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:

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.

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.

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

Here is the little:

Another insanely busy week but blessed with absolutely gorgeous autumn foliage.  It has been spectacular around here for days now. 

Day 16 of Inktober was Trentwith, a tangle entirely new to me (it looks like art nouveau roses in the tile above) and day 17 was Dreamdex, also entirely new.  I didn't have much time so tried them out on a tiny Bijou tile and was quite interested in both tiles; I will try them again, for sure.  Next time I'll make both of them bigger.

I'm not going to get Inktober done in October, but I don't really care.  As usual, this project is enormous fun.

10/29/19, Tuesday
Fast forward a coupe of days and I've finally gotten to sit down and do a few more tangles, below.

All I can say is, wow did it ever feel good to practice today.  It ain't the outcome, it's the experience that is so relaxing and that makes me so joyful.

Oh boy!  New gray-toned paper to play with.

I'm beginning to think I do my easiest tangling late at night.  Both the previous work and the work below were done very late.  It was after midnight when I finished each of them.  I'm thinking that being tired slows down the critic in my head, plus at that time of day my goal is really relaxation, and I don't care much about what comes out of the pen.  The result is usually better than the more self-conscious efforts when I'm more alert.

I take note that in meditation, focusing on the current moment and not worrying about the "results" is prime.  And so is acknowledging that there is an inner critical voice; realizing that the voice is "just thoughts," and that thoughts are not the same as facts.  We do not have to believe or pay attention to thoughts that pass through our heads, and that goes for the critical voice as well.

It's difficult to have fun or to achieve concentration when your ego is engaged in what it thinks is a life-and-death struggle.
(W. Timothy Gallwey)

I did the above tile late last night just before sleep.  It's two of the Inktober 2019 days together, days 4 and 5.  I have quite a bit of catching up to do.

But of course this isn't a race.  After yesterday's spectacular foliage display, I decided that I wanted to shade the tile above in all the colors I had seen in the leaves on my trip.  And there were a LOT of colors.  I pulled out my General's Pastel Chalk pencils and set to work, with this result below.  The blue represents the intense blue sky behind the leaves.

And here they are side by side:

“Autumn...the year's last, loveliest smile."
― John Howard Bryant

“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
― L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

Today we had late-afternoon sun after nearly a week of heavy clouds and some rain.  Amazing the difference sun can make.  I've been patiently waiting.  Our autumn foliage is beginning to glow and when sun shines through the leaves it is just exquisite.  I feel totally lucky to live amidst all this. 

Trees are truly extraordinary creatures.  May we never lose them.

 And here below is what may be my oldest hooked piece.  I am guessing I hooked this in the late 80s or early 90s.  It's disintegrating now--the foundation is disappearing and unfortunately it won't be worth saving.  Although I actually began hooking a rug in 1969 or 1970, I was unable to finish that first piece.  It was a round rug I was hooking with wool roving as opposed to wool strips.  Unfortunately, I  lost it in the chaos of moving repeatedly from place to place during that time.  I didn't try again for about 20 years.  I began again in the late 80s and think that may be when I made the piece below.  I hooked it in a 3-cut, my least-favorite style.  It's a wonder I kept hooking at all after that.

What's barely visible in this small photo is the disintegration in the lower left and right corners.  I'm wondering if it's moth damage (unlikely) or if the original pattern was on burlap (more likely).  Burlap was commonly used back in those days but now has been abandoned by most hookers; it's inexpensive and easy to hook through, but it was actually made to rot.  Think of the burlap that's routinely wrapped around the roots of young trees waiting to be planted--the intention is that when the tree goes into the ground, the burlap will disintegrate.  It's the same when it's used for a rug foundation.  Bad idea.

It was nice to see this piece after all this time--I gave it to a friend and she brought it over this week to see if I could repair it.  I can't, but it was good to get a photo and take a walk down memory lane.

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).

...because this was all I had time to do.  (Nevertheless, I'm thinking it took me closer to 15 minutes)

"Listening is where love begins."
--Mr. Rogers

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.

Still in love with and working on learning to draw this tangle, which isn't coming easy for me.  Today, though, I think I got it.  Finally.  There are a million ways to draw a Triquetra Celtic Knot, but I've been wanting to learn it via the easy steps of Zentangle®.  Which turned out not to be so easy for me.  But in fact, with a bit of practice, it is both easy and obvious.  Other people got this one immediately, but I needed to ponder it a while.

Some things are like that.

Being overambitious and then frustrated when I couldn't get the painting to work taught me persistence.
(Marion Boddy-Evans)

This was my first attempt with this tangle.  I actually finished this over 2 weeks ago but am just posting it now.  I found the instructions (the stepouts) so hard to follow that I tried it out on a 2" square tile in pencil first, using an eraser.  Normally, with Zentangle®, we do not "sketch out" tiles in pencil first, and we don't use erasers.  The general idea is that there are no do-overs; if we screw up in life, we don't get to do whatever-it-was over.  Instead, we have to figure out what to do about it and we often learn the most through dealing with our mistakes.  And so it is in art as well.

However, sometimes if we can't even envision how to approach something, a draft (ie, using pencil to try to sketch something out) is helpful as we try to map the thing in our minds.  That was my approach here.  And occasionally in life, too, if I'm finding a life task overwhelming.

Speaking of overwhelm, I have hopelessly over-committed myself and am not pleased that I barely have time to turn around in my schedule.  At my age, I should know better.  This is a mistake I make frequently in life, and I have learned a lot from it...but apparently I still haven't learned how to avoid doing it.

Consequently I have done no tangling since my last post--too busy with textile work which I'm not ready to show yet.  And with several other projects, including creating a new website for a group.  I love everything I'm doing but I really miss tangling.

As long as the world is turning and spinning, we're gonna be dizzy and we're gonna make mistakes. (Mel Brooks)

Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack? (George Carlin)

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

Woke up early today and used the extra time to do this tangle.  I had watched a Romi Marks (Tangled Yogi) video and used most but not all of her tangles for this. 

She uses colored pencils, as have I when I've used her paper tiles, made from cardstock so they are very smooth and handle colored pencils beautifully. 

I was using a regular Zentangle® tile today, though.  That's made from printmaking paper and has a lot of tooth.  So I went with General's Chalk Pencils for the color. 

Today all I knew when I sat down to draw was that I wanted to work on something blue, invoking the quiet calm of that color.  When more than a day passes with no drawing, I get tangle-deprivation syndrome.  So, waking early was a pleasure; meditation is easier for me at that time of day, and I've noticed that any drawing I do at dawn or after dusk tends to be less self-conscious than when I draw during the day. 

Blue color is everlastingly appointed by the deity to be a source of delight.
--John Ruskin

An "embedded letters" tile for Project Pack 06.  The "No Mistakes" pack.

Meanwhile, I think/hope my creativity is beginning to come back.  Finally some textile work, the start of a new rug.

I took another tangling class today, this one with Heidi Halpern Kay, a talented artist who has been teaching for only one year.  She has no website that I can find, but she's active on Pinterest and Facebook.  My hope in taking all these recent classes has been that they would inspire me to get back my creative mojo.  I think it's working, although I won't know until I begin doing my own designs again. 

The big news for me is that I've begun another hooked rug.  It's not at the stage where I can show anything; everything so far is just experimental and it will be awhile until I have something to show.  This is one reason I think I'm starting to get back some mojo.  Hurrah!

"What art offers is space--a certain breathing room for the spirit."
--John Updike

This is a 2nd version of the same tile I did a week or two ago.  I made it today for a friend and will be sending it off to her tomorrow, hoping she likes it.

There is no harm in repeating a good thing.
--Plato

With thanks to Romi Marks, TheTangledYogi, for her design--drawing and coloring by me.

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.

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.

 It occurs to me that this has turned into a Zentangle® blog and has not showed any of my textile work recently.  That's because there hasn't been any textile work recently.  I've temporarily lost my textile mojo.  Maybe because it's summer, and who wants to work with wool in the summer...but I am starting to get concerned.  Ok, enough of that.  Let's just hope inspiration returns.

Last night I did a quick tangle based on the Project Pack 06 Day 5, which was great fun.  It was so late when I did this that my hands were shaky but that's alright:

That version of Mooka, discovered by Julie Willand, CZT, was hugely fun, although I need more practice with it.  I think my version/attempt should be called "Black-Capped Melting Mooka" for the little caps I added to it.  I am looking forward to playing with it more.

This evening I took an online class with Romi Borax Marks, CZT, also known as The Tangled Yogi.  She is all about color and is an excellent teacher, as I've been saying an my recent posts.  Here is the result.

That was the first time I worked on a hexagonal tile--they are all the rage right now in the Zentangle world.  I enjoyed it (especially for the smooth tooth of this particular paper) but am not sure what all the fuss is about yet.  I need to experiment with them more.  Happy to have had a chance to try one, though.

Well this was tough!  I'm not quite sure why.  I did notice, though, that when I sat down to work on this, I was not feeling at my best emotionally.  In fact I was feeling like s*** emotionally.  That's quite unusual, but it's been a tough couple of weeks.  Events and politics have been even more challenging (which is really saying something in this country).

I got started and right from the get-go I disliked what I was doing.  If I had been working on a single sheet of paper or a tile, I'd probably have abandoned this.  Possibly I'd have ripped it up.  But I was working in a special notebook, and didn't feel I could  leave it and ignore it without diminishing all the other pieces I had done already in the book.  So, following a Zentangle guideline, I kept my hand moving and focused on one line at a time.  I worked and worked, but really. did. not. like. it. 

Following another Zentangle guideline, I walked away from it for a while.  When I returned, it still wasn't exciting me but I noticed I didn't dislike it quite as much.  So I sat down and kept on.  And on.  And on!

It's still not my favorite page, but I'm ok with where I ended up, especially given how I felt when I started.  Most of all, I'm happy I persisted.  There's a lesson in here.  My mood had improved substantially when I was done.

There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt.
--attributed to the Buddha

Yesterday I asked my neighbor if she knew what the flowering, beautifully scented bush was in our front yard (we didn't plant it) and she said yes:  Clethra.  I thought she said "plethora" and assumed she was referring to the high number of fabulous blossoms.  But no, she was naming Clethra alnifolia, also known as the sweet pepperbush or "summersweet."  I love that last name.

Summersweet is incredibly seductive to honeybees and butterflies, both of which I've seen--a "plethora" of them--since it began to bloom a few weeks ago.  And the scent...oh, the scent is so lovely.  I feel honored to be in the presence of this plant.  I remember it bloomed the first summer I moved here, but not last year.  What a treat to have it make such a big comeback this year.  Here's a blossom from our front yard.

There were so many honeybees and other cuties drinking from the flowers that I'm surprised I didn't have to beat any of them back to get this photo but this one stem was not being worked just as I snapped the shutter.  Lots of Monarch butterflies and other butterflies around it also this year.  It's a good year for the Monarchs around here--god knows they need a good year.  And the bees as well.

Advice from a Honeybee

Create a buzz.
Sip life's sweet moments.
Mind your own beeswax.
Work together.
Always find your way home.
Stick close to your honey.
Always bee yourself.

--Ilan Shamir

I hasten to say here that I am simply following along with the Project Pack videos as I draw, so these compositions are copies of what is on the videos, not my original compositions.  99% of what I post here is original to me, but sometimes, when I don't have the mojo--which has been happening lately for unknown reasons--it's just so relaxing to follow along and copy-to-learn-from someone else's work.  I always attribute the work to the originator, as I've done here and for my last several posts.

Working my way through Project Pack 06 (this is from Day Two) I am thinking about Blackness and Whiteness (and everyone else--brown, yellow, red) in my country.  Doing this drawing in black and white was calming and joyful, but I'm also thinking of the deep racial disparities and oppression in existence here, now even more obvious.  Not that they ever went away.

The week before Toni Morrison died, I watched an absolutely wonderful documentary on her life (highly recommended).  I had no idea that she was sick and fixing to die as I watched.  I left the theater and decided to re-read all of her books, beginning with The Bluest Eye, which I last read around 1976.  I have just finished reading it and am stunned all over again by the power and beauty of her words, along with the pain and the level of truth we all need to face. 

Rest in peace, Toni Morrison.  You have been and will continue to be a powerful teacher for me and for others.

Just a quiet day and my first work with Day One of Zentangle®'s Project Pack 06.  Videos for this one are likely easily found on YouTube.