In our Zentangle method, we think of tangles (patterns that can be drawn with simple strokes in a predefined way) as basic colors like you might find in a tube of paint.
You can mix tangles and create new ones (we call those "tangleations"), just as you can mix two colors to get a third. And just like colors, you can apply tangles to many surfaces with many tools in many ways.
Sally Houghton, CZT, recently emailed:
Ever since the seminar in October 2011, I have been thinking about the day Maria told us about the dream she had over and over again as a child (about discovering a new color). I just loved that story and have retold it to the kids I teach often.
I also remember Rick saying, "Imagine cadent coming out of a tube like paint!" Well, that put an image in my head that has never left.
It's been a blessing to me when talking to the kids. The first time I retold it, a fourth grade boy had just said, "Well, why do we all have to do the same thing? Can't we do something original?"
So, I said, "Well, think about when you open a box of crayons or paints. You have all the same colors to use as everyone else does, right?" He agreed with that, so I continued, "Everyone uses the same colors, but they put them in different places on their paper and color in different shapes with them. When they are done with their picture, do you think it always comes out the same?"
He knew what I was saying, but I kept going, "Where you put your patterns and what shape you fill in with them makes a different image each time. And, just like crayons or paint, you may mix a couple different colors together to make a new color, or shade a bit with them, and those are other ways you make them your own original work."
Anyway, I've told that story and carried it around in my head for so long that when I got my sketchbook in the mail from the project being run by the Art House Co-op, I immediately turned to the center of the sketchbook to relieve the image from my mind. I told [my friend] about it on our ride to the CZT gathering in Longmeadow last Saturday and she asked me to send her a picture. She really liked it and said I should share it with you. So, here it is. I hope it does Maria's dream some justice.
Thank you so much for sending that, Sally. It's beautiful and conveys the idea elegantly!
Click image for larger view of dream.
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9 comments:
In CZT class, the story of Maria's dream gave me goosebumps...love it! I frequently talk about mixing tangle patterns like mixing colors out of the tube in my classes, as Rick did in in our CZT seminar. I love that you took that visual and created a wonderful art piece with it, Sally! Thanks for sharing.
That drawing is so cool! Love what you did!!!
Cool drawing and concept. Maria, when I was a little girl I KNEW I could make paint, which was what I wanted most. One day I used the sharpener on my crayon box and sharpened all of my crayons into my brother's cowboy had and then added water. Liquid is needed for paint, right? Well, mother finally found it hidden away to steep in the closet and my paint didn't turn out to be paint. I realize that many of us that are artists from a young age (everybody) has some sort of concept about how it is all made.
Sally, your picture could be a poster for zentangle® in the vein that a picture is worth a thousand words. It describes zentangle® to a tee. I absolutely love it!
A wonderful professional artist friend of mine, Jacqueline Penney tells a story of when she was a little girl in kindergarten she placed a box of crayons on the radiator only to have them melt, of course. As she watched the colors dripping down the radiator she was fascinated by them and knew right then and there that she was "hooked" as an artist. Love these stories.
Maria's Dream has struck a chord with me. I've always thought that when we get to heaven there with be new and beautiful colors that we have never seen before. The idea that tangles are new colors is really cool! I've often looked at doing a zentangle as "coloring with patterns". When you look at tangles as being "new" colors then your palette is endless. That is part of the fascination that we all feel with Zentangle.
I think so many of us have heard the story of Maria's dream and been impacted by it. I do think it has actually happened. Her artistic gifts are so special and have blessed so many of us. Truly like being given a new colour.
Big hug to you both
Heather
This has always been my favorite story! I love it more every time I hear it! What a fantastic illustration of it! Thank you for sharing!
This whole post/comments is dreamy!
What a fantastic (dream)fantasy!
And so beautiful drawn.
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