One Stroke at a Time.

Two quotes caught my eye recently:

Small things, done consistently, in strategic places, create major impact. What are [your] top 'small things' right now?

— David Allen:
Author and productivity consultant

Great acts are made up of small deeds.

— Lao Tzu: Philosopher

When I (Rick) read those quotes, it was natural for me to think of individual strokes in a Zentangle creation. Each stroke is a small thing. Each Zentangle creation is made up of small individual strokes. 

Then I thought of our Zentangle slogan . . .

 . . . and I realized that not only is anything possible, one stroke at a time, but that most things are ONLY possible, one stroke at a time . . . at least for me. My activities are more successful and certainly more mindful and enjoyable when I am able to do them one at a time.

However, there is a Zentangle paradox at work here, too: When you can't concentrate at all, creating something in a Zentangle way can help your concentration.

Some weeks after after Maria and I had given a Zentangle workshop at our local book store, a woman stopped us on the street. She said she regularly went to church with her two sons. She also said she never remembered the sermon, but continued to go for her sons' benefit.

One Sunday she was sitting in church and thought to herself, "I'm not going to remember anything so I might as well tangle!" So she took out a Zentangle tile, a pencil and a pen and tangled during the sermon.

"I remembered everything he said! . . . for the first time ever!"

So, however small a thing you may be doing (or thinking, or saying, or planning, or . . .), appreciate and savor it, "one stroke at a time."

And if the tumbling tumult of (seemingly) big things becomes too distracting, grab your Zentangle tiles and tools and treat yourself to a Zentangle moment.


Click image for larger view of small strokes.

Seeing Stars!

We received this beautiful image . . .

. . . and this lovely note from Susan Breen Silvy, CZT:

Rick and Maria,

The holidays are here in full swing, eh? I've always integrated my artwork into my Christmas decorations. When we unpack our decorations every year there are the kids art projects -- and mom's. LOL This year I came up with a simple holiday project that I posted on my blog and the teachers forum and I've gotten a lot of response from it.

Since these are so simple I thought maybe you would want to share the how-to on your blog or in the newsletter.

The stars are just a fun way to work Zentangle into the holiday festivities. So if you are looking for ideas, please feel free to use this.

Susan

Thank you so much for sharing that!

Please take a look at Susan's blog post for her simple instructions on how to create amazing 3-dimensional stars from a single sheet of paper.


Click image to see bigger stars!

Biggify!

Laura Harms' current (50th!) challenge is to "Bigify!"

Here Maria uses Zentangle's embellishment technique of "dewdrop" on mooka.

See other examples of this challenge at Laura Harms' (CZT) blog.

Click image for larger view of "dewdrop" on mooka (on a hemlock stump).

Welcoming Friends!

We had friends over for supper last night. Maria tangled our front door glass as a special welcome.

She used a black Chalk Ink® Artista Pro marker, the one that only washes off with an ammonia based cleaner. (Her wrist is doing much better!)

Using mooka as a primary tangle, it didn't take long to do because mooka is a great tangle for covering large areas quickly.

This is old glass. Notice how it distorts the birdbath in the background. This glass also distorts the light coming in as you can see in this blog entry.

And speaking of "Welcoming Friends," we look forward to doing just that at our February Seminar (which is filling quickly).


Click image for closer view of tangled glass.

Registration Open for February 2012 CZT Seminar

We just sent out a newsletter announcing the opening of registration for our Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT) training seminar on February 21-24, 2012 at Hotel Providence in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

As we write in our newsletter,

This is such an exciting event for us and all who attend. It's a time to have fun, make lifelong friends, get deep into what Zentangle is all about . . . and learn how to earn gratitude and income by teaching the Zentangle method.

If you are interested in attending, please register soon because these seminars tend to fill quickly.

If you are wondering what this is all about, you can learn more on this page.

We are using an online registration system this time and you will find instructions in this newsletter.

See you in February!

Click image for larger view of Hotel Providence chandelier.
Photo: Daved Levitan

Sprain

Maria writes:

Spraining your wrist kinda knocks the wind out you. I keep thinking I should be able to do (seemingly) simple things, but then I realize it was dumb to even try.

So I decided to tangle left-handed for a while and "feel the burn," as in a "difficult exercise!"

I slowed down and appreciated and understood the intimidation some people have when they first start tangling. Their comments are often, "No way can I EVER do this!"

And now here I'm saying, "No way can I draw with my non-dominant hand!" But, after all is tangled and done, I realize as long as my shaking is consistent throughout my tangling, it all looks pretty darn cool!

Click image for larger view.

'Tis (almost) the season . . .

Well, it's always a good season, as that song goes, "to be jolly." And this is also a good season to tell you about some new goodies that we've been holding back on until our new website went online.

We (along with Snowman and assorted penguins) are happy to introduce a compilation CD of Native American style flute music, called Sounds.

 
This CD includes all the songs on our instructional DVD in our Zentangle Kit plus enough more songs to make it about an hour long.

 
Rick used to make Native American style flutes. This CD is Rick playing flutes that he made. Sounds is a great accompaniment for creating Zentangle art and it's a great gift.

In case you missed it in our recent newsletter, we have also introduced black Zentangle square tiles and ATC sized Zentangle tiles (3.5 x 2.5 inches) in both white and black. To tangle on our black tiles we offer white Sakura Gelly Roll® pens and white charcoal pencils.

Here are a couple samples that Maria tangled last night:

In this example above, see how Maria uses her white Gelly Roll® on top of black ink on this white ATC size Zentangle tile. It's a fun exploration that these new tools make possible.

And in this example above of white ink on a black tile, she just had a blast.

There will be more later.

Enjoy!

Click images for larger views.