Keeping ahead on my calendar

Posting on my iPad today.
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The Diva's Challenge: the leaf

The challenge this week is to tangle in "leaves".  
A very autumn challenge.
But while everyone is looking "up" into the ethereal magic of color it is also wise to look "down".  
There the leaves of grasses and wave gently in lovely browns and yellows and golds and siennas and grays.  My mother used to take me for long walks to pick the seed pods and golden grasses and we would make wonderful fall bouquets.  I did the same with my children in the fields and along country roads.  Great memories.

The Magic Zentangle Machine

The Magic Zentangle Machine.
1) fill with ink
2) turn crank
3) tangles fall out into the Zentangle bin

Deliver to friends often.
See how easy this is, Mary Gayle!!!

Autumn Hues in the North Woods of WI

It was a magical weather day Tuesday…72 and bright sun and cloudless sky (TOTALLY unusual here) and I'll bet we are at 75-85% of color.  Greg and I just drove out into the country past cranberry farms, the displays of pumpkins and myriads of sparkling blue lakes rimmed in dazzle and reflecting the same color up.  Mile after mile of wildly colored forest not broken by any houses…just a town popping up now and then: St. Germain, Eagle River, Three Lakes, Hazelhurst.  And after awhile I began to think all the leaves had been "photoshopped".  The reds were unbelievably red.  Alizarin red…not just scarlet lake but deep crimson maples against bright Indian yellow aspens and birch. Gold against wild oranges and lemon-lime and dark green pines.  It made you dizzy. I've been here over 25 years and I don't think I've EVER seen the hues this intensely beautiful.  

Using Brown and Black in Zentangle

I think this is one of my favorite calendar pages, so far.  I like that it is "tied together" with Zander but still has it's own tangle per day.  I enjoy the brown and black pens together.  

I've been working on setting up my Renaissance Tile Advanced workshop for October 10 (in case it actually is a "go") and so the brown pens were out.  I am focusing on advanced tangles, use of the brown pen with white charcoal highlights, more detailed ideas about how to organize your tangles, and an elaborate lesson on shading.  It's really quite different when you don't have to go through all the basic information!  Although I will review "the ceremony" of Zentangle again.  I should know by Oct 1 if this is going to go or not.  

Autumn continues to rush forward in the north woods and the color is amazing!  Unfortunately rain predicted today!  

Diva Challenge for this Week

Well, it's a "two-fer" when you do the calendar AND the challenge at the same time.  Phicops/Diva Dance this week.  

I have found the Zentangle A Day Calendar has it's own Facebook page.  Took me from Jan to September to find it.  Duh.

Anyway Carole (the author and artist) says the 2015 one is at the printer now.  More info on that later.

Gray and 50 today…not like the weather man predicted.  Darn.
Greg is busy finishing up his painting of the bedroom walls and then we are really just about fully done with the remodel.  It took ALL summer however.  Sigh.

Good Zentangle Promotion

The following is the email "shout out" for my next class to be held in Lake Geneva, WI on October 8th.  The workshop chairman of the Lake Geneva Art Foundation is obviously very talented as this is a great piece of advertising!  I was very impressed. 

This organization is dear to my heart as it is with this group that I took my very first watercolor lessons back in 1999.  Thank you Paulette!  And also to Nancy who continued on the lessons in later years.  It is really fun to be back again and doing some teaching of my own there.  

So between now and then I have help close down our north woods cabin and start packing up everything we'll need in FL.  Sigh.  The countdown is 20 days.  The autumn forests here are just now turning amazing colors…it just took my breath away driving back from town this morning.  I hesitate to try to take photos because they never do the colors  justice.  Suffice to say I missed my turn off because I was looking at the leaves and I drove on 3 miles before I realized it!  

Zentangle Class in a Store

This was my first experience teaching Zentangle in a "commercial" setting.  I taught at the Stamp This, Scrap That store in Minocqua, WI this morning. Just 3 students but they were GREAT and we had a wonderful morning.  AND the store owner provides a lunch!  How cool is THAT!  

It's a little disconcerting to be talking over other customers wandering around the store but most of them were very polite and quiet once they saw there was a class going on at the back of the store.

It's nice to have a small group once in awhile too.  I've been teaching 13-15 in a group up to now and while the feed back and interaction is nice I do think it's not quite as personal and people don't ask as many questions in large groups.  

Zentangle Calendar Ahead

Ahead again…but thinking this is wise when I know I am going to be "on the road" soon heading south.  Yuma and Zailz are brand new tangles and it's fun to try them in a smaller format.  Calendar squares are 2.5" instead of classic 3.5".  I tried Margaret Bremner's curvy adaption of ING which is fun and creatively plagiarized the Fescu which I saw on someone's Facebook page and adored.  I wanted to remember it.  Simple but elegant.  Lots of "aura" practice!

Am off to teach a small class this morning at a local Stamping Store.  More on that later.

Beginner Zentangle Class Wins RAVE reviews

I have to brag on my Rhinelander, WI beginner's class Monday.
WHAT a super job they did and I really gave them a workout!

I trashed all my usual beginner tangles as I was really getting bored with teaching them and I set out to do a combination of really more interesting ones.  The only thing I missed on this group of tangles was a "gridded" one.  So we did a gridded Bijou tile before they left. We used Maryhill for the tangle on that one.

I started with Rain and then moved to Wheelz and Tipple.  Then we did Btl Joos which included "laces" and a sparkle and great shading.  Last we did Hollibough and put Black Pearlz in the negative spaces.  Lots of interesting shading.  They did super great!  After a winter of practice tangles they will be ready for one of my advanced classes come next spring!!!

Great job gals!!!

Zentangle® Calendar and Chit Chat

Don't know about all my blogger friends…but September does seem to be RUSHING forward rather fast.  Seeing the "13" on my computer dock when I opened it up this morning stunned me!  OMGosh!  Already? How can I be surprised when I am doing this Zentangle calendar???  I mean it's right there in black and white!
Guess I am "in denial".  I saw someone do Moonglow pens on black the other day with B'dylan and I just had to try it too.  They are really very "glow-ie" on black!  

The BRISK midwest weather here in northern WI is giving us all a dose of early autumn and I can see that we are NOT the only ones experiencing a very early dip in temps.  We had snow flurries in our forecast last night.  I kid you not.  And Mary Gayle (just 5 miles away from me) said she saw them!!!  OH no!  You don't want to get me started on "weather whining" this soon!  Sunny skies for awhile now and temps in mid 50s.  But I am getting out my wool sweaters.  We have had a lot of cozy fires in our fireplace this week!  That is actually quite nice.  We had homemade soup and biscuits by the fire for supper last night as the temps plummeted down!  

I am busy prepping for my Rhinelander beginner Zentangle class now on Monday…have 12 signed up and it is the first class really that I can remember out of tons of classes I have done that I do not know a single person in the class. They are all there due to advertising and marketing. 

I am going to take a poll and find out which of my strategies got them there.  I did posters in two places in Rhinelander, an interview for the newspaper, blog advertising, and ArtStart gallery put me on their FB page on on their "shout out" information e-letters.  One gal is driving over an hour and taking off a day of work for this workshop!  Wow.  I'll report back on which of these was the most productive.  

The CZTs discuss how to market their classes on their exclusive FB page.  It's really interesting to see all the different strategies.  Word of mouth is still the best way but sometimes you hit an area that no one has any idea what Zentangle is…a Zentangle desert. (hahaha) and so no one even knows WHAT you are talking about. 
Rhinelander is sort of like that.  I feel like a pioneer!  Hahaha.

Have a good weekend and stay warm.  

Zentangle Calendar in the COLD north woods

Catch up again…a lot going on.  
The 7th I tangled on a page from an old phone book…don't know if that shows up very well.  I used a #3 pen instead of a #1 so it would be a bit darker.  And on #9 I used a new version of Cadent that I really like.  It is sort of a re-mix of Cadent with Fiore.  

Weather here in the north woods of WI is REALLY disappointing now.  High of 40 today with 40mph winds almost all day…rain just slashing down on the cabin…dark skies and white caps on the lake.

Wow…I am dreaming of Florida big time now!!! 
Greg built a nice cozy fire in the fire place and I am making popcorn and hot cocoa.  We will "go with the flow" for today.  

Okay so now I am two days ahead!  Yippee.  
Off to fix the popcorn and find my book to snuggle by the fire.

Making "Happy" cards

When I have a few minutes, I get out a 4 x 6 blank greeting card and print "happy" in whatever funky way I feel like.  Then I tangle it.  I also have some printed cards (gelli prints and mono prints and stamped colors) and I sometimes select from those. Like this one.  

Then when I need the card I can print below the tangled word "birthday", "anniversary," "new house",  "graduation" or whatever and personalize it to the #.  Happy 25th anniversary…or whatever.  
But most of the card is already done!  Voila.

Consider starting a Happy Card file.
Everyone likes to "get happy".  

Renaissance Tile Demo

I have worked on this on and off for a few days.  I did the Renaissance part on "kraft" brown paper as I wanted to see how I was going "demo" how to do these tangles.  Kraft paper was recommended at training.  I used a brown identi-pen, graphite and white charcoal as well.  Then I decided I needed a way to display them so I could show students the options.  I glued them onto a small display board (WalMart $2) with Yes Glue and then waited overnight.   Then somehow I got started tangling in between them and couldn't stop!  Hahaha.  

Well, it's a very cold and rainy day in the north woods and hubby is into a building project hammering away in the cabin so my nice quiet studio seemed like the best place to be!!!  

I painted the back side with black gesso and will use it to display white on black tangles for another class.  

I'd like to put my tangles aside now for a few days and maybe actually get into my wc and acrylics for awhile.  The time for my art will fly by now as September is already on it's merry way!

The Ceremony of Zentangle: It's not about Pumpkins

Choreographer Twyla Tharp, in her 2003 book The Creative Habit, describes each day as the same: waking, consuming the same breakfast of three hard-boiled egg whites and a cup of coffee, putting on workout clothes and legwarmers, walking out of her Manhattan apartment, hailing a taxi and asking the driver to take her to the Pumping Iron gym at 91st Street and First Avenue, where she works out for two hours. "The ritual is not the stretching and weight training I put my body through each morning at the gym," she says. "The ritual is the cab. The moment I tell the driver where to go, I have completed the ritual."

"Being creative," says Tharp, "is an everyday thing, a job with its own routines. ........

"This is no different for a painter finding his way to the easel or a medical researcher returning to the laboratory. The routine is as much a part of the creative process as the lightning bolt of inspiration (perhaps more). And it is available to everyone. If creativity is a habit, then the best creativity is the result of good work habits. They are the nuts and bolts of dreaming."  Twyla Tharp 

Having just taught a Zentangle class where everything I said and did is fresh in my mind…I am reminded reading the above on Robert and Sara Genn's blog post this morning, that this is mostly what the "ceremony" of Zentangle is about.  I REALLY stress the ceremony…relax, breathe, smile, appreciate…etc with my students because I feel this REALLY something they cannot get by just reading a book or just visiting blogs.  THAT is what being a CZT is mostly for…to show people how the "ceremony" of Zentangle fits in the picture of Zentangle in it's core essence.  

Even though you may Zentangle your pumpkin which is a totally nutty thing to do (but fun).  The real Zentangle comes with pen and paper.  The minute you get in the ceremony where you "draw the string" you have completed the ritual (ceremony) and you slide effortlessly then through the rest of the ceremony to the reflection and appreciation.  

It is partly way I like the new group called "Square One" on Facebook.  No pumpkins.  Hahaha.  I am not knocking pumpkins (obviously) but that is not what this is all about.  On Square One it is just that, black, white and gray and paper.  So go ahead an tangle your shoes, your nails and your upright piano.  But never forget the ceremony…the breathing, and the pen and the paper.  

Manitowish Art League Zentangle Class

What a nice morning and a GREAT bunch of people.  We tangled away happily and they made me go home at 1 pm so they could eat lunch!  

Next class is Sept 15th in Rhinelander.  

Diva Challenge: X-Did

Well, here I am with a Diva Challenge again.  This time X-Did is the challenge tangle.  At first I wasn't sure I'd like it but I rather do!   Ooples is one I have not tried before also so I threw that in for tomorrow.

I'll be off teaching Zentangle most of tomorrow so best to get ahead!

The background of Sept 2 is a watercolor wash of Qor (pronounced "core") which is Golden's new line.  I used Burnt Sienna and Indian Yellow for the wash.  The highlights on that tangle and on September 3rd are done with Derwent Inktense wc pencils.  In X-Did I used the color "Baked Earth" and on Ooples I used Sea Blue and Apple Green.  

Zentangle Calendar Updates

Did you notice that 28,29,30 are all tangles that start with the letter "g"?  Just kinda something fun.  

I have been keeping up with my daily Zentangle calendar just not posting about it for awhile.  Over the holiday weekend when Verizon usage in the north woods peaks, I cannot use my hotspot (Mifi) much.  The competition for data space is too great.  My data speeds (which I check regularly) roller coaster up and down at those times.

Example:  On Sat (the peak usage day for a holiday) my speed fell to 25 kbps.  It is almost impossible to send or receive anything at that speed. In fact I was amazed I could get on line to even check it at that speed.  This morning it was up to 784 kbps.  Still not very fast in terms of normal data speeds but FAR better.  At least I can get online, post on my blog, see pictures on my Facebook, etc.  I still could not watch a video or anything…but I save those to watch on my iPad when I go to the library or stop at McDonalds for coffee.   I do miss my cable connection in Florida sometimes!  But when you live in a remote forest you are lucky to be connected at all!  

I am pretty much all ready to pack up the car this afternoon for my Beginner Zentangle Class in Manitowish Waters tomorrow morning.  I have 18 signed up for that class.  I expect a few no-shows but even so, THAT is a way too big class.  Wish me luck on that one.  I will try to remember to take some photos to share.  

You can see by my sidebar that I have added several other classes now to the list and the local Stamping and Scrapbook store is going to host me on the 17th of September.  This will be my first time in that kind of venue.  But the new owner is very optimistic and a real go-getter and she plans to serve lunch as part of the charge of the class!  Now THAT is a first for me!  How fun.  And I've added a beginner class on Oct 8th in Lake Geneva, WI which is my old "stamping ground" for many many years.  We will be on our way south by that time but will spend 4-5 days in that area.  

The outdoor painters up here want to have one more paint out next Thursday but now RAIN is forecast for that day.  Still it is so up and down and the forecasts are so unreliable up here that there is no reason to get too gloomy about that yet.  Although our time here is drawing to a close this month, I really cannot get my mind around that yet.  I have so many things I want to do yet.  I haven't even started painting my Christmas card yet (something I always do up here in September!)  I am considering a Zentangle Christmas this year.