Initialize a Buddy!

Quite some time ago (a year? or so?) I was first playing with initials and tangles.  In fact, it was flipping through my "fun stuff" sketchbook, a gift from my friend Ruth, that inspired last week's challenge stand-in for our Diva.  All this time later and I still haven't found a string for one good buddy - whose name is an awkward three initials - but at the time I did do several for other friends (with the more common single surnames!).  I thought you might like to see one, so I present to you RH:

Happy Wednesday (and don't melt)!

Classy Sunday Fun !

What a great day!  Today was an Act 1 (Zentangle basics) class.  We held it at Ruth's condo, which is a warm and welcoming nest in which to work.  Our students were lovely ladies who drove as much as 1 1/2 hours to attend!  What an honour to be able to introduce them to Zentangle.  We had so much fun and the tiles completed were each so very different, one to the next.  That's one of the things that I love best about Zentangle - the endless possibilities!  I had such a great time teaching that I forgot to ask if they'd mind having their photo shown on my blog, so I can only offer you a photo of their first tiles.  Didn't they do a great job?

Happy Sunday!

Happy Friday !

Happy Friday, everyone!  In celebration of the end of the work week and anticipation of the weekend, I've decided to start rolling out the tangles my fellow CZT, Ruth Howell, and I have been devising.  Since it's proven so popular with a number of artists (seen here, for example) I've decided the first one should be ORGANZA, designed by Ruth.  It's a pretty and fun tangle that is also delicate and variable - somewhat like Ruth, in fact! *G*

You can also see it used as a tangleation here, and here and here and here.  I think I'll stART a Tangles page to collect the directions together in one central location for ease of reference.

Happy Friday!

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!

Grow Dreams

I am finally home.  The past month at work has been exceptionally difficult trying to keep everything consistently up to date and deal with the constant, urgent priorities that flux and change practically each moment - and all while packing up two offices for the seventh move in seven years...  I am exhausted.  We are being relocated the very day I return from my week away.  As I return home on Saturday I already know I'll be going back into the office to pack up the few remaining items on the Sunday.  *sigh*  Another day of my life lost... but now I slough it off!  I reject delivery of any more stress and upset and worry.

I am off to grow dreams!  I am going on a trip I've waited for, planned for and eagerly anticipated for months now - I'm off to Whitinsville next week for my Zentangle training and I hope that maybe, at the end of it, I'll be awarded the coveted CZT designation!  I'm packing my pens and a journal or two, updating my car club membership (I'm driving) and hunting for twin-size bedding... I'll be clad in optimism and my dear friend Debi's gorgous jacket (my favourite in the world!) that she is lending me.  I love it and can use the spiritual armour.  All this and another great (and brave!) friend, Ruth, is going to keep me company and also attend!  Ruth is not only a muti-faceted and greatly talented artist, but also a highly educated and dedicated homeopathic practitioner; my western medicine makes sure the machine works, but Ruth's therapies make it worth running!  Ruth isn't only going for a 9-hour drive (each way!) with me, but didn't back out even when I told her I'll play new country music all the way... Heheheheee  Actually, I love many forms of music so I doubt it'll be all of ANYTHING on the drive.  A big snow-storm is scheduled for Sunday night and we set out early on Monday morning so hopefully things will have cleared by then.  I may or may not be able to blog while away, so don't give up on me if I'm gone for a few days, alright?  In the meantime, please enjoy my drawing, "Grow Dreams", which features an Artoo tangleation, Ruth's lovely Organza and a plethora of other tangles:

Happy Friday!