Another Beautiful Morning

Three days over 50 degrees. Has Spring finally sprung here? All that energy coiled through a long winter starting to burst forth. Like the garlic that overwintered in our garden - like this Zentangle.

Up Early

Up early this morning. Birds are singing. Sun is shining. Coffee's hot. And here's Maria's morning Zentangle!

Anything is possible . . .

one stroke 
at a time

When we give a Zentangle workshop, we begin by showing Zentangles that other people have created. Usually we'll hear, "No way we can do that!" particularly in schools.

Pretty soon though, everyone has done exactly what they said they knew they couldn't do.

Then we ask, "What else do you know that you can't do?"

It's always a great "aha" moment and it happens in every Zentangle workshop. (We particularly enjoy working with people who "know" they aren't artists.) This insight is such a part of what Zentangle is all about that we made it our tagline.

We just added a link on this blog to our list of Certified Zentangle Teachers (CZT). If you haven't expereinced a Zentangle workshop yet, we encourage you to contact a CZT near you and experience one.

P.S. What else do you know that you can't do?

Zentangle DVD

Please note that we now ship only full-size DVDs with our Zentangle Kits.

For more information on that change, see this blog entry.
[edited November 4, 2011]

This blog can be a great knowledge base for Zentangle. Today, we'll discuss Zentangle's DVD.

We chose a small format DVD - about three inches diameter because it fits nicely in our kit. This small DVD will play in any tray loading DVD player found in many desktop computers and home entertainment players. Notice that inner circle in this next picture. It's made to receive small DVDs.

Our small DVD also plays nicely on spindle drives that are found on many laptops. You open your disc player and push your disc onto a post similar to this next picture.

However, most Apple computers use a slot-loading system that pulls in the disc and then ejects it through a narrow slot as in this image below. Our disc is too small to be ejected. If you have this type of DVD drive, just let us know when you order your kit and we'll send a large DVD instead.

Occasionally we get emails about not hearing sound (which is Rick playing Native American style flutes he used to make - another story for another time) or not being able to play the DVD at all. Most instances seem to have been related to certain versions of Windows Media software not understanding the "codecs" (whatever they are) of our DVD. We now have them made for us and we have been assured that our DVD coding is up-to-date.

One solution that has fixed this issue every time is VLC Media Player. It's a free, open-source, high reviewed multi-media player. If this doesn't work, we'll exchange your DVD, no questions asked.

 

If you have have any questions, comments, insights - jump in!

Any Surface Will Do

While reading comments about Barb's beautiful Zentangle gourd, I noticed our sugar and creamer on our kitchen table.

Click any image to enlarge.

Maria found this container when we needed a sugar bowl but it didn't have a cover. She walked down to Aubuchon's (our local hardware store) and bought a cork and a wood drawer pull. She found a screw and a washer and there you have it - with a little help from a Pigma 01 pen of course.

 

Our creamer is decorated with one of those foam spacers that come in a bulk DVD container. Since no surface is safe, it soon sported a Zentangle and now sits happily on our non-dairy creamer.

 

You can create a Zentangle on just about anything using materials, tools and skills you have right now. Every creation need not be a grand affair. Often, getting ready to create can crowd out actually creating. Look around you. There's probably something within reach right now that is just waiting to get "tangled." Jump in - no fear!

(But boy, that gourd really is beautiful, isn't it.)

Zentangle Gourds

We get many wonderful gifts in our in box. Here's a great example that came in yesterday from Barb Wolters in Rio Rancho, New Mexico:

Hi Rick and Maria,

I ordered the Zentangle kit about a month ago and have enjoyed drawing all the patterns in the kit and new ones from your newsletters.

I am a gourd artist, so immediately I thought about doing Zentangle designs on a gourd. I did not use a "string" but drew each pattern  separately without thinking which one I would do next. As I went around the gourd my creativity keep flowing until I had 14 different patterns. I tried to make each one flow into the other. Essentially, each pattern was drawn twice; once in pencil then again with a wood burning pen. All the shading was done with different wood burning tips using low, med or high heat. The higher the heat, the darker the color. The bottom of the gourd is stained with black gourd ink dyes and then sprayed with acrylic.

The New Mexico Gourd Society had their festival this weekend so I entered it into competition. I won "First Place in the "My Masterpiece Master Gourd Artist" division and the "Viewer's Choice" award which is voted on by the public. Everyone wanted to know how I did it.  I had many questions and the first thing I did was to tell them to go to Zentangle.com! Thank you Maria and Rick for what will be many years of Zentangle!

Now, take a look at these images!

 

  

 

Those pictures are so beautiful. Thanks, Barb.

We've invited Barb to check this post's comments in case you have any questions for her.

What's Your Pleasure?

As Rose commented while our blog was dormant:

"Can't wait till this blog is in full bloom... there are so many things I can't wait to see and discuss... so many questions and how to's that I can't seem to understand. Hopefully soon!"

Well, Rose, we're blooming and we look forward to hearing from you.

 

Blogging is a wonderful tool and it's time we put it to good use. We can

• Discuss questions so everyone benefits and can join the conversation
• Share tools and techniques for Zentangle
• Talk about Zentangle insights, stories and metaphors
• Post newsletter and website topics for indepth discussions
• Post and discuss Zentangles

But you know all that.

 

What do you want to talk about? What are your questions, inspirations, passions, comments?

If you have a Zentangle blog, tell us and we'll add you to our blogroll.

We are learning this as we go. We invite your comments and suggestions as we explore all Blogger's neat tools, toys and settings.

Post your ideas and suggestions here or, you can email us. If you email us about our blog, please put "blog" somewhere in your subject line.

We are enthusiastically anticipating this new facet of our Zentangle adventure with you. Thank you all for making this possible and so much fun!