Puddle in Ontario

Apologies, lovely blogohood friends...a concatenation of events has kept me offline for about 10 days now.  Despite the best of intentions and missing you all (and your lovely, encouraging remarks and emails), I simply ran out of energy!  Yes, the relentlessly creative "me" was vanquished by simple work and weather!  I put in a week of solid 12 hour workdays (AND 10 hours on Sunday PLUS a qualified friend's assistance for the full stint on Sunday!!! - all of it unpaid!...see, Tracey?  You DO have company in your underpaid and overworked workaday world! *G*).  Just at the point the avalanche of work was cleared away, the weather just HAD to chime in!!!  We went straight from wet, overcast and cool (my favourite weather - I know, I know, but SOMEONE has to like it! *G*) to humidity and heat high enough to stop me in my tracks.  I'd leave the office at the end of the day and, upon exiting, it was exactly like walking into a wall of HOT.  Crazy, Dominican Republic-type hot!  Humid, fish could walk down the street hot!  Forget about eggs frying on the sidewalk, I'm talking eggs poaching in their shells hot!....Oh.  I guess you know what I mean by now...  Anyhow, I don't function well in that kind of heat.  I generally meet up with some beady buddies on Tuesday nights for some fellowship and fun and it was so hot we even cut that lovely "therapy" session short - not everyone could stay but two of us walked over to the local Dairy Queen for ice cream afterward and I STILL got home early.  Fortunately, today is finally less humid and I've actually gotten myself together and picked up pen and paper.  Don't get me wrong - I love the fact that Southern Ontario gets four clear, distinct seasons and I love the differences one from the next.  I'm not exactly complaining, I just don't function well in extreme heat and/or humidity.  Is anyone else like that?  It's like it gums up the brains (or melts 'em!) and eating, drinking, moving, you name it, is just too much effort, even something as essential as breathing and art (which, to my thinking, are about equally necessary to sustain life!).  So here is my somewhat sticky, but finally functional, tile - I missed you!

Happy Wednesday!

Wonderful Wednesday

I am having an amazing night!  Ruth's tangle ORGANZA got a mention on Linda Farmer's site, tanglepatterns.com!  Whoo hoo!  You go, girl!  How exciting!

As if that's not enough to get the endorphins racing through the bloodstream, I got home from work today to find Sandra LaFaut's beautiful "Bluebird" had arrived in the post!  Oh my goodness, I haven't words to describe this treasure - the tangles, the watercolour, the composition - there is NOTHING about it that I don't LOVE.  I will be studying and admiring and basking in its beauty for hours and hours and hours....  Isn't Sandra a marvellous artist?  And such a generous, kind soul, too; what an unbeatable combination!  Here's the art card itself; isn't is just FABULOUS?

During my CZT training seminar I was introduced to the fabulous Inktense pencils and their possibilities.  Well, I finally got some and have tried a couple of small trials to see how they work and how I may want to use them with Zentangle.

First I tried a watercolour paper postcard, and applied the inks in a scrumble type of technique. After the paper was thoroughly dry I used my Sakura Pigma Micron to tangle.

For the Zentangle tile, I reversed the process of application and first tangled, then inked.

You know, these pencils are astounding!  The colour is brilliantly intense and deliciously saturated and there is no build-up (that I can see) on the pen nib.  The pen is as profoundly black as ever without any bleeding.  I can recommend them highly as a fun item to add to your tool box of art supplies.

Hasn't this been a wonderful day?

Happy Wednesday!

The Challenge of Being Without A Challenge

Since my first two posts dealt with responding to an existing challenge, and catching it up to date (note to self and others - being late as a way of life, why save it for a pregnant day?), I thought I'd show a peek at a more "traditional" Zentangle today.  Even without an overt challenge, a Zentangle has many opportunities to stretch your creative self, from the shape of the square (vary it - why limit yourself to a square with four right angles EVERY time, anyway? or straight sides? can't 'square' simply be a descriptor?) to the string to the tangles to the shading.....

I can't say that I'm executing the Zentangle in a way that's an accurate reflection of the method designed by Maria and Rick Thomas as I haven't had my class yet (February is just a few weeks away - hooray!).  As far as I can tell, however, this one is pretty close to the originators' plan.  It was done before I'd really become comfortable with the art form and wasn't venturing too far out of the box just yet.

I start by free-handing a square, then adding a string.  From that point I fill up the space using whatever tangle patterns seem appropriate.  I try to let the shape of the space or curve of the string dictate the choice of tangle and then allow it to flow from my pen in all its tangled glory.  There's a wonderful sense of peace and timelessness while tangling; it seems to suspend all the pending worries and concerns and allow for a window of serenity in a crazy day.  The pen nib virtually walks itself across the paper, scribing elegance in its wake while I simply allow it to flow. Ahhhhhh....... *smile*

At this point it can be hard to go on as it's often so pretty in its unshaded state, but onward I bravely plunge!  Once again I submit to the flow, allowing the shapes and patterns to dictate their own dimensional appearances as they will, ignoring all learned techniques of directional lighting, turning the tile at will or whim, until - TA DA!  It tells me it's done, demands a signature of me and a chance to rest.  I sit, sipping tea and resting my eyes on happy artwork, in a perfect and peaceful place.

Happy Thursday!