When We Gather

I love getting together with friends or family for any occasion.  It is fun to catch up, share what's going on, and play!  I recently had the opportunity to gather with a group of CZTs in the Massachusetts area for a little meet up.  We had a great time sharing ideas and working on different projects together.

Our first fun project was this zen ball, although I've seen it referred to by about 20 different names!  It is a lot of fun to tangle paper strips and weave them into this cool 3-D ball for decorating.  

We explored some embossing techniques and played with an exciting woven variation of Rixty by Sarah Del Mastro, CZT. 

I love getting together with friends especially when they are so creative and inspiring!

What do you like to do when you gather with others?

Beyond Inspired

Wow.  Wow.  Just wow.

Okay, maybe I have a few more words to describe the fantastic, amazing, creative, inspiring weekend I spent with 100 plus CZTs at Tangle U.  It's been a few days, and I am still overwhelmed by my fun and stimulating weekend away in Portland, Maine.

I was so immersed in my weekend that I neglected to take photographs of much of what was happening.  I hope that my art and words will fill in the blanks for you.  Trust me, it was an amazing adventure.  Check out CZT Cris Letourneau's blog for a snapshot of the weekend.

First I traveled to Portland, Maine.  It was an interesting city filled with pretty architecture, restaurants, and shops.  If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend checking out The Holy Donut for the best donuts I have ever had.  They even have gluten free!  We stayed at the newly renovated, beautiful Westin Portland Harborview.  

Now for the tangling!

It was a pleasure to meet many of my CZT colleagues for the first time and to reconnect with others I had met at past events including my CZT IX training.  

We spent three creative days tangling with our illustrious teachers including the following:

• Suzanne McNeill - author of the Zentangle 1-10 books and many other creative titles.
• Sandy Steen Bartholomew - author of Yoga for the Brain and many other awesome books.
• Cris Letourneau - author of Made in the Shade and the upcoming Pattern Play.
• Marie Browning - Tombow goddess and author of Time to Tangle with Color.
• Molly Hollibaugh - from Zentangle
• Beckah Krahula - mixed media artist and author of One Zentangle a Day, and more!

I'll have to take several posts to share all the fun new things I learned!  I was intrigued by the easy ways we explored working with the black Zentangle tiles.  Molly brought us some goodies and a technique from Maria Thomas, co-founder of Zentangle®.  We played with Zenstones on black Zendala tiles.  I love the ghostly look the Zenstone creates.

I hope you can join me for my Zentangle® Inverted class this month to explore ways of working with these black tiles!

CZT Mail

CZTs around the world sent tiles, letters, and adorned letters to the CBS Sunday Morning show on April 1 to try to bring the joys of Zentangle® to the show's viewers.  

Wouldn't it be wonderful if more people could learn about this amazing art form?  What would happen if more people learned the many benefits of regular tangling?  Would the world be calmer?  Would we all feel more inspired and more able to tackle the world's problems one step--or one stroke--at a time?  I wish that people could enjoy even a portion of the benefits that I have received from my regular Zentangle practice.

Check out see a sampling of art and letters on Blog Zentangle, and learn more about this idea in a recent Zentangle newsletter.

I'd love to be in the the CBS mailroom to see all the amazing works of handmade art in that mailbag.  I hope the Sunday Morning show wants to tangle with us!

100th Post: Thanks for reading!

While uploading my Tangle U photos, I saw that I had hit my 100th post on this blog!  I figured I should do something to commemorate the milestone.  Where better to have this happen than at a creative, stimulating, and fun weekend away!

I am so thankful to my wonderful family for freeing me up so I could attend this weekend.

I appreciate all of the hard work that the planners, teachers, and vendors put into making this event such a success.

I am impressed and inspired by my fellow CZTs.  People are doing creative things with their Zentangle practice and with their classes.  It is an honor to be among this talented group.

Lastly, I want to thank you for reading this blog.  The Internet has made it so easy for anyone to say anything online.  One never knows if the words will be read or merely added to the virtual scrap heap of bits and bytes.  As much as I think my blog is for me to chronicle my artistic journey, I've been touched by the people who have commented about my posts.  It means so much to know that my words and artwork have meant something to others.  A few people at Tangle U said they enjoy reading my blog (and even asked if I'd be blogging this weekend).

When you fall in love with something like Zentangle art, you are welcomed into an amazing community of artists.  I am humbled and inspired to be part of this esteemed creative circle.

Thank you all!

I can't wait for tomorrow's classes and even more creativity to share.

Here's to the next 100 posts!

My Tangled Garden: New Class Coming Soon

After lunch, we created an organic garden wih Meredith Yuhas.  I am beyond in love with this technique.  

Who wants to sign up for my first class teaching this?  Date TBA but not TBM (to be missed)!

Flowers, vines, leaves, and a variety of sprigs.  To use a favorite family word, this piece is spilling all over!  I love the use of botanical patterns combined with the shading and light/dark contrasts.  Love love love love love this.  

Do you think I had fun?  :)

Creativity Unleashed

I'm enjoying a wonderful weekend in Northampton for a CZT retreat/training, Tangle U.

First, I'm in love with this town!  I have enjoyed every store and restaurant I've been to so far in the limited free time we have had.

Getting together with fellow tanglers is inspirational.  It's wonderful to share ideas, network, and gab.  We're all in the mood to get our tangle on, so it's a vibrant and buzzing environment.  It's nice to talk our tangle lingo and be understood.  We're a funny little creative Borg.

We didn't have any classes the first night, so we hung out and checked out the town.  I found an eclectic little shop that sold some pretty cool wooden spoons.  Yes, I had to tangle one!

Bright and early today we were up for a colorful journey with Marie Browning, my hero in the tangling with color world.  We created Dr. Seuss gardens with flowers, leaves, and very bright colors.  Trust me the the lighting in this photo doesn't do the colors justice!  It was really fun to add little critters like the dragonfly, ladybugs, and caterpillar.  I think my piece is a bit busy, but it was so fun to experiment with designs and color combinations.  I love my popped up dragonfly!  I bet my daughter would love this page.  

Putting It Together

Do you work best individually or as part of an team?  

I have always been a person who loves to create and work around other people.  I find it inspiring to learn from others, to feed off their energy, and to be motivated by new ideas.  

When I tangle, I'm usually working alone or teaching a class for others.  I love practicing alone because I get the greatest personal focus and relaxation.  I adore teaching because I get to share my passion and be inspired by my students.  I truly learn something new every time I teach.  My practice has been enriched by those around me, and for that I am thankful.

The Zentangle® method has freed me from a lot of fears and my nagging perfectionism.  I feel free to play, to take risks, and to explore new ideas.  If it doesn't work, or if I don't like the end result, it's only a small tile and a little of my time.  Now that I can be more realistic, there's always something about the piece that I do like--a particular tangle, my shading, or just adding to my practice of this wonderful art.  

I enjoy participating in weekly swaps (thanks to the Diva) to step outside of my tangling box.  I get to play with new strings, learn new patterns, and find different ways of thinking about my work.

Another fun way to try something new is a swap.  I participated in a fun bookmark swap at the end of the year.  It was inspiring to make the bookmarks and to explore the creativity in the pieces I received from other tanglers.

I'm looking forward to attending the Tangle U CZT workshop for the classes, the opportunity to connect with fellow CZTs, and to be inspired!  Our homework project was to complete a set of curvy ensemble tiles from Zentangle.com to swap.  The nine tiles are pre-strung with a curvy design to fill in.  People approach the tiles differently--some tangle each tile individually, and some, like I did, assemble the ensemble and tangle it into one large piece of art.  When the pieces are swapped, the participants each receive eight pieces from other CZTs.  The pieces meld together into a worldwide, collaborative piece of art.  I can't wait to see everything together, although I will admit that I'm a little sad to break this set up.

Here is my ensemble set in stages.  It only took two days for me to complete because I was having so much fun.  I think that listening to an amazing audiobook, Alice Bliss by Laura Harrington, helped me keep tangling too!

I'm a CZT!

It was an honor to attend the ninth Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT) training in August 2012 with Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas.  My love of Zentangle® grew even greater after hearing inspirational stories, helpful tips, and expert instruction from Rick and Maria.

It's official!