April Showers Bring May Tangles

It seemed seasonally appropriate to offer a My Tangled Garden class now that it is spring.  We had a lovely evening growing tangles reminiscent of vines, grasses, and blooms.  Some fluttery friends even  visited the gardens.

One of the tangles we grew was Scrolled Feather by the fabulous Heather Williams.  It is a pattern that requires a little bit of extra focus, but the end results are so worth it.

While illustrating this stunning pattern, I thought about how I approach challenging tangles.  If I see an inspiring pattern, I often sit down to try my hand at it.  Some flow from my hands easily, while some take a little bit of practice.  Scrolled Feather, though beautiful and elegant, took me a couple of tries to feel the flow.  I think that if a pattern speaks to you, it is worth it to try a little longer to make it work for you.  We all have things in life that we have had to practice until we became comfortable with them.  Like walking or riding a bike, sometimes tangling or practicing certain patterns can benefit from a little extra perseverance and focus.  The results will be worth it!

Pattern Peeping: Featherfall

I spy with my little eye, a pattern that looks leafy.  

I found this cool leaf, and it reminded me of one of my favorite patterns, Featherfall.

This piece was created on a colored tile created by Sue Jacobs, CZT.  It was fun to play with colored pens and colored pencils on a different background even if the scan doesn't do the color justice.

Just Try It

I was cleaning out a bunch of unused craft supplies for a recent yard sale, when I came across some pretty mulberry paper.  Instead of packing it to sell or recycling the scraps, I wondered if I could tangle on it.

I thought the lovely tan with brown flecks needed a tangled garden on it.  I added some color with Irojiten colored pencils.

I think this delicate piece is rather pretty.  I may have to try some more mulberry tangling.

If you find a new paper or other material, you may have found a diamond in the rough or, at least, a great new surface to tangle.

Where the Flux Takes You

It's spring which means we will soon be seeing something green popping through the still snow-speckled ground anyday now.  After this very snowy winter, I know I am ready for the first signs of spring and am appreciating the warmer weather.  I might not have the greenest thumb, but I love to create tangled gardens.

I had the great joy of teaching this fun and creative way of exploring organic tangle patterns with thirteen tanglers.  We had a lovely evening discussing flowing patterns, new ways of shading, and adding highlights to our ZIAs.

While teaching the pattern Flux, I tried describing how when I draw this pattern it typically grows and stretches outside of my borders or even off of the edge of my paper.  I think some patterns just want to be free.  I encouraged the students to, "Go where the Flux takes you."  After a good snicker, we moved on and tried several other fun patterns including Bumper, Sedgeling, Sanibelle, and Mooka.  I love all the oohs and aahs we get while covering the pussy willow-like Cat-Kin pattern (from CZT Mimi Lempart) especially on these beautiful toned papers.

In this class, we explored shading with a woodless graphite pencil that provides a smooth, heavy shade.  Within a minute, I could tell people were in love with the new pencil.  I think once you go woodless graphite, you never go back (ok, maybe for borders and strings).  

I love how each person has such a unique interpretation of the same patterns.  Some of the gardens are newly formed ready for future growth.  Others are well established, long-lived, and eager to be appreciated in their abundant beauty.  I would love to visit each and every one of these gardens if I were a dragonfly!

Look at the beautiful gardens everyone created:

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53 Pickup

Have you ever played 52 pickup?  You know the game.  One person throws all the cards into the air while the unsuspecting player has to pick them all up.

I'm participating in an ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap with fellow Certified Zentangle® Teachers (CZTs).  Each person will create 53 cards to swap (a full deck plus an extra).

The project sounds daunting--53 cards due in a couple months.  I'll be swapping ATCs with artists whose work I admire regularly.  Ack!  My immediate thoughts were...

Am I good enough?
How will my art compare?
Can I finish that many pieces?
What did I sign up for?
Why did I do this?

I keep reminding myself that the Zentangle® Method is not judgmental. The process and enjoyment of it is more important than the finished project.  If I have fun exploring while becoming focused and relaxed, my art will be better.  It's not about loving each piece; it's about loving the journey and not being afraid to take it.

Another question... Where do I start?  Like anything else start at the beginning.  I picked up my blank ATCs and started tangling a mini garden which I suspect will soon receive a color treatment.

I am looking at this swap as a fun adventure in creativity.  Each person will be receiving one ATC from each other participant so the decks will be quite a creative hodgepodge.  That's very freeing because I don't have to make all 53 look alike or even have any similar features.  I can pick up each blank and start fresh in any creative direction I feel like heading.

I expect my ATCs will be of different styles--black and white, color, color wash, stencils, gardens, and all of the other techniques that I enjoy.  Maybe I'll try some new ones too!  This small size is quick to complete and fun to explore.

Here are ATCs 1-3.  50 to go!

'Tis the Season for Pumpkins

Well it's my favorite time of the year!  In addition to my daughter's birthday and my wedding anniversary, it's also time to celebrate crisp mornings, changing leaves, witches, and pumpkins!  I love Autumn and pretty much everything that goes along with it.

When my daughter and I recently went pumpkin picking, I was very tempted by the interesting white pumpkins in the field.  I so wanted to tangle one.  Unfortunately, they were quite large and were a bit heavy to lug home for tangling.

My little pumpkin selector found a small pumpkin for herself as well as a nice smooth pumpkin for her daddy.  When we got home, the smooth pumpkin called out for tangles.  Often when tangling a pumpkin, I'll follow the ridges or ribs on the outside filling with bands of patterns.  This pumpkin was so smooth, I treated it like a blank canvas tangling all around.  I used some of my favorite garden patterns and threw in a few regular patterns too.  I used a fine point Sharpie.  This was fun to do!

Have some seasonal fun with your tangling too.

A Day to Tangle

I love spending the day with fellow tanglers. This weekend I taught the My Tangled Garden class to a couple of my return students.  Since they've tangled with me on many occasions and have taken my original garden class, I gave them a bit of a choose-your-own-adventure style class and let them opt for the white garden on black paper.  We played with white Gelly Roll pens, white charcoal and colored pencils, and the new Zenstones from Zentangle.

It's breathtaking to watch the ghostly gardens appear on the black background.  We explored a variety of new patterns too.  Didn't they do a beautiful job?

Next the Tangle Club met and enjoyed a few hours of tangling, chatting, and sharing new ideas.  I pulled out a fun project for everyone to try--scratch magic papers!  We used some animal stencils to create a variety of fun and colorful critters.  The different colors emerged before our eyes as we made our selections of patterns within or around our animal shapes.

It's getting close to Halloween, so I thought I should tangle a bat!  I love him.

In the Night Garden

One of my daughter's favorite TV shows is In The Night Garden.  It's a gentle, colorful, and dreamy show about a handful of doll-like characters having little adventures then drifting off to sleep.  The show starts and ends with a boat under a starry sky along plinky yet pretty music.

While tangling for my Tangled Garden class for this weekend, I thought it would be fun to make a larger garden on a 9x12 inch sheet of paper.  I often work on the beautiful toned papers, but when I reached for my paper pads, I accidentally grabbed the black paper.  Well, that was certainly a happy accident!

I loved watching my night garden blossom in the moonlight.  I explored about sixteen different patterns in this ZIA.  After tangling and finding a few new favorite patterns, I shaded and added some color.  I shaded with both a white charcoal pencil and the new Zenstone from Zentangle (yes, I have these in stock!).  I enjoyed having two different levels of shading so to speak.  The Zenstone provided a smooth, ghostly shade.  The stone feels good to hold too.  It's cool and has a nice weight.

Of course I needed some sparkle too to reflect the moonlight!

Welcome to my night garden....

Growing Gardens

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” 
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

I've been in love with creating tangled gardens.  I think they're creative, relaxing, fun, and imaginative.  Last night, I had a wonderful time inviting a group of tanglers into my world of tangled secret gardens.  The class was made up of a few people who have tangled with me as well as several beginners.  We worked on a standard Zentangle® tile to get started with the basics then explored some botanical tangle patterns.  After that, we played with some beautiful toned papers and fun critters to play in the garden.  What fun!

This group has a lot of imagination.  Look at the beautiful gardens they created.  

If you're interested in learning how to grow a tangled garden, check out my upcoming class at the Peabody Institute Library in Peabody on August 26.  Can't make it?  Let's talk about another date that works or a home party.

Heroes

Do you have heroes?  Whether they fly and wear capes, or they inspire you in some way, heroes are all around us.

One of my inspirational heroes is LeeAnn D.  I adore her flowing botanical tangles and stunning use of color and shading.  Her work is truly awe-inspiring.

I tangled a garden on a blank Zendala tile today.  After seeing one of LeeAnn's recent pieces, I knew I had to get out my colored pencils.  I used my Irojitens for this one.

The pencils are subtle and allowed me to overlap colors to create some more dimension.  I hope the scan captures some of the fun shades.

Thanks to LeeAnn for always providing such amazing inspiration!

Yet Another Challenge

I've backed away from some of the tangle challenges recently.  I love the Diva challenges and know I'll get back to them, but sometimes a creative challenge can turn into a real one.  When the goal is more about finishing and posting my art by the deadline rather than enjoying the challenge and trying some new pattern or trick, I know it's time for me to step away from the challenges.  Creating Zentangle® art should be inspirational, relaxing, and fun, and it should not feel like homework or cause stress.  

The tangly famous Sandy Steen Bartholomew has a new line of tangle card packs coming out soon, so she's offering some weekly contests.  The winner gets one of the not-yet-available packs!

This week's challenge is to use Sandy's pattern, Y.A.F. (Yet Another Flower).  I tend to enjoy flower patterns and thought this challenge might be fun to motivate me.  YAF is easy to create, and it has a lot of options for tangellations.  I'm glad I played along with this challenge.

For my challenge, I started with the rim of my flower pot then added my YAF blooms.  I connected the two with some Quib-like stems.  I filled the flower pot with Bales, 'Nzeppel, and Copada.  When I saw YAF, I immediately thought of violets, hence the purple tones.  I used some direct and indirect coloring with my Tombow markers.  This is definitely one of my favorite ways to color in a ZIA, or Zentangle® Inspired Art. 

Next week, Sandy will ask people to vote for their favorite piece using YAF.  If you like mine, I hope you'll vote on Sandy's BeezInk Facebook page.  :-)  Thanks!

Thanks to Sandy for getting me interested in a challenge again.  Maybe I'll keep it up.  I think my goal will be to use the challenges as tools.  If they help me get out of a rut, or if they inspire me, I will participate.  I want the challenges to be fun without feeling like a obligations.  Don't we have enough of those in life already?

When Gardens go Tropical

If you follow my blog, you know I'm a tad obsessed with tangled gardens.  I love how free and flowing they are to create.  I find them completely relaxing and a joy to draw.  I've added a fun new element thanks to Cherryl Moote's book, The Tropical Tangled Garden.

Love love love love love!

The theory is similar to the current gardens I create thanks to a fantastic lesson by CZT Meredith Yuhas, but now I'm exploring a few additional pattern designs as well as using my Derwent Inktense pencils to add some exciting new color.  

This was a test piece for a MINDFUL swap I'm participating in this month.  Every pattern has to begin with one of the letters in the word "mindful."  I used patterns like Monster Leaf, Mooka, Flux, Fescue, Figure Eight Fern, Dragon Air, and maybe a few more.  I have a different background I'm using for the final pieces, so I'm not sure that those will have as much color.  I'll put them up when they're done.

Gardens Gone Wild

I love teaching every one of my Zentangle® classes, but my current favorite is my garden on.  The designs are fun to create, the development of the garden is natural and free, and the organic patterns are a joy to create.  The tanglers seem to enjoy the class as much as I do, or, at least I hope so!

Today's class of six tanglers created amazing secret gardens.  We explored a variety of patterns as well as shading and highlighting techniques.  I always love how everyone learns the same patterns but puts an individual spin on each one.  Didn't they do a beautiful job?  

What made the class even more interesting for me was the opportunity I had to test out a piece of teaching equipment from a fellow CZT.  Thank you to fellow CZT Susan Nutting for letting me test out her Twirly Whirly Board to teach my class.  I loved finally being able to turn my "tile" while teaching as I instruct my students to do.  For the first time, I could teach Paradox without getting everyone confused.

Here's the instruction piece I used to guide today's tanglers:

I loved being able to build my tile or piece as everyone else did.  It was great to tilt the board when needed to shade or to enhance a section.  I used another sheet to demonstrate some different patterns, and it was MUCH easier to be able to turn the board as I would with an actual tile.  I think I'm hooked.  It's a great product, and I may just have to get one.  Thanks, Susan!

Tiptoe Through the Garden

I think my tanglers are in for a special treat today for the "My Tangled Garden" class.  I've added several new patterns and a Zendala with a watercolor background for them to try out.  Here's a sample I made for the class.  I can't decide if it looks like a garden or a beach, but I love it!  It was fun to work with the watercolor wash, but it does a number on the Micron.  Make sure to keep some scrap paper or paper towel nearby to clean off the nib.

Let's tangle!

Through the Keyhole

I'm getting ready to teach the next "My Tangled Garden" ZIA class this weekend and thought I'd practice with a garden.  I started with a pencil keyhole border then tangled my organic patterns inside.  After highlighting, shading, and coloring a bit, I added some wood like texture to the outer area to suggest looking through a wooden gate or door.

Missing You

I had a wonderful time teaching my new "My Tangled Garden" class last weekend.  The three attendees said how much they loved this new technique.  It is amazingly fun and relaxing to get lost in these beautiful gardens.

My Missing You garden (#5) features a gate with a little ladybug waiting for her love to join her.  

If I "missed you" at last week's class, I hope you can join us for the next one.  I'll be announcing the date very soon.

Here is a smaller garden on a Zentangle tile created this week.  This technique works well on any size paper, although I missed the toned paper when I wanted to add white highlights.

Come Inside My Tangled Garden

After badly scraping my heel today while trying to calm a nervous toddler, I decided I deserved some much needed tangling!  I pulled out my Toned Gray paper and set off on a new gardening adventure.  

This piece started with the gate.  I wanted to explore the idea of an overgrown garden that can't be contained even when locked up.  I love how the shading on the door came out!  

Do you like my little spider and web?

I'm really loving these gardens.  They are beyond meditative for me.  I draw a stem or leaf, and just let it all go.  I don't even notice where my flowers or other patterns are going.  I let them grow wherever they want to explore.  It's fun and freeing to let art happen without worrying about the consequences.

Tending My Garden

Woohoo!  I just booked a session to teach my new "My Tangled Garden" class this summer.  I am really in love with the technique and am looking forward to sharing it with others.

Here's my latest in my garden series...

It was hard not to add a dragonfly in the background, but I think this garden belongs to the sweet little ladybug perched on a vine.

I had a lot of relaxing fun creating Cat-Kin and Featherfall in this ZIA; I can get lost in Featherfall.  I found a good frame, and I'll likely cut the piece down a bit to fit.  It's a good thing the middle is my favorite part!

My Tangled Garden

Speaking of finding my groove, I am in love love love with creating these tangled gardens thanks to an amazing lesson by Meredith Yuhas at Tangle U.

I see many gardens in my future....

This piece is considered a ZIA, or Zentangle®-Inspired Art, because it is not done in the traditional black on white on the 3.5" square Zentangle tile.  I love working with the tiles and expanding into new directions with my art.

This piece is created with the standard Micron pen on Toned tan paper.  Shading is with a darker pencil along with highlights with a white pencil.  I added some metallic colored pencils in the little critters too. The critters and a few pieces were inspired by Marie Browning's class also at Tangle U.

At first I thought my Mooka/Flux morph in the middle was too big, but after filling with some Bunzo and shading, I am more at peace with it.  It's an overgrown garden, but I can't imagine what I'd weed!  I just hope there aren't any invasive species in there.  The pollinators seem to like it.

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?  :)