Yes, things are broken in this world in so many ways at the moment, but:  All the news is so troubling; I need something to introduce joy, so I've begun another rug, using scraps. Curious to see where this will go, but I have got it started--yay!  Hand-dyed wools on linen. Design by me. "Blueness doth express trueness." --Ben Jonson This is a short tale of trust and patience. It's been weeks since I've had time to do any drawing at all--an indicator of how over-scheduled I've been. Yesterday I had a scrap of time in the morning and thought I would do some tangling...and then noticed a curious reluctance. It had been so long since I'd picked up a pen that I was losing my confidence and was afraid to try. Not good. So I went to my desk and began with a new-to-me tangle called Avos by Maria Venekens, CZT. This was my first attempt with it. I was surprised at how tentative I felt. I started with this, below and really did not like it:  Tangle is Avos, from Maria Venekens, CZT (with some Mooka in between). Micron PN in Black and Prismacolor pencil. Gold gellyroll dots around the edge. Nope, not happy at all with this. I had to force myself to start adding color. Did not feel like I had drawn it well, even though this was a first attempt. The internal critic was in full voice. I considered tossing it, BUT I know from experience that Zentangle® teaches patience, persistence, and trust in the process. So I put it aside when I ran out of time and vowed to keep going later. Last night I went back to it just before bed, and I'm so glad I did. Here's the final result:  I deeply appreciate the lessons the Zentangle process teaches about life, not just about art. A particular result may not be a masterpiece, but it's possible to love it all the same. What I've learned from the process is to keep going and trust, and things will usually work out fine. Perhaps not perfectly, but certainly "well enough."
Meanwhile, this is a lovely tangle and I hope to use it more in upcoming projects.  Tangle is Khala. 3.5" white tile with watercolor background. Colored and white chalk pencils, Prismacolor pencils, black Micron PN pen, Signo White Uniball pen. This is my first attempt at the tangle Khala, by Anica Kabrovec, CZT. It's gorgeous and what's known as a "high focus tangle." I have a long way to go to learn this one!
However, I've not been able to tangle in weeks. It's been totally crazy here and that will undoubtedly continue for a while. All good, just overscheduled. At times like this, it's all I can do to squeeze in any time for drawing and I truly did not want to take on anything challenging; so I treated myself to one of The Tangled Yogi's instructional videos and picked this one. Sometimes the best way to practice is simply to copy. Even when you copy, you still end up with your own version. Thanks to the Tangled Yogi for her very accessible videos, which enabled me to do SOMETHING, even if it's not my own thing.  Zendala created on grey paper which I cut myself by hand. Prismacolor pencils, blue Micron PN, Gold Gellyroll pen. Although I worked on this only two times, it took twenty days to finish it because after I got it started on the 4th of January (see below)--  End of the first session. Glad I took this to remind me of the start. --it took three weeks before I had time to get back to it. I kept looking at it with longing, but simply could not carve out the time to sit down and finish. This type of dilemma always points out to me how over-committed I am. Here is a picture of how it looked yesterday as I picked it up again and was about 1/4 of the way through finishing it. I had put down a first layer of color on the green "leaves (top half) and was putting down a blending layer (bottom half) when it occurred to me to take a picture at this stage.  and here's another photo, different from the one at the top of the page (different lighting) of the finished piece for contrast.  It's interesting to contrast this version to another version I did (in December) as I was taking a class with The Tangled Yogi. The December 10th version was a situation where I just had to go with pencils I happened to have on hand; this one is more "me" in terms of colors and execution. I highly recommend Romi's videos and classes as I learn a lot from watching and emulating.
A video is also a great way to jump-start one's practice after a long hiatus. After I've been away from tangling for a few weeks, it's so helpful to follow along with what someone else is showing in order to rev up my own mojo. Once I've done that, I'm ready to go off on my own again. With apologies for the bad photography, I wanted to experiment with Lynn Meade's tangle Fassett for an upcoming class. Fassett is based on triangles. Here is Fassett done on four Bijou tiles (2x2"), each tile with an increasing number of triangles. (The class will only be doing the very first one on the far left)  4 triangles, 8 triangles, 16 triangles, then I tried it in the round with an inside circle and an outside circle, with a total of 32 triangles. If I've counted right. And here below are the four strings that I used to create the four tiles. You can see the number of triangles increasing in each.  Fun to experiment like this.  The beginning of a new year and the beginning of a new tangle project. I've a long way to go on both. “For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice.” ― T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets Whew. The last two weeks have been a blur, and none of it holiday-related. I'm not a holiday celebrator (no offense to those who are--if you enjoy it all, more power to you), so most years, while others may be stressing out buying gifts, sending cards, gathering with family, I am nurturing my introverted self with quiet and reflection--I love it! But not this year. Visitors--welcome indeed but unusual for this month--a few minor health inconveniences, a couple of intensive workshops, and on and off insomnia have combined to create more stress than usual. But it's all good, and it will all straighten out. Many projects are underway. I have been working to finish my punched pillow. First I had to un-punch and re-punch some areas, and then begin the finishing process. It's a time-taker but I hope it will be worth it. Here's what I re-punched:
 I got that fix done (all will be revealed once I get the pillow completed), and now I'm into the messy process of creating and binding the back. This boring looking beige-y broadcloth was the single fabric I could find that would not clash horribly with the front. Hopefully it won't show once it's done. I'm creating an "envelope back" for the first time, and sure hope it works. Next up: a good friend and I were lucky enough to go to a workshop with the Zentangle® folks at the Kripalu Institute in Lenox, Massachusetts, and the focus was creating a Compass Rose. I had made one before in 2016, and you can find it HERE in this blog. I wrote about the origins there as well. We used a very different method this time (no protractor, just folding the paper). All of us made small Zendala versions first and here was the class mosaic (some are missing from this mosaic):  Clearly these aren't "Compass Rose" pieces; they are just practice pieces. Pretty, nonetheless. We then moved on to beginning the actual Compass Rose. I wish I'd thought to take more pictures. I only have one "before" photo, below. Wish I'd taken pics from the folding-stage through the initial black and white stage, then adding color, then embellishing, etc. This (below) was perhaps almost halfway through. I wasn't enamored of it at this stage. That is an understatement.  Start of the drawing. Meh. Feeling blah about it. Micron PN plus watercolor on a gray Opus tile (10" square). Not my favorite thing at this point. We then added the North arrow and used the Embedded Letter tangle technique. I liked it a bit better but was still dubious. We added a bit of gold gellyroll as well. Still dubious. However, that was as far as we got in the workshop and I took my tile home, where it sat for over 2 weeks until I had time to get to it. That happened today. Below is the finished (??) piece.  Compass Rose: Micron PN, Gold Gellyroll, Gold Finetec watercolor, blue General's Watercolor pencil, White Chalk Pencil, graphite. Gray Opus tile (10" square) Photographed on a matching bedspread! I really tarted up the original and like it much better now. Yup, working and taking my time on it definitely improved things. Finally, I took a chance on a product I saw on a Kickstarter campaign and it arrived last night. I haven't yet had a chance to play with it:
Looks like it will work great, but I've yet to take it for a test-drive. Just too darned busy. A good night's sleep would also help. "Last night I dreamed I ate a ten-pound marshmallow, and when I woke up the pillow was gone."
--Tommy Conger  Whatever possessed me to start and finish this 6"-in-diameter Zendala in one day? I am truly ready to fall of my perch. Tired... This was another class from The Tangled Yogi, whose wonderful videos and fine classes you can find by clicking on her link in this sentence. She has a unique and incredibly helpful way of teaching. I wish you could have seen the mosaic (collection of student work) on this one. No two looked anything alike--coloring was wildly different. Similar, yes, but still, vastly different. The magic of Zentangle® for sure. I advise students on the subject of color as follows:
If it looks good enough to eat, use it. (Abe Ajay)  Gray tile, black Micron PN, graphite, white chalk pencil, white gellyroll. Tangles are Ratoon, Flux, A-Frame, Tipple. This is based on a class ZenLinea posted on the SkillShare website. My further experiment with it is below. A friend stopped by my house today, exhausted and distraught, sharing a very sad but very familiar story of serious family trouble. I think I may have been the first person outside the family she told. There was nothing I could do but listen. I can only hope that being present with her, and listening, was enough to help. She was here for hours. After she left I had to help myself, so I did this "variation," of the tile above, experimenting with what I'd learned in Zen Linea's class to produce this on a Bijou tile (2"x2"):  Bijou (2"x2") Renaissance (tan) tile, Brown Micron 01, brown colored pencils, graphite, white chalk pencil, white gellyroll. Tangles are a variation of Ratoon, a variation of A-Frame, and Flux. Listening with loving-kindness was the only thing I could do.
I am frequently reminded, as I hear other people speak of what they are going through, of how fortunate I really am. I am grateful for my life, with all its warts and minor upsets and imperfections. And with all its privilege and grace. Compared to what some of those who matter to me are going through, I often feel like the luckiest person on earth. May she and her family heal. May all those who suffer heal. May all of us know peace.  Brown and black Micron 01s, graphite, white chalk pencil. It's been a hard week. I'll leave it at that.
I've used the title "Perseverence Furthers" once before, but it never more true than when I did this tangle:  Done for the Inktober Project 2019. Tangles are: Crescent Moon (day 27), Ratoon (day 26), Tripoli (day 25), Henna Drum, and Kuke (day 29). Micron 01 in black, graphite. It started out as a hot mess about 3 or 4 days ago. Instead of giving up on it, I kept leaving it and coming back to it, adding a few things here and there until today when I declared it finished. I wanted to keep it all black and white (color can hide a lot of mistakes) and I'm glad I did. I'm also glad I stuck with it. It's no work of genius but it's way, way better than when I started! "Try again. Fail again. Try better."
(Samuel Beckett) Let's hear it for screwing up, flubbing it, being imperfect. Much of my drawing is like this, and yet, somehow I like it anyway. I will never be perfect. But I'll be "good enough" for me and will have fun along the way. Below is a practice tile (a Bijou tile, only 2"x2") for a new-to-me tangle called Kaas. I had a rough time with this one and ended up adding a lot of rounding (rounding is a Zentangle® technique which does what it sounds like--you "round" sharp corners) which can hide a plethora of errors.  My far-from-perfect first try at Kaas. On a Renaissance Bijou tile with Micron 01, graphite, white chalk pencil. Convinced I'd do a better job on my second try, I used a regular (3.5"x3.5") white tile for my entry in the Full Moon Mosaic Project for this month. Nope, just as imperfect, and even more flubbed-up in some ways. Again, I used lots of rounding.  Tangles: Kaas, Rixty, Tipple. Micron 01 in black, graphite, white chalk pencil. I had fun, however, and I like it anyway. If you have read this far, you probably can relate to what I'm saying.
"My mistakes are my life." --Samuel Beckett  Painted this full moon with Silver FineTec paint; the blue crescent is General's Chalk Pencil. I also used White Chalk Pencil and White Gellyroll on this Renaissance (= tan) Zendala. The primary tangle I used here was Hollis. Next Sunday afternoon is the full moon, in the corner of the universe where I live. It's supposed to be unusually large. And orange. I chose to ignore the orange for this Zendala tile, which I did for Hanny Nura's monthly celebratory Full Moon Mosaic. If you google "Full Moon Mosaic" on Facebook or Instagram you'll see some amazing entries.  Meanwhile, I've been asked to do a Zentangle® demo at a local organization and in thinking about which tangle to ask participants to do, I'm going to use this one, Fassett by Lynne Meade. Which means I need to practice it myself, having only ever done it once or twice--and of course I'm falling in love with it. This was my first try at it, done on a Renaissance Bijou tile (2" square).
 I ran my original photo thru an iPhone app and got this. A lazy way of adding color. See details on the original photo below.  For Day One of the Inktober Project (the tangle version), the prompt was Printemps. Tangles are: Printemps, Shattuck, and Flux. Micron 01 and 1, graphite, white gellyroll. Ahhh, the start of October and cooler weather. I hope. It's also the start of the annual drawing event, Inktober. There are many versions of this, and a few of them focus on tangling. I used today's prompt (the tangle Printemps) as the string for this tangle, then put more Printemps inside it, along with Flux and Shattuck. I like the result but I also ran in thru my iPhone app and the color version was very fun.
 Tangles: Weighted Printemps, a little Crescent Moon, a bit of Fescu, and then just linework. Gold & silver Finetec watercolors, Blue Micron 01, various chalk pencils, white gellyroll and gold gellyroll. This is a day traditionally held sacred to all women, honoring the sacred feminine and the Great Goddess in earlier times. For an excellent article with good information on its celebratory aspects (as well as superstitions and misogyny that have accrued around it), click HERE. Art!
Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this Great Goddess? --Ludwig van Beethoven  Tangles: Aniflower (variation, used as a string), Flux, Shattuck. Done with Ecoline Markers, Gold Gellyroll, various colors of General's chalk pencils, Micron PN and 01 in black, and white chalk pencil. A good friend who is also a CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) was here this week and stayed long enough for both of us to take the same online class via the TangledYogi--aka Romi Marks, a very good teacher. I'd encourage you to check out her work, including her YouTube videos. Below you will see our results. The first two are mine--think of them as Draft 1 and Final. Here is the draft:  Romi refers to this as the "Aloha Waves" piece. The design is hers, but drawn by me, and then the color choices are mine. In a moment you can see the final result below, once I'd had time to mull this one over. I hope you can see what I added. The piece was done on one of Romi's hexagonal tiles, which are available on her website (see the link at the top of this email). She has them made from high-quality card stock and they are very smooth and accept colored pencil well. They are also larger than the standard Zentangle® tiles (made from Fabriano Tiepolo printmaking paper, softer and tooth-ier). The two most recognizable tangles here are Pokeleaf and Crest, along with a Zengem. My finished piece is below, and then below that one you can see the gorgeous result of my friend's work. Two identical tiles, drawn by two different people, with two completely different coloways.  Above is the completed version of the one I did. Below is the tile done by AE in the same class. We were drawing together during class, hearing and seeing the same instructions. Yet if you look you'll see slight differences in mine (above) and hers (below). Zentangle® is just like handwriting. The same tangle drawn by two different people will always be a little (sometimes a lot) different.  Drawn and colored by my buddy AE. This was her first-ever ZenGem! Didn't she do a terrific job on it and on the whole tile--and these aren't her usual colors, just the colors she had with her to choose from. Photo credit to AE, used with her permission. But wait--there's more. She also decided to take up punch hooking and got her equipment together while she was here, designed a piece, and began punching. I can't wait to see what she produces.
The good news for me is that I think I'm about to start work on another rug and have something textile-related to show soon. It's been too long. I'll have to let this song speak for me, because I cannot say what is in my heart after this terrible week in my country. Wrong. Tragic. And entirely preventable.  Tangles: Aniflower, Verve, Peacock. This tangle helped me to center myself, but did not take the pain away.
Credit for the composition goes to Romi Borax Marks, but I did the drawing and colors.  Tangles: Well Well, Scena, Diva Dance, Crescent Moon, Bronx Cheer, and a variation of Fanning. Shaded with grey and white chalk pencil only. Brown and Black Micron 01s on a tan zendala. Compare this one to the previous post where I worked that previous tile just as Maria did (basically copying her to learn from her). Last night and today I re-did it more in my own style, as a mandala. I added a few random things and a variation of the tangle Fanning (which I had never done before) around the edge, then shaded with a grey chalk pencil and highlighted with white. I'm liking the result, and feel like I've explored this "theme" created by Maria as much as I wish to right now. I'm done with it for for the moment.
Weather here is fiercely hot and humid. Not that far (20 miles) from me the heat index today was 115 degrees F, resulting from a high temperature and a dew point of 79. I had no idea dew points could even go that high. When I ventured outdoors to get the mail this evening it felt as though I was walking thru a vat of hot soup, wearing a sweater. It's been years since the weather has been this bad. Tomorrow will be the same; they are promising relief by Monday night. Let's hope so! Trying to get my mojo back after a long period of (puzzling) lack of interest. We have a heat wave moving in, my most dreaded weather. Perhaps staying home during that will enable me to get some more tangling done. Still no interest in textile work, although hot weather often brings that on. Below is my version of Maria Thomas's latest "Kitchen Table Tangle." She invited us all to give it a try, so I did. She scored and folded hers, but I wanted to leave mine unfolded. She used watercolors and I used chalk pencils. Because of the nature of Zentangle®, they look very similar but are in fact very different. It's like two people writing the same sentence on a sheet of paper with cursive script--it's the same sentence but their individual handwriting will make the two versions look very different.  Tangles: Well Well, Scena, Crescent Moon, Tipple, Bronx Cheer, Diva Dance. Brown & Black Micron 01s with graphite and chalk pencils.  Tangle is Cirque, but doubled, and I added a few more things to it, like some Mooka and a spinoff of Crescent Moon. Used black & brown micron 01s, graphite, white gellyroll, general's chalk pencil, and a very small amount of Prismacolor. This tile is inside one of my first BittyBookZ™. See posts in June for info about those. Gawd, what a week. I needed something round and sunny today so I made the above tangle on some pages in one of my recent handmade books. Today is the first day I feel like myself in over a week. I had a medical test that went wrong. Nothing dangerous, but it's quite impressive how bad one can feel when something is seriously "off" but not dangerous. I have had zero, and I do mean zero, motivation to do anything for days and days. Hurrah for feeling better! Last week in the middle of my woes I had a bout of insomnia, and that's when I did the tile just beneath this. I was still trying to work on grid-based tangles, which are not my preference. The combo of "not my preference" and "feeling really crappy" added up to what you see below. [Late last week] Oh, how my mood is matching the feeling of being "gridlocked," like the tangles I have been working on. I've been pretty sick this week, unexpectedly. Nothing that won't improve, but the improvement is slow. I've discovered--no surprise--that I suck as an invalid. I'm not good at sitting around. There are things I want to be doing that are physical, and I'm just not up to doing them yet. Frustrating. Insomnia last night led to another grid-based tangle, C-Stem by Agneta Landeson. I've never tried it before:  Tangle: C-Stem by Agneta Landeson. Tan 3.5" tile with Black Micron PN, graphite, white charcoal. I'm not crazy about how it came out but at least the process did enable me to go to sleep.
 Tangles: Fleavy, Antique, Peeps, a hint of Doodah, and other added lines. Done on a used coffee filter using General's Charcoal Pencils, graphite, brown and blue Micron 01s, a dash of white gellyroll, and some Prismacolor pencil. This mandala started 8 months ago. I did the outer border (you can see that HERE) last October and was flummoxed about what to do next. You know how these things sometimes have to marinate. I've had the filter itself (yes, a used coffee filter from the amazing Cheryl Cianci CZT, who drinks lots of coffee) since 2014. So this one marinated a very long time as a total blank, then again as a partially done piece, and finally it's finished. "Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper, sprinkle cool patience."
(William Shakespeare) "If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life." (Oscar Wilde)  Tangling on a tan coffee filter with a blue watercolor wash (prepped by Cheryl Cianci, CZT, after she first used the filter to make her coffee, rinsed it, and put the wash on it; then dried it--Thanks for doing all that prep work Cheryl!). Tangles are Mooka, and a variation of Flux, as well as the embedded letters technique without any letters. PN Blue Micron, General's Pastel Pencils, White Gellyroll, Prismacolor Pencils. I managed to avoid all the other things I was supposed to be doing today when I heard that my friend Cheryl Cianci, CZT, was offering her coffee-filter class again. I only discovered this at the very last minute and raced out the door hoping to make it on time. I had taken the class about 4-5 years ago but my experience of Cheryl is that there's always something new and it was utterly relaxing as usual. She is the soul of kindness, and hugely talented.
Much gratitude to all who teach.  A compilation of random thoughts this fine spring morning. 1. Aren't these buttons fun? I found them online and loved them, probably because they remind me of various patterns used in Zentangle® and also of patterns used in Oriental Rugs. I'm hoping to use them in some tangling projects. And maybe one or two will inspire a rug. They are a collection of tiny mandalas.  2. I spotted this beauty yesterday on a walk. Yowza! A "button"/mandala created by Mother Nature herself, and what a beauty. There has to be a tangle design (or a rug) in there somewhere. The plant goes by the unglamorous name of Osteospermum, also known as "Flower Power White." It stopped me in my tracks on my walk. Just an amazing flower; it positively glowed.  3. This is a partially-done panel on the bottom (yes, the bottom) of a tan paper box. I've been working on this for two weeks and the going has been slow because I don't have all that much time to tangle right now. Below you can see the completed design. It will probably take me another month to finish.  Alas, I couldn't quite get that photo above to come out straight-on, but you get the idea.  The same box, vertical photo. I still couldn't get a straight-on image. I don't have the box in front of me but I'm guessing that the dimensions are about 9" long, about 2" wide, and perhaps and inch-and-a-half tall, with a cover that flips open. I have a button to sew on when I'm done with the tangling and will use that for a closure (not one of the buttons shown at the top of this post). 4. Spring has fully sprung here and today we're having stunningly beautiful weather; up until today there have been very few sunny days and plenty of soggy ones. May all the lovely colors, sounds, and scents of spring fill your senses today. (At least in the Northern Hemisphere) |
ABOUT ME I'm a textile artist (traditional rug hooking, punch needle rug hooking, and other textile arts), long-time meditator and coach, focused on learning about the interplay of art, creativity, and mindfulness every day. 
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NEXT INTRO TO ZENTANGLE CLASS:
My next Beginning Zentangle® class is not yet scheduled--stay tuned. I am always happy to teach 1-1 and/or in a small group in your home.) Come and amaze yourself! SITES TO WATCH:
Insight Meditation Society Oxford Rug Hooking School Zentangle: The Official Site Green Mountain Rug Hooking Massachusetts Tarot Society 
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