By the numbers . . .

3,024 Zentangle Tiles

4.3 x 5.6 meters (14 x 18.5 feet)

HK$151,200

Fina Man, CZT worked with her friend Keith To to raise HK$151,200.00 (approximately US$20,000) in Hong Kong for this year's Operation Santa Claus.

They also created the largest Zentangle Mosaic we've ever seen!

Here are some pictures:

Fina is 5th from the left.

That's Keith

Press Release from Kowloon Shangri-La

Congratulations, Fina!

Congratulations, Keith!

R&M

Zentangle Method and Schools

Gillian McAuliffe works with school children in Perth, Australia. After learning about the Zentangle Method, she began sharing it with students in her school district.

The outcomes were so positive and so dramatic that she had to find out what was going on. So earlier this year she traveled 11,639 miles from Perth to Providence (RI) to attended a Certified Zentangle Teacher training seminar.

Gillian is also working with an area university to design formal studies to investigate the benefits to students from practicing the Zentangle Method. In the meantime she wrote an article on this important topic that we want to share with you.

To more easily read her article, upload the original PDF here.

To "meet" Gillian, please take a moment to enjoy this short interview she gave us at seminar. One important insight she shares is the gradual deterioration over recent years in children's fine motor skills and how she employed a Zentangle practice to address this.

We just uploaded this video and five other new ones to our Zentangle Story Booth.

Thanks, Gillian.

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Our winners from posting on Amsterdam, Day 2 are:

• Toujours Soleil
• Cathy in gorgeous Sonoma County
• Lori S.

Please send your snail mail address to maria@zentangle.com and we'll send you a Tinful of Bijous!

Best from us both,

R&M

Calm Down and Get Your Zentangle On

That's the title of an article in Psychology Today that we recently discovered.

Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPCC, LPAT in Arts and Health, begins,

Zentangle® is known to many artists and craftivistas as a way to create structured designs through drawing various patterns. Sometimes mistakenly called “Zendoodling” or “tangle doodling,” Zentangling or tangling is actually a formalized process that defines itself as something other than mere doodling because of its theory and approach. Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas [www.zentangle.com] are the originators of the trademarked Zentangle method. 

Later she writes:

Why am I interested in Zentangle? While the process may look intricate, it is a deceptively simple pathway to relaxation and inner focus. In fact, proponents of the practice note that it has multiple benefits including calming an anxious mind, increasing self-confidence, and cultivating moment-to-moment awareness in a similar way as mindfulness meditation. Here are some other benefits:

• It’s Self-Soothing.
• It’s Simple.
• It Teaches How to Own Mistakes.
• It Reinforces “Aimlessness.” 

In the complete article, she expands on those four benefits.

Her last reference to "aimlessness" reminded me of Leisure, The Basis of Culture, a book by Josef Pieper. Mr. Pieper's book builds on her insight into the value of "aimlessness" and has many other ideas that resonate with practicing the Zentangle Method.

We invite you to visit her blog post to read the complete article and perhaps, to leave a comment.

Thank you, Dr. Machiodi, for taking your time to write that article.

R&M

Amsterdam - Day 2 of . . . .

Our tour of Amsterdam was not only the grand museums, but romantic walks that one only dares to dream about.

You read of such walks in novels. And you think . . . nah, it could never happen in our life like that. Well. The beauty is there to behold. Everywhere you look. The heart-to-heart exchanges as you walk arm in arm, are timeless. You don't gossip. You don't talk about work. You don't even talk about the worrisome baggage we all seem to carry. You just see. Marvel. Notice for the first time. Feel so lucky to be where you are, at that moment. You meander with no destination in mind, taking in the wonder of each tiny detail that you would never notice at another time.

We saw (thousands!) of bicyclists, going about their daily rituals, with children in tow.

You could imagine what it would be like as a child, "en plein air" with careless breezes through your hair and the comfort of your parent behind you, on your way to the day ahead.

Rick was in that state of exuberance, stopping every few feet and chronicling that moment in vivid color as only he can.

(I am a bit partial here, as I think his photos are extraordinary). : )

The fairytale-esque architecture,

the fabulous fashions from around the world, stained glass, time-worn ceramic tiles

and building facades,

architectural details,

as well as the manhole covers, shadows, patterns and reflections on (and off) the floors and walls,

 

 
scooter seats, (shades of 'n Zeppel)

and trolley wires, (inviting 'n Zeppel)

the luscious food on our plates (!),

store displays,

chandeliers,

all contributed to a never-ending portfolio of yet unrealized tangles and reminders of familiar ones.

My little leather journal was alive with images sparking tiles I had not planned. Sketches of borders, floral patterns, carved corners, etched glass abound.

The tangles, as if breathing life onto the folios in my hands, seemed to grow in spite of me. This, as you all know, is just what tangling can do to a person.

The very act of tangling, brings to me whatever I seem to need at the time. . . be it calm, excitement, focus, happiness, gratitude, passion.

What do you experience when YOU tangle?

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Since we've been SO preoccupied with our fall seminars and the roll-out of our new website, we'll send our promised "something special" to five (instead of one) of you who took your time to contribute to that blog post's comments.

Each of the following will receive a set of our new Opus tiles. Just email your snail mail address to maria@zentangle.com and we'll get those out right away!

And the "winners" are:

Peg Stueber
Diane Wright
Art Lady Kate
Rosie-55
Judy Holzschuh

We also invite your comments to this blog post and will send a randomly chosen commenter a gift in appreciation (perhaps not after so long a wait this time!)

Thanks so much!

R&M