Tile for October 10

Here's last night's tile    

And here are the tangles I used:
     Kuzek  posted by Laura Harms - a Cadent variation by one of her students
     Renda by Girasole Gialio
     Featherfall by Carole Ohl
     Class-ee by Sandra Strait - with a little "Tipple" in the background
     Travertine by Sandra Strait - this is a herringbone pattern like my Abbe Road, but she steps it out differently. I did it "her way" here.
     Scrolled Feather by Helen Williams - this one appealed to me because the little spirals are almost the only thing I've been able to draw in recent months!

I Really must be off to work! More Later.

Blessed Be and Joyous Tangling!
maggie

It's Here!

My copy of The Book of Zentangle arrived today! It's so beautiful I want to cry! (I mean that in the best possible way). I haven't had time to READ all the way through it yet,and I'm sure I really will be crying when I've done that. Just the bits I've read as I flipped through are as beautiful in language as in visual art.
Please go to this newsletter and this blog post to read more, or to order your own copy!

As much as I'm dying to dive deeply into this book, really want to do another tile tonight, so: eat, feed the animals, tangle a bit, THEN I can read my Zentangle book!

Blessed Be and Joyous Tangling!
maggie

Flux

I haven't done a new tile yet today. But I have completed a "step card" for Flux, as promised. I've also reviewed and worked at several new-to-me or rarely used tangles that I want to work with this week.

I'm selecting my "tangles for the week" from Genevieve Crabe's first Weekly Round-up of December 10, 2012, and from her most recent one.
I really love Genevieve's weekly "digest" of links. She does a lot of work for people like me who want to keep up but have limited time. Thanks, Genevieve! (and I just posted that as a comment on her Blog!)

If someone else has published the steps for Flux somewhere, please share. I did a very cursory search and didn't find anything. I know that every tangler has a slightly different take on this one, and probably a different Way of drawing it.
I tried Very Hard to show the steps as they are drawn in my CZT  "manual," for demo purposes.

When I do this tangle, I usually pencil a "center line" or "stem"  through the section of my string that I plan to fill. I almost always treat these a "leaves" and draw a vein down the middle.
Maybe I should try some other ways of doing it?!







And here is a post I did using Flux as the only tangle on a tile.

I think that counts as my Zentangle for today. Now to do some more research for tomorrow!


Blessed Be and Joyous Tangling!
 maggie

October 8 Tile

Here's the tile I did last night after work (I challenged myself to DO one a day, not to POST one every day):

Flux (again): I like Flux, and I'll draw out the steps a little later.
Shattuck: Vicki Murray's tutorial really helped me with this one!
Beeline
Striping
Drupe

All of these are Official Zentangle tangles. Also check Linda Farmer's tanglepatterns.com for additional links for these patterns.

I DON'T want to step on anyone's toes, or appropriate anyone's piece of the Zentangle pie. I'm certainly not trying to re-invent any wheels.

I gratefully acknowledge Rick and Maria's Zentangle Newsletters; Sandy Bartholomew's Beez in the Belfry blog, her "Tangle Patterns of the Week," and her numerous awesome books;  Linda Farmer's tanglepatterns.com; Laura Harms' I am the Diva and her inspiring Weekly Challenges; Genevieve Crabe's Weekly Roundup of tangle patterns and related publications, and so many other inspiring artists and students.
Hopefully this weekend I'll have time to update my "Favorite Blogs" list, to share some of those inspirations with you.

My intention is to challenge MY artistic self, and to share my Process and my Journey with anyone who is interested.


Blessed Be and Joyous Tangling!
maggie

Challenging Myself

I'm thinking of setting Myself a Challenge.
The premise is:
      I need to get back to the regular practice of Zentangle
      I need to learn New tangles and step out of My Box
      I want to create a visual Tangle Library that I can share with my students and others who    might be interested.

So my Challenge to Myself is:
     1) To create a tile or other artwork Every Day.
           Here's today's:

Tangles used: 'Nzeppel, Crescent Moon, Cubine,
Flux, W2, Ennies, and some of those "little zingers"
All Official Zentangle tangles

                   
(Do those "little zingers" have an official name?)

2) To learn several new tangles each week. As a Primary Resource I'm going to use Genevieve Crabe's Weekly Tangle Roundups . She's been publishing these regularly since December of 2010, and she pulls together links to new tangle patterns, as well as ZT related articles and products.

3) To draw "Step-out Cards" for every Tangle I use or learn in the course of the week.



I Have already created a printable template for 4 x 6"  (about 10 x 15 cm for my metric friends) cards, which can be stored in photo boxes or displayed in albums. Sorted and rearranged ad lib.

I will, of course, share my art, and links to the tangles I've used.
For today:
     'Nzeppel and "revisited"  here, W2,  Cubine, Crescent Moon, Ennies.
     Suzanne McNeill and Sandy Bartholomew, whose links are included here, are both CZT's, from the First Class (I think)

I am not quickly finding an online source for the steps for Flux. Maybe I'll have to do that one first ;-)


Blessed Be and Joyous Tangling!
maggie

New Class, New Friends!

So, last Saturday I taught a Terrific class to a group of Zentangle enthusiasts in Greenwood,SC.

It was a large class, with terrific energy. It included folks of all ages and genders, and I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did! I'm hearing interest in future classes, and hope we can arrange this soon.

Mosaic of our First Tile

The Second Mosaic

Focused!

Blessed Be and Joyous Tangling!
maggie

Where Have I Been?

This is maggie, trying to blow the cobwebs off this blog. At some point, my header has gone awry. I'll have to work on that.
I can't exactly tell you where I've been for the last year. Sometime in October I just slipped away: from Zentangle, and from many other aspects of my life. 

I'm sure many people have wondered at my failure to respond, and I apologize.

I kept thinking I'd get back to it. After the Sun turned back toward the North in December. After the  Holiday Chaos was over. After Spring finally arrived in earnest. After, After AFTER.

My loved ones have been very patient. Probably more patient and less judgmental than I've been with myself. I was away so long, that I began to be very anxious when I thought of returning to the Blog. or anything else. 

Recently, just as I made the difficult decision to close my studio space, a new opportunity arose. A chance to participate in a show of Zentangle-inspired Art, and to offer a class to a new group of people. This opportunity came "out of the blue" so to speak, through my oldest and dearest friend, who is also a Zentangle student.

Last Friday we hung a display of work by three of my students, as well as myself (they seriously outnumber me in volume of work displayed). Martha Moore and Lee Robirds of Greenwood, SC and Savannah Willingham of Asheville, NC (as photographed by Sandra Miller).

3 by 3
Martha, Maggie, Lee

The show is at Howard's on Main Delicatessen in Greenwood, SC,and will hang through the month of October, so if you're nearby drop in!

Savannah: Tangled

Many thanks to Dohnna Boyajian, herself a Greenwood artist, who coordinated the show and the class.
And to Howard Corley (of Howard's on Main) for his support, for offering a wonderful space for display, and for his Fine Food!

For some reason, I'm having a dreadful time getting my photos "right-side-up."

I'm going to quit fighting it, and post this as is.

More tomorrow.

Blessed be, and Joyous Tangling!

A Party, and a little Hope.

I was away from home this past weekend. I dutifully printed out the sunflower template and took it with me.
But my pen wanted to do something else:

It was a terrific gathering: all 4 children, 2 of their spouses, 5 of 8 grandchildren, plus my son's fiancee & daughter, and 3 of 3 great-grandchildren!

Dad appeared quite happy with the whole thing, and it was great to have time to visit with family: we're so scattered that we never get enough!

I also had the opportunity to share some Zentangle !

Hope

I did actually complete a tile for the Hope Challenge last week. And I found loads of awesome, inspiring quotations on Hope. I'm not going to include them all here today, but I'll probably use them again sometime.
Of course I worked two 12-hour shifts last weekend, so never got this posted.

Of course, my thoughts began with Emily Dickinson's lovely verse:
         

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune-- without the words,

And never stops at all,

So my tile was very "feathery,"  and of course full of growing things, as well. I used Carole Ohl's "Featherfall,"  Sandra Strait's "Jay" and "Heron,"

and Zentangle's Pendrils, as well my usual Flux variation, and a heart-shaped tangleation of "Pepper"

I want to add a quotation from Robert Kennedy which I thought was quite meaningful for us as artists, bloggers  and Zentangle enthusiasts. 

Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, these ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

We need to remember the power we have, and send it out into the world respectfully and responsibly. Hope, Love, Beauty, Peace. . .  so many ideals that we can influence and give our energy to, quietly but powerfully!

Blessed Be and Joyous Tangling!

Late Again!!

. . . for the Diva's 41st Weekly Challenge! I actually completed 2 tiles while at my son's house last night, but by the time we got home I was too tired to post them.

I just spent a couple of lovely hours looking through this week's entries. It's always fun to see all the different interpretations of the theme. This week the Challenge is a "DuoTangle:" create a tile (or ZIA) using only 2 tangles: thee official Zentangle tangles Jonqal & Opus.

Laura once again managed to come up with two tangles that I generally don't use, so there was a "learning curve." I still want to play around some more with Opus. It does have that luscious curviness, and plenty of ways to vary it.

At any rate: here are my attempts at "Duotangle v II"

"Opus 1"

I feel of like I don't quite have the necessary "looseness" and  flow of Opus yet.

But it's about the PROCESS, right? and my process will involve further practice with this one!!


Blessed Be and Joyous Tangling!

"Opus 2"

Pinwheels for Peace

I missed last week's Challenge from the Diva . It took me Forever to come up with Inspiration for the "Love is all you need" challenge, and then I had to work all weekend. So that piece is still a "work in progress.

That Challenge invited us to express the Love that can change the world, and Laura related that to America's great tragedy of 9/11/2001.
And springing from that, this week's Challenge:Pinwheels for Peace . You can read more about the Pinwheels for Peace project here. It's a worldwide visual celebration of the International Day of Peace (September 21). AND it uses the terrific slogan "Imagine . . . whirled peace!"

So Laura challenged us to draw and tangle, or otherwise create pinwheels. Because Saturday sneaked up on me again, I elected the "flat version," but maybe next year I can get myself, my resources, my friends and family together ahead of time!

I did do three tiles, and then to emulate a cluster of pinwheels in the wind, I put them all on the scanner together.

 In "real life" I really don't like the first one I did, which is in the center above, but the contrast between the patterns shows much better in the scanned version! Sometimes I love my scanner -- and sometimes I don't  ;  ).

For now,
Blessed Be and Joyous Tangling!

More soon!

A most ingenious Paradox

Laura-the-Diva calls this Challenge "Better than a Pair of Ducks". She says the word Paradox makes her think of a pair of ducks. It makes me hum the Gilbert & Sullivan tune from Pirates of Penzance.  ; )

This first tile is one I created last year, before I even did the CZT training. I remember spending most of an afternoon focusing on those lines. It's very rigid, but it has something to offer.

I enjoyed the time and was pleased with the result.

I still love playing with Paradox, and I really loved  Margaret Bremner's recent tutorial!

I spent whatever time I could grab this week, playing around with ideas. I came up with this pentagonal version that I like. But then it insisted on having all this curvy, round, flowing stuff.

So it's not the "monotangle" specified in the challenge. I want to play some more, but I also want to get this posted.

Maybe tomorrow I'll add another. And finish up that other post I've been trying to write all week!

Until then: Blessed Be and Joyous Tangling!

Kiss my Grids!

The latest  Challenge from Laura-the-Diva: create a tile using only grid-based tangles.

Now I DO remember (first-run, not syndication) the TV series Alice and the film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. I Adored Flo and her "Kiss my grits!"  And the grits discussions on Laura's blog this week were almost as much fun as the Challenge!
motherjulie apparently posted a really yummy recipe for pimiento cheese grits, but my computer won't let me see it this evening. I'll try again!

I got one tile done, and had ideas for a second, but the week got away from me (what a surprise!)
At any rate, here's my Challenge Tile for Week 37

And once again, I'm off to bed: up before 0500 tomorrow! I'm planning a just-for-fun post Tuesday, in the meantime

Blessed Be and Joyous Tangling!

It's Still Saturday Night . . .

. . . and I just HAD to try Assunta on a black tile!

Fun! but it's past my bedtime!  

I'm going to link this, then off to bed. Busy day tomorrow, and a Busy Week ahead.

Blessed Be and Joyous Tangling!

Another Class, and Another Challenge

Yes, just FYI, I've posted a class for this coming Thursday, 9/1, 3-6pm. 

And now, to the Really Important Stuff: The Diva's Weekly Challenge #36 !

This week's Challenge, of course, is to use Rick's new tangle, Assunta . This tangle was posted in a Zentangle Newsletter dated August 15. It's a gift from Rick to Maria on the anniversary of her birth. What a lovely gift!
I found myself pretty Challenged getting started with this, despite Rick's great deconstruction & excellent Tips. My little "hash marks" or "take-off & landing lines" were too long, or too close together or too far apart.

I finally got the spacing, and the turning of the tile, and everything figured out, and it began to Flow Beautifully. Each little teardrop nestled next to its partner. Cadent flowed directly off of Assunta. So did Bales.

Then came Photography! Oh, dear! I ALWAYS

just Scan my tiles! But I'm not near my scanner right now. It did take me more attempts than I expected: light, no light? flash, no flash?  Where did that glare come from?

Ah Hah! Got it! 

Now, what was the next project?

Blessed Be and Joyous Tangling!

September classes posted!

I have just posted dates & times for 4 classes in September on the "Learn Zentangle" page above. I've been goofing off for most of July & August. Blaming most of that on my new granddaughter  :  )

But it's time to get back to work, and play. I tend to get more creatively motivated around the Solstices & Equinoxes, so September should be a great month!

Just e-mail me: maggiekattangles@gmail.com if you're interested!

I LOVE sharing Zentangle with new people, so come join us. It'll be fun, at the very least!
Class descriptions, prices, location and so forth are also on the "Learn Zentangle" page.

If I don't have anything that suits your schedule, please get in touch with me.

Blessed Be and Joyous Tangling!

My Tangle Pattern: Abbe Road

Abbeville, SC is a charming, historic little town in South Carolina's "Upstate," near the (current) home of my dear friend, BlueRidgeWoman. The Square has lots of great shops, the Abbeville Opera House, and this Very Tangle-able brick paving:

This is a simple herringbone brickwork pattern. You don't even HAVE to use the pencil grid. The general proportions of the "bricks" is 1 unit wide x 2 units long. It's easiest to draw a line of bricks, each offset by half a brick, then rotate your tile 90 degrees and do the next row.

Enjoy this!

Blessed Be & Joyous Tangling!

Tile-in-a-Tile--3 Versions!

The Diva's Challenge this week is from guest host Margaret Bremner of Enthusiastic Artist.  The object is to do your "dots" and "border" "way in from the corners [and sides]" [of the tile] Then draw the string over the Whole Tile. Add tangles & shading to set the small inner tile-shape off from the rest.

Fun! I came up with 2 and started a third before I knew what I was doing! (Then I misplaced the half-finished third tile, and had to start over. Actually,it ran away, and its disappearance had nothing to to with any action of mine!)

I can't really decide which I like best: each has its own charm.

I drew the tile, and the string. Then I needed some little curlicue things. The twisty ribbons just grew from all that. I tried to pick some new tangles, medium-to-dark values, and the usual combination of rounded and straight lines.

Next I thought I'd do something with a darker border and a lighter center:

More organic, but no tangle carry-through to the borders. I need to work more on shading/highlighting the white-on-black, but overall I like this one.

Then I had the idea of using Hollibaugh to tie together the small tile and the border. The use of Hollibaugh to "tie up" the tile, rather than to make string spaces was introduced in our CZT 4 class by Molly.

I seem to recall Sandy Bartholomew posting a truly beautiful example of this. I'd link you to it, but I can't find it right now. Maybe it ran off with my half-finished tile?

Somehow, my original vision didn't have the white- on-black tangles flowing into the borders, but tiles often know better than I do.


The herringbone brick pattern in the lower left section is my own tangle "Abbe Road."
I'll post the steps for this either tonight or Saturday!

Blessed Be, and Joyous Tangling!

Opposites Attract

Another terrific Challenge from Laura Harms' I am the Diva site. This week our "guest host" is again Christina Vandervlist of stART, and she brings us the idea that "Opposites Attract." In this case, combining a straight-line string with curvy tangles,or vice-versa.

Again, this was trickier than I thought it would be. I started with the straight string, thinking that I'm so fond of the curvy, organic tangles, that it would be simpler. Then I could try the curved string/straight tangles one.

I tried a few tangles I hadn't used before, and I had a lot of fun stretching. The first tile was more of a stretch than expected, and I'm pleased with the result.

The second tile was going more smoothly, other than a small "goof" in my Hollibaugh (not a Mistake, of course, just an unintended line).Then I got to one last section, and Could Not figure out how to fill it!

I stared, and sighed, and pondered for (what seemed like) hours. I finally did fill it in, AND as I began to rotate the tile I found another one of those serendipitous heart-sort-of-shapes.









My house is full, so I'm going to post this.

More soon! Until then,
Blessed Be, and Joyous Tangling!

Pendrills-New Tangle, New Challenge!

Last Sunday, Rick & Maria offered us a new tangle, Pendrills, in their Zentangle Newsletter. And of course, on Monday "Laura-the-Diva" presented us with a Challenge (#33 in a series) to Use this new Tangle!

I quickly discovered that Pendrills can very easily slip free of all constraints and take off!

I did some testing in my sketchbook, but it was much too prone to take up entire pages, so I thought I'd try to restrain it within the limits of a tile. I got this far before being called away to a family crisis:

This sat on my table for a day and a half, waiting for me to return. Finally I completed some other projects and responsibilities and got back to it.

By that time I had completely lost whatever vision I had, so the end result is, well, I don't know, just Not Quite.

I want to post this before it gets any later on Saturday, but I may try again.


I'm quite in love with the Blue Ridge Woman's Dream Catchers and I've been playing with this idea.
In her second posted Dream Catcher she uses two lovely feathery tangles: Sandra Strait/molossus's Jay  and Carole Ohl's Featherfall! Sandra's wonderful organic tangles were some of the first ones I tried!

At any rate, I'm going to spend some more time with Pendrills, and some unexpected time with that awesome BlueRidgeWoman!

Until next time, 
Blessed Be and Joyous Tangling!

Zentangle is for Everyone! Weekly Challenge #32

This week's http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/2011/07/weekly-challenge-32.html is brought to us by guest host Carole Ohl. Carole invites us to create a tile using 4 specific tangles, AND to mail these to her for participation in a showing of art to emphasize that "Zentangle is for Everyone."

The selected tangles are Baton by Carole Ohl,  Keenees by Donna Hornsby, Pais by Mikee Huber, and Zedbra by Margaret Bremner & Laura Harms.
I have tended to limit myself to Official Tangles, not through any bizarre chauvinism, but I think because I become utterly overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of tangle patterns out in the world! So this was a Giant Step outside my comfy box, and I embraced the opportunity. I've also had more tangling time, since I'm taking a couple of weeks off work to be with my Last-Born daughter and new granddaughter KiSSy. (Not that I'm really needed, but it's nice to have a little downtime, and spend time snuggling the baby, and tangling!)

This is actually my 3rd attempt at this Challenge: I wanted to let Pais run wild

I really like Pais, and had a lot of fun with Zedbra. Keenees and Baton are fun, too. Good for me to learn some new stuff!!

So it's only Wednesday, and I've finished 3 tiles!! I'm going to post them all here, and probably send the first two on to Carole. I think it's a  terrific idea to show people that Anyone can create a Zentangle, and that there is no Right or Wrong way to do it!
Given four specific patterns there will be an unlimited variety in the end products, only dependent on the number of artists participating. Very Exciting!!



2nd attempt: the idea for shading Zedbra was one of those early-morning visions!



First try, and my least favorite of the three


BTW: my spell-check doesn't recognize
 "Zedbra,"
but offers Zed bra as a valid option.
 Reminds me of a joke about lingerie sizing
; D.