A final drawing from Kelly Barone's free 2024 Botanical Drawing course <whimsybykelly.com>, done using graphite, black Micron 01, and General's chalk pencils.

I just watched the scene from the 1937 movie, Stage Door, with Katherine Hepburn (and so many other luminaries!) where Hepburn says the famous line, "The calla lillies are in bloom again..."  While I'm sure I've seen the film, I don't remember it well.  What I do remember is that she says the line many times, rehearsing it for a performance, and most of the time she says it really badly.  A tragedy that befalls one of her friends in the film is the only reason she finally says it with genuine feeling in the actual performance.

I can relate.  As I was drawing this calla lily under the excellent online guidance of watercolor artist Kelly Barone (a remarkable teacher who just wrapped up her annual free 5-day "Botanical Drawing" online offering), I realized that while I'm excited to be drawing again, I'd be making better drawings if I were referring to an actual flower to draw from.  When I watch someone drawing on a blank page, and just follow each line as they draw, I cannot get a sense of how the various lines will come together in relation to each other...until the actual drawing is complete.  Whereas when I am able to draw from an object I can actually see (like a flower), I can see both the whole and the part at the same time--how lines should connect together to create the whole.  My drawing comes together in a more natural way then. 

This is not to denigrate online instruction at all.  In fact, I'd recommend Kelly and other online teachers highly!  It's just to say that there is a difference, and I can see it in my line work. 

But I'm so happy to be drawing again that none of that matters.  The pleasure of actually drawing, whether the "end product" is bad or good, outweighs any reservations.  If you'd like to try your hand at some basic botanical art, head over to whimsybykelly.com and you'll be happy with your choices.

Stars open among the lilies. Are you not blinded by such expressionless sirens? This is the silence of astounded souls.
--Sylvia Plath

Happy with this one, a carnation done quickly.  The darkened lines are definitely overdone, but I still learned a lot.  And...I am still drawing.  Whether it's "good" or not doesn't matter to me.  What matters is that I'm practicing.  Yay!

Earlier today I went to a memorial service for an old and dear friend who died recently.  She was a real pistol, a take-no-prisoners, hilarious, generous, kind woman who lived a spectacularly interesting life.  A larger-than-life life.  She will be dearly missed.

I followed up after the memorial service by taking another short class on drawing flowers (see yesterday's post for how you can join the class if interested) but of course I was already thinking about the role of flowers in our lives because of seeing all the flowers at her service. 

It feels so good to be drawing again!  Today's class was simpler and I mentally dedicated my flower drawing to my old friend.

Nothing at all posted in August.  How did that happen?

Well, I know.  I was finishing up another rug and you know how long that takes.  And then I did something I said I wouldn't do:  signed up for another ten months of meditation teacher training.  I just couldn't resist.  It will teach me one more thing that I've always wanted to learn, a certain specific protocol for coaching students.  It kicked off last week and so far I am loving it.

It seems to be allowing me slightly more time in my days, so I'm trying to start drawing again.  My gosh, it's start over, start over, start over (just like meditation) with drawing as I never get a stretch of time to draw consistently. 

And whose fault is that?  Mine, obviously.

I managed to color the peony later in the day, so here is the colored version (done with Prisma Colored pencils and some light gold gellyroll pen):

Yes, that photo is intentional.  Whenever you use a punchneedle to embroider words, the back side of the writing is what gets punched.  You work on the wrong side and flip it to view the right side.

But can I actually punch this?  It's ready to begin, but the calligraphy is so tiny in places--and I don't think I'm willing to use my 1-strand needle at this point in my life, not with my eyesight--that I don't know if I can actually pull it off.  It's a major experiment. 

Much like life, eh?  And much like meditation.  Most of us tend to tell ourselves what we cannot do, rather than what we can.

I'll need to keep reminding myself of the meaning of this quote ("A beautiful thing is never perfect.") constantly while I'm working.  I'll be ok with a few imperfections...I think.  Won't I?  Hmmm.

I'm doing this more for the challenge than for a result.  But mostly because the partly-completed rug I had to set aside 2 years ago has gone missing.  I have found all the wool, and found the paper pattern, and I remember storing them with the rug itself all together in the same spot.  But the rug is not there.  It's just gone.  I've searched and searched with no luck.  I'm almost ready to re-draw it on new linen and start it all over again. But isn't that when the "lost rug" is most likely to jump out and present itself?  I'm in a dither over what to do. 

A short (?) punchneedle project is a way of buying time until I decide.

"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most."
--Mark Twain

I was tempted to title this, "This is what happens when you haven't picked up a pen in FOUR-plus months."  It's true, it's been that long for me.  I did some work with knots back in March (not much) but basically I haven't had any time for tangling since 2023 and wow am I rusty.   Combine that with poor lighting and you have a relatively hot mess but I know it will improve.

This is a new tangle introduced today for the International Day of Zentangle® (so the name of the tangle is "Idoz"  Pronounced eye'-dozz).  Rick and Maria, the founders of Zentangle, introduced it this morning in a webinar attended by several hundred tanglers from around the world.  Today is the day they are celebrating the 20th anniversary of Zentangle's start.

It was the perfect tangle for me to begin with after such a long layoff.  Can't wait to experiment and get back to all this.

Three group members have worked on the group rug so far.  It's great fun to watch it come to life.  I look forward to a second round of working on it at some point.  Can't wait to see how it develops over the summer and fall.

I love this rug because it makes everyone smile.  Kelley Belfast's original pattern was so adorable (one cat lazing on a bench with the words "Cat Nap" up above--see more details of the rest of her pattern in the caption above).

I knew I had to hook it but wanted to make  changes.  After managing to contact Ms Belfast early in 2023, I got her gracious permission to adapt her pattern and draw a different version; you see the result above. 

Thank you Kelley!  I hope it's different enough to not be a clone, but similar enough that you can say you're glad you gave me permission to do my own version.

There were times I despaired of getting this rug finished.  Between preparing to teach at Sauder Village last summer and then shortly after that, diving into 6 months of meditation teacher training, I was so busy I was cross-eyed.  Pretty much everything else fell by the wayside--not much drawing, Zentangle®, and certainly almost no hooking.  I am so relieved to have finished this.  And now on to creating a label and sewing it on.  Don't you just love Kelley's cats?

One of the rug groups I'm in has decided to take on this pattern as a group project.  Meaning, everyone in the group will work on this piece.  Everyone will add a few colors of their own.  Everyone will add their own touch as they hook.  It's the perfect rug to use up scraps.

One of our members kindly got us started, and I'm the 2nd person to begin to work on it.  I've added some beading, thrown a few colors into the circles (I'll be adding more scattered around the rug before I pass it on), and my goal now is to finish the boring black inner & outer borders so that others can focus more on the fun scrappy circles.  On Tuesday it'll be my turn to pass  it on to the next person.  I can't wait to see how this shapes up!

The rug up above is only the second "group effort" rug I've worked on. 

The other one, on the left, I designed myself 15 years ago.  My rug group from that era all worked on it; it was made for one of our members whose family had been traumatized by a violent crime.  She and her family were so badly traumatized I sense it's likely that after we gave her the rug, she rolled it up and put it away as it may have been too much to look at just then--a visible reminder of their terrible loss.

Still, I don't care if it ever sees the light of day as she would certainly have understood the love and effort that went into its making, and I know she would have been comforted by that care.   I don't believe I've ever shown it anywhere before.  Each hooked hand belongs to one of the members of our former group--we all wanted to reach out and send our rug hooking sister love and comfort.

This is what I appreciate about group efforts--when we come together to make something for someone, there is love and kindness present.  Everyone works together.  Everyone cares enough to add a piece of their heart.  And all the pieces work together to form the whole.

A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle. - Proverb

And now it's 2 days later, and I'm about to pass this rug on to the next person to work on.  I'd hoped to get the outer border done but ran out of the black wool--more is on the way.  I added lines to the inner circles.  I worked on it all morning today, and wonder what the next person will do.

Aha!  "The end is near," as sidewalk doomsayers would say.

Ok, maybe not THAT near, as rug-binding goes very slowly, but at least it's finally underway.  The beads had to get set aside while I put in a final push to get this rug finished.

There must be a word that means something like, "Horror of beads flying through the air and scattering all over the house."  Right?  Like "Acrophobia" is horror of heights, and "Arachnophobia" is horror of spiders...

Flying-bead-o-phobia?

Can I just say how many times I've had it happen--gotten startled by something or made a sudden move and, BAM!  Beads go flying everywhere and I find them in rugs & on floors years later despite repeated vacuuming.

Twenty-five to thirty years ago I did a ton of beadwork, including this type.  Then I put the beads away.  That's how long it's been since I've had them out again, but it just felt like time to try this.  It's much harder with my older eyesight.  I'll give it a try and see what happens, and if I'd like to continue.

"I have wayyyy too many beads." --said no beader, ever.

There's a sneak peek at a rug I am in the process of finishing.  I have a way to go--it has no border yet and there's other tweaking that needs doing, but I'll hopefully get it done within the next 3 weeks and then will be back to more tangling, drawing, and other rug hooking.  Stay tuned.

Oh hey, it's the Ides of March. That just dawned on me.  Below is a knot I did last week and I hesitate to call it tangled.  It's more that I filled it with a couple of Zentangle® "fragments."

I am looking forward to finishing the course I'm taking.  It's great but it leaves me with nearly no drawing time, and I miss drawing.  My latest hooked rug is coming along slowly, but at least I'm making small progress on that and will show it when done.  Life requires patience.  Endless patience.

“These fragments, these shivers of my heart
Are mere lifetimes enclosed in a minute”
― Zubair Ahsan, Of Endeavours Blue

Sit back and take in these photos from the Spring Bulb Show at Smith College's Lyman Greenhouse.  Ahhhhhhhh...the scent of these bulbs was like a stairway to paradise.  An instant blast of happiness.  Enjoy!

"Perfumes are the feelings of flowers."
--Heinrich Heine

"A flower blossoms for its own joy."
--Oscar Wilde

Lots of surprises yesterday and today:

Yesterday, for example, I surprised myself by managing to mangle my way through these two drawings using Procreate on my ipad.  First time!  They're hardly masterpieces, BUT, I drew them on Procreate!  I have a long long way to go to learn more about using the app, but I'm surprised I got this far.

Next, I went to add them here on my recently-neglected blog, and the second surprise--far less welcome--was my discovery that I was locked out.  Could. Not. Log. In.  Yikes!  Several hours on the phone later, I am back.  File this under "nasty surprises."  But I got it figured out (or rather, the technical folks did).

Not much drawing has happened as I'm absorbed in both my latest rug--I'll be showing that soon I hope--and a very, VERY time-consuming course, which will be done mid-April.  I hope to get back to art on a more regular basis by then, and I suspect I will be consumed by learning Procreate for quite a while.

I have been wrestling with a textile project, and that's why you don't see me posting here.  It's not lack of interest.  It's a combo of s-l-o-w progress on the next rug and being so tied to it that I cannot seem to get any drawing or Zentangle® work going.  Eventually I'll be back.  Thanks for your patience.
Meanwhile, here is a badly-photographed teaser on the project:

My second try at Waybop, having practiced it quite a bit. 

Something about this looks quite Tibetan to me.

Graphite & Micron 01 on a Zendala tile.  Tangles are:  Waybop, Crazy Betweed, Beadlines, Pokeroot, Moonpie.  This was major fun to draw.

Well of course there are mistakes.  We all make mistakes. 

I made some major mistakes in drawing this tangle, Waybop.  I've drawn it before but not for a couple of years.  I really screwed up the linework on this tile.

But here's the thing:  "There are no mistakes in Zentangle®."  That's one of our axioms.  Because just like in life, we have to deal with whatever's right in front of us and work with it, mistakes or not.

So I didn't tear up this tile.  I kept it overnight and decided to try coloring it.  Here below is the result. 

Glad I held onto it and decided to keep working on it.  I've ended up really liking it a lot.  I chose colors to match the oriental rugs in a friend's  home.

This entire  process was an experiment.
Could I produce this tangle from memory?  No, I couldn't and the original linework was terrible.  But...I could continue to work with it and end up with a good result.

It required only patience and determination.  Lesson learned.

Our final tile from the workshop.  Tranzending is a Zentangle® term for drawing on top of an already-completed piece.  It requires a sense of trust and don't-know mind, much like meditation.

Two more "enhancing" techniques taught over the last 2 days of the weekend:

And here are the class mosaics, or as many as my camera could catch:

All based on the same directions.  A careful look will show how each is so different from any other.
Drawing is like handwriting--very individualized.

The next day started off with this tile.

Here's the thing--Molly had pre-drawn a very odd string (string = an optional guideline done in pencil) on every student's tile.  Very odd. 

We were asked to tangle within the string, not outside of it.  OKaaaaaaaay...

Off we went. 

Once we were done, mine looked like this.

Very strange.

Lots of fun and very calming.

But still, weird.

I think we were all scratching our heads a bit, despite enjoying ourselves.

But then, we did the mosaic of tiles.  AHA!  Now it all made so much sense:

Hearts with a trick!  I love it.

The workshop with Molly & Martha was designed to emphasize what's known as tangle "enhancers."  This first one was the Tucker technique, where something appears to be almost hidden, tucked away under the paper.  I was familiar with it but hadn't tried it much.  If ever.  This was fun to do.  I think the grey pen section qualifies as another technique called "ghost tangles."

Below you can see the class "mosaic" of tiles.  Isn't it interesting how everyone draws their tangles differently, even with the same directions?  Drawing is a lot like handwriting--the same, but very different.  One of life's paradoxes.

Next we did a mandala of border tangles using both brown and black Microns, graphite, and white and pink General's chalk pencils.

We used ModPodge on top of the tile once it was done to seal it, but not over each of the borders, just some.

Tangles included a portion of Marasu, Jonqal, Shattuck (with sparkles), Bales with enthatching), Well (with weighted lines), and weighted Printemps (there's a narrow beaded border thrown in there twice, plus dots).  Lots of enhancers here!

Again, here is the mosaic of tiles for the border mandala.  So many differences, yet so much similarity.

Two more pieces from last weekend's Zentangle® workshop with Martha Huggins and Molly Hollibaugh.  And I still have others to post over the next few days.

We also did some tangling on wood, which turned out to be surprisingly easy.  We then painted Mod Podge (glossy) on top as a seal. 

Tangles here are Pokeroot, Fescue, Tipple, a variation of Florz, and Rick's version of Flux.  I used a Black and a Brown Micron 01, as well as graphite.

At some point I'll flip it over and do the other side as well.