April Zendala Class at Your Crazy Place

I had the pleasure of sharing the process of creating Zendalas with four creative and enthusiastic students at Your Crazy Place shop in Houghton. A Zendala is the combination of a mandala with Zentangle.

For the first Zendala we completed, we drew our own outline string on a blank Zendala tile using common household items (e.g. bottle caps and jar lids) to trace the circles. I love how they are each unique and each beautiful.

For the next Zendala, we used one with the guiding string already on the circular tile. These pre-strung Zendala tiles, made by Zentangle, are available with several different patterns of strings. These tiles are fun to use, as the string-making step is already done and you can jump right into the tangling.

Below is the picture of the start that the students made using the pre-strung tiles.

They have a great beginning to these lovely Zendalas.

Thanks to the students for an enjoyable and pleasant teaching experience.

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Zentangle Class for WIND Group

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Zentangle

On Wednesday evening (4/1/15) I had the pleasure of sharing the Zentangle experience with the Women in New Directions (WIND) group at Your Crazy Place. These ladies are very creative, spirited,  and supportive to one another. They all made wonderful Zentangle tiles, each with their own style.

Aren’t they great?!

I so enjoyed my time with these inspiring women. Thank you so much!

If you are interested in learning more about the WIND group in Houghton, visit their Facebook page here.

I want to thank Michelle, the owner of Your Crazy Place in downtown Houghton for donating the use of her wonderful art space. Check out their Facebook page for more art classes offered there (including a variety of Zentangle classes).

I also want to thank Beth Jukari for the beautiful art class she gifted me for doing the class for the WIND group. I love it!

Your Crazy Place March 2015 Intro to Zentangle Class

On Saturday, March 21, I was fortunate to be able to share my love of Zentangle with four more new students.

Our first tile: Tangles used: Crescent Moon, Flux, Bales, and Msst.

They all commented on the fact that although they all learned the same tangles, their finished tiles were each unique!

Tangles used: Flukes, Printemps, Nzepple, Shattuck.

I really enjoyed introducing these four lovely women to  Zentangle. I also find my enthusiasm for tangling renewed by sharing it with others! Thanks, Ladies!

Fun with Color Zentangle Class

On February 21st, 2015 I shared some Zentangle Color play with four ladies at Your Crazy Place in Houghton. Having no formal art education, I felt a little nervous venturing into the world of color. So, in preparation for this class, I reviewed some basic color theory on the internet. I shared this information with the class and we talked about the color wheel, complementary colors, and some ideas for choosing colors. I recommended this website (design seeds) for color combination ideas.

We used the official Zentangle tiles for all of our color play. We made watercolor backgrounds using an inexpensive set of watercolors. We taped the tiles down to prevent curling and set them aside to dry. Then we tangled on them using a Sakura Pigma 05 pen, which has a harder nip and doesn’t clog as easily as the regular micron pens we typically use for tangling.

I love the colors they chose!

We also played with watercolor pencils. With this technique, first you tangle on a tile, then you color with the pencils, and then use a water brush to blend the colors.

There is also a watercolor background tile in this picture.

Some of the tangles used : Gneiss, Huggins, Vitruvius.

I appreciate the openness and sense of play that the students brought to the class. I think we all learned something.

Introductory Class at Your Crazy Place, January 17, 2015

Four students joined me for an introduction, or for some, a re-introduction to the Zentangle process of making art. We had a wonderful time playing with tangles and relaxing at the very comfortable studio space of Your Crazy Place in downtown Houghton.

Below are their tile mosaics:

Tangles used: Crescent Moon, Rain, Ennies, Quipple

Hibred, Flukes, Twing, Zander

Thanks for joining me for the class, ladies. Hope you all continue to enjoy your Zentangle journey.

I am the Diva Challenge #200!

Congratulations to Laura of “I am the Diva” for her 200th weekly Zentangle challenge. She is having a “Bi-Zen-Tennial” Celebration with a giveaway, so head over to her blog to check it out!

Her challenge is to use your “mac and cheese,” “comfort,” or “go-to” tangle, covering the whole tile, and add the number “200” somewhere.

My favorite tangle is Bales. I love the rhythm of drawing it and the pretty little flowers.

Covered in Bales

I feel very “Zen-ful” after this tile. 🙂

Thanks for visiting.

Brunch with Bijou at Your Crazy Place

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Zentangle

This past Saturday (10/18/14) I taught my first Bijou Zentangle class. Bijou is Zentangle’s fanciful little snail friend from France who brings to us his mini 2″ by 2″ sized tiles on which to tangle. Find more information about Bijou here.

Five wonderful students and I enjoyed a relaxing brunch at Your Crazy Place complete with coffee, OJ with optional champagne, coffee cake, mini quiche muffins, fruit, and a yummy apple cake brought by one of the students.

We really had a lovely time  playing with these cute little tiles. We first started with a mono-tangle using our old favorite, Crescent Moon.

 

I love how everyone’s variation is a bit different. As one of the students who was new to Zentangle said after seeing these tiles, “So much beauty in so little time.”

Next we experimented with three tangles that have a similar starting point. Dyon, Fracas, and Drupe all begin the same, but then move in somewhat different directions. Here are some of what the ladies did with Fracas:

 

Lastly, we completed a more traditional tile beginning with a border and string and using three different tangles.

 

Tangles used: Knase, Keeko, and Bales.

I had a great time sharing Bijou with these enthusiastic students. Thanks for making it such an enjoyable class. And, as always, thanks to Your Crazy Place for providing delicious refreshments and a cozy atmosphere for the class.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Zentangle Renaissance Tile Class at Your Crazy Place

Saturday, September 27 I taught another class at Your Crazy Place. We explored beautiful tan Zentangle tiles, using regular black Micron pens, but also a luscious brown colored pen and white Gelly Roll pen. We also played with shading with a regular pencil and with a white charcoal pencil.

Two junior high school young ladies were part of the class, and it was wonderful to see their creative interpretations. We all enjoyed the discovery of playing with multiple color pens using the Zentangle method.

Tangles used: Crescent Moon, Well, Tripoli, Indy-rella

Tangles used: Rixty, Tipple, Puf, Pepper

The girls left early to go horseback riding (lucky girls!) so they did not fully finish their second tile.

Thanks for joining me in the fun today, ladies!

Manistique Black Tile Class

On Saturday, 9/13/14, I shared the fun of putting white ink on black tiles, using the Zentangle Method, with 5 wonderful students. I believe we all enjoyed the process, which resulted in some lovely tiles.

Tangles used: Crescent Moon, Flux, Keeko, Cadent

Here we used Twing, Jetties, Rick’s Paradox, and ‘Nzeppel.

Thanks to Lake Effects Art Center for inviting me to teach again. I always enjoy my visit to lovely Manistique!

Organics Intro Class at Your Crazy Place

Thanks to the lovely ladies who shared part of their Saturday with me to play with organic tangles. There was a mixture of students new to Zentangle, along with a few who had taken previous classes with me. They were all very adventurous and followed me down the “garden path” to try out some different more “unstructured” tangles. I love the result!

On this first tile, we used Crescent Moon, Cyme, Nipa, and Quabog.

Tile number two: Pokeleaf, Mooka variation, and Bronx Cheer.

 

Thanks for the great tangling class today, Ladies, and hope you join me again sometime.

When you are in downtown Houghton, Michigan, be sure to drop by Your Crazy Place, an enchanting gift shop and supporter of all things creative!