Merry Christmas!

I love Diva's challenge - number 52 - wow... it's hard to believe we've been at this a year (although I joined the party kind of late).  Anyway - the challenge is to "give" Zentangle this year and I've already done that.  Unfortunately - I rarely remember to take pictures of what I give to others.  So I will just report out.

First of all, I  introduced a young friend to Zentangle the other night.  She, her mother, and I sat around their dining table and drew tangles for a couple of hours.  She loves to draw and was trying to convince her mother to run to the local hobby store as I left.

A very dear friend of mine has been incredibly hurt by someone she trusted.  It ended up costing her job and her self-esteem.  As I was sitting and holding her in my thoughts, I meditated with my tile and pen.  The result was her initial embellished with my favorite, comforting tangles.  I sent it to her with a card that was able to capture what I was feeling for her.

A few months ago I found a "slate" board - white board covered with black.  Using an etching tool, I created a Z I A which I then gave to a friend as a housewarming gift.  I had already given him my very first tile - done when he was going through a very tough time and another one when his little niece was born 3 months prematurely.  He's going to frame them as a grouping which makes me feel very happy.

I've posted in the past about the larger pieces I've done - the tree of life for my heart sister, Kat and the spiral for my son. It seems that I am most inspired by the transitions of life.  I am most grateful for this forum to share these various inspirations and transitions with a fantastic group of artists.

I wish you all peace in this world of uncertainty.  May your holidays - whatever and however you celebrate - be blessed.

See you in the new year!
Namaste and happy tangling!

#49 Red Thread Challenge

Happy Thanksgiving and Advent (starting tomorrow, of course) to all.

This week's challenge was so much fun.  I loved creating a tile using a red string.  The challenge comes from Cris Letournea.  More info about the "red thread promise" project can be found on her blog Tangled Up in Art.  I hope to send my tile and I can't wait to see the poster!  

My family (sans son who was working at his new job and was sorely missed!) had a great time together over the past 3 days.  Truly, we have so much for which to be thankful.  I would share more but I am exhausted after traveling and babysitting so I'll just leave it for now.  I hope to post some Advent musings in a few days.  For now, I hope you can find ways to give charitably this Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice/Yule season.  I would venture to guess that most of us could forego the malls and stores altogether this year (shop small and buy locally) giving thoughtful, heartfelt tokens of love and remembrance instead.  I hope you find ways to make this season meaningful for you and your loved ones no matter how or what you celebrate.  And, as always,

Happy Tangling!

I'm back! Challenge 48

After a few weeks' hiatus, I finally completed one of Diva's challenges to post!  Yea.  Actually, I did two.  Last Monday I was waiting for my friend while she completed some routine health exams.  I had drawn the tri-shapes string but had no resources with me to try out tangle patterns I'd never used.  So... the first one uses patterns I seem to use all of the time - Flux, Florz, Knightsbridge, Cadent, Purk, etc.

I came back home after a long weekend with my friends and helping my daughter's family move and
decided I would try the string again following Diva's challenge - use tangles I have not used before.  That was a pretty difficult task.  Even though I don't use a lot of them all of the time I have played with most that I have found in my books and on Linda Farmer's Tangle Patterns site.  I used a few that I will probably use more often and some - well - maybe I just need to practice a bit more!

In case you're interested - the tangles I used are: BB, Bilt, Bitten, Bumps, Demi, Florez, Gothic, Hepmee, Japonica, Popsicles, Punch, Unyuns, and Wisket.