Retreat at the Beach, Then Zen Again!

November is not the best time to travel from warm sunny Florida to Massachusetts and Rhode Island, BUT. . . . That's where Retreat at the Beach and Zen Again were!


At these two different art retreats, I learned so much that I want to share. First was Retreat at the Beach, a fantastic workshop with Cheryl Moote in Falmouth, MA. We experimented with mark making, colors and paints, stamping, etc. In the end, it was all put together into a small book.

💕Jennifer Cottrell and Dorian Eng 💕

So much inspiration!

Mark making and color exploration!

The wonderful Cherryl Moote!

Jane MacKugler! 😍

Immediately after Retreat at the Beach, 25 CZT's boarded the "big bus of fun", and went on to Providence, RI for ZenAgain with Rich Roberts and Maria Thomas, the founders of the Zentangle method. There, we joined 100 other CZT's for an inspiring 2 1/2 days of pure Zentangle!

Taking flight!

A photo op with Rick Roberts! Woo hoo!

Sowing the seeds of a Tangled Garden!

Sue Clark and myself! Sue was my
 first CZT teacher! (and now, great friend)!

Great friends!

The theme was "The Tangled Path", focusing on planting seeds of creativity, and blooming.

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Of course, we had to have a bingo night . . . . but with Rick

and Maria, it was full of tangling and laughing!

Hollibaugh technique used in a Zendala tile
inspired by the artist, Ernst Haeckel.

This is an example of Ernst Haeckel's
sea creature  illustrations.

Even more techniques were introduced, we had an evening of great dancing to Rick's rock band, time to visit with "old" friends and make new friends, and generally try to connect as much as possible with the other 110 CZT's. Whew!

Maria Thomas tangles on torn up sheets to use as napkins!
What a treasure!

The start of another napkin by Maria.

The final "icing on the cake" was having time to walk around Providence with my friend Randall Craven. We visited the RISD (Rhode Island School of Design), which was wonderful!

More Dingbatz!

Randall and I went off a search

for Dingbatz!

A beautiful example of marginalia: decorating the margins of a manuscript.

Ilminated letter

Our final stop: a delightful Swedish cafe for hot cocolate!

Life imitates art!

  

New (and experienced) Tanglers in Wisconsin!

On Sunday, I taught a small class of 3, and had so much fun! The students were: my sister, Carol, a colleague of hers, David,  and my sweetheart, Tim. Needless to say, it was an interesting mix. Tim has tangled on and off ever since I started. Carol has seen my tangling, but had never learned about the background of the Zentangle process, and David was brand new to the whole thing!

Everyone did exceptionally well, and really understood the process behind Zentangle when the class was done. Carol was especially surprised at how one line (often the last step in a tangle) can make it change dramatically. Putting the final diagonal line in Cubine, for instance, suddenly makes it a 3-D image! They also loved the shading process, and how that makes the piece "come alive".

When we were done with the class, we looked at Carol's incredible macrame project that she had done. . . . .

. . .  and David's crochet work

Looking at these projects, I want to make tangles out of the beautiful patterns!

Teaching, Tangling, Traveling, Music, and Connecting . . . .lots of catching up!

TEACHING . . . .


In April, I attended the wonderful continuing education for CZT's: Tangle U. About 110 Certified Zentangle Teachers met for 4 days at this annual event. This year, it was in Naples, FL (next year will be Portland, OR).
I had the absolute pleasure of teaching a Digital Zentangle class on the first night! Here is the  lineup of the teachers:

Our group teacher shot!

 Over the next three days, I took classes: Pan Pastels (Melissa Hoopes), Shading in Color (Nysha Nelson), Gold Dip Pen~ A Touch of Midas (Sampan Agarwal), Flexagons as Reticula For Tangle Fragments,  Weeds and Reeds (Sharla Hicks),  The Tangled Orchid Garden (Cherryl Moote), and Matchmaking for Tangles (Lynn Meade).

Needless to say, it was inspiring, invigorating, and enlightening ~ as well as a great time to connect with old and new friends!  Here are some of the photos from the weekend.

It's a big family of CZT's!

Mary Jo Kehne

Marita Eng teaching Reticula and Symmetry

Mabel Yap

Cheryl Moote with the Tangled Garden

                                     

Karen Sandoval, Denise Rudd, Terri Oliver Young

Lynn Mead

Karen Izzi, Phylllis Terry

Nancy Roth

Elaine Huffman, Maria Vennekens, Patricia Dusty Darrah

Beate Winkler

Janet Burditt, Miriam Elizabeth, Lauryn Eldon, me, Beate Winkler, Randall Taylor-Craven

Tim and me - sunset by the beach!

In January I had the opportunity to teach a class for a home party in Sarasota.

Gail hosted a home party/class for three friends! They are wonderful tanglers!

I also taught a few "Introduction to Zentangle" classes to two friends here at the park:

 

Sue and Jackie definitely had the Zen going!

Sue and Jackie

Betty, Judy, Tutee, Ann, and Therese

Teaching at Sarasota Art and Frame:

In April, I taught the Zentangle process to a wonderful family who were having their annual reunion. (15 people!)  They really did a great job with the class!

                 

TANGLING . . . . .


May came around, and my sister broke her ankle. I spent 2 weeks helping her out in Wisconsin . . . .  and (of course) had to tangle her cast!

 I've also been getting some "traditional" tangling in....

TRAVELING . . .

Tim and I have been gypsies in our motorhome this summer, traveling between Florida, Kentucky, and Wisconsin.

In Berea, Kentucky I took a super class in acrylic painting from Jacqueline Sullivan (one of my favorite artists!)

MUSIC . . . .
Tim and I found a Celtic session every Thursday in Milwaukee, Wi. It's a group of talented and friendly, welcoming musicians!

Tim and I also had a chance to play a gig with our friend, Mike Thompson in Lexington, KY. 

CONNECTING . . . .

One of the most incredible things about being a Certified Zentangle teacher is that you connect with wonderful people! I've had two FUN visits with my friend, Karen Sandoval as well as a surprise visit from Ginny Lockhart (both great friends and CZT's)!

A great afternoon playing with art, Zentangle, and paper folding!

Whew! We still have some adventures and travels coming up before we get home, but . . 
. . .In the Fall, look for classes, demonstrations, tangle-gatherings, etc!

More later, friends!