Progress on Tangle Teaching Tree

I've been working on my wall mural and would like to share two of my finished birds that perch in my "Tangle Teaching Tree." I will still have some shading to do on them and who knows, in the end I may add color to just the birds. But that's a decision I can't make yet.

My Classroom Mural Underway!

I'm getting ready to host art classes at my in-home studio in Estes Park, Colorado (hopefully by summer). Am having fun with my "Tangle Teaching Tree" design. That's what I'm calling the mural that I have begun to Zentangle. When teaching a particular tangle, I can then easily point it out it as it's used in the tree. When finished, my quaint space will fit about seven students around a large table, me, and my teaching tools; computer, speakers, white board, etc.

I'd like to share the process of my design and decorating in steps as it's more fun than just viewing the finished product.

1. I primed the walls with a Benjamin Moore "Natura" semi-gloss acrylic paint. 
2. Then I sketched the contour on the wall based on photos my favorite local cottonwood tree. 
3. I sprinkled the branches with diverse birds  - more will probably follow. But this is a good start. 
4. I am drawing on the wall with various sizes of black acrylic paints that are housed in a pen-like casing with a foam tip. They are made by Montana. You see them pictured in a glass on my wooden ledge. I bought them at Guiry's in Boulder where I got good advice on what best to use.
5. I have started adding tangle patterns and is it ever fun! I will be shading with soft graphite and or gray acrylic washes. Still experimenting with that. 
6. I wish I could do this all day. But alas, there's that "real job" I have!

Stay tuned for the finished wall mural and later my in-home class offerings!

Back-to-Back Botangle

For me it was a bit of a teaching marathon last Saturday and Sunday. But who's complaining? I  got to teach in the historic surroundings of the beautiful Waring House located at the Denver Botanic Gardens and then at the ultra creative shop, Two Hands Paperie, in Boulder. Best of all, I got to share my passion for Botangle/Zentangle with my dear friend Lis who, to my delight, has been bitten by the Zentangle bug. No wonder! Look at these amazing results. I'm so proud of all these mini works of art by everyone.

Botangling at the Denver Botanic Gardens'  historic Waring House.

Student work in progress.

More Botangle anemones in progress.

Botangle by Lis - finished after class. I hope the rest of my students were as obsessed about finishing their Botangle anemone as Lis was. Her finished piece (first EVER Botangle) is incredible!

Having fun with white on black at the Two Hands Paperie.

Zendalas - student work after just a couple of hours. Wow!

Bejeweled Black Zendalas

I had fun yesterday working up some designs for my next weekend's class at Two Hands Paperie in Boulder, where we'll be working on black Zendalas. I wanted to experiment with more than just the traditional white on black (though I LOVE that lacey look.) My last experiment is a good representation of a "monotangle."  These were made using Rick and Maria's pre-strung tiles and lots of Gelly Roll markers and colored pencils (Prismacolor and Faber-Castel)l for shading.

Bejeweled  tangles: Florz, Finery, Shattuck, Crescent Moon, Circfleur, and Purk were tangled
with metallic and sparkley Gelly Roll markers.

Here I used the white Gelly Roll and shaded with the Zenstone.

The center of this monotangle is a "Cruffle". I think I made up the other tangle - or
it's just innate from my repertoire of flower shapes used in the
botanical illustrations I do. I'll call it "Sepals".

Color swirls with shading.

Happy Valentine's Day!

One of my favorite school day memories in good old Ktown at Visitation Grade School was searching all the closets at home for just the right shoe box that I could take to art class the week before Valentine's Day. Why? To decorate of course! With construction paper, sequins, paint, doilies, markers, crayons, even little heart candies, we patiently drew, cut and glued; turning our Buster Brown boxes into little treasure chests that had a slit cut in the top.

 Even more fun was sitting around the kitchen table with my siblings or giggling girlfriends, writing our cards, licking the little envelopes and hoping that our sealed messages to friends, schoolmates, and secret "loves" were perfect.

Today I still love the tradition of Valentine's Day - not for the commercial hype, but because I like to pause during my otherwise somewhat crazy busy life and tell those around me that I love,  treasure, and appreciate them.

So here for you my family and friends, distant, and close, are my (still hand-drawn, cut and glued) Valentine's Day greetings and a request that you share the love.  Sorry the box is missing!

First Tangle a Day 2015 Calendar Posts

I was elated when my stepdaughter, Bettina, who is also one of my star Zentangle students gave me this blank calendar book by Carol Ohl, CZT for my birthday. It's called, "tangle a day 2015." Since my birthday was in late January, I've still got some catching up to do (to draw my own tangle each day). But I will post my tangles as I finish them. Here are the first 12 days of January.

I encourage anyone doing Zentangle; novice or profi to relax with the quick and spontaneous challenge of entering something each day.  It's a great way to journal your internal well being. You can see where you have "good days" and not so good . . .  But EVERYDAY is better after doing a tangle! Here's a link to Carol's site where you can buy her book. It's not too late to start!!
http://www.greydenpress.com/Store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=184

P.S. I'm proud to announce that Bettina will become a Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT) after her training with Rick and Maria (founders of the Zentangle drawing method) in April. Yeah!

Monotangles Continued

As promised, here's the monotangle of "Swirls" that I'm still working on.  I still have a lot of shading and coloring to do. I might use rainbow colors - or just stay tone in tone with the blues. Stay tuned for another post with the finished product. I just love monotangles and encourage you to try experimenting with them!