Ruth Tangles With Stamps !

What a great tabloid headline this post title would make!

My friend Ruth is the culprit who first introduced me to Zentangle®  over a year ago now.  While it took six months to find the time to look into them properly, once I started I never looked back.  Lo and behold, here we are - Certified Zentangle Teachers!  It was Ruth who introduced me to Zentangle®, Ruth who showed me her work with rubber stamps (inspiring my exploration of last week), and even Ruth who "garage saled" her no-longer-required rubber stamps to me! *G*  Gotta love a gal who just keeps on giving...Heheheheee.  At any rate, "it's pay-back time"! *imagine creepy threatening voice*.

A few days ago I convinced Ruth to let me photograph a couple of her ZIA pieces.  This is one of Ruth's first rubber stamp ZIAs:

Isn't she fun?  I love the great shape and drape of the lines - it looks like an Earth Mother or one of the "sock 'em, bop 'em" clown dolls that scared the mischief out of me as a little kid!  Then there's this one, too, that's a bit more recent:

Super fun, eh? (yes, I am proudly Canadian! *G*)  I love seeing the different ways people take a concept and run with it in their own fashion (scissors, anyone?).  The Diva's challenges are just exactly like that.  We all receive the same instructions, but then it is filtered through our own perceptions and experience.  Later we post the artwork to be viewed by others who, on receiving the identical instructions, have often created something absolutely different that we never would have though of creating.  

I love that the challenges are not always easy, but they are ALWAYS voluntary.  I enjoy pushing my artistic limits, but I can also appreciate being in a time or place where being pushed just isn't a good thing and some may opt to "skip" a challenge or three.  Simply because someone steps up to the plate or backs off from it doesn't make the art of either individual either more or less valid than the other, in my book.

One of the things I am particularly happy about is that Zentangle® is an inclusive form of art.  Virtually everyone can make a deliberate mark on a piece of paper.  Beyond that one needs only simple imagination!  One deliberate stroke at a time, an artist, a child, a differently abled or mentally challenged person can choose to create beauty.  I am delighted to be part of this exciting time of development.  Those in full possession of their faculties, a broad imagination and good fine motor control can go on and create ZIA of great beauty.  Those whose abilities are severely restricted can also experience the joy of creation and the happiness of crafting original art gifts for friends and loved ones.

Ah well, I'm waxing rhapsodic, so it must be my bedtime! *G*  Off to make tea and hit the hay...

Happy Tuesday!