Diva #200

Congratulations Laura Harms on your 200th challenge. What a feat... and I know you have lots more coming. You are an inspiration to all.

I must admit though; you said to do a monotangle. I kinda failed. :-}  I turn to swirls, like mooka when I need calming. Of course, I don't usually do just mooka. It gets filled in with all sorts of organic patterns. So it is what it is.

As you can see, organic tangles are my thing. Below is Week 2 of the Our Tangled Lives art journal. The aim was to incorporate a mission statement or quote that resonates with you. I developed my word of the year, "Embody" into an acrostic poem.  And then the frame is leafy things.

I am developing my art journalling. Generally, I just create art. I start colouring, and let a thought and colour take me. I don't plan much. Art is a process to me. It is not always about the end product. It is about what I feel and think while I am doing art.

This 3rd weeks art journal prompt is to create a snowflake from our initials, and use it as a string. The theme is "we are all unique". I agree, we are unique; although I find that we are more similar than unique, and this is what binds us together. In our minor differences, we find gifts and interests in knowing each other. These are the gems of life. However overall, we are similar, and knowing this helps us from becoming isolated.

Tangle On! deb

Diva 199 & Winter walks

The winter sun
breaks into the skeleton of trees
brightness shining among the dreary landscape
a warm pancake spreading over
the white and grey
hoping for the syrupy warmth
to fall on our shoulders
mhm.
The sweetness of the sun only known within
the bitterness of the cold.

Everyday I walk among the barren winter landscape with Sadie, but this week I have an additional dog, my daughter's red doberman Arya. Walking two dogs is vastly different than one. Walking in the winter, despite its dreariness, and even without the glorious sun, there is a dreamlike, surreal quality that endears me  to it.

The cold makes the moments of the sun and the moments inside more enjoyable. I spent time early in the week competing Diva's Challenge from HeidiSue at TangleOoh!. A new tangle to try!

I made a mistake the first time I did the pattern. Can you find it? I love how mistakes can be turned into new variations. There is always possibility.

I am back to class and starting a placement. New challenges. And new possibilities. and new growth.
I hope you experience something new too.
deb

Happy 2015!

Hello all,
It is the start of a new year. A new Intention. A new semester. New beginnings. It is refreshment in the midst of a grey winter month.

I started off this new year, right, I taught Zentangle 101 on Saturday, and it went very well. It was so much fun, and as always energizing to have others enjoy Zentangle and art. Welcome to the Zentangle world. Each person who comes to take a class with me, teaches me in a unique way. It is because of my students that I am pushed a little more to becoming a better teacher, to sharing myself a little more with others. My world grows, and I hope your world does too.

One of my past attendees asked me to purchase some Opus tiles. She saw them online and was very excited about them. I ordered some for her, and have a few more - they are 10" x 10" in the same Zentangle paper. It will be a joy to construct a large Zentangle Inspired Art. At the same time I ordered some "Bijou". At first when Bijou came out, I thought, "What's all the excitement?!" And even when I saw how small they were (2" x 2") I thought, "How can I draw on something so small?!" Well change of tune! I started drawing on a few and I love them! They feel so petite and compact, and yet jewel-like (how did the border customs know they were jewels - they charged me duty like they were!). Beautiful. They take a lot less time to complete than a regular tile, and I can only do 1 or two tangles on them. But they are so neat! the work is more compact, and cute. Here are my first results. Remember they are only 2 inch x 2 inch.

I have joined an art journal group through the CZT group. This is my first page for week one. We were to choose a word of intention for the year. I chose "embody".  While I journal regularly, I have never done a specific art journal. Which is interesting, as I have an assignment to keep an art journal for class as well. I started off thinking my word would be "Do" and for my personal year "Worthy"; but rethought having two words, and came up with "Embody" which is really what I hope to achieve by doing and believing in myself as I do. I made my own journal using printmaking paper sewn together (7 x 5.5"), and then Duct tape to bind the 5 signatures. Then I found, while cleaning out my sewing room, some fabric I Zentangled on, and covered the outside with this (to be shown later). The first page included painting with watercolour; Sharpie letters, and micron 3 tangled. I let the colour dictate some of the shapes. 

Onward... bring on the New Year! lets see what we can make of it, and how it shapes us. Stay warm and dry so that you can be creative.
Deb

Happy Snow Day!

It's a happy snow day here in the North. Being a little silly here. When I moved "north" to Ontario, from Vermont, there was much curiosity about how cold and wintry the North in Ontario is. In reality, I find Ontario weather much more mild than Vermont's. So when we get a snowstorm in Ontario, I feel at home. I love the winter and snow and cold. Here the weather is tempered by low elevation, being close to Lake Ontario, and very similar latitude - both on the 43'. When I speak with my Dad back in Vermont, he usually has more harsh weather than I. Another thing I miss about Vermont, is their ability to handle the weather so well. Within an hour of a dusting or challenging weather conditions, Vermonters are out clearing the roads, and making sure it is safe. Not so in Ontario. They wait until the snow storm is finished until work is started. GRRR. And then combined with people who have never seen snow in their lives - have no idea how to drive on snowy roads, driving like there is no snow; it makes for challenging travelling conditions. Luckily I have no need to travel anywhere today.

And another thing; I am here to challenge a few city myths. Wildlife. Here are a few interesting photos that are from a park about 1 km/ 1/2 mile from my house.

Beaver Chomp

Red Fox

Yes, There is a very busy beaver in our local park. He/she is eating all the young and larger trees. They have had to protect most of the trees from its work. And then a very plump Red Fox in the same park. So despite the large city I live in, I also enjoy wildlife on a regular basis. More than I remember from back in Vermont. So maybe Toronto is more wild?!!! 

For a change of scenery, we enjoyed some different food. It's not hard to find in this multicultural city of ours. Fred and I went out for a Dim Sum lunch last weekend. Mmm. 

Except for the chicken feet. :-).  

Fred enjoying chicken feet at Dim Sum.

This reminds me to do things differently. We need to shake life up. A song by Sheryl Crow "A Change Would Do You Good" comes to mind. It's time to be brave; walk on the wild side instead of the routine - do the opposite. When we stretch ourselves, we come up larger than we were. New experiences helps us grow.

On that note... Here's Aruka. A new Tangle. The Diva Challenge for Dec. 8.

Cheers - Tangle On.

I enjoy your comments, and connecting with your blogs. Thanks so much for reaching out.

Diva Challenge 196: All Dolled Up... Outside and Inside

All Dolled up is an interesting challenge. I looked for a doll that I could work with. At first I thought it would be different to use a boy doll; but then I recognized that it is the Christmas season, so I turned to an Angel. I like the end result.

Angel doll

I already gave it away on a Christmas card to an elderly friend. She was pleased to receive art.

I am working through a book "Artist's Rule" by Christine Paintner Valtner. She talks about a Buddhist concept of "Wabi-sabi" which means beauty as humility, seeing an aesthetic of poverty, loneliness and imperfection. I like how that fits with Zentangle, We create our art for ourselves. And they are never perfect. They are simply beautiful.

So too is much of nature. Perfection in imperfection. Here is a beautiful picture from the summer of the uneven water edge.

Waters Edge

Enjoy beauty in all its humility.
Tangle on.

p.s. Thank you for your comments. It is wonderful to hear from people from all over the world.

Quilting and Challenge 195

I am in the thick of writing papers for the end of the semester. Life Span and Spiritual Journey, Creativity and spirituality, The Mystic and the Artist, Psychotherapy Counselling Skills,  are the courses I have been immersed in this semester. They have all been very enjoyable and stretched my learning. I have a lot more reading to do... thank goodness I don't mind having an ongoing book list!

And amidst all this I have been trying to do the Diva challenge and some of my own artwork. In fact I attended my first ever sketching group on monday. That was so new! and Relaxing - once I got over worrying whether matter that anyone else needed to be able to tell what I drew! It was the first time I had ever done a drawing class (besides ZEntangle) of any kind.

So here is the Challenge from Sally Hunter: Draw a pattern in a new mileu - i.e an organic in a grid format; a grid format in a non-grid. So I took two patterns that I turn to on a regular basis and changed them around. I used two patterns I used last week (that's why last weeks tile is in here) in the non-dominant hand challenge. I turned shattuck into a freeform pattern - whoa!; and the printemps into a grid pattern. I always try to do my tile first without looking at other peoples ideas. When I saw my funny looking tile I thought "I can't post that." So then I peaked at a few people's submissions - and then I didn't feel so strange. So here it is.

And here is my quilting. By the way - I still do long-arm machine quilting... But this piece is an artistic image. 

Oh Majestic Tree.

Enjoy!

And Happy Thanksgiving to U.S. friends. Peace to all.
Deb

First Winter Snow & Diva 194

This weeks challenge was ... well the weather and the Zentangle  with the non-dominant hand. So two challenges!
The cold snap and first staying snow really took us by surprise. I mean, It was January cold in November. A little startling. I did my first race in a while on Saturday. And I surprised myself then too! It felt really good to do a race, and my time was a lot better than I anticipated. So, I think I will keep running!

The Diva challenge (thanks Elisa for the challenge) was to draw a tangle start to finish, with our non-dominant hand.So here it is. Pretty Shaky. But, like I say to participants, if you keep drawing with the same form and style; it is your own. It looks consistent and right. It is its own beauty.

Enjoy - and please try doing a whole tangle with your non-dominant hand. Its all good. And you will develop more compassion for yourself and others!
deb