DRAWING FROM THE DAY
  • ...a blog on art, creativity, and mindfulness

Spring Continues

5/1/2021

 
Yes, spring definitely continues.  I can tell by my constantly running nose.

It's totally worth a runny nose to have such a gorgeous spring.

Today I did this in celebration.
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On a gray zendala tile. Tangles are H20 Lily, Mooka, Orbs, and a weird tangleation of Spoken and Arukas. Watercolor pencils, Koi Brush Pen, white chalk pencil.
Before I added and activated the watercolor pencils--which I am quite enjoying--the linework looked more or less like what is below.  I must have prepped that Zendala with watercolor years ago because it's just barely visible there.
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"Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment."
--Ellis Peters

In the Spring

4/29/2021

 
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Watercolor pencils, Microns 005 and 05, General's Colored Pencils, Koi Waterbrush, graphite, on a white Zendala tile.
I did this during a class with Debbie L. Huntington, CZT.  I was impressed by the wildly different results achieved by the students--each Zendala was completely unique.  It was my first try at watercolor pencils; it won't be my last.
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Before the image was "activated" with water
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After I added the water.

“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”

--Margaret Atwood

Languishing

4/25/2021

 
I'm in a liminal place:  In between rug hooking projects, in between books I'm reading, in between tangling projects, and just "in between" on a lotta things.  The mind doesn't like being so in between, but that's just how it is right now.

Here's a map-tangled tile I prepped a while back and finally got around to tangling last night.  I'm not sure I enhanced it.  I kind of liked the prepped version before I added anything.  But I'll see if it grows on me:
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Better, Worse, or the Same?

4/1/2021

 
Here is the "before and after" on my first Ecoline Watercolor Map Tangled tile.  I'm curious to look at them side by side.  Is the tangled tile an improvement, not as good, or is it about the same in its appeal?  I had my doubts about tangling on it as I loved the plain tile.
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I like them both but think I'm favoring the tangled one.  Which surprises me.

Thanks, Annie Taylor CZT for great tile prep instructions and fun class!  I loved the room you gave students to use whatever tangles we wished, while making good suggestions.  And for your linguistic talents at teaching simultaneously in English AND Spanish!  Wow.

"If you've heard this story before, don't stop me, because I'd like to hear it again." --Groucho Marx

Too Much Color Is A Thing

3/30/2021

 
PictureA glorious glorious patch of Squill.




What???  How can there be such a thing as "too much color?"

That's not possible, right?  I mean, look at that spectacular Squill.  The bees certainly weren't of the opinion it was "too much color." 

So what the heck...?  Read on.

In the same fabulous patch as the Squill I found these perfect Crocus:
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If these do not brighten your heart, I don't know what will. I think they are luscious.
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While you cannot really see the lush carpet of flowers--partially in shade--in this house's wonderful front garden, you can see the closeups above.

When I got home and looked at the photo I was so focused on the way the light was bringing out the spring yellow in the bush that it took me several moments to see the light shaft with a big rainbow in it hitting that same bush.

As if this little garden was being nourished by light and color.

That was my morning.  Color, there's never enough.  Beautiful.

So what am I talking about, "too much color?"  Keep reading.

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Ok, so I was prepping these tiles today with my new watercolor inks. As far as I'm concerned, the more color the better. Just as with yesterday's post, these tiles will be tangled eventually. So far so good, right? But then:

Spoiler alert:  Art Catastrophe below.

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Oh yeah.

The entire bottle of blue rolled off my desk, hit my legs, and made its merry way onto the floor.

You think my jeans look bad?  I wish I'd thought to take a photo of the floor but I was too busy racing to mop up the mess which spread EVERYWHERE.  I'm still finding traces around the room.

Thank goodness this was watercolor and wiped up easily but I used a zillion paper towels (and I don't like to waste those, but they were right there and I was desperate)

After which I took off the pants, laughed at my blue legs and my turquoise-y hands from cleaning up the floor, and spent quite a bit of time rinsing the pants in the sink.  The amount of blue ink that came out was unbelievable.  Fortunately I had just put a dark-colored wash into the washer, ready to run.  A happy coincidence.  So I threw the pants in and they've come out looking as though nothing ever went wrong.

So yes.  A bit too much color in that moment.

After that, I did another tile with another set of colors (the one on the right above).

Because seriously, there really is no such thing as too much color, and my entire day reflected that.

Accident is design
And design is accident
In a cloud of unknowing.

(T. S. Eliot)

Oops! I wonder how that blob of paint turned up in the sky? – that must be how many a bird 'happened' in a landscape and how extra leaves were added to overhanging branches.
(Jeane Duffey)

Bee-ware

2/9/2021

 
Picture(Phase One Done)
Phew.  I finally got this entire project redone and finished.  It's not my best work, but now at least I know what the trouble was--my helpful teacher pointed out that I need better quality small brushes.  (And lots more practice)  Yes!

Here is the initial stage, the underpainting before I used the smaller (problematic) brushes to add in  the tangle patterns.  Although I preferred the bee I painted yesterday, I had more control in this painting overall.  It's an improvement over yesterday's background wash and hexagons.  I'll take improvement!

When I got to the very end (adding tangles to the underpainting) and switched to small brushes to created detailed tangles, I noticed the points on the brushes were poor and the hairs would collapse--and spread--at the slightest pressure, resulting in sloppy lines.

But it's done (below), and wow did I learn a lot in creating it.  See yesterday's post for my initial problems.  Now that I know what went wrong, I think I'll be able to do better work in future.  I'm glad I experimented, and so glad I stuck with it long enough to try again.

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Final version (Phase Two)
There are two major take-aways: 
1) As usual, anything new takes substantial practice, and
2) Do not use cheapo materials--the right tools are worth every penny.

Bee-leaguered

2/8/2021

 
It started out so well...and ended up so badly!  The story of an epic failure.
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The start:  And, here we go again.  Another watercolor in a class with Sam Taylor/zenlapse (she has wonderful classes mixing Zentangle® with watercolor). 

Whoa, watercolor is so darned tricky!  Here I have prepped a 6x6" watercolor paper with her bee template, put a wash over the background, and done some coloring of the bee itself. 

Those are Fine-Tec metallic watercolors on the wings (silver) and the pollen baskets (gold) although as usual, they are so hard to show in a photograph.  The overall wash and other colors I just mixed from myregular cheapo Prang watercolors. 

If you really look you can see some hexagons drawn lightly in pencil and scattered randomly throughout the wash; unfortunately, as you'll see below, I did rather too-good a job erasing them so that the outlines wouldn't show in the final painting. 

Hah!  When it came to painting them, I couldn't see what I was doing.  And I still haven't mastered the trick of avoiding "hard lines" in a watercolor wash.  Watercolor has a big learning curve.  That's ok.  I'm determined.

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Mid-stage:  I'm beginning to paint the hexagonal cells.  Because my light is on the left side, you can only see the gold and silver Fine-Tec there.  More hexagons to come.

Having done an over-zealous job of erasing, I'm having issues making my hexagons the right shape because I can't really see my guidelines.  Live and learn!  I'll keep going and post the outcome next.
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Er, um, no, I guess I won't.

The End:  The entire project went off the rails badly just a couple of hours later.  It went so far off that I ended up gently, slowly, and deliberately tearing it into several pieces (yes, I did indeed, a first for me), with the intention of keeping and  repurposing parts of them somehow into another art project.  I bet I can.

What went wrong?  When I began tangling onto the completed background using a watercolor brush, I lost control and completely wrecked the bee.  Oh, I was fond of that bee!  I tried to rescue it using a Micron, but that made it so much worse.

I was stung.  (pun intended)  However, as I mentioned earlier, I am determined.  I will re-do the entire project.  Perhaps I'll improve the next time.  I know I learned several useful things even though this attempt didn't work.  Hope springs eternal.

Dammit.  <g>

Best to have failure happen early. [It] wakes up the phoenix bird in you.
--Anne Baxter

Neutrality

2/6/2021

 
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What should we do when there appears to be very little energy for "doing?"  Sometimes we have days like that.  I had one today.

Fortunately, I had two small Bijou (2"x2") tiles already prepped with Map Tangled backgrounds, so today I did them as experiments.  I had to make an effort to get going since I had no energy at all. 

The jury is out on whether I like the results all that much.  On this first tile I put the tangle Pepper (with a few orbs added) which I tarted up with Gold Jellyroll pen in between the black Micron PN strokes and also in the negative spaces.  I'm still contemplating this one.  But at least it got me drawing on a day when I felt...blah.  As we sometimes do, for no reason.  Just blah.  Not bad, not good.

How often do we notice these moments of complete neutrality?  I usually don't, unless a lot of them get strung together during a day--unusual, but it does happen once in awhile.  Should neutral always equal "blah?"  Many folks experience an occasional no-energy day.  

Perhaps I just needed a day to do nothing?  Or simply to contemplate neutrality?  There hasn't been much to feel neutral about in a long, long time (locally or globally).  Perhaps neutrality has been snoozing, and is now waking up again.  Is it actually neutrality, then, or could my over-stimulated nervous system from these last few traumatic years not recognize what it means to rest and restore itself?

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Experiment #2,is also done on a pre-prepped Map Tangled background on another tiny tile.   Only this time, the prep included putting a silver metallic Fine Tec watercolor glaze over the regular pink-rose watercolor.  I used a purple Micron PN to do the tangle, which is Diva Dance--a tangle I love but always find quite baffling.  I need remedial Diva Dance lessons!

Diva Dance reminds me of neurons in the brain, quivering and firing.  And yet when I'm drawing, I'm usually totally absorbed and just not thinking.  Perhaps my own dancing neurons go into some type of trance when I draw.  A good thing, on days like this one.

A metallic shine is hard to capture on camera, and the deep rose color did not show truly here.  As is the case with the other small experiment above, I am still waiting to decide how I feel about the tile. 

In the end, it doesn't matter.  The practice itself--and "showing up" even on a day when I didn't have much energy--was my intention, not the final outcome. 

Show up.  Sit down.  Whatever comes up  is simply what is arising in this moment. Notice it.  No judgement. 

Exactly like  meditation.

More on Map Tangling

2/4/2021

 
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A Zendala tile prepped and waiting to be tangled. I almost don't want to do any tangling on this one--I just love the look of adding metallics. I'm leaving it to think about for a good while. Watercolor paint and Fine-Tec Gold Metallic mixed a la MapTangling Method. I did this the day after a class on using the metallics with Map Tangling. Class details below.
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This is another MapTangled Zendala, mixing watercolor + metallics and then tangled with a new-to-me tangled called SeaWave. Done during a class with Nancy Domnauer on Metallic MapTangling.
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Another metallic MapTangle-prepped tile waiting for some decisions about what to tangle on it. Did this one on my own the following day.
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Also done during the class. Prepped with a pink watercolor MapTangled base and then mixed with Silver FineTec paint, then tangled using Crescent Moon. I added some Lemon General's Chalk Pencil to the very large white space surrounding the MapTangled part.

After taking the class with Nancy Domnauer, during which we prepped and completed the tangling on three tiles (I only showed two of those), I spent just a few minutes the following day to produce the two UN-tangled tiles above.  I'm learning as I go.  People get obsessed with MapTangling, and I can absolutely see why.  It's a surprise every time; results are always unexpected and ever-changing.

Just like our day-to-day lives. 

But with MapTangling, results are likely to be beautiful every time, even if tangling on them can turn out to be tricky and challenging.  That's half the fun. 

Now, if I could only learn to be as calm in daily life when presented with a challenge as I am while doing this.
PictureWith a hint of Gold Gellyroll.

Here's a tiny tile I did just before bed last night.  It took about ten minutes.  This was done on a Bijou tile (2"x2") which I'd prepped a background on earlier in the day.  This is simply more linework from one of Jo Quincy's lovely soothing videos, just what I needed before trying to sleep after a wild couple of days in my life.  Once again I combined a video from Jo with my own "take" on it, by using MapTangling.  Ahhhhhhhhh.

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To finish up, here's an iPhone-app "distressed" version.  I can never resist those iPhone apps.

Tricky Tricky Tricky

1/14/2021

 
Or should that be, Rusty AND Tricky?  I did some watercolor yesterday and today and wow, was the it ever hard to handle.  What a mess!  The result is fun but not particularly good--I say that not to put myself down, only to say I can definitely get better with practice.  It's been about 3 years since I've done any watercolor practice, and it shows.  Did this one in a class by Sam Taylor (@Zenlapse on IG).

I'd gotten a new set of "tropical" colors and couldn't wait to try them out, so I tried them out on this warty fish:
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Watercolor on 140 lb cold pressed paper, 5x7". With a tad of gold Finetec paint and gold gellyroll. Tangles are Perfs, Printemps, Shattuck, Beetlejuice.
It's just amazing how that darned water can get away from me.  Or I would assume something was dry, only to discover it wasn't...so then I'd have one color running into the other.  Or I put my hand down to draw something and would feel that sickening wet feeling under my hand--I'd forgotten that part was still sopping wet and now I'd smeared it.  Yikes!  Hilarious, however.

Watercolor requires patience and plenty of mindfulness.  Looks like it's time for me to cultivate both. 

I think I'll try doing another fish.

Because watercolor actually moves on the paper, it is the most active of all mediums, almost a performance art.
                                                --Nita Engle

Map Tangling: First Attempt

1/5/2021

 
Picture6 tiles prepped in Map Tangling style (watercolor), two of which have been tangled.

For years I've heard about Map Tangling and while I had some idea what it was (see below), and had really admired it, I didn't have time to figure out how to create it.  Today I took a class with Nancy Domnauer.  Great fun!  She's an excellent teacher.

Here you can see my first attempts.  We spent time preparing the tiles with watercolor (that's where the Map Tangling technique really applies) and then completing two monotangle tiles. 

There appear to be at least two ways to prep a tile by Map Tangling.  Nancy's class focuses on one.  I think there is at least one other.  I will be playing with this technique for sure--I know I can get better at it with practice.

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As shown here and above, "Map Tangling" is when a watercolor wash is applied to a tile in such a way that the colored portion is left with ragged edges., and could be interspersed with lots of white space or just have white space surrounding it.  Only the colored space is then tangled.  The watercolor background frequently resembles the map of a continent or country--hence the name.

The process reminded me of gelli-printing.  There was lots of pressing going on before the tiles were done, and all results were inevitably surprises.

"Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing."
— Werner von Braun


Looking Backward and Forward

12/26/2020

 
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Every year at this time I find myself looking backwards.  And forwards.  Today I was doing some cleaning in my art room, and I found these 12-month-old-tiles below.  Bittersweet, indeed.

In mid-December 2019, I was just back from a wonderful weekend with a good friend at Kripalu, drawing tangles with Martha Huggins (on the left) and Molly Hollibaugh (right) of the Zentangle® family.  If this year had been normal, I'm sure I'd have done the same.  But we all know it was not a normal year. 

So here is a short review of some of the work we did in December 2019, with the fond hope that we will be able to do something similar in 2021.  Looking at these tiles brought back so many good memories for me.

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Four Bijou (2") gray tiles; in these 3 photographs you can see the fun of turning them in a variety of ways.
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Mandala on a gray Zendala tile. This was made by folding the tile 4x to create a folded "string" to tangle on. I remember being distressed that we were folding our tiles, but now, a year later, I can barely see the folds.

And although I'm not a Christmas celebrator, I just happened to get some non-Christmas presents this year (the timing just worked out that they arrived at Christmastime).  Here are two that I'm thrilled by but haven't had time to try out yet. 
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This is a commemorative but perfectly functional Oxford Punchneedle, called The Peacock. Amy (Oxford) had only 1300 of these made from laminated wood, to commemorate her 25th year in business. It's a #13 Fine size and I cannot wait to try it out. Check out the bag, made of fabric to match the needle. I love it! I gifted this to myself from myself.
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And out of the blue, an outrageously kind friend I haven't seen in way too long just up & sent me these fabulous watercolor markers. Unbelievable. "They were on sale and I thought of you," was her comment. WOW. Cannot wait to try these out, hopefully in a day or two.

A friend is a gift you give yourself.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Knotty Issues

11/21/2020

 
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Birthday bookmark, tangling on a piece of watercolor paper. I did not do this watercolor. Graphite, Flair Pen, Gold Gellyroll. Embedded initial technique.
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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.

We learn the rope of life by untying its knots.
--Jean Toomer

Experiments

11/6/2020

 
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Mandala on a watercolor-prepared Zendala tile. Wish I knew whom I'd bought the watercolor from, but I don't. I then tangled on it. Tangles are Rain (the border) and Raindotty (the center). White gellyrolls, gold gellyroll, Prismacolor pencil.
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.
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"Try things against your grain to find out just what your grain really is."
--Irwin Greenberg




Start Where You Are

11/5/2020

 
PictureTangles: Auraknot and Orbs, on a silver tile with Micron 01, graphite, chalk pencils.
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.
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Tangles: Any, plus some Fescu. On a silver tile with black Micron 01, Prismacolor and chalk pencils.
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More Gratitangles2020. Tangles: Shattuck and Mooka. Done on watercolor paper which someone else had painted; using White Gellyroll pens 05 and 10, white chalk pencil, and Prismacolor pencil.

Don't Know Mind

11/4/2020

 
"Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof."
- JK Galbraith
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. 
PictureTangles: Ixorus and Onamato. Black Micron 01, chalk pencils, Signo Uniball. On a previously-stained piece of watercolor paper.
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.

"So much of our difficulty with uncertainty is that we've evolved to survive by trying to predict the future. The seasons, the crops, where the animals will be, if we're hunting.

But if we can really take care of what's right here, this present moment, what else is the future made of, but this moment right here, right now? The future is just a continuation of this. So there's no point in worrying and being anxious about the future, if we take good care of this moment, breathing in, knowing our heart is still beating, and how miraculous that is.

Breathing out, and feeling the gift of our lungs. That's the present moment." 

- Kaira J. Lingo

Keeping a Hand In

2/10/2020

 
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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.

Long Gap

12/25/2019

 
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:
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The problem: Somehow a too-big space between two petals.
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Beginning the repair: rip out the dark blue on the back and re-punch with more peach. This is the start of it.
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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):
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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.
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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.
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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:
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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

Hunter's Moon

10/9/2019

 
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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.
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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).

A Celebration of Friday the 13th

9/13/2019

 
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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

Aniflower

8/30/2019

 
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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.

Experimentation

8/27/2019

 
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. 
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This tile introduced me to Ecoline Markers, which I had never used before. Very interesting. I'll be doing a lot more experimenting. Tangles: Printemps, Hollibaugh, Pokeroot/Pokeleaf, Mooka. Ecoline Markers, Copic Markers, White Gellyroll, White chalk pencil, White Uniball Signo Pen, Sakura Multiliner pen. That's a lotta art supplies!
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

Moon Bridges and Moon Dancers

7/8/2019

 
More life-busyness means less posting.  The good news is that I'm feeling better.  I've continued to play with art tissue paper, the type of tissue paper that comes in dramatic colors and bleeds when wet.  I've been wetting it, then squeezing it above wet Zentangle® tiles to see what it does, and/or crushing it and smashing it around directly on the tiles.  This first tile was the result of the "dropping stain onto the tile from above" method:
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Tangle is "Icanthis" (I-can-this, after the very complex Icanthus leaf), an ironic title for a tangle that I-couldn't-this draw, until recently when it sort of clicked. Black Micron 01, graphite, chalk pencils.
 I still feel a bit wobbly about the Icanthis tangle, so it will probably show up here more often while I practice it.

More tiles below.  I switched tissue paper colors and both dropped color on and also mashed it on.  This was violet-colored tissue paper and it was interesting to notice how as the staining dried, some pure blue began to seep out.  There was absolutely no way I could avoid seeing these backgrounds as moon-and-sky (the first one) and evening sky.  So, I built some Moon Bridges and left the tiles as mostly background, minimal tangling.  Great fun with this art tissue, as you never know what you're going to get.
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Moon Bridge #1: Background created from Art Tissue Paper, aka Bleeding Tissue Paper. Tangle is "Bilt." Blue Micron 01, chalk pencils,
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Moon Bridges #2: Created with Art Tissue for the background (the same piece of tissue re-used from #1 above), Blue Micron 01, chalk pencils, a little Signo White Pen.
I was so surprised by those two.

Well then, of course I had to experiment some more, so I ran Moon Bridges #2 through a mirror app on my iPhone and was startled to see some figures emerge.  See the result below.
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The Moon Dancers tile. These figures mysteriously emerged when I mirrored the tile on my iPhone.

The destination cannot be described;
You will know very little until you get there;
You will journey blind.

(T. S. Eliot)

Hellish or Ellish

7/4/2019

 
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Tangle is Ellish. Black Micron01, graphite, white chalk pencil. On a 3.5" white tile colored by drops from two small pieces of wet art tissue paper.
As far as I can remember, I have only ever done this tangle once, and that was years ago.  So I wasn't sure if this would end up becoming "Hellish" or "Ellish."  I do like the way it turned out and I need to practice more to allow myself to relax right from the start. 

Speaking of hellish, the outdoor temperature is warming up and humidity is just beginning to slide in this direction; my all-time least favorite weather.  I can tolerate cold far better than heat.  Ok, enough of that! 

Yesterday I broke out my gellyroll pens, which I haven't used since I can't remember when, and played with another grid-based tangle, this one a fragment from the Zentangle® book, Reticula and Fragments.   (A "reiticula" is just another name for "grid.")
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Fragment in a grid, turned in different directions. Green and purple gellyrolls, gold gellyroll, brown Micron 01, graphite, white chalk pencil. The slight bend in the "frame" is because this tile is folded into one of my BittyBookZ™.
In love with this weather?  I'm happy for you!  (You've certainly waited long enough for it after the long cold rainy spring.).  "Hellish" or Coolish, we all welcome summer. There is so much to enjoy.  May yours be a wonderful one.
"The difficult part of the process is the long exploration and discovery of your own soul and living with the results."
(Mike Svob)

Still Experimenting

6/20/2019

 
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Same tangle as yesterday's post, Haf n Haf, with each square turned a different way (and a few more lines too).  Same art tissue paper used, so the colors are lighter and I didn't cover the entire tile.

I added a bit of colored pencil in spots and a bit of graphite for shading.  Yesterday's tile had neither shading nor any additional color.

Life is 'trying things to see if they work.'  --Ray Bradbury

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    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. 

    I am also a Certified Zentangle® Teacher (CZT 11) and a student of drawing and of the tarot.

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  • ...a blog on art, creativity, and mindfulness