practice.  Every single time one sits to meditate, it's a form of starting over.  You never know what will happen.  It may not be fun every single time, but it is always interesting.

It's the same with hooking rugs.  I always have a hazy mental picture of what I'll be producing, but the final result may or may not agree.  Getting to the finish line can be a series of daily, or even moment-to-moment, changes. 

My next unpredictable rug adventure is officially underway.

 
I am in love with the London Drawing Group, a trio of women dedicated to doing and teaching art.  When I saw this workshop on Matisse's cutouts--only £7 or about eleven bucks, and only 1 hour--I thought, what a great way to stimulate creativity.  So I signed up and had an absolute blast.  We made a number of cutouts in only 60 minutes, only a few of which I used for this photo.  Here's the black and white version from my phone before I ran it through the Painnt app posted above this paragraph:

But I wasn't alone in attending.  There were people from all over the globe.  Two of them were good friends from my rug hooking groups--I had contacted them to tip them off in advance to the workshop and they both signed up.  We all knew it would have immediate uses for rug design.  And it certainly did.

Here is the work of one of my buddies, Kathleen K., who also attended.  Rather than cutting paper, she cut her shapes directly from wool fabric.  I love her results.  She gave me permission to post this:

And below is the contribution from Lynda F, another rug hooking buddy who also gave me permission to use her photo:

"I wouldn't mind turning into a vermilion goldfish."
-Henri Matisse

This one surprised me.  I am traveling deeper into several areas in my life at the moment:  meditation, friendship, beginnings and endings, and even the chaos and fear in the United States.  Which means I'm working more deeply and consciously to cultivate equanimity.  I did this drawing over two days, last night and this morning, and it reflects my inner state.

I heard a quote this afternoon that really sums up what this deepening is revealing to me:

"One kind word can warm three winter months."
(Chinese saying)

Actually that's only the first part of the quote.  Here is the rest:

Indeed.

Many thanks to my dharma brother Ed Niembro, for his wisdom and for sharing this quote. 

It has never been more true.

I was able to spend more time practicing yesterday and working out the rust and kinks from not having tangled much in the past months.

And here on the right is my pre-practice Palrevo "Mini-Me" with instructions and information noted on it:

Palrevo is definitely a high focus tangle, but very rewarding.  I completely enjoyed myself.  I warmed up by doing the tangles I posted yesterday.  It is totally wonderful to be tangling again, now that I have a bit more time.

Every day I make time for meditation practice.  I realize I need to make time every day to draw.  It's not called "practice" for nothing.  It makes all the difference in meditation, and in everything else.

Practice doesn't make perfect. Practice reduces the imperfection.
--Toba Beta

I hope to fill up this page further, while still leaving enough white space.  Here are tangles from the first 11 days of Inktober 2020, using only a black Micron 01 and graphite.  I will likely need a second page to complete the 31 days without making things look horribly overcrowded.  This page is already far too busy but I don't care--the experience is such fun.

Most of these tangles are new to me, so this is really more in order of a "scratch sheet," for practice, rather than anything finished.  Inktober is a terrific way to get back in the game.  I've got a long way to go but I have to say that this kind of practice is a big help--and anyway, my primary motivation is always the relaxation that comes along with tangling, rather than the results.

This lovely lovely mirror (with a portion of mirror part papered over to minimize distraction) was designed and made by a much-adored and longtime friend of mine, Paula Garbarino.  The inscription, "Il faut fertiliser notre jardin," can be translated to mean, "We must pollinate our garden."  Thus the honeybees, a favorite of mine. 

That sentiment can be taken on so many levels.  The garden of friendship.  The garden of kindness.  The garden of interconnectedness with each other.  The garden of the Earth itself.  We all need to pollinate, to tend, and to care for each other and for the Earth. 

We all know how hardworking a honeybee is.  Indeed it often takes a lot of work to tend and care for each other, especially at a troubled, stressful time like the time we are in now.

Normally Paula designs and makes fine-art furniture, and marquetry--a form of "painting with wood," is one of her specialties.  She has been at it for decades and I hope you'll take time to go to her website and browse her luscious designs in the photo gallery there.  Her work has been displayed in museums and is owned and collected by numerous people.

She does not normally make small pieces like this, though she has made a few.  This mirror, about 17x10", showed up unannounced in my mail as a gift about two weeks ago and it took me a while to determine a place in my home to hang it so that I could see it frequently every day. 

I am one very lucky friend indeed.  Much gratitude to Paula.  You are yourself quite like a honeybee--incredibly hardworking, kind, and of course, always building something oh-so-sweet.

Finally my schedule is starting to clear, so get ready for some "bad tangling."  I'm amazingly out of practice but happy to be starting up again, and here are the so-so results. 

Why am I posting these?  Because they are true.  This is where I am now.

Just as in daily meditation, I am essentially beginning again.  We all do this hundreds of times every day, with many issues, without realizing it.  A meditation practice is cultivated over time, time each day.  And with Zentangle®, just like with meditation, lack of practice will show. 

But in essence, WHO CARES?  There are no meditation police, and there are no Zentangle police either.

Julia Child's motto (The French Chef on PBS for so many years) applies here:  "Who's going to know?" she chortles in her fabulous high-pitched voice, as she picks up the raw chicken she just dropped on the floor as she's being filmed and goes on preparing to cook it.  As she pointed out, the oven would take care of any germs.  I have always loved this moment of her show.  She was always beginning again, with humor and enthusiasm.**  Someone undoubtedly ate that cooked chicken, and no one got sick or died.

So FINALLY--yay!!!!--I am getting to begin again after months of not being able to tangle.  Here is what that looks like.

It's "Inktober" again, so tanglers are embarking on a daily draw.  This is an experiment with the tangle Flux, drawn on a tan tile.  No pen used, only General's Chalk Pencils in olive green, white, and a scoche of blue.

I was curious about what would happen without the hard line from a pen, using a lot of blending.  This is the result.  I nicknamed this one, "It's only a dream," and went to sleep shortly after finishing it.  Sure enough, I had vivid dreams all night long, and they were just as vague and ethereal as my tangling before bed.

Here's the Inktober link for tanglers (meaning, this is specific to tangling).  Inktober has a number of genres--sketching, writing, etc.  There is a prompt for every day during the month of October every year.  I'm following the one for tanglers, but you may want to google some of the other genres if it interests you.

** According to Snopes, that episode was slightly-but-not-very different from what I remember:
"She was cutting the poultry up (which, as I recall, was a chicken), and it slid off the table onto the floor. She picked it up and said either, 'We’ll pretend that didn’t happen,' or 'Just pretend you didn’t see that.”' She continued cutting the chicken up."

To continue:
Sure enough, the rust in my hand shows up even more here. 

Once I sat down this morning I couldn't stop tangling.  Although it's only the 2nd day of October, I have tangles from the prompts for Days 1-5 on this page so far.  If I keep on, the page could turn into a hot mess, but hey.  I'll keep on anyway. 

The ONLY tangle here that I knew before this morning was Flux (upper border).  Every other tangle was completely new for me. 

Oops, I take that back--I know and love Pepper (day 5).  But Anthem (day 3), Jackstripes (day 2) and Unbirthday (day 4) are all tangles I've never heard of before.  These are all first-attempts.

You can also see some pencil-drawn string lines on the page; we'll see if I do anything with those.

As my idol Julia would say, "Just pretend you didn't see that."

Just finished binding this rug (triple binding technique), a "pandemic rug" I designed and hooked in a 8-cut.  All scrap wool; no bought wool.  What fun.  Every loop pulled was enjoyable.  I'm delighted with how it came out.  However, the subtle colors just don't show in a photograph.  But that's ok--I know what it looks like.  I smile whenever I see it.

Sometimes we are dealing with circumstances that beg for a focus on equanimity or calm.  (And who doesn't need that these days?)

I've been taking a 3-session class with Alina Smolyansky of Vancouver called Neurographica for Artists.  Very, very interesting.  Today we did the final class, a Tree of Life with a theme, and my theme was "Calm" or "Equanimity."  We had just a small introduction to this method of art and healing, and it was fascinating.  While I'm probably not able to take a Basics for Users class right now--just too busy--I intend to at some point.  Another wonderful form of art to explore!  Eventually. 

Equanimity requires some practice, and practice requires time.  In order to achieve my own equanimity, I need to cut down on commitments for a while.  Otherwise I would have signed right up for her "Basics" class.  Thanks, Alina.