Challenge #10 The Space Between

This week's weekly challenge from I Am The Diva was to create a zentangle and leave some open space.  As soon as I read her post and the title of the challenge, The Space Between, the Dave Matthews song of the same title started going through my head, which is funny because Laura said she had the Beatles song, Within You Without You, going through her head when she came up with the challenge and I am a bigger Beatles fan then I am a Dave Matthews fan.  So, all week whenever I thought about getting my tile done for the challenge, there was Dave Matthews singing in my head again......

Take my hand
'Cause we're walking out of here
Oh, right out of here
Love is all we need here

The Space Between
What's wrong and right
Is where you'll find me hiding, waiting for you
The Space Between
Your heart and mine
Is the space we'll fill with time
The Space Between...

I wasn't crazy about the first one, so I tried another........the space between........

Tangleation Playing

I am still playing with the basic Ixorus shape with different tangles.  I am really not sure if this is a tangleation because while Betweed isn't varied, the variation of 'Nzeppel is used.  Because they are both together in the Ixorus shape, does that make it a tangleation?  Oh well, even if it's not a tangleation, it was fun! 

Challenge #9 Artoo

This is my attempt at challenge #9 from Laura Harms, I Am The Diva's blog.  To link to her blog just use the button posted on the right hand side of this blog.  Anyone can join these challenges and they have been a lot of fun.  This week  Laura's family (and all of us) are celebrating that her little baby, Artoo (online name) is home from the hospital.  YEA!  I am sure we all breathed a sigh of relieve for Laura, I know I did.  While in the hospital, Laura created a new tangle she named after her baby, Artoo.  I started out and planned to draw a lot of Artoo buds but after I drew the first two, it looks so much to me like a mother and baby cuddled up together, that I didn't want to do any more, and I put in the Verdigogh instead.  I don't use color very often, but couldn't resist the baby blue for little Artoo! 

Pass It On

"Creativity is contagious, pass it on" by Albert Einstein.  I have had this quote on my blog since the very beginning and have always wanted to do a piece of zentangle inspired art with it.  It really says so much to me about zentangle and gives me the opportunity to again say thank you to Rick and Maria for passing this wonderful art on to all of us.  Thank you for your newsletters, your blog, your certification program that allows us as CZT's to pass this art on to our communities, and everything else you continue to do with Zentangle!  I also want to thank everyone that shares their work, it is always so inspiring!  Creativity is contagious, so thanks for passing it on!  

Happy Valentine's Day from Loveland CO

As you can imagine, Valentine's Day is a big event in Loveland, CO.  In February of 1947 the Loveland Valentine Remailing Program was born.  Every year, hundreds of thousands of Valentines are sent to Loveland, where volunteers hand-stamp them with a Valentine verse (contest every year) and send them on to the intended recipients.  Approximately 60 volunteers gather to stamp the verse (there is a waiting list for this duty) which is sent all over the US and more than 100 countries.  Since 1962, a high school senior has been chosen to represent the program and the city as "Miss Loveland Valentine".   For the month of February,  the city authorizes the placement of red hearts with personal messages on light poles and other fixtures of the downtown and main streets throughout town.  All quite fun to read as you are riding through town (not while driving, of course). 

I made this heart sometime ago, but it is one of my favorites, so what better day to post a heart.  Happy Valentines Day, to all of you and yours! 

Challenge #8 Hearts of Healing for Artoo

This weeks challenge from Laura, I am the Diva, was to create a heart using two previous challenges, and to also send some healing thoughts to Artoo.  Artoo has been through a lot already and ended up with another challenge of his own.  So, these hearts go out to Artoo, and the entire Harms family as they concentrate on getting their little guy better and back home, hopefully soon! 

I used a double string for the big heart and then used  orbs shaped liked hearts.  The little red one is for you, Artoo!  It is surrounded by a lot of love, healing thoughts, and prayers for you!

Challenge #7 Breathe

RELAX, BREATHE, SMILE!   
When I gave my 1st couple of Zentangle classes last weekend, I wondered if I had said that too many times.  Each time the students would pick up their pens to start a new tangle and I said those words, and I could see them all take a nice relaxing breath and then a smile would cross their faces, so I don't think we can be reminded of this too many times!   Even though I didn't get to this challenge until late in the week, I was so glad to have read the challenge on Monday, because I needed to be consciously aware of my breathing all week.  It was one of those weeks, that we all have from time to time....spending a long day with a friend in the hospital oncology unit, waiting for 5 days of biopsy results to come back on a family member, a week of sub-zero weather, preparing tax returns, etc.....breathe, breathe, breathe was my mantra.  

I have practiced yoga off and on for years, and this year I convinced my husband to give it a try.  We now do a yoga CD at home 3 days a week, when we return from the gym.  Much to his surprise it has helped his back a lot!  I love that we again are reminded to focus on relaxed breathing. 

I am submitting 2 tiles to the challenge, as I said, I really needed to focus on relaxed breathing this week.  For both of them, I decided not to look at any of my pattern books, but just sit with my tiles, breathe, and do whatever patterns came to mind.  Thanks, Laura for another great and much needed challenge!

Class Fun

Recently, I had 2 really fun classes.  One on Friday, with 2 wonderful ladies, and one on Saturday, with 4 wonderful ladies.  Everyone seemed to really enjoy the class, relaxed, and had fun!  I wanted to share their great work.  In the 1st picture, I included my husband's 1st tile from the practice class he attended and mine from CZT class, just so the ladies could see more than 2 tiles when we talked about how everyone hears the same instructions, but the art work always turns out so different and unique.  That is one of the many great things about Zentangle!  Tangle on ladies!!!

White No More

While fixing up a small room in our basement as a Zentangle classroom, we needed to cover the ceiling pipes and wires with some white panel board.  When we were done we had a couple of extra end pieces.  Of course, I can't look at anything white now without wanting to tangle it!  This piece is approx.  2 3/4 ft by 4 ft and is now hanging on one of the walls.  I used black sharpie markers, and for shading I used a silver marker (that doesn't show up very well in the photos).   It was really fun, doing something so large.......maybe I'll have to try one of the other left over pieces of tile board.

  

                              

                                                   

Challenge 6 IXORUS/tangleation

Another great challenge from Laura Harms, at her I Am The Diva blog.  If you haven't seen Rick & Maria's newsletter dated 1/21/11, you need to check it out.  They introduced another new tangle, IXORUS, and a new word, tangleation.  Here's the link: Zentangle newsletter.  Well, after I made my tile, my husband and I had a dinner time discussion about tangleations and tessellations.  The calendar I bought this year for my kitchen is an M. C. Escher, who is a master at tessellations.  When I did my tile I knew that the tangle Cadent is a tessellation, so I decided to make that one a tangleation, using the basic Ixorus.  After doing that and Ixorus, I settled for Florz to complete the tangle, instead of thinking about another tangleation, which was getting to be too much "left brain" for the relaxation of Zentangle.  In our discussion we decided that a tangleation could start in any form, not just Ixorus, as long as it was a variation of an existing tangle.  Being the trouble maker he is, he posed this question:  If you made a varation of two or more tangles and put them together, would that be a super tangleation? 

Challenge #5 ORBS

Challenge #5 from Laura Harms, at I Am The Diva CZT is to tangle with ORBS.  During a very hectic week, she found herself wanting to draw circles.  I too, love drawing circles.  I find them very comforting and they always seem to soften up a tile, especially one with a lot of straight lines.  My first thought when I read the challenge was the pattern, Quipple, so I stuck with it.  I did a simple circle string and just let the ORBS flow in and around it.  Another fun challenge! 



Tangle Your Name Challenge

Another challenge-yea!!!  Linda Farmer of tanglepatterns.com has issued a challenge to tangle your name using tangles that start with the letters in your name.  Instead of using my nickname, Sue (because I wanted to do more than 3 tangles) I used my legal name of Susan. 

S hattuck
U mble
S ampson 
A vreal
N ipa

This was a lot of fun and I used a tangle that I never tried before-Sampson.  Thanks for the challenge, Linda!

Starry Eyed Suprise (Challenge #4)

If you've been following along, I Am The Diva, Laura Harms has been issuing a challenge for Zentangle lovers every Monday.  This weeks challenge was to create a zentangle with a "star" theme.  I drew some stars last night, made a lot of different tangles around them,  and then when I was almost done with my tangle, I noticed that I had tangled right over two points on one of the stars.  Try as I might, there was no saving it. :(  So today I made another one with different stars and started tangling with "Munchin" and it was flowing so well that I couldn't stop and ended up doing the tile with just that one tangle.  It just seemed to be speaking to me as the perfect night sky tangle!  :)

Classes Announced

It's finally here!  My long awaited class schedule is now posted. See the Learn Zentangle Tab for a description of classes offered and the Class/Contact Information Tab to register for a class.  If you live in Colorado, please contact me soon to sign up for a class.  I look forward to sharing the Zentangle® experience with you!

Eyes Wide Shut/Take 2

I had so much fun trying it the first time, that I had to do it a second.  I forgot to take a picture of the string, but as you can see it was different, and once again the end result was better than the string lead me to believe it would be.  :) 

Weekly Challenge #3 "EYES WIDE SHUT"

This weeks challenge posted by Laura Harms was to draw a string with your eyes shut.  Sounds easy right, well it isn't, but from seeing others finished tiles and reading their blogs,  it did teach us all a few things.   My 1st thought when seeing my string was, wow-that's the worse string I ever made.  After staring at it awhile I just decided to let it be what it was, just a string, which is just a basis for a tangle to start, nothing more.  I think we all learned that when we take it one line at a time and one tangle pattern at a time, any string can turn into something beautiful.  I remember in CZT class, someone said they had a hard time drawing strings and Maria had them come up front and she told her to close her eyes and just draw some lines.  In other words, don't stress over what the string looks like, it's just a starting point.  When I showed my husband, and told him what the challenge was, he said "Oh, I would think you would close your eyes all the time so your string is always difference".   Hmmm, maybe my strings do look too much the same?  I think I will be trying this more in the future.  Thanks Laura, great challenge! 

P.S.  When I messed up 'Nzeppel in the lower right hand corner, I just let it be the variation inside the normal pattern.  Once again, no mistakes in Zentangle, just opportunities for something different. 

Happy New Year

2010 has been a year filled with a lot of changes for me.  Retirement from a 36 year career, empty nest while my youngest is in college, becoming a CZT and learning all the ins and outs of starting a home based business, starting a blog and sharing my art work.  Throw in a couple of fun trips to Wisconsin, Idaho, Massachusetts, and Mexico. Looking back it really was a whirlwind of activity, but how grateful I am that it was all possible.

I wanted to take this time to tell all of you how wonderful it has been becoming involved with the world of Zentangle!   I can't say enough about how great it was to meet Rick & Maria and attend the CZT certification.  If you ever get the chance, don't hesitate to go! I also want to thank all of you that follow my blog and have given me such positive comments.  It really means a lot to me.  I have enjoyed getting to know so many of you through this online world and I want to thank you for all of the inspiration you give.  So many times I am sitting here in awe as I gaze at your beautiful art work!  

Wishing all of you a healthy, happy, and wonderful 2011!   Take care, Sue

Challenge #2

This is my contribution to challenge #2 from Laura Harms.  This was the first time I tried doing the double pencil to make a string.  I found this challege a little harder then I thought it would be.  The first tile I did, the tangled string was pretty, but then I tangled so much around it that the string was kind of lost.   Normally when we tangle, we lose the string in the process, but with the double string it makes a beautiful place to tangle that we don't want to lose it the process.  I love the look of the double string, and have enjoyed seeing everyone's, so I will have to play with this a little more. 

Heart Series #3

This was a present made for a lovely lady, Wanda.  Seven years ago I lost my mother-in-law.  My father-in-law in his early 80's at the time, was alone in Idaho, and although he came to Colorado, and we, along with other family members, visited as often as we could it was very hard for him to be alone.  About a year later he met Wanda, who lost her husband around the same time he lost his wife of 63 years.  They have been great friends and companions since.  They go on trips, eat a lot of meals together, and help each other with the loneliness of loss. He turned 88 this year and is doing great, in large part because of Wanda.  Last summer, after taking them on a trip to Idaho's wine country, I left each of them a zentangle.  She loved them so much, she had them enlarged and put them in a 8x10 frame. (I am still trying to picture how they would look enlarged.)  So, I made her a 12x12, framed it,  and she already has it hanging it in her living room.   

Heart Series #2

This one was a Christmas present for my daughter, Lindsay.  Something for her dorm room to remind her how much she is loved and missed at home! 

Heart Series

This is the 1st post in my 3 heart series.  These were all Christmas presents. I had made a zentangle tile with these hearts that my daughter, Samantha, liked and used as the background on her cell phone.  So I made her a bigger one (12x12) that I added to and framed. 

I also made one for Sean, her significant boyfriend of 5 years.  I didn't think he'd go for hearts, but he does love the sport of snowboarding.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all of you a very blessed and Merry Christmas! 

Winter in Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park

Even though I was hoping for a white Christmas, we have not had snow here in town since Nov. 11th (the first and only so far).  Luckily, our mountains have just the reverse and have been getting hammered with snow.  We are very fortunate to live just a 40 minute drive up the canyon to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.  Yesterday we got some sub sandwiches and took a drive, so I could get my "snow fix".  Always a beautiful place to go!  Hope you enjoy it too. 

Simplicity

Laura Harms, CZT at http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/ has started a weekly Zentangle challenge that should be a lot of fun.  This 1st challenge is called, simplicity.  Well, one of my favorite books is Simple Abundance, by Sarah Ban Breathnach and simplicity is one of the six principles in this book.  "Simplicity-the desire to clear out, pare down, and realize the essentials that we need to live truly well."   For me that meant clearing out my mind of what I wanted to do, just make one tangle and let the lines flow where they may and not try to make it perfect, and appreciate that every time I do a zentangle it does help me to live truly well in so many ways.  

Check out Laura's blog and join in the fun.  Thanks Laura for putting this together.  Also a great way to find new blogs to follow. 

It Just Is

A zentangle is a beautiful image that has no right or wrong, no up, down, or sideways, it just is. While working on this larger piece, I turned it many times to complete each section, and when I was done I decided that I liked it every way it was turned. Give your work a different perspective by turning it in every direction. Hmmm, you may have to add 3 more hooks to the back of your framed work! :)