Challenge #32

Laura Harms, CZT, aka iamthediva's Challenge #32 is up. Carole Ohl, also a CZT, guest hosted this challenge.

Maria said this was a "challenging" challenge for her as it involved learning four new tangles.

Although it's not officially part of this challenge, Maria enjoyed the tangle baton so much that she also mono-tangled this tile:

Thanks for that challenge, Carole! (Carole's blog)

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Great Article

Margaret Bremner, CZT, wrote a great article titled, "The Art of Zentangle Drawing." We are thrilled to share it with you.

This is an excellent distilled "one pager" to share with friends who might be wondering what's this Zentangle phenomenon is all about.

As we jokingly said when we asked Margaret about blogging her article, "Well gee whiz, Margaret . . . we had all these great plans for writing a book and you just wrote everything in one page!"

It really is that good. Enjoy.

Margaret lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in Canada. She regularly shares delicious gems of insight and artistic inspiration on her blog.


Click for a (much) larger view.

Got an itch?

LZ sent us this email and image:

Has anyone tried the Zentangle method on kids Scratch-Art® products? Fun!

This one is made on the transparent kind that is meant to hang in a window. I like the little bits left over that make it look sort of like a woodcut print.

Neat idea! Thanks LZ.

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Depth

We are always thrilled by moments where students teach the teacher.

We received this email a while back from someone who will be attending our October CZT training seminar this fall.

Hi Rick and Maria,

I've been tangling since my sister, Peg Farmer, [a CZT] showed me her latest obsession a little over a year ago. My background is in weaving and sculpture, so I have been amazed at how relaxing and satisfying this 2-D artform is. As you can see, my tangles and ZIA's still allow me to satisfy the 3-D artist in me.

I am so looking forward to meeting you both in Providence in October. I can't wait to learn how to share this beautiful, artistic experience with all those people out there that say they can't even draw a straight line. Aren't they in for a big surprise!

Sincerely
Lesley Scott-Gillilan

We were particularly amazed by Lesley's circular Zentangle creation above, which she calls, "Floatfest Mandala." We are always teaching the Zentangle principle of "drawing behind" but we never applied it to flux. Once we saw Leslie do it, it was self-evident.

Thank you so much for that, Lesley. See you in October!

.

Faeries Landing

Here's Maria's contribution to Challenge #31 on Laura Harms' blog. This week's guest challenger is Carol Bailey Floyd, CZT [blog].

We were honored to have Carol attend our first Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT) seminar. She is an inspirational part of a vibrant group of Ohio tanglers. Thank you Carol for creating this challenge!

This Zentangle tile was inspired by Molly's creation that we posted yesterday. This is a tangleation of mooka tipped with welcoming decorative resonances that seem particulary attractive to faeries.


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Back to "Work"

Molly, Nick, Indy and Mazzy just went home. We've been basking in having them stay with us these past few days.

Thank you for your patience and understanding with our being slightly off-line this past week. Now we'll get back to "work" answering our emails, returning calls and such.

We put "work" in quotes because that word too often refers to activities done reluctantly. Words cannot describe how much we love exploring and sharing all that Zentangle's method and artwork offers; and then seeing what is reflected in others' Zentangle inspired creations. On top of that, we get to meet wonderful people and develop wonderful friendships.

Here's a black Zentangle tile that Molly created yesterday:

These new black tiles, along with their white pens and pencils are currently only available from our CZTs. We'll offer our new tiles online as soon as our website upgrade is complete.

Alrighty then . . . back to "work"!

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It's a Girl!

Mazzy Martha Hollibaugh

Early this morning.

Mazzy, Molly, Indy and Nick are doing great.

Zentangle tile begun during labor and completed later today.


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Be patient for further details (and answers to emails!).

Initially

In Challenge #30 (!), Laura Harms, CZT, invited Christina Vandervlist, CZT, to guest challenge. Christina challenges us to use our initials as string.

Take a look at many other great initially inspired Zentangle tiles at Laura's blog.

Thanks, Laura. Thanks, Christina. (Christina's blog)

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Hot Conversation

She:

Hi, I'm a glass fuser, and think this could be the MOST EXCITING WAY to stimulate my creativity and translate what I draw to warm glass kiln art.....Wow, I am so ready to start...and being housebound w/a foot injury has morphed into a plus! Thank you, Janis Piper

We:

Hi Janis,

Just saw your comment on your order. We look forward to seeing pictures!

Thanks again for your order.

Best,  Rick (and Maria)

She:

Hi Maria and Rick, this has taken me 4+ months to acheive, but here it is....a tangle made with 100% fused glass. It is small, 7" x 10", on white Bullseye c.o.e. 90 glass. The tangle is drawn with cobalt blue powdered frit (glass, consistancy of confectioners sugar) with clear and irid. fine and medium on first layer, then shading and deeper tangerine color on second layer, then more fine and medium clear frit...finished by cold working with lap grinder on all edges. Whew! This was fused 2 times at 1490 degrees, has marvelous depth.

Look for more, as I love the simplicity and movement of so many of the tangle patterns, and can't wait to go on to the next venture!

Thank you for making this a possibility, Janis Piper

We:

Hi Janis,

Very cool! May we put this in our blog?

Best,  Rick (and Maria)

She:

Wow...! Sure, why not? I don't have a website, but I do have a Facebook artists page: Kilnwerks Fused Glass by Janis Piper and an email in case anyone has questions on "how to do" it.

Many thanks, Janis

Janis' beautiful Zentangle Inspired glass creation uses betweed as its primary tangle. You can read instructions on how to create betweed here and watch a YouTube demonstration here.

Thank you sending that, Janis!

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Hot Tangles

CZT, Suzanne Wilka writes,

Hi Rick and Maria,

Maria - nice to speak ever so briefly with you on the phone this morning.  Since I mentioned the woodburned tiles - thought I'd send along photos of a few of them.  These were completed for an exchange for an online Woodburning group.  It was a fun way to introduce them to Zentangle.  These tiles are 4" x 4" basswood.  Fun to do and I'll be doing more - and maybe teaching it just need to round up enough woodburning units for class!

The new items are a hit - plenty of my students are requesting them - hence the second order.

Thanks again
Suzanne Wilka

Thank you so much for sharing those with us, Suzanne!

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Check 'em out!

We've added many new links to our "Links" section on the right. We encourage you to explore some new area's of our Zentangle® neighborhood.

In the meantime, here are a couple recent Zentangle tiles that Maria did . . . a little tripoli, a little exploration . . .

Enjoy!

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Click links for larger enjoyment.

Denim Tangles

Eight years ago, Maria and I went to visit my aunt in Maine. We went to the beach. It was cool and Maria was wearing jeans. She tangled them as we sat on a bench overlooking the surf.

Maria put those same jeans on today and even though the tangles have faded a bit, they still look great!

Materials used:

• Sakura® Black Pigma Micron 01
• Denim
• Ocean air

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Nice Weekend!

Back from a warm weekend of fireworks and and a bit of family fun downtime.

We do have a Zentangle fireworks "photo" to share. It uses another tripoli tangleation. Check out how its negative space becomes positive space at the edges.

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Four For #28

Laura Harms', CZT, challenge #28 is to create Zentangles using our new tangle tripoli.

We created two of these yesterday in a waiting room. As expected, we had no idea how long we waited because we were pleasantly occupied and focused on tangling.

There are many directions you can take as you explore this tangle's variations.

After our previous blog about "perfection" and "not good enough," we've been receiving delightful confirming messages. For instance, here's a quote from this morning's paper, and a (slightly edited) "fortune" from a recent supper.

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