Park Hill Art Club Zentangle Workshop

I had a wonderful Saturday tangling with some talented ladies (watercolor, oil, and acrylic painters, and even a floutist) from the Park Hill Art Club in Denver. Micheon coordinated a spacious, sunny room at the neighborhood Methodist Church. She supplied us with a table full of comforting treats, and we settled in to a day of learning the Zentangle drawing method. After lunch we powered through learning as many tangles as possible and progressed to a "Botangle" piece.

My sample Botangle; an anemone that I provided a template contour for as a final exercise.

My happy, "zenified" class.

Works in progress.

My special reward came today when one of the ladies emailed me this story and her image of a card she tangled for a friend after the class; "Here is my rendition of the flower. I will send it to my 81-year old friend who received her 3rd cancer diagnosis last week. What to say? A get well card? Hardly. But, if I send a Zentangle card every week, maybe I'll entice her into a Zen art activity. Thanks, Annie for the inspiration!"

This is why I love teaching art, especially Zentangle.

Monotangles in 2015

This is my first post of the new year, 2015, and I'd like to focus on "monotangles" as Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas call them. (Rick and Maria are the founders of the Zentangle method. See Zentangle.com. A monotangle is when you use just one tangle pattern to complete a tangled tile.

Here are a few examples of mine from earlier. I'm working on one with just "Swirls." My tiles were created (in order) with "Shattuck," "Paradox," and "Mooka," The Mooka pattern started to develop into a blossom (by itself) so I kept going in that direction. NOTE: The best tangles are those that take on their own lives. Letting your inner self guide you and not a planned idea results in the most incredible, spontaneous artwork. I call these tangles "pictures of your soul."

Have fun trying this exercise! Happy New Year! I wish you all the peace and relaxation that this drawing technique brings all who try it.

Pine Cones on Fir Trees

Pine cones on fir trees and snowflakes on noses,
Family portraits in perfect Christmas poses,
Brown paper packages tied up with strings,
These are a few of the best Christmassy things!

Family Fun

The holiday season started with a special treat for me, a visit by our grandson who loves art. I showed him my Zentanlge drawings and later in the day he asked if I could teach him that "abstract art." Pretty good description for a 7-year old. So I taught him, and we had the best time. F. couldn't believe he was drawing these gorgeous intricate patterns and that motivated him to finish each step, down to the shading. I'm so proud of him. He begged me the next day to do another one.

Everything is possible, one step at a time!

Holiday Tangling

I had a great day today teaching a Zentangle class on making a holiday card. It was unusually warm (60 degrees), but our Christmas music and good cheer got us in the spirit. We fed off of each other's creativity. All participants were talented tanglers and we learned so much from each other. Look at the fabulous results! Thanks ladies. Enjoy making more cards for your special friends and family members.

Zentngle Holiday Card Class

Join me for a relaxing start to the holiday season. I'll be teaching how to make Zentangle cards in Longmont in the afternoon of  December 7.
I had fun yesterday designing some cards for this class that I'm posting to inspire you! There are still a few seats left.

Zentangle® Holiday Card
December 7, 1:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Izaak Walton Clubhouse, 18 S. Sunset, Longmont
$40 resident/$50 non-resident plus $5 materials fee
Register through the City of Longmont Recreation Program
Easiest to call: 303-651-8404 Mention this registration number: 447324.12

I finally did it! This is the first weekend in a while that I didn't have to work, teach, or draw for deadlines, so I've set up my Botangle blog.  I'm excited because it will give me a chance to display my students' work and what I'm creating easier than posting on my website. But please do check out Botangle.net for an explanation of Botangle and Zentangle and a gallery of my work, etc.

Watch here too for reminders of classes I'm teaching both Zentangle-related and botanical illustration.

Below are some examples of my Botangles so you can get an idea of what they are. You can do this too - even if you aren't an artist. I'd love to teach you!