Comfort...

This week's diva challenge 308 is all about your comfort zone... your "Mac n Cheese" of tangling. I did a lot of tangling this week as I prepared to teach an Introduction to Zentangle® class after taking about a year break mainly due to surgeries. 

I thought about what tile I might want to use as my submission, and decided that what meant the most to me this week is the art I created for each student who attended class. I enjoy creating a tile for each person, and tend to choose my comfort tangles to adorn them. Each one is drawn with love and welcome in every stroke. 

It meant more than I could have imagined to teach again... to get into that comfort of sharing such an amazing method with others. My heart filled with light and joy. I am so grateful. 

Thank you for visiting! I hope you have a wonderful and inspiring, art filled day! 

Endings and a New Beginning

Oh my... it is crazy how VERY quickly this year flew by. I am so grateful for all the blessings my family and I had throughout the year.  It was a wonderful year and I am excited about what is ahead in 2016! I have lots of plans/ideas/goals and am excited about working on them. So... what are a few of them?

PLANS, PLANS, and more PLANS!

• More Zentangle® Audio Meditations in 2016!!!! (What has been holding me up? I need to find a better way to host before I add more audios... It is costing me WAY too much money. So this will be one of the first things I will need to research.)

• Weekly Blog Post (It will be fun to see a weekly recap of art I've worked on and any adventures!)

• Challenge Participation (These will be recapped in the Weekly Blog Post. I LOVE participating in challenges... it inspires me to see outside my little box and to try something new.) 

• Yoga Practice (I have practiced Bikram Yoga since March 31, 2012. I have 919 under my belt... So I am excited to hit 1000(!), most likely by my 4 year anniversary date! On January 4th I will begin participation in a 60 day challenge that the studio is putting on. It is always fun to work towards a goal with others. I normally practice every day that I am in town and take a break if we are away for weekend or something... I will be challenged right away because we will be away for a few days during the time period. This means I'll have to practice in another studio. That will be another thing that makes me step outside my box!) 

• Be Mindful in ALL that I do (It is too easy to get lost in multi-tasking, etc. I want to step back... and enjoy the moment I am in... this will mean learning to limit easy distractions... like my phone, social media, etc.)

I think that's enough for now! I want to end this year's blog with a few pictures from an Introduction to Zentangle class I taught a few weeks ago to 27 BRILLIANT YouTube engineers! I had a blast preparing and teaching this seminar. It did add some crazy busyness at Christmas time, but I am so happy that I did it. I feel so fortunate and blessed to have the opportunity to share the beautiful mindful meditation of Zentangle with others. 

Name art created for each student.

I absolutely ADORE creating an "experience" at each class I teach. It makes me so happy to see my students enter the classroom and see that they each have lovely, personalized art just for them. It took me MANY days to finish all 27 pieces... it was a lot of work, BUT I had hours and hours of my own meditation and enjoyment in the process. I needed it! It had been awhile since I forced myself to sit at my art desk and create. 

The gorgeous sunrise the day of the workshop!

The morning of the workshop I took a little walk along the beach... This is the SPECTACULAR way the day began!

Entry to class!

Display of my art and supplies.

Name art for each student ready to be picked up!

Room set up... An easel at each seat to display art.

All set up and ready for students to arrive!

Yay! They're here...

... and more here ...

Time to add their tiles to the mosaic!

Finished art!

Inspiring art done by all!

A few things struck me as I taught this particular class... The engineers set their phones aside and were silent AND engrossed in the process as they drew each tangle. They were so excited to view their art next to all the other art created by their peers. They took so. many. pictures. :)  The moment that meant the most to me was when I heard one student say, "I really AM an artist," as he left at the end of the workshop. Mission. Accomplished. 

Once again... I am so grateful for this past year and I look forward to a fantastic year ahead. I wish you all a very happy, healthy, prosperous, AND art filled New Year!

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!

Paths and Classes and Waves...

I am a little slow in getting to the Diva's challenge this week... Luckily since today is a holiday no challenge is posted, so I'm going to use this little bit of extra time to slide my entry in... Weekly Challenge #182 : Stripes. I used Hollibaugh as my string and enjoyed tangling a variety of patterns... The finished piece makes me think of "pathways." Which one would you choose to take?

"Pathways"

Cami and I taught Introduction to Zentangle® on Wednesday. It was another WONDERFUL class... I just must say... I think anyone interested in or practicing the art of Zentangle just must be the NICEST people!! I feel so very fortunate to be able to share my love of this method with others. I enjoyed creating more place cards for my students...

Tangled Name Cards

Here are a few pictures from this week's class. (I have posted September class offerings under the tab "Zentangle Class Schedule" above. Sign up and join us, if you're in our area!) I ALWAYS love seeing all the tiles put together in a mosaic! We forgot to take pictures of the second tile that was in progress... Suffice it to say, they were all AMAZING as well!

Our nice little class set up!

August 27th Class Mosaic

Oh... if you haven't seen my oh-so-awesome-new-SQUARE-business cards... check them out on my last post here!!! Yippee!!

I almost forgot! Cami and I also took a couple of hours to have lunch at the beach to watch the extra large surf roll in from a couple of hurricanes roiling around in the Pacific... It was absolutely awe-inspiring! 

Thanks so much for stopping by for a bit... (Hope you had a lovely cup of tea and a cookie!) I so appreciate it (and the comments)!

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!