Giveaway on Wee Memories Blog

Wee Memories blog is having a great giveaway. This giveaway includes a variety of stamp sets, paper, and other goodies. Stop on over and enter!

Latest Zentangle Class Tiles

Here are the tiles done by the students at the Copper Country Community Arts Center. The tangles are: Poke Leaf, Printemps, Rick’s Paradox, and Beeline. Some found Paradox a bit challenging, so they made a “tangelation” with it. However, they were all able to figure it out after practice on some scratch paper. On our second tile, we worked on the the tangle Purk.

All the students continue to enjoy the Zentangle process and are excited about learning new tangles, new ideas for Zentangle Inspired Art (ZIA) and sharing their creative endeavors. These four weeks of class are going by fast!

January Tangle-A-Day Calendar

I have continued to keep a tangle-a-day calendar for the month of January, just haven’t posted up to now. So far this month the tangles are: Embrose, Gee Wizz, Cordst, Undiala, Wix, Ninja Stars, Xerexez, Manilla, Undine, Serpentine, Ojo, Pudge, Mullane, and Lava Juice.

First Class at Copper Country Community Arts Center

I had my first Zentangle class at the Copper Country Community Arts Center on Wednesday, January 11. Seven wonderful students, several of them who had never heard of Zentangle before, participated, and they entered into the process with enthusiasm and focus. As you can see from their first tiles above, are all very creative and expressive. They were all delighted with their own and each others’ tiles, which much “oohing and aahhing,” and pointing out the similarities, differences, and artistic variations in their creations.

They had even more fun with their second tiles, as they relaxed and enjoyed the process. We have three more class sessions, and I am really looking forward to our journey together as we explore the delightful world of Zentangle.

Thanks to my students for being my first “paying customers” and making the teaching of Zentangle so rewarding!

Notebook Stories Giveaway

Head on over to the Notebook Stories blog to get a chance to win a Wild & Wolf notebook.

This blog has very informative reviews of notebooks and related items. They are also very generous with giveaways. I have won in the past and received my goodies promptly!

An excellent blog to bookmark.

Full December Tangle-a-Day Calendar

Here is the full month of December. I am enjoying playing with the new tangles and think it’s going to be a handy reference.

The rest of the tangles for the month: Yabbut, Scrawlz, Fleuri, Garl, Fengle, Aster, Blinkles, Murphy, Klok#2, Sproink, Spearl, Atorm, and Medaillion.

December Tangle Calendar Update (12th – 18th)

Tags

tangle

Here’s the latest installment in the tangled calendar project. This week I added Fohbraid, Pweeko, spaanders, Retro, O.M.G., Wirly Bird, and Not-a-knot. Thanks to all the tangle designers for their creativity!

CZT Ensemble Swap

Tags

czt

At the Certified Zentangle Teacher Training #7 this past October, many of us signed up to participate in an ensemble swap. The ensemble sets are 9 tiles with a shared string running through them, so when put together, flow into each other nicely. The set is made by Zentangle and can be found here or ordered through me.

Here is the set that I will be sending to Jennifer Van Pelt, CZT,  (website here) who volunteered to coordinate the swap. I will be receiving 9 different tiles, done by 9 different artists. I can’t wait to see what they look like.

Thanks, Jennifer, for doing this fun swap for us.

My first class!

Today, I gave a “Mini-class” to 8 co-workers. I work in a Community Mental Health Center, and I titled the class “The use of repetitive drawing for mindfulness practice (Zentangle).” We use the practice of mindfulness frequently in our therapy work with our mental health consumers.  I talked about the feedback that Rick and Maria (Zentangle originators) have gotten of how the Zentangle process has helped some people with various forms of anxiety, insomnia, fear of flying, and attention difficulties. I noted how the practice of repetitive drawing of patterns might be helpful for developing relaxation and focus, especially for people who might have trouble with just sitting (in a meditative practice) or just focusing on their breathing.

Everyone really enjoyed the process of learning several tangles and they alternated between quiet focus and cheerful chatting and laughing. Since we only had an hour, we couldn’t spend as much time drawing as I would have liked, but I love how everyone’s turned out. I think they were impressed with their tiles as well.

I used the tangles of Crescent Moon, Msst, Tipple, and Cadent. Cadent was a little bit more difficult, but they all good naturedly developed some tangelations from it.

Everyone had a good time. And several people expressed interest in getting more information and purchasing some materials.

I am very happy and excited about my first teaching experience, and I want to thank my colleagues for being such great students!

My next scheduled classes start at the Community Art Center in January. See  the Zentangle Class Information page for how to register.

Tangled Birch Bark Christmas Ornaments

Tags

hand made art

A few weeks ago, I attended the local annual Poor Artists’ Sale. Among all the other wonderful hand-made art items was the “Bark Artery” table, with lovely ornaments made from birch bark. The artist, Kristi Mills, from Big Bay, Michigan, makes items from the bark from aged, fallen or previously harvested trees. I took one look at her collection, and thought they would make great surfaces to tangle upon. Every year, I look to buy holidays gifts for the secretaries in my department at the Poor Artists’ Sale. I hit the jackpot with these, as they are wonderfully made from natural materials, and I enjoyed adding my own touch to them.

I gave the secretaries their gifts today, and they were all thrilled.