Audio Zentangle® Meditation #3, the Diva, and a New Weekly Focus

It has been such a busy time here... I meant to create this meditation last week and I obviously just didn't get to it. So many exciting things are about to happen. We'll be taking Cami to visit a couple of  college campuses so she can decide where she will go in the fall, AND I'll soon be off to attend Tangle U! Both are VERY exciting events! (Tangle U is a jam-packed event of Zentangle fun for CZTs.) New meditation later in this post!! ...wait for it... :)

I taught a "Dewdrops & Tangle Enhancers" class at the end of March. One of my students (soon to be a CZT! Yippee!) told me that she had shared my first audio meditation with her book club. Four of the participants had NEVER had any experience with Zentangle before... she showed me the photo... my heart was thrilled! THEY ALL CREATED BEAUTIFUL ZENTANGLE ART! No visual prompts were necessary. :) Thank you so much, Bonnie, for sharing this with me. (As to not give away the pattern to anyone who hasn't completed the meditation, I am not posting the photo here... However you can click this to see the photo! No peeking, if you haven't tried it yet!)

The Diva Challenge #211 this week is to use the tangle pattern, Flux. I created this tile using a brush pen, and shaded by smearing the ink slightly with a water brush. (Laura... I'm sending lots of healing thoughts Artoo's way. xo)

Diva Challenge #211 : Flux : Brush Pen Practice

I have begun to participate in a new weekly tangle focus. It is a video site created and maintained by CZT, Jane Dickinson, called Video Tangle. She curates daily Zentangle videos and produces weekly video slideshows focusing on that week's tangle. Last week's tangle was Munchin... here is my submission. (You can view all the lovely art submitted for this tangle on the video here.) It is fun to see your art in a video and the site has LOTS of great reference material! You'll have to check it out! 

Munchin Focus Tile

So... now for the next installment of my Audio Zentangle Meditations. Here is the third one!

You will need the following:

Bijou Tile (2 inches by 2 inches) or Original Tile

Micron 01 pen

Pencil

Tortillion or Stump

A nice quiet place and about 20 minutes

I would LOVE to read comments from all those who participate. If you would like, please post a photo of your tile on your blog/flickr/instagram, etc. and post the link in your comment. This will allow others to view your version of the mindful meditation challenge. It's so much fun to see everyone's artistic interpretation! DON'T PEEK UNTIL YOU COMPLETE THE CHALLENGE! NO CHEATING!!  (Already finished?! You can see my version here.)

Here are the links to the first two:

#1 : Tangleation and an Audio Meditation

#2 : Zentangle Audio Meditation #2 and a little Jonqal

A SITE MAINTENANCE NOTE:

It seems that quite a few people have been listening to my Audio Meditations... (This makes me VERY happy!) I received notice from the audio hosting site that I had surpassed allowable traffic for my free account, and must upgrade to keep content available. So now I have a "Professional" account, which is the next level. Of course, there was an annual fee. I would love any help to defray this cost that anyone is willing or able to provide. You can find a contribution button in the side bar... Thank you SOOO much to any who would like to help out once in awhile. Any amount is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for visiting! I adore seeing who's dropped by... please leave me a little note! :)

St. Patty's Challenge & CHAMPIONS

It's an exciting week! Cami performs at the USA Dance Nationals. The competition began on Friday. It is so wonderful to watch her dance... the proud mama always gets a tear in her eye. Friday night was the award show for the afternoon performances. Cami had tears of joy as their team won Champions (1st place) in the Small Dance category. This is such a great accomplishment for the team. Cami was excited as she is a senior and it's her last competition, she got a backpack that says "USA Dance Nationals CHAMPION" on it, she got a nice heavy medallion... and she accomplished this with her friends. It.was.an.amazing.night. Cami's comment a little later was, "I LOVE to win!" I agree, Cami... I. agree. 

Champions Trophy for Small Dance

The entire dance team...

Four of the nine who competed in the winning dance. 

A wonderful side benefit of attending these competitions is that there is a LOT of waiting time in between performances. Luckily our hotel is just across the street from the convention center. So... in between performances Leila and I would head back to the hotel (did I mention how AWESOME it is that Leila joined me for this?! Double. fun. weekend!) so that she could work, and I could draw. This means I had time to do the diva challenge! YAY! This week's challenge is #209 "St. Patty's." You were to use green somehow in your piece. That could mean colored paper, pen, paint... I decided to use some "green" that I had in my wallet. 

Weekly Challenge #209 : St. Patty's

Wish Cami good luck on the rest of this weekend's competition! I'm so happy that I have this opportunity to watch her dance AND spend time with both of my daughters (also time to draw!). Thank you to all who stop by for a visit (leave me a comment if you have a chance, please)! 

P.S. Have you tried out the Audio Zentangle® Meditations yet?! The first one is here.  Here is the second one.    I'll be creating the third one soon. 

Zentangle Audio Meditation #2 and a little Jonqal

It has been a beautiful weekend. Temperatures in the 80's... We've spent the afternoon floating in the pool and relaxing. A wonderful little preview of summer. I feel spoiled!

I spent part of the afternoon (not while floating in the pool) finishing up this tile from the "Shades of Gray" Zentangle® class I taught late last month. It was such a wonderful class. I wish I had remembered to take photos of the tiles. Everyone created such beautiful art! (Hopefully at the next Beyond the Basics class I can photograph the tiles from this class, if everyone remembers to bring their tiles back!) We spent a portion of the class working on a variety of shading techniques. So.much.fun! I wanted to demonstrate what a HUGE difference shading can make to a tangle. You can make one pattern look like something completely different all with where you lay down your graphite or add a sparkle (highlight). This tile is an example of one of the tangles (Jonqal) we worked on in this class. It shows the tangle unshaded, and shaded two different ways. Isn’t it amazing to see the difference?!  There are sooo many ways to shade this! Jonqal was a tangle that gave me that AH...HA... moment in shading when I first started tangling. I held back my tile at arm's length after adding shading, and realized that the combination of sparkles and shading had created an illusion of a coil on a striped background... it BLEW MY MIND!! I was hooked on experimenting with shading from that moment! 

Jonqual : 3 ways

It has been way too long since I've had a chance to participate in the Diva Challenge...  This week's challenge #208 is to use the tangles Cubine and Poke Root. You can see all the details of the challenge here. I am so happy to have a piece to submit. Thanks, Laura, for another fabulous challenge! I had so.much.fun!

Diva Challenge #208 : Cubine & Poke Root : "Reflections"

I have had such a lovely, kind response to my first Zentangle Audio Meditation Challenge. I appreciate all those kind Zentangle enthusiasts who have left me comments here, on Facebook, or emailed me. Each message was treasured. Thank you! 

So... let's try it again! Here is the SECOND Zentangle Audio Meditation Challenge. (Didn't have a chance to try the FIRST one? It's here!) You will need the following:

Bijou Tile (2 inch by 2 inch paper tile) 

or original Zentangle (3 1/2 inch by 3 1/2 inch) tile, if you prefer

Micron 01 pen

Pencil (HB or softer)

Tortillion or Stump for blending

....and a nice quiet place :)

This challenge will take approximately 25 minutes. Please remember that you can pause the audio at any time if you need a little longer to complete the instructions.  Listen... and draw... there are no mistakes. 

I would love to read comments from all those who participate. If you would like, please post a photo of your tile on your blog/instagram/flickr, etc. and post the link in your comment. This will allow others to view your version of the challenge. It's so much fun to see everyone's artistic interpretation! DON'T PEEK UNTIL YOU COMPLETE THE CHALLENGE! NO CHEATING!    {Finished? You can see mine here.}

 

Thank you again for stopping by for a little relaxed focus... Enjoy!

Tangleation and an Audio Meditation

This week Cami and I taught a Beyond the Basics Zentangle class, Tangleation Exploration. It was a blast! We explored many versions of Cadent in this class. (A special shout out to Margaret Bremner for her oh-so-wonderful ...and then some series! Thanks!) We were so busy working tangle after tangle that the two hours went by in a flash, and class had to end! 

Lots of Cadent Variations! 

I was disappointed that we didn't have time to work through a traditional tile in class. I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea... What if I sent my students a "bonus" with my wrap up email? The bonus of an audio meditation for a bijou tile. I became very excited about this! I decided to give it a try.

I had fun figuring out how I was going to do the audio, and creating it. I have been wanting to try this since being led through an audio meditation by Molly Hollibaugh at CZT Seminar last year. I sent the finished audio to my daughter. She and her boyfriend gave it a try and sent me the results... So. Awesome.  It made me think... I wonder if I can add this to my blog... a little fun for all! It would be so cool to see everyone's interpretation, especially as they won't have a preconceived notion of what tangle they are creating... you just listen... and draw... there are NO MISTAKES. So... let's give it a try!

Get ready! Grab a bijou tile (or 2 inches by 2 inches square tile), micron 01 pen, pencil, and tortillon (or stump, or q-tip for blending). Find a nice quiet place, and take the next 10 to 15 minutes to listen, and create... one stroke at a time.

(If you are on a mobile device you may need to click "Watch on Vimeo" to play.)

When you finish your tile please take a photo and add it to your blog/flickr/instagram etc. Then comment here and include the link in your comment so I (and all who have completed the challenge... no cheating... don't look before you do it!) can check it out! I would like to post a new audio meditation every few weeks. We'll see how you like it and go from there!

I hope you participate! I can't wait to see the results and hear what you think! 

Zentangle® Inspired Nail Art

Another version of my art... ready to be showcased on my fingernails!

I initially signed up to be an Independent Consultant for Jamberry Nails because I was oh-so-excited about creating designs with my own art, plus I LOVED all the existing designs. (They also last so much longer than traditional polish!) I finally had a chance to play around with the Nail Art Studio, AND my design was approved today! Yippee!! I'll be able to order my own Zentangle Inspired Art nail wraps! (Want some of these for your own? Contact me!)

I'm already imagining pairing these with a nice sparkly red...

My Diva Dance Nail Wraps! 

UPDATE: (02/21/15 I received the wraps earlier this week! I am thrilled with how they turned out! Here they are in the packaging...)

They arrived! So excited to put these on!

Thank you to all who always leave me such lovely comments... I appreciate each one! 

Eighteen...

Today is a BIG day... My baby is EIGHTEEN!!! How did this happen so very quickly?! 

I am so VERY proud of Cami! She is a constant inspiration to me... She is witty, smart, a talented performer and artist, generous, thoughtful, level headed, sweet and sassy, tough, determined, fun-to-be-around, a great friend, a good listener, gorgeous... and I just can't believe that she's my daughter. I'm so lucky.

6 months old and crawling! (Walking at 9 months!) Feels like yesterday...

Nearly 18 years later...

This past weekend was the first competition of the season for the high school dance team Cami is on... It was so much fun to watch her perform. I love seeing the joy with which she moves across the floor. She and the team did GREAT! Here are some shots from her solo...

Leaping into her first solo of the competition season...

Love those lines!

Another lovely leap...

and stretch...

Such a performer!

Cami... I love you more than words could ever express. I know that whatever you decide to do in your life, you will accomplish it with determination and grace. I couldn't be more proud.

A Blustery Day...

As I drove home from yoga, I admired all the leaves blowing around in front of me. Yellow, oranges, and reds moving around in unison... It was beautiful. I wished it was possible to sketch while I drove, alas, probably not a very good idea. :)

After pulling into the driveway and getting out of the car,  I found this gorgeous leaf on the driveway. I immediately knew that this would be my object to sketch for the colored pencil assignment in Koosje Koene "klass" this week. My reminder of a lovely "Blustery Day."

"Blustery Day" {Colored Pencil} SBS Week 2

I so appreciate your comments! Have a wonderful day!

Sketchbook Beginnings to Draw & Feel

I started a new venture this week... Sketchbook Skool! It's my goal to complete all three courses (kourses) this year. I started out with "Beginnings." The artist teacher for this week is Danny Gregory. Oh. My. It is so inspiring to watch him draw, peek inside his art journals, and just plain listen to him talk about art. I am so happy I decided to add this to the things I want to accomplish this year. (I definitely have an art filled year planned between Zentangle®, Sketchbook Skool, and continuing work on my calligraphy!) 

One of the assignments this week was called "Draw & Feel." You were to find something that had meaning for you and sketch it. You were encouraged to try the technique that Danny shared. This was to begin with a watercolor wash, then "eyeball" the shape of your item and use gouache to create the shape of it (basically painting it before drawing it), and THEN you would use pen to outline draw over the shape you painted and add in the details. The rule for this exercise was no pencil sketching allowed! Just start drawing with the pen. There was a time when this would have paralyzed me... What?! NO PENCIL??? But that was before I started creating Zentangle art. It's made me comfortable to just pick up a pen and draw. I knew any "mistake" would just be an opportunity to be creative.

It took me a couple of days (okay... I did have other things going on!) to figure out what I would draw... I was stuck, I wanted to choose something that had meaning to me. Then one day I was speaking to Cami in her room, I looked at her walls, and I knew! Worn out pointe shoes line the top of her walls... It was perfect! I borrowed a pair. I was set... and then... I had to get over that freezing of putting the first mark in my new Sketchbook Skool sketchbook. Why is this so hard?! I took a deep breath and went for it! 

One of Cami's MANY pairs of worn out pointe shoes!

I decided to try the technique that Danny demonstrated. I began with the watercolor wash, realized I didn't have any gouache so I subbed acrylic paint. A couple of coats gave me the opaqueness I was looking for. I really like this technique! It was fascinating! After giving my page plenty of time to dry I picked up my trusty micron and began drawing the outline of the pointe shoe. I was very surprised by how closely my "eyeballed" shape ended up matching the drawn shape. I filled in the details of the shoes and then used watercolor to shade. 

Beginnings... Watercolor wash and a quick acrylic paint shape study.

Working on watercolor shading...

I decided I wanted to have my journaling "dance" across the page. I used a piece of scratch paper to test out what I wanted to write and how I could make it flow to fit all the prose and the sketch. 

Complete! Cami's Pointe Shoes : Determination

I am so excited about keeping an ongoing sketchbook for the very first time (one that actually documents my life, the important and not-so-important things, an art journal sketchbook)! Danny... thank you for taking me on this journey. The whole process, as well as the finished art stirred up lots of emotions. I am so grateful.

Although it took me a long time to finish this assignment... I enjoyed every. single. moment. 

I so appreciate all who stop by and visit... I LOVE when you leave me a comment! Thanks so much!

Celebrating a Fresh New (Studio) Year

Okay... I have to start this post with saying that my family was tired of my art supplies over running the house... The latest place they had overtaken was the dining room table. That was where I would do my tangling and drawing. The reason? My studio was a... MESSSSSS!!! It was overwhelming to me and I just had no idea where to start. Plus, I just couldn't imagine drawing at the same desk as my computer, too distracting. So... how to fix this terrible situation? 

Before (Honestly, this is a cleaned up before... Norm threatened to call Hoarders on me.)

Instead of complaining, my thoughtful husband, gifted me a newly organized art studio/office for my birthday!! He measured off my small room to see what we could fit in it. He created detailed schematics and researched, checked to see what I envisioned, and researched again. 

The scaled to size plan that Norm made... (He's pretty awesome!)

We took everything OUT of my office and gifted all existing furniture to my eldest daughter who had just moved into a larger apartment with her boyfriend. They kindly agreed to take it all! The only furniture item that remained was a book shelf. Leila was also very excited to inherit art supplies that I frankly had TOO much of (I know... blasphemy... but I truly needed to get rid of some stuff). 

All the boxes arrive... My studio condensed!

Norm ever so patiently helped me go through MOUNDS of stuff and put together ALL of the furniture that he purchased from IKEA. I am so thrilled with how it has all turned out! I love that I am starting the New Year with an organized space that will accommodate all my projects! I will no longer have to pack up the dining room and hide my drawing stuff when we have guests! YIPPEE!! I have two desks... one for computer/sewing/silhouette and the other dedicated to drawing/art.

The panoramic shot...

Little treasures and quilt corner

Right side of office

Drawing desk with lanterns

View from my art desk

Computer/Sewing/Silhouette desk and printer corner

Bookshelf and closet view

Looking into studio from doorway

Leila added a wonderful gift to my birthday studio by completing a wall garden that she created out of a pallet. She painted it, created plant shelves, and planted it with my favorite... succulents! Now as I sit at my drawing desk in front of the window, I have a lovely view of the thoughtful beautiful, garden she created for me! 

LOVE my new succulent garden!

Cami completed this awesome birthday with a certificate she created that stated she will join me at a Bikram Yoga class... (I ALWAYS bug her about this! She joined me for a couple of weeks one summer before heading off to Joffrey Ballet School... now she's afraid of the heat!) It made me very happy!

You have to love the, "USE IT WISELY!"

My talented mom made me the cutest ornaments of Clark and our angel, Walter, for my birthday! I had them on the tree but will keep them in my office until next Christmas time. I was really spoiled as you can see! 

I am so grateful for my supportive family! Thank you for helping me find a way to better organize all my supplies... I LOVE my new studio! I feel like it's waiting with open arms every time I walk past the door. 

I'm looking forward to creating a lot of art and teaching more Zentangle® classes this year. It's wonderful to start the New Year with a fresh space. I'll also be participating this year in a couple of art journaling projects and will look forward to posting more about that soon. I hope your New Year is filled with health, happiness, and lots of art! 

A special thank you to all who take the time to leave me comments... I so appreciate it!

Devastating Loss...

I've been gone awhile... On November 10th, my brother-in-law unexpectedly passed away, leaving behind his wife and two young children. It's been difficult to come to grips with... especially seeing the pain and sorrow that my sister-in-law, nephew, and niece are going through on a daily basis. It's heartbreaking.

Robert's memorial service was beautiful. The legacy he leaves is notable... but I will always remember his kindness, honesty, gentleness, determination, intelligence, love for his family, and sense of humor. These are some of the wonderful traits I see in the children, and this is where I see Robert's legacy living on. When it comes down to it those are the things that are important. 

The girls and I took time to have a tribute Zentangle® class with some of our family. We used the string "R" in memory of Robert. I hope the meditation of Zentangle will continue to be a comfort to our family members...

In Memory of Robert...

I thank Robert, for the wonderful memories of our families spending time together, and for the gift of reconnecting once again with loved ones. You will be sorely missed...

My Challenge of THX...

You know what?! It really helps to know what the challenge is going to be ahead of time... This will be one of the first (and probably only) times that I will be one of the first submitters on Laura's Mr. Linkey list.

I am so thankful that Laura asked me to be a substitute challenge maker on her absolutely, fabulous, amazing blog while she is caring for sweet Artoo, who is recovering from surgery. (Laura, I'm sending more wishes and prayers for his quick recovery.) I so enjoyed the process of coming up with a challenge AND tying it to something very important to me. {You can read the post and all the challenge info here.}

Weekly Challenge #193 : TriTangle : Trio, Huggins, & Xyp (THX)

You can find the step outs for these awesome patterns by clicking the links below...

Trio (pattern by CZT, Hanny Waldburger) (my Swiss friend) :)

Huggins (by Zentangle)

Xyp (by Zentangle)

I really enjoyed having the extra week to figure out how I would draw my second tile... I planned on having it done early in the week, but once again, l am finishing late Sunday night... but the funny thing is... it's early!  The challenge hasn't gone live yet! Crazy! I LIKE IT! 

I imagined, as I created both of these tiles, Huggins representing the solid yet flexible form of gratitude, Trio as the love that emerges from gratitude, and Xyp framing it all or holding it all together. That's why I titled these tiles as I did: Spreading Gratitude, and Gratitude. 

So here is my second tile using this week's challenge.... "Spreading Gratitude"

Weekly Challenge #193 : "Spreading Gratitude"

... and for reference here is the tile that I submitted with the challenge... "Gratitude"

Original Weekly Challenge #193 Tile : "Gratitude"

As a final note... I want to express my THX for my family. I feel so blessed to have their continual support, understanding, patience, advice, company, encouragement, honesty, loyalty, joy, laughter, and love in my life. I am grateful for the inspiration they give me to be a better person. 

I hope that everyone enjoys this month of gratitude and thanksgiving. Thank you for spending a little time with me... I hope you enjoy the challenge! (If you have a moment please leave me a comment... I'd love to hear from you!)

Tangling Around...

October... a perfect month for tangling on one of the awesome, faux pumpkins from Michaels! I've been working on this off and on for the past few weeks. It was so fun (and challenging) to work on a round surface. I used the Sakura IDentipen and a Copic grey pen for shading.

I taught a class early this month using these pumpkins. I prepped them with chalkboard paint for each participant. This chalkboard area can be changed as wanted by using chalk or chalk pens. Draw in a jack-o-lantern face, write a message, or a menu... endless possibilities! I know I will be happy to use this pumpkin year after year.

Finally finished! A Zentangle Inspired Chalkboard Pumpkin!

Pumpkin Bottom

Left Side

Left Back

Right Back

Right Side

A Zentangle Inspired Chalkboard Tangled Pumpkin!

I had to get in the Halloween spirit with my nails too! I decided to go sugar skull style... dia de los muertos with a little accent of black and white damask!

Sugar Skull Nail Art

I have a couple more pumpkins prepped and ready to go... Maybe I'll be able to create my very own Zentangle Inspired pumpkin patch!

Another Challenge-ING Week

I'm back to my old ways... posting at the last possible moment! I guess I'm just happy I had a chance to participate in the Diva's Weekly Challenge again! YAY! This is Challenge #184 : ING. The funny thING is I just posted a photo I drew of ING last week along with the UMT Challenge. I briefly considered being v-e-r-y lazy and reposting it since I knew I had a busy week... but. that. would. be. cheating. and. that. would. not. be. good. I wanted to experiment  with the pattern a little more than I have, so it was fun to fashion it into a frame with a combination of large and small zig zags. I enjoyed filling it with a variety of tangles; paradox, crescent moon, and some tripoli inspired fillers. It seemed appropriate to call this one "Frame-ING."

Diva's Weekly Challenge #184 : "Frame-ING"

Cami and I taught a Beyond the Basics String Theory Class this week. I had so much fun trying to figure out what my special gift would be to the students attending this class... I considered many, many options... and then one day I was sitting outside admiring my collection of beach rocks that I keep in a basket... that's when I knew what I would do! I selected a variety, washed them well, painted on a sealer, and then I watched the bijou video again! I took notes of all the bijou-isms that appeared. So now... my continuing students (intro class students receive a name place card-click here for post) will have the opportunity to collect a new tangled rock with bijou-ism at each class they attend! Here is a sampling...

Bijou-isms : Student Gifts

This week's class was very small, but AWESOME! We LOVE our students! The kindest, most inspiring women! Here are a couple photos of class mosaics and art that they completed...

Gorgeous, aren't they?!

This is the Zentangle® Class Postcard I posted earlier this month at the yoga studio. I made a little business card holder that is next to it. 

Okay... the best for last... Here are the cookies I baked for class this week... (by the way... feel free to take one, but one MUST be saved for the Duchess... I promised her last week...) 

Yummmmmyyyy...

These are the super, delicious Peanut Butter S'more Cookies! Thanks for stopping by... enjoy the cookies! These are best with a nice, cold, glass of milk. There's plenty of delicious milk in the fridge... help yourself!