I love SQUARES!!!

Best. Day. Ever. (I know... I'm kind of a geek... okay, maybe not kind of...)

Yippee!!! My new SQUARE business cards arrived today! I have been using MOO mini cards for-ev-er... but was hoping/praying/wishing that one day they would offer the perfect size (square) for zentangle® business cards! That day is NOW!!! I uploaded quite a few of my tile images, and wah-lah, lovely, 2 1/2" square cards! I am TOTALLY in love! (I know... seems kinda dramatic... but this is the kind of stuff that I get soooo excited about... hmmm... also gadgets!)

Wanna order your own AWESOME cards?! (Moo's mini cards, regular business cards, AND STICKERS are all amazing too!) Please use this code so that I can earn some referral dollars! 

http://www.moo.com/share/8bgdgs   

Thank you soooo much!!

A Week of Firsts...

I am soooo happy to have had a chance to do the Diva's Weekly Challenge. This week's challenge was to let water inspire you. I knew I wanted to mess around with a couple of techniques I had not used in Zentangle® Inspired Art before. I just hoped it would work like I was picturing it in my mind... 

I started off with Sakura Glaze clear pen. I made my watery quipple along the tile, stopping every so often to let the previous orbs dry. I then took a few of my prismacolor pencils to start lightly layering color in the portion above the wave. I wanted this light variation of greens and blues to show under the glaze pen. I then added printemps in this section. Once the tile had dried completely I used some lovely blues to watercolor over the tile. This tile is the first I have completed with out ANY black ink or graphite shading! Oh my... This was so much fun! (It was kind of tricky trying to photograph this to show the light sparkling off the glaze pens... I think you can see it a little bit here.)

Weekly Challenge #181 Water : "Breakers"

Another first:

This week I had the amazing opportunity to teach my first "Introduction to Zentangle" class along with Cami, since becoming CZTs. It was a blast! I feel so fortunate to be able to teach this meditational art form to others. 

When I went to training one of the things that impressed me was the way that Rick, Maria, and the whole Zentangle family created a wonderful experience for us all. I knew that I would strive to do my best at each and every class to create this atmosphere for my students as well. I used bijou tiles to calligraphy my students names and then used Zentangle patterns to tangle each one. I thought it would be a lovely way to welcome my students... I created a little scallop frame to hold the tiles and made a bijou size "ceremony" card to place on the back. I also made little paper easels that I included in their kits. (I cut out all these with my AWESOME Silhouette Cameo!) Organizing it all for this class was very time intensive, but going forward it will be much easier since I have the templates all complete. I was so happy with how it all looked...

Preparing for Zentangle Workshop

Here is a photo that also shows the "Ceremony" steps I placed on the back of each place card.

I absolutely LOVED teaching with Cami. She is one of the world's youngest CZTs, and she is AWESOME! I was so very proud of her! My students were all amazing! I am looking forward to seeing them attend future workshops. One of the students, Eileen, left the most amazing testimonial on my artist page on Facebook... I have to share it... She absolutely MADE MY DAY! Here is what she said:

Eileen wrote: "GREAT INTRODUCTORY CLASS: Fun, fast-paced yet relaxing and artistically liberating Zentangle with Holly and Cami last night. I've seen miscellaneous web instructions, bought and read several books on the subject, and tried to practice Zentangle on my own but just wasn’t able to get into it until their class. In just a few hours this wonderful mother/daughter team covered the basics of pressure, strings, using designs, shading and much more. Both were very professional, well organized and great teachers. They love what they are doing and it shows. I left totally relaxed yet energized, inspired and confident that my inner artists was on her way out. It was amazing to see, given the same directions, how all student’s work evolved differently. Zentangle brings out the artist in everyone one line at a time. Looking forward to advancing my artistic side. Thanks Ladies!"

I couldn't have asked for a better way to start out! Thank you so much, Eileen!

Here are a couple of mosaics of the art work completed in class. (Completed one tile and started a second...)

As you can see, they all did a fantastic job!

I also have to mention that I completed my .... 600th BIKRAM YOGA class this week! Yippee!! It was a very eventful week!

A Challenge at the Beach

This week we are taking a nice vacation at the beach... It is the perfect place to take the time to work on the Diva Challenge #179 : "Be Like Bijou." So I very... slowly... deliberately... worked on this tile while taking the time to enjoy my surroundings (and a cup of coffee). It was an absolutely lovely way to spend a morning!

"The Wave" (Knightsbridge & Flux)

Here are a couple more photos of our lovely view...

... And minty fresh summery nails (perfect for the beach)!